Boarding time Star Princess alaska southbound

[lazyriver]

First time for Alaska. Embark 18 Jul from Whittier on Star Princess. It leaves at 8:30. What time do they let folks on the ship?

[Bizziecruzer]

Hi - boarding can start as early as 11am. Princess cabins are ready when you embark the ship. Your docs will have the time. Enjoy!

[lazyriver]

Thanks. been on princess before, and getting straight to cabin is great. thought boarding would be around noon but did not know if Alaska was different

[peety3]

Yeah, southbound is quite "different". The northbound ships visit College Fjord, then piddle their way into Whittier so they can dock at 12:01am (that way you can't say the cruise ended early by a day). Everything's off the ship by the wee hours of the morning and loaded on the correct trucks/buses. Folks start heading off the ship by 5:45am, and they're all off by maybe 9:15. Once boarding begins, they're in no big rush, as there's no sense getting to Hubbard Glacier before the sun is up (or the pax...).

 

Our Seattle RT was a lot different. Looking at the forecasted speeds, it was clear that every hour was accounted for. We left Skagway at ~5pm, and the next 49 hours were pushing 19 knots to get us to Victoria.