B2B cruise Alaska debarkation Whittier

[cleopatrasparachute]

I apologize if this has already been addressed. I searched and could not find the answer. I am on a B2B 14 day cruise r/t Vancouver to Alaska - although our cruise is booked as a 14 day instead of two 7 day cruises. I am curious about he debarkation/embarkation day in Whittier... My Mom and I have not booked any port excursions, and hoped to spend the day on board. Will we be allowed to do this? Will we have to leave, go through customs and re-board? Will all the facilities be available to us in Whittier on board? Thanks - this is my first cruise! :)

[Essiesmom]

Since it is a US port, you will have to debark briefly and go through immigration, then can reboard immediately. This is done after all of the debarking passengers are off the ship. All facilities will be operating, except those that are always closed in port - the shops and casino. EM

[cleopatrasparachute]

Thanks!

[paul929207]

You will get something a day or two before you reach Whittier explaining the process. You will probably be asked to meet in one of the public rooms around 9:30 or 10am to go thru immigration

[Keith1010]

I apologize if this has already been addressed. I searched and could not find the answer. I am on a B2B 14 day cruise r/t Vancouver to Alaska - although our cruise is booked as a 14 day instead of two 7 day cruises. I am curious about he debarkation/embarkation day in Whittier... My Mom and I have not booked any port excursions, and hoped to spend the day on board. Will we be allowed to do this? Will we have to leave, go through customs and re-board? Will all the facilities be available to us in Whittier on board? Thanks - this is my first cruise! :)

 

This all depends on the other ports on your itinerary. You may have to get off the ship for a short while for it to be cleared and you may not have to get off. They will let you know a couple of days before you arrive at Vancouver.

 

Keith

[cleopatrasparachute]

Thank you all so much for your help - a side note - having read copious numbers of posts and replies in the past few days, I sincerely appreciate your prompt replies and your respectful answers! I am VERY excited about my first cruise!

:)

[Smokeyham]

Just a thought, but there are some highly rated private shore excursions in Whittier which you might want to look into.

 

We will be joining a ship in Whittier, and some of the people on our roll call are very excited about doing the Prince William Sound/Blackstone Glacier trip: http://www.alaskadenalitours.com/whittier_alaska/prince-william-sound-blackstone-glacier-cruise.html

 

Staying on board (apart from your brief interlude to clear customs) could be fun. I think the ship will be very quiet, until the new passengers board.

 

Not sure how many facilities (main dining room, spa, shops, etc.) will be open, so be prepared to provide your own entertainment. However, the chance to enjoy a quiet lounge area, with a book could be nice.

[Putterdude]

As you will have pre-cleared US customs at Canada Place in Vancouver, there is no customs procedure in Whittier. However the ship must be zeroed out so you will receive instructions the day before arrival in Whittier and you will likely be asked to meet in a lounge at a specific time, when all other pax have disembarked you will be led ashore, given new cruise cards and allowed back aboard.

[mr green]

We were called at about 10.00am, for a 'photo shoot', took but a few minutes, did not get off the ship.

However, we took a private tour [26 Glaciers, great], but it took us a Loooog time to get back on, as we landed just behind many many busses.

 

john

[fleckle]

I apologize if this has already been addressed. I searched and could not find the answer. I am on a B2B 14 day cruise r/t Vancouver to Alaska - although our cruise is booked as a 14 day instead of two 7 day cruises. I am curious about he debarkation/embarkation day in Whittier... My Mom and I have not booked any port excursions, and hoped to spend the day on board. .......

 

Just a thought, but there are some highly rated private shore excursions in Whittier which you might want to look into....

Smokeyham has given you an excellent suggestion.

With a day in Whittier, it really would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity to take one of the glacier excursions there. You get views from the smaller boat that you cannot get from a cruise ship.

 

We took the Prince William Sound tour to Esther Passage and it was wonderful, a different experience from Glacier Bay or Hubbard Glacier.

 

Here is a link to a previous thread about it

 

Prince William Sound cruise - Cruise Critic Message Boards

 

You can wait to see how the weather is that day before deciding and then buy your tickets at the last minute (which is what we did) if you are willing to take the risk that they may be sold out.

 

After all, you and your Mom will have 14 days to spend time on board the cruise ship, but you will only have that one day for the opportunity to take a glacier tour from Whittier.

[dsrdsrdsr]

US immigration can be a complete pain or easy, I think it depends on whether or not the boss has toothache or is in a bad mood.

 

I did an Alaska cruise from Southampton, England which involved three immigrations. At San Francisco, everyone had to clear customs on board before anyone was allowed to get off (that took 3 hours for 1700 passengers). At Los Angeles, everyone had to get off the ship and clear customs before they would allow anyone back on - they insisted on full fingerprinting etc., that took 8 hours, and I don't think anyone was in the queue for less than 2 hours. There were no toilets in the queue, and no food available for the people who had returned to the ship after several hours on shore. At Charleston, the customs officers were actual human beings and we could come and go as we pleased.

 

It might make a difference that your ship is an official termination point as opposed to just one stop en route, and that presumably this is a regular event so they know what to do. And I'm sure it'll make a difference that it's an American ship, not a British one. So it shouldn't be a problem.

[fleckle]

Whenever we have done B2B cruises on the same ship, on the turnaround day we were issued transit passes that allowed us to come and go freely as we wished throughout the day.

 

Having a transit pass allows you to go right on board the ship whenever you return, bypassing the lines of newly arriving passengers who are checking in.

 

Cleopatrasparachute, unless the procedure has been changed recently, you and your mom should receive transit passes for your day in Whittier which will make leaving the ship and returning at your leisure a breeze.

 

Enjoy your first cruise!