rvorcruise

With the non-winter we had, and the incredibly early Spring (records being broken across Alaska almost every day - it hit 55 in Talkeetna yesterday), early May could be quite amazing.

I feel bad for people who spend their vacations working so hard to "capture" everything that they don't just sit back and enjoy the Wonder of It All.

There are people like me who are passionate about photography, and people like you who don't care. For the rest of my life, I can revisit the places I've been through my image library (which I go into often), and you can't. Different strokes.

If you don't have your heart set on a float plane, the Glacier Bay flights out of Haines (they'll pick you up in Skagway) are incredible - a whole-plane charter will let you add time in the air if you choose. Google Fly Drake and Mountain Flying Service, both top-notch operators.

Ok, so if I'm understanding correctly, one can bring pre-packaged nibbles on the train, but not a sandwich, correct? Don't quite understand the difference (there can be spillage in either case), but will follow the rules.

You can take any food you want on the train, you just can't take it off the ship. So you could buy it in town and take it.

The locomotives other than the steamer are actually diesel-electric (the diesel engine drives an electrical generator which provides power to the motors that drive the locomotive).

The only thing we saw that might be different later in the summer was that the train in Skagway did not go quite to the end of the line (Bennett or Carcross, I'm not sure), but we did a bus to Carcross and back to Fraser and then boarded the train back (booked through Chilkoot Tours). It was fantastic!!!

Yes, the train to Bennett and Carcross doesn't start until May 31st this year. Beyond that, it depends what your interests are - trails that go into the high country are still closed by snow, at the top of the Mount Roberts tramway you'll see snow instead of flowers, much of the glaciers will be covered by snow so you won't see much of the blue ice, etc. But most things are the same as later, and there are many advantages, too, which is why we usually cruise in May.

The Natural History Tour turns around at Primrose Ridge, at mile 17 - you don't even get close to the great parts of the park. I agree with AKStafford.

I agree that the hotel in Whitehorse was not that great and the Klondike Inn (or whatever it was called) was worse but I like the hotel in Dawson City and it hasn't been but a few years since they refurbished the rooms...and it's huge.

 

I've been watching for the 2017 Yukon tours to be posted hoping to see something new and expanded. Lots of people enjoy those Yukon cruise tours. Thanks for your information. I'd love to know your source so I can keep up-to-date on all things Yukon.

It's the "huge" that makes locals hate the Westmark Dawson, and what makes it a white elephant that will be tough to sell. The only time that a large number of rooms isn't available is Music Festival weekend.

HAL's numbers have been sliding on the Yukon-Alaska cruise tours for several years. One of those circular things - the fewer people who go, the more HAL cuts back on them, and the more HAL cuts back on them, the fewer people go.

I live in the Yukon, and although retired, still keep a close eye on tourism, mostly through personal observation and contacts.

RCI tightly tightly enforces it in Alaska - they seized my Scotch :(

I hope they don't leave the Yukon. HAL still has their hotels in Dawson City and Whitehorse.

Both hotels in Whitehorse have been sold - the last one a month or so ago. Only Dawson is left, and it's basically a massive, ugly, white elephant.

We have done the Lake Bennett tour twice as part of HAL Yukon cruise tours between Whitehorse and Skagway.

 

... I have been hoping that HAL would bring back this very special segment of the Yukon experience. Oh, well. Things change.

I think HAL will be leaving the Yukon entirely very soon. They've sold all but one of their hotels now (and the remaining one will be a VERY tough one to sell), the Yukon-Eagle boat is gone, there are no more buses going across the Top of the World Highway...

The Anchorage-Seward section is by far the most scenic part of the Alaska Railroad - there are glaciers, waterfalls, and canyons. The highway is great (and for about half the distance is within a few hundred yards of the rail line), but has nothing compared to what you see from the train between Portage and Moose Pass. But it's supposed to be a 3 1/2-hour trip and ours was over 5 hours - that makes it questionable which we'll do next time.

Thanks. Just getting to the cemetary is a bit of a hike, but I'd love to see the Falls.

The local SMART bus takes you to the closest point to the cemetery on the main road, less than a mile of level gravel road to walk, alongside the White Pass rail shops.

We expect to be there around May 23rd 2017 and if I look at this year's schedule, looks like Mile 53 is as far as we'll go on the shuttle bus.

 

How big of a difference (please don't say 13 miles LOL) will that make as far as chances of seeing wildlife?

 

We would love to go later but some in our party don't foresee being able to get vacation in June.

There's a huge difference - the area between Toklat (53) and Eielson (66) have produced a substantial amount of my best sightings of grizzly. But if 53 is as far as you can go when you're going to be there, it is what it is...

There's going to be a big change for train passengers from Skagway to Carcross this year. Lunch used to be an excellent sit-down meal of stew and other goodies at tables in the train station. This year, the two eating rooms are going to be a museum and a film viewing room, and passengers will get a box lunch to eat on the train. The cars used for the Carcross run are having fold-down tables added to them to make that easier. The stop at Bennett is also being reduced to 45 minutes as part of these changes. The railroad's Web site notes the box lunch, but supplier sites may not have made the changes yet.

I got an email from Avis Alaska about a month ago saying that they no longer accept any discount codes, nor do they even pay commissions (which I used to get through a partnership).

My question is not whether it is generally better to ride the tour bus or shuttle bus, but whether for a once in a lifetime experience the tour bus or shuttle bus creates a better memory.

It's not the bus or the drivers that makes the best memory - that's just fluff, or a bonus perhaps. It's Denali that you'll never forget, and the shuttle gets you to the best of Denali, which for me and many others is Eielson.

If the shuttle bus driver provides commentary, that removes any advantage of the tour over the shuttle.

I've been on both the TWT (when I'm escorting/guiding a tour and am not paying the bill), and the shuttles, several/many times each. The TWT and shuttle drivers used to be quite similar, but in recent years the shuttles have gotten worse and worse, as the drivers who do really good commentaries move to the TWT buses where the tips are better.

For me, the shuttle is the easy choice when I have the choice, as I want to go to Eielson.

There are outhouses just past the summit, and at Log Cabin if you go further. After that, the new government campground at Conrad, then full services at Carcross.

We will be cruising Alaska this May :). Looking at driving to Emerald Lake and back...is it likely that we might encounter any snowfall (on the roads). I was wondering, if this might happen, do the rental cars typically have snow tires on them?

Although snow isn't impossible in early May, it melts very quickly. By the end of the month, it's not going to happen. This winter has been so warm, it might not even happen in April! :) Rental cars don't have snow tires.

The most "Alaskan" silver charm that's widely available is a whale tail - many shops sell variations on that theme, at a wide variety of quality and price.

I made it to Goat Lake several years ago. It's an extremely difficult climb with no trail. I forded the Skagway River at low water - the railway may not even drop you and pick you up there. I think it's a sterile lake - if there was a lake on the moon, this is what it would look like.

The best grayling close to Skagway is probably the mouth of the Thompson River, reached by hiking in from the large parking lot at Km 35.2 of the South Klondike Highway, or the foot of the creek that drains Bernard Lake, reached from a group of cabins near Km 42 of the highway. An Alaska license covers these trans-boundary waters.

I've driven there several times, a few for the Harley Shop.

And the Harley shop closed a few years ago.

I don't recommend driving beyond Emerald Lake unless you've been to Skagway several times before - there's simply too much to do in Skagway and along the road to the lake. Going beyond, to Whitehorse, is for when you have a couple of days :)

I don't recall seeing any tours sold from the pier in Skagway.

There is a tour office at the Railroad Dock, and a tour kiosk at the Broadway Dock. These are operated by M&M, who has the City contract to do such things. There are fully independent offerings at 3 or 4 places along Broadway.

What can a family of 3 do if there are no car rentals available from Avis on the day we are in Skagway? We really want to travel up to Emerald Lake with stops on the way.

Check with the other 2 rental companies, Sourdough and Green Jeeps.