GTJ

There is one other option. Seward Bus Line operates bus service year round between Seward and Anchorage. It departs Seward at 9:30 a.m. The company receives mixed reviews, but it could meet your requirements. http://www.sewardbuslines.net

The website, Sleeping in Airports, http://www.sleepinginairports.net, provides varied advice for sleeping in airports throughout the world. Some airports have more advice than others. As to Anchorage, consider the following general advice provided by the website. "Reviewers have described ANC Airport clean, quiet and safe but they’ve also noted that it’s very cold, especially the floors, and that there are very few seats without armrests. Have a sleeping bag or travel mattress and blanket handy, as it is likely that you will be sleeping on the floor. "In terms of specific sleep-friendly spots, Concourse C has row upon row of armrest-free seating. A small observation area just before Gate C1 is quieter than the rest of the airport, and a reviewer strongly suggests the area at C9, under the hanging airplane, for a nice place to sleep. There is also an area near the Raven Alaska ticketing/check-in desks that is supposed to be quiet and has armrest-free seating. Otherwise, a pair of earplugs or noise cancelling headphones will help block out overhead announcements that happen frequently and well into the night. Explore our guide to sleeping in Anchorage Airport or read some traveller airport reviews for more tips." In addition, there are five pages of very detailed Anchorage airport sleeping reviews that provide advice on many specific places to get some sleep. http://www.sleepinginairports.net/reviews/anchorage-airport-reviews.htm Finally, since you're probably seeking to avoid the cost of a hotel for relatively short rest, you might also want to avoid the cost of taxi between the railroad station and the airport. On weekdays you can use bus route 40 for $2.00 per person (half-fare for seniors age 60 and above), with the last bus departing downtown at 11:16 p.m. Not an option on weekends because the last bus departs at 7:07 p.m. http://www.muni.org/Departments/transit/PeopleMover

Now the travel makes sense. Hopefully you are making good advance plans for Whittier for the extra days there, as it is a very small community and not a lot of activity on days when vessels are not in port. Because of that paucity of activity, there is not much transportation on those non-port days. The only scheduled transportation to Whittier on non-port days is the Alaska Railroad service, and so you may just have to absorb the expense thereof. Ordinarily I would not worry that much about local transportation while in Whittier: you will probably be able to walk easily everyplace where you're likely wanting to go.

More generally, all the brands and subsidiaries of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., d/b/a Royal Caribbean Group, and only those brands and subsidiaries, sail out of Bayonne. The brand Royal Caribbean International and the subsidiary Celebrity Cruises both regularly so sail from Bayonne, and I recall that TUI Cruises, another subsidiary, will also sail out of Bayonne later this year.

What I read here is the standard procedure used throughout the entire United States when entering overland from a foreign country. Nothing different or unusual. The only thing I would note is that while a thorough immigration and customs check is made on regular-route buses, including Quick Coach Lines Ltd. ("QuickShuttle") and Cantrail Coach Lines Ltd. ("Amtrak Thruway"), chartered buses are sometimes given a less thorough check, given that the common purpose of chartered parties typically presents fewer risks. Thus, a HAL-arranged transfer using a chartered bus may benefit from such lesser thoroughness. (I am not certain what carrier HAL uses for the transfers it arranges. In Alaska, it uses, of course, Royal Hyway Tours, Inc., d/b/a HAP Alaska, as it is a Carnival corporate subsidiary. But in Seattle it appears that the motor carrier corporate subsidiaries of Carnival, including Evergreen Trails, Inc., are no longer operating. Can anyone confirm that to be the case? If so, what carrier(s) is (are) being used by HAL when it arranges transfers? The legal lettering printed on the side of the motorcoaches used should spell out the carrier name, including USDOT and MC numbers.)

There are two trains daily from Vancouver. In addition to the afternoon train departing at 5:45 p.m., there is also an early morning train at 6:35 a.m. Alas, that is too early for any arriving cruise vessel passengers (and despite its early morning departure it still arrives in Seattle too late to make a same-day connection with the southbound Coast Starlight).

Excellent video; it accurately portrays the ease of walking from the ferry terminal to the cruise terminal.

Most likely not. That higher height car is likely no. 351, a former Chicago and North Western bi-level gallery car, originally configured as lounge-buffet for use on its long-distance trains. For a while it was the Tiki railbar used on the Florida Fun Train.

If you flights are at JFK, then downtown Jamaica makes even more sense. It is so quick to get to and from Jamaica from any of the JFK terminals. The only hotel more convenient is . . . the TWA hotel! 🙂

Almost, but not quite. The term "Gold," or more completely, "GoldStar Service," is used as a marketing term by the Alaska Railroad to denote first class service. On the train between Seward and the Anchorage airport, there is no first class service, and thus no "GoldStar Service." Instead, everyone travels in coach. But all the coach seats are in Panorama Dome cars. So you get both a "dome" car as well as a "coach" car. But no "Gold," nor does "Gold" have anything to do with the dome ceiling. Does that make sense? It can be a bit confusing because there are many passenger trains in Alaska, and the same types of terms are used for many, and sometimes misused. Below I have a picture of a typical car interior (prior to the car having been refurbished), which shows the dome effect. Seats are fixed with tables between, so half the passengers will be facing backwards. This a single level car; note that there is no overhead parcel rack, so anything you bring on the train will need to be stored on the floor below the seats. Below the photograph is a video that shows the train in greater detail. (The video mistakenly refers to the train as the "Coastal Classic," which is actually a different train, though it operates on the most of the same route as the Cruise Train.) Hopefully this explanation helps to clear up the situation!

Are you certain about the schedule? Generally, cruise vessels are in port in Whittier on Saturdays, Sundays, and alternate Wednesdays. As well, when I check a port schedule, I see no vessels scheduled to be in Whittier on Monday, June 19, 2023. I am at a loss in trying to ascertain what vessel it is that you intend to board.

The cars that comprise the chartered train are all single level, single class, Panorama Dome cars. In effect, the answer to your question is really "both," meaning that these are coach cars, either former Canadian National coaches from the 1950s re-manufactured with the roof and upper sides replaced with glass, or newer Colorado Railcar coaches from the 2000s originally manufactured with the roof and upper sides consisting of glass.

For these charters, the Alaska Railroad utilizes single level Panorama Dome cars. All one class, everyone travels in "coach," no GoldStar Service. This train departs from the Anchorage airport, not downtown Anchorage. Alternatively, you could travel on the regularly-scheduled train that departs early in the morning from downtown Anchorage, not the Anchorage airport. This train is called the "Coastal Classic," and it offers two classes of service, both coach ("Adventure Class") and first class ("GoldStar Service"). Coach service includes reserved seats in ordinary chair cars plus unreserved seats in the Vista-Dome car that all passengers may use plus a café car serving meals; first class service is comprised of Ultra Dome cars with reserved seats under a full-length dome on the upper level and a lower level dining room.

No, it is not particularly faster or easier when coming from either airport. The differences are not that great. Other factors, such as airline fares and timetables, are likely to be better for decision-making.

The AirTrain transportation system at John F. Kennedy International Airport allows for additional convenient hotel choices that might not otherwise be obvious. In particular, look at hotels in central Jamaica, Queens, such as the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott New York Queens/Jamaica that opens at the end of February. This hotel is but a few minutes walk from the Jamaica AirTrain station, which effectively an extension of the airport in downtown Jamaica. The trip to or from the airport takes about 8 minutes travel time. No need to deal with any hotel shuttles. To get to Jamaica from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, walk or taxi to either (1) Pennsylvania Station, and a 20-minute train ride via Long Island Rail Road, or (2) West 50th Street and Eighth Avenue subway station, and a 34-minute train ride via E train.

Generally, multiple airlines can be written on a single ticket regardless if they "codeshare" with one another. It was very common to have multiple carriers on a single ticket prior to the modern codesharing era (particularly with Pan American World Airways, which had no meaningful domestic route network within the United States). Travel agents have to fill out the fare calculation grid carefully, in the absence of a through fare, to ensure that the fare is split and distributed to each carrier properly. The only significant exception to this general rule has traditionally been Southwest Airlines, which has always required a separate ticket (so as to avoid liability issues in the case of some type of disruption to service). Perhaps some more carriers also now insist on separate tickets, but the general rule is that multiple airlines can be on a single ticket regardless of codeshare marketing agreements.

We don't know to where the original poster intends to fly. You cannot assume that people will be traveling directly to their home. Moreover, it would not make sense to ask about immigration and customs if flying to Massachusetts because, as properly noted, both Alaska and Massachusetts are in the same country. (No one would believe that Alaska and Massachusetts are in different countries, would they?!) Thus, given the question, it is reasonable to assume that the individual is flying to some foreign country, where immigration and customs would have to be cleared. When I looked at the Anchorage airport website it indicated that international schedules are presently limited to Canada and Germany. I had thought that there were some flights to Asia as well, but I did not see anything being shown. I did not know about the service to Iceland, and I am a bit surprised that there would be sufficient demand for such service to and from Reykjavík.

It is an isolated ski resort, not a city, so there are not going to be very many choices beyond those that are offered by the ski resort itself. Additionally, transportation could be a barrier to any non-resort choices.

Airplane, railroad, bus, drive, bicycle, walk. Do you have any travel constraints or any decision-making criteria from which a more detailed or reasoned list of alternatives can be provided?

The main question: a modest distance, doable by either local public transportation or for-hire vehicle. Many people people have traveled on the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Fairbanks, but usually as a post-cruise excursion. Before a cruise, many more people travel on the Alaska Railroad in the opposite direction, from Fairbanks to Anchorage. The logistics typically work out better in this manner. Are there particular questions for this railroad journey?

Holland America Line and Princess Cruises are both owned by the same company (i.e., Carnival Corporation & plc). Some differences between the two brands, but much is the same, and neither line will say that they are "better" than the other.

Anchorage is not a very large airport, and it does not have any pre-clearance facilities for any foreign countries. There are not many countries to which one can fly directly from Anchorage (I believe only Canada and Germany, but I may be mistaken), and so you will need to clear immigration and customs for any foreign country when you arrive in that country.

Airplane, railroad, bus, drive, bicycle, walk. Do you have any travel constraints or any decision-making criteria from which a more detailed or reasoned list of alternatives can be provided?

"Sugar shack," or "cabane à sucre," is a generic term. It could be difficult to get feedback if you don't know which particular sugar shack is to be visited. Perhaps the most extravagant is the cabane à sucre Au Pied de Cochon, outside of Montréal. Several offer activities beyond gorging to a sugar coma with maple syrup fare. You may want to ask the cruise line as to the name of the particular establishment it will be offering as an excursion. The season runs through the spring, from late February through late April, so an excursion in autumn might not be all that is expected.

I think that you've actually described the options rather well, and the considerations for each. If you've enjoyed riding the Durango and Silverton railroad (or the Cumbres and Toltec railroad) in Colorado, and want a similar activity in Alaska, then stay in Skagway and ride the White Pass Route. On the other hand, if you want to get away from the tourist circuit and all the other cruise line passengers, then make the trip to Haines. Two very different choices, but it is really a decision based on your preferences . . . and I think you've outlined the decision-making factors well.