Prince William Sound Cruise

[Mrs.Right]

I'm on the fence............

 

I think my daughter would love the beauty, scale and scientific aspect of a Prince William Sound Cruise prior to embarkation but they all return to Whittier between 5:30 and 6:30. We're not scheduled to depart until 9:30 and I'm not really concerned about not making it back in time, but what will we miss if we don't board earlier in the day? Can anyone comment on a PWS tour? If we decide to do the tour, could we drop our bags at the pier with a porter and then cruise without them for the day?

 

Barbara

[georgiatraveler]

My daughter (19) and I did the southbound cruise last week and did the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise in Whittier before we boarded the cruise ship. I would highly recommend doing a small boat cruise before boarding the ship. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

We took the train from Anchorage and were able to check our luggage with Princess in Anchorage. When we got to our cabin after the glacier tour and a quick ice cream cone in Whitter, our luggage was there waiting for us.

[Budget Queen]

OK, I am a jaded cruiser who couldn't care less about "exploring and jumping on cruiseships early etc etc".

 

Especially in Alaska, I am never in any rush and always board later. I can't see anything that you would "miss", frankly- except some fantastic touring if you don't do PWS.

[Modeen]

How were you able to turn your luggage over to Pricess in Anchorage before getting on the train? This seems like a great option, but I'm not sure how it works. Are Princess reps in the train station?

 

Thanks!

[cloverose]

I would also like to know how to deal witih the luggage. We are sailing on Carnival Spirit.

[Grannycb]

At least two of the Prince William Sound tour companies leave at or after 1 pm. That's plenty of time to drop everything off at the ship and still catch the tour. You won't miss anything on the ship. We thought Major Marine was one of the best tours we've taken. Everything was simply beatuiful!

[lawahoo2001]

If you're traveling to Whittier via AKRR, then the railroad reps will check your bags directly to your cabin (at least this is what they told me on the phone). We are also booked to do a PWS tour with Major Marine. We take AKRR at 10 am from Anchorage to Whittier. We arrive 2+ hrs later and then check-in with Major Marine for our early afternoon tour. We return by 5:30 or so, which is plenty of time to board the ship by 8:30, which I think is when Princess wants everyone on the ship for a 9:30 departure. If AKRR won't send our luggage to the ship, then my back-up is that Major Marine has told us they can store our luggage in their office while we are on the tour. The RR depot, cruise ship dock, and Major Marine dock are all very close walking distance, so no issue lugging luggage to check into the cruise if we leave luggage with Major Marine.

[bimmermom]

My hubby, 20-year-old daughter and I also took the Philips 26 Glacier Tour before our cruise with the Carnival Spirit and highly recommend it! She loved the tour. You won't miss anything by boarding your ship early and you will miss a whole lot not doing the smaller boat tour.

 

In terms of luggage, we took the Magic Bus from Anchorage to Whittier and the driver took our luggage and checked it in with Carnival while we were on the Philips tour. When we got back and boarded the Spirit around 5:30 or 6:00 pm, our luggage was in our cabin waiting for us. Worked like a charm!

 

Enjoy your cruise....

[cindep]

Definitely take the PWS tour! It will be money well spent! The ship is sitting there ... you're not going to miss much. There were only a few of us who stayed in Whittier after our Island cruise and did the PWS tour. Glacier Bay wasn't "giving it up" the day we were there .... but the glaciers in PWS were totally awesome. That and you get a LOT closer to the glaciers.

 

There are people at the Whittier port as early as 10:00 a.m. that you can drop your luggage with. However, I believe others are correct that the Alaska RR will have your luggage delivered directly to the ship. The whole operation at Whittier is VERY small, so it is no big deal to get things from the train to the ship.

[georgiatraveler]

We had our Princess tags on our luggage when we checked the bags at the train station in Anchorage and they were delivered to the ship. We were traveling with a large group, but I think everyone in Anchorage checked their bags at the same place. It was on the right end of the station as you face the front of the building.

 

A train arrived in Whittier just as our 26 Glacier Tour boat was docking and we ended up behind a whole train full of people checking into the cruise ship. We asked the first person we saw with a Princess badge if we had time to walk around and she told us that we had plenty of time but that there was another train arriving in 45 minutes with 500 passengers who would be getting on the cruise ship. We spent about 40 minutes in Whittier and at the last minute checked into the ship before the next train arrived, we were on the ship in minutes with no lines.

 

We had all week to explore the ship and I have resigned myself to the fact that I can't do everything available on a cruise ship, so I don't even try. the PWS Tour was one of the highlights of our trip.

[trekkerlady]

I agree with the others - the PWS tour was a highlight! We took the AKRR from Anchorage to Whittier and they checked our baggage straight through to ship. It was waiting for us in our room when we arrived. You get so close to the glaciers and we did see a "sleeping" humpback as well! We used Major Marine Tours and they were awesome! Also, by the time you get back, the check in was smooth because no one else was there!!!

[Chenega]

The earliest cruise from Whittier goes around 11am with Prince William Sound Cruises. This is the 6 hour trip through Esther Passage/Barry Arm and is one of the most scenic. Gets you back around 5pm in plenty of time for the cruise ship. Any of the tour operators are excellent.