Just Back from N.Bound Alaska Radiance Cruise - Potpourrie of Info

[Ashland]

It had absolutely nothing to do with the luggage tags. That wasn't the big hold up or the line. The line was AFTER you got in the building and was waiting to go through security because US Customs/Immigration was backed up (we had a long chat with Security while we were waiting to go through). I didn't have tags (my printer broke before I left so I couldn't print them) the porter handed me one to fill out, and it took 1 minute for me to fill it out and slap it on the bag.

 

And yes, both ships go through the same security and then US/Immigration area - ship check in isn't until AFTER that.

 

Lydia

Sorry but the luggage tags did create an additional backup..you must have gotten there after that happened and when porters started walking through the terminal handing them out..Prior to that it was a mess. Yes, once they started handing them out it was easy to quickly fill them out and move on to the long backup Custom/Immigration line. But saying it had "absolutely" nothing to do with the mess was your personal opinion and timing not the case with many others (who were also there very early) I spoke to about this onboard. It was a "domino" effect for this first of the season..But the luggage tags should have been easily accessible from the get go and luggage carts set up at more than one location, not after the mess they saw being created during early boarding.

[Ashland]

FYI - this is the Alaska Railroad Train from Seward to Anchorage.

 

There were several people I talked to that did the one in Skagway, and they said it was wonderful.

 

Speaking of Skagway - There's a great little "town" shuttle bus, it's $5 for an all day pass and takes you to pretty much everywhere you want to go.

We did the cruise train transfer (Grandview Railroad) from Seward and it was wonderful...very well organized easy disembarkatation at 6:20am handed out boarding pass seat assignment and quickly boarded the train...We have done this particular transfer before when having an early afternoon same day flight from ANC and enjoyed it and it certainly didn't disappoint this time as we had a wonderful onboard guide and cook...Well worth booking this when necessary..Just remember this option sells out quickly (pre-cruise) as many we heard waited until onboard and it wasn't available.

[Alexat2]

Sorry but the luggage tags did create an additional backup..you must have gotten there after that happened and when porters started walking through the terminal handing them out..Prior to that it was a mess. Yes, once they started handing them out it was easy to quickly fill them out and move on to the long backup Custom/Immigration line. But saying it had "absolutely" nothing to do with the mess was your personal opinion and timing not the case with many others (who were also there very early) I spoke to about this onboard. It was a "domino" effect for this first of the season..But the luggage tags should have been easily accessible from the get go and luggage carts set up at more than one location, not after the mess they saw being created during early boarding.

 

I was there at 1:30pm - and the backup then had nothing to do with luggage tags. It was not caused by a domino effect, it was definitely caused by US Immigration. I know because it was discussed in depth with the personnel that had been there working all day at security (we had 15 minutes of just standing there to have the discussion). They literally had to stop people for 15-20 minutes at a time to wait on US Immigration to finish processing people in their line before they could let more people through.

[negc]

It's being rolled out in stages. Not all ships have it yet. Somewhere on CC the schedule is posted.

 

Lydia

Correct. New menus were introduced on Grandeur only a week or two ago. Last Fall they were introduced on the Jewel. Someone may have a schedule indicating when the menus will appear on which ships, but I believe that the entire fleet should have them shortly.

[Ashland]

I was there at 1:30pm - and the backup then had nothing to do with luggage tags. It was not caused by a domino effect, it was definitely caused by US Immigration. I know because it was discussed in depth with the personnel that had been there working all day at security (we had 15 minutes of just standing there to have the discussion). They literally had to stop people for 15-20 minutes at a time to wait on US Immigration to finish processing people in their line before they could let more people through.

I was there between approx 10:00am-12:30pm and it seems like your reason for backup was very different than mine, thus the perhaps domino effect that might have triggered it started with my timeframe (even though you seem to know more with your later arrival)...the luggage tags were a problem to those of us there that early...Perhaps something you weren't aware of with your later arrival and those you came into contact with at that time..

 

As often happens one miss-step somewhere along the chain can have a reaction elsewhere in space & time.

[TexasTravlerSenior]

We are taking Tour #10 at the end of our 7 day cruise to Alaska. Can anyone tell me what time the motorcoach arrives in Denali from Talkeetna on the land portion of this land tour. We are trying to book excursions and it seems RC brokers out the land portion.

[Geldhart]

Will this Customs issues affect Canadians? Or is it specific to Americans?

 

 

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