Help Skagway Chilkoot Train Or ...

[jeangeorges]

Please help. I am now in a quandry. Which is better the Chilkoot bus/train tour or the Golden Princess Yukon & White Pass excursion.

 

I am looking at the 7-8 hour trip.

 

The Chilkoot excursion offers some additional elements and I can only get the standard explanation on the Yukon Expedition ( the one that is written in the brochure)

 

I know that several people have done the train trip but I am hoping that someone can tell me if one is better than the other and why.

[40yearcruiser]

We are also trying to decide which train excursion to take in Skagway. We'll be on Sapphire Princess so I assume the ship's excursions will be the same as on the Golden. Are you thinking about the train to Fraser or to Carcross? The Chilkoot tour is $50 less expensive for the train to Carcross, but we will be in port on Wednesday and the trip is run in reverse on that day (bus up to Carcross and train back). The reviews I have seen on this board are very positive about the Chilkoot tours. It appears from the information that I can find that they fit a few more stops into the same itinerary, such as stops at Emerald Lake. I think I'm suffering from information overload!

[jeangeorges]

I know what you mean.... I am trying to do a side by side comparison and can't get all the info I need. I have e-mailed the company that does the ships excursion for further clarification.

 

I did get an e-mail for Chilkoot and their price is only $14 less than the ship!!!

 

I hope that I get a response soon from the yukon ship's place regarding stopping at emerald lake(Chilkoot does), the price of admission to the mueseum (Chilkoot free), visit sled dogs (Chilkoot does). Lunch is included in both!!

 

IF the ships excursion doesn't include all that then I am going to switch to the CHilkoot excursion ... if they still have room!!!

[KnoxvilleSam]

Understand that we haven't gone on either of these yet but we are scheduled for the Chilkoot 7 hour excursion from Skagway to Emerald Lake via the White Pass and Yukon Route train and bus, and then bus back to Skagway. As far as I can tell from looking at the Princess brochure regarding its excursion, looks to me like on that one you bus up to Emerald Lake, then bus back to Fraser and then take the WP&YR train to Skagway. So it's a matter of being on the train up or the train back (as well as a difference of $14/person).

 

From my reading on this board I think I've learned that the narration on the train is focused mainly on the trip up, and not much on the trip back.

 

Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I will see this and correct me if I'm wrong - someone like BudgetQueen or Yukon.

 

Sam

[Green4me]

We are still trying to figure this out also. Budget Queen where are you???

 

Thanks:)

[taxjam]

Obviously, I am not BQ and also I know very little about Alaska; however, I did research this question by reading and then emailing and calling Chilkoot. According to Larry at Chilkoot, they do two lengthy excursions - the 7 hour and the 8,5 hour. Both do go to Emerald Lake; however, the 8.5 includes a longer train ride (less bus) up going around a scenic lake all the way to Carcross. The trade-off is the 8.5 doesn't include the dogs (which we did not have interest in) and is longer. The extended train route is historic - taken by miners during the gold rush. We picked the Chilkoot. 8.5 hour train to Carcross. We are on Holland America so I don't know your excursion; however, as a general principle, we try to avoid the cruise sponsored excursions unless there are time or safety issues.

[jeangeorges]

The following are the answers I got from Princess re: their train/bus to Carcross:

Can you tell me when we get to Carcross if the museum is included in the train/bus price?

Admission to the Wildlife Gallery at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post, where guests stop for lunch, is included in this tour. This stop is just outside of Carcross. After lunch, the bus does take guests to Carcross and they have time to explore on their own, but there is no museum in the actual town of Carcross.

Will we be able to see the husky dog?

Guests are able to see the Yukon Quest dog mushers and pose for pictures. If they want to do the actual dog sled ride, they must pay for this additional experience.

Do we also go to Emerald Lake? :(

Time permitting, a stop is made at Emerald Lake, but it is not guaranteed.

Am I correct in that we take the bus up and the train back?

There are two departure times offered for this tour. The 7:40am tour takes the train up and the bus back. The 8:40am tour takes the bus up and the train back.

[40yearcruiser]

Thanks for getting that info from Princess. I am assuming that you are looking at the Yukon excursion that has the train to Fraser and bus the rest of the way to Carcross instead of the train the entire way (because you said lunch was in Carcross and on the longer trip lunch is in Bennett). Some of our group want to just take the short trip to White Pass and back and others want to take the longest trip to Bennett & Carcross on the train. Now I just have to get DH to decide what he wants to do--I'm leaning toward the longer trip. Just don't want to not have any time to explore in Skagway.

[nextelcup]

I posted this on another thread, but thought it might also be helpful here.

Quote from CHILKOOT CHARTERS & TOURS in response to some questions I had:

"...some of the people seem to be very confused. The concensus is that there is little or no narration on the south bound train trip. This is only the case on the round trip train excursion that's sold off the cruise ships. They don't pick up new passengers at the top so they don't repeat the narration on the return tour.

 

On the one way trips the complete tour is given each way so the narration is the same coming or going. Budget Queen is right for most part about the view! The train has a completely different perspective each way."

Hope this helps!

 

 

 

[jeangeorges]

Gonna cancel the ship's train excursion and try to book with Chilkoot since they seem to offer the things that I want to do and not "try" to fit it in other stops "time permitting"