Westerdam Docking In Sitka

I don't know if everyone was following The Second Sister in her blog, https://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/, covering the 2 May cruise but the most interesting thing to me was that the Westerdam docked in Sitka. I understand it is a test of the new faciltiy there. I guess the one that has been talked about for a few years. I know docking is better than tendering for the ship and the cruise line but if the test is successful I will miss tendering and the views from the Sitka anchorage.

I don't know if everyone was following The Second Sister in her blog, https://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/, covering the 2 May cruise but the most interesting thing to me was that the Westerdam docked in Sitka. I understand it is a test of the new faciltiy there. I guess the one that has been talked about for a few years. I know docking is better than tendering for the ship and the cruise line but if the test is successful I will miss tendering and the views from the Sitka anchorage.

I also hope that the docking test worked and we get to dock vs tender in Sitka. Would make things much easier for my DH.

Even though I use a walker/rollator and can't handle a couple of stairs, I would rather tender then deal with a bus.

I also love anchoring there because of all the beautiful scenery.

We are on the Westerdam now, approaching Juneau. I will update when we get to Sitka but it looks like we will be tendering in.

We are on the Westerdam now, approaching Juneau. I will update when we get to Sitka but it looks like we will be tendering in.

Thank you.

Even though I use a walker/rollator and can't handle a couple of stairs, I would rather tender then deal with a bus.

I also love anchoring there because of all the beautiful scenery.

I hear you and yes more beautiful scenery.

We are on the Westerdam now, approaching Juneau. I will update when we get to Sitka but it looks like we will be tendering in.

Thank you! I was going to ask you to do that in your live thread.

The Old Sitka Dock at Halibut Point aka Sitka Ferry Terminal is a pretty rudimentary affair with a one berth dock and a pre-fab type of building with no facilities (unless they have added those since last time I was there). There is nada around there within walking distance. The buses park on the gravel road.

It's a choice between a relatively short tender ride to Crescent Harbor, right smack in the middle of downtown Sitka or docking at Halibut Point and taking a one hour bus ride into Sitka proper

For the current (May 9th) cruise as well as May 30th (Mine:)) the Oceania Regatta is scheduled at the Old Sitka Dock. Therefore Westerdam will be tendering.

I think for once I will actually prefer tendering hearing how beautiful the scenery is tendering in to Sitka. We will also be on a ships excursion so hopefully shouldn't have any problems disembarking.

We found the docking/transportation process at the Halibut Point Marina at the Old Sitka dock to be efficient, well-organized, and easy for us. Here's the post where my sister described the process:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46479385&postcount=46

This week (May 13) Oceania's Regatta will be at the Old Sitka dock, which is probably why the Westerdam will be tendering, as WNcruiser has noted in the post above mine.

Why I hate the idea if docking in Sitka

1. Long pier walk to get to buses.

2. School buses to get to town (60 people).

3 very few taxis in Sitka

You can transport a folding wheel chair on a tender impossible to get up school bus steps.

The school schedule must be worked around.

This will not effect me I have family in Sitka but I think this will force more people to stay aboard and miss beautiful place.

The Old Sitka Dock at Halibut Point aka Sitka Ferry Terminal is a pretty rudimentary affair with a one berth dock and a pre-fab type of building with no facilities (unless they have added those since last time I was there). There is nada around there within walking distance. The buses park on the gravel road.

 

It's a choice between a relatively short tender ride to Crescent Harbor, right smack in the middle of downtown Sitka or docking at Halibut Point and taking a one hour bus ride into Sitka proper

I would much rather take a short tender ride. It is so picturesque. I would not want the one hour bus ride.

The ride into town was 10-15 minutes. The shuttles ran pretty continuously. Cabs are limited, but available, and you can call ahead:

http://www.sitkacab.com/

There were golf carts running between the ship and the bus pick-up for those with mobility challenges. Those on HAL excursions were met at the pier.

I agree that there are pros and cons to both tendering or riding a converted school bus into town.

The majority of the passengers on our cruise preferred docking to tendering. Obviously, YMMV.

The Old Sitka Dock at Halibut Point aka Sitka Ferry Terminal is a pretty rudimentary affair with a one berth dock and a pre-fab type of building with no facilities (unless they have added those since last time I was there). There is nada around there within walking distance. The buses park on the gravel road.

 

It's a choice between a relatively short tender ride to Crescent Harbor, right smack in the middle of downtown Sitka or docking at Halibut Point and taking a one hour bus ride into Sitka proper

Thanks so much for this information Copper. This will be our first time to Sitka and we didn't know the distance/time issue between docking and tendering.

Where are some of you getting it's a 1 hour bus ride into town? :confused: No way is that true. Not even close. The dock is ony a few miles away from downtown. The bus ride is maybe 15 minutes.

That said, having been to Sitka, I'd still rather tender. The tender dock is right there downtown and it's a very short tender ride.

Edit...I found this website for the marina. It says 5.5 miles, 12 minute shuttle ride:

http://www.halibutpointmarine.com/page2/

The Sitka anchorage gets my vote for the most idyllic spot in Alaska.

Where are some of you getting it's a 1 hour bus ride into town? :confused: No way is that true. Not even close. The dock is ony a few miles away from downtown. The bus ride is maybe 15 minutes.

 

That said, having been to Sitka, I'd still rather tender. The tender dock is right there downtown and it's a very short tender ride.

 

Edit...I found this website for the marina. It says 5.5 miles, 12 minute shuttle ride:

 

http://www.halibutpointmarine.com/page2/

The drive time about 15 mins but you may have to wait for a bus to arrive then to fill I would allow at least 30 mins to get to town.

My first visit to Sitka was in 2005. I thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. We took Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest excursion which was restful and informative. We arrived back in Sitka after the excursion and I was so overwhelmed with all the people in port that I practically ran back to the tenders to get back on the ship. By 2010 Sitka had cut back on tourism and we were able to wander around the town and actually see the beauty of Sitka from a walking perspective. No crowds.

I can see this from two perspectives. I think Sitka is the perfect tender port for HAL. It's beautiful and the tendering is a short ride directly into the center of town. I have never tendered from a big ship so the tendering process has been easy.

The dock is outside of town and if people don't want to take the bus into town it will mean less tourism $ for the community. If excursions pick up passengers at the dock and return them to the dock many will not even make it to town. Again, fewer tourists (less crowds for me to deal with) and less tourism $ for the community.

In my experience Sitka being a small community can easily be overrun with tourists when several ships are in port. I can't imagine Sitka with buses shuttling tourists around. People will be hanging out waiting for the bus to take them back to the ship. I'm sorry to say I think it will get crowded again.

My first visit to Sitka was in 2005. I thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. We took Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest excursion which was restful and informative. We arrived back in Sitka after the excursion and I was so overwhelmed with all the people in port that I practically ran back to the tenders to get back on the ship. By 2010 Sitka had cut back on tourism and we were able to wander around the town and actually see the beauty of Sitka from a walking perspective. No crowds.

 

I can see this from two perspectives. I think Sitka is the perfect tender port for HAL. It's beautiful and the tendering is a short ride directly into the center of town. I have never tendered from a big ship so the tendering process has been easy.

 

The dock is outside of town and if people don't want to take the bus into town it will mean less tourism $ for the community. If excursions pick up passengers at the dock and return them to the dock many will not even make it to town. Again, fewer tourists (less crowds for me to deal with) and less tourism $ for the community.

 

In my experience Sitka being a small community can easily be overrun with tourists when several ships are in port. I can't imagine Sitka with buses shuttling tourists around. People will be hanging out waiting for the bus to take them back to the ship. I'm sorry to say I think it will get crowded again.

Thanks for your information and perspective.

To clear up a couple of misconceptions -

The Old Sitka Dock (website is here: http://oldsitkadock.com/page1/index.html) is 5 miles from town. Transportation is by shuttle bus (repainted school buses owned by the Port of Sitka, so no competition with schools). It takes 10-12 minutes and is pretty scenic -- well, except for the road construction bit. ;) Not sure where the 1 hour drive time came from.

Location of the dock relative to downtown Sitka:

This below photo is taken from midship; the red arrow I drew on it shows the path to the blue roofed terminal building; as you go up a short hill (not steep - I've been on driveways that are steeper!), the road is gravel but the sidewalk is concrete. There is a golf cart that continuously runs from the gangway to the terminal building for those with mobility issues. The terminal has wi-fi, a gift shop, and restrooms. The buses pick you up on the other side of the terminal building, and you don't have to go inside if you don't want.

Our HAL shore excursion (Sea Otter & Wildlife Quest run by Allen Marine) picked us up at the dock and dropped us off in downtown Sitka, a 3 minute walk from the shuttle pickup/drop off point (and if you're not dealing with an arthritic hip like mine, you could do it faster), which made it easy to walk around town and get back to the ship.

The dock is perhaps not as scenic as the downtown Sitka pier when facing it, but turn around and the views of Sitka Sound are breathtaking. This is taken looking behind the ship, from the aft (Seaview) pool.

And I find the dock and marina fascinating in their own way - there are a couple of aqua enclosures with salmon smolt getting accustomed to ocean water - the flashes of silver as the smolt jump around is fun to watch; boats being lifted and moved around for dry docking; and people working on the boats and the longshoreman were all more than happy to talk to us and answer questions. (Which is how we figured out that the aqua enclosure had salmon smolt.) The security guard at the dock that my sister chatted with told her he hopes the bigger ships dock regularly as it would mean 20 more days of work for him in the season.

Yes, I enjoy tendering (especially when leaning out the zippered doorway, snapping pics and giving the tender crew a bit of heartburn!) and love bouncing on the waves as we zip on in, but on the whole, I'd say docking was faster and easier. Yes, you might have to stand in line for the shuttle, but you definitely have to stand in line for a tender; and with the gangway, it's much less of a bottleneck since not everybody has to get off the ship at set times. And much easier for older folks and those with mobility devices.

My $0.02.

Thank you so much TheSecondSister. The description, map, and drawing really helps.

The drive time about 15 mins but you may have to wait for a bus to arrive then to fill I would allow at least 30 mins to get to town.

We have family in Sitka today on NCL's Pearl. They are docked, and report that the wait for a bus was 40 minutes, so the time spent getting downtown was about 1 hour.

I'd have to agree that this would definitely discourage cruise ship passengers from disembarking and enjoying Sitka if their ship was docked.

On the other hand, if cruise ships dock there regularly, it's very likely that seasonal businesses will spring up around the area.

Out of curiosity, what is the reason for not being able to dock closer to Sitka? Water not deep enough?

We'll be on a cruise with a planned stop in Sitka this summer. It's presently flagged as a tender port, but it will be interesting to see if that changes.

Say hi to the BBKing Club gang. They are simply fabulous.

On the other hand, if cruise ships dock there regularly, it's very likely that seasonal businesses will spring up around the area.

 

Out of curiosity, what is the reason for not being able to dock closer to Sitka? Water not deep enough?

 

We'll be on a cruise with a planned stop in Sitka this summer. It's presently flagged as a tender port, but it will be interesting to see if that changes.

 

/QUOTE]

 

The water is not deep enough near the downtown area. The dock is located in an industrial area so business development around that dock area is unlikely. The Volendam is also in Sitka today happily tendering their passengers into town.