Arriving in Whittier via ferry on embarkation day

[recker]

In an incessant effort to optimize our land itinerary, I am kicking around the idea of taking the slow ferry from Valdez to Whittier on the day our cruise departs.

 

Normally, I am a big believer in arriving a day early to avoid any transportation mishaps. After doing some research, however, this idea seems pretty low-risk, and a good way to get some value out of embarkation day.

 

• The ferry is scheduled to arrive in Whittier at 1:45 pm. The ship does not depart until 8:30 pm.
  
• My impression is that the on-time record for the ferries is pretty good (defined as plus or minus 1-2 hours). The ferry could be 5 hours late with no problems
  
• If the ferry is cancelled, we could still have time to drive. We would have 10 hours to drive 384 miles from Valdez to Whittier in time to make the 6:30 pm Whittier tunnel -- difficult and miserable, but not impossible unless a wreck closes a road (in which case we've been hit by two unlikely events and obviously weren't meant to be on the cruise. ;))
  
• there's a good chance we would know by the night before if the ferry was cancelled, since the ferry we would be on arrives at 8:30 pm the previous night
  
• we'd planned on taking the ferry anyway - for the scenery, and to avoid driving the same road twice - and are fine with the one-way rental drop-off charge for Whittier.
  

Thoughts? Is my logic sound? It seems fairly low risk to me -- no worse than any other independent excursion or transfer on embarkation day.

 

In particular, if anyone has any knowledge of the likelihood of ferry cancellations (or severely late operations) -- that would be really helpful.

[AkSusan]

In an incessant effort to optimize our land itinerary, I am kicking around the idea of taking the slow ferry from Valdez to Whittier on the day our cruise departs.

 

Normally, I am a big believer in arriving a day early to avoid any transportation mishaps. After doing some research, however, this idea seems pretty low-risk, and a good way to get some value out of embarkation day.

 

• The ferry is scheduled to arrive in Whittier at 1:45 pm. The ship does not depart until 8:30 pm.
  
• My impression is that the on-time record for the ferries is pretty good (defined as plus or minus 1-2 hours). The ferry could be 5 hours late with no problems
  
• If the ferry is cancelled, we could still have time to drive. We would have 10 hours to drive 384 miles from Valdez to Whittier in time to make the 6:30 pm Whittier tunnel -- difficult and miserable, but not impossible unless a wreck closes a road (in which case we've been hit by two unlikely events and obviously weren't meant to be on the cruise. ;))
  
• there's a good chance we would know by the night before if the ferry was cancelled, since the ferry we would be on arrives at 8:30 pm the previous night
  
• we'd planned on taking the ferry anyway - for the scenery, and to avoid driving the same road twice - and are fine with the one-way rental drop-off charge for Whittier.
  

Thoughts? Is my logic sound? It seems fairly low risk to me -- no worse than any other independent excursion or transfer on embarkation day.

 

In particular, if anyone has any knowledge of the likelihood of ferry cancellations (or severely late operations) -- that would be really helpful.

Usually the only reason that there would be ferry cancellations is if the ferry has something mechanical go wrong and it has to be pulled from service. Unfortunately, there is no way to know when that would happen. Then according to what route it's affected they sometimes shift other ferry schedules to cover a down ferry.

 

In regards to running late, something mechanical could happen that they could fix in port or run into fog (but that happens more in the winter).

 

Susan in Anchorage :)