Ferry from Haines to Skagway for Whitepass train

[DOJO466]

We arrive in time to catch the 10:45am ferry from Haines to Skagway in time to catch the 12:45 wp train. We will be catching the LAST ferry back @ 5:45 or there a outs in plenty of time to get back to our ship which does not sail until 11pm. My fear is what if there is a problem with the last ferry I.e. Breakdown, weather, whatever.mis there an alternative way to get back to Haines? I know anything can happen and I am not as intrepid as I used to be in booking independent excursions that stray a bit too far from home so to speak.

I would like to hear Budget Queen's take on this and of course welcome any others.

[bonvoyagie]

As they say Haines to Skagway is about 45 min by fast ferry and 8 hrs by car. 19mi over water or air vs 358mi by land. You have to go into the Yukon to Whitehorse and over to Haines Jct and down to Haines. The only other possible transport would be a plane or helicopter - there is a small airstrip outside of Haines. You must be arriving on a Tue or Wed as those are the only two days they run the ferry that many times. There aren't that many ships that call on Haines so my guess is that you are on one of the early seasons sailing on Regent cruise lines as they are the only ones who stick around until 11:00 PM - the latest HAL ships stay is around 9:00PM - they also arrive earlier so that you could catch an earlier ferry.

 

what ever you do, you do not want to miss the last ferry:eek:

[DOJO466]

As they say Haines to Skagway is about 45 min by fast ferry and 8 hrs by car. 19mi over water or air vs 358mi by land. You have to go into the Yukon to Whitehorse and over to Haines Jct and down to Haines. The only other possible transport would be a plane or helicopter - there is a small airstrip outside of Haines. You must be arriving on a Tue or Wed as those are the only two days they run the ferry that many times. There aren't that many ships that call on Haines so my guess is that you are on one of the early seasons sailing on Regent cruise lines as they are the only ones who stick around until 11:00 PM - the latest HAL ships stay is around 9:00PM - they also arrive earlier so that you could catch an earlier ferry.

 

what ever you do, you do not want to miss the last ferry:eek:

Thank you for your fast reply. We are there Jun 30th on Oceania Regatta. Are there any independent jet boats that would be working at that time that could get us back at this time of year if need be ?

[judynorth]

Can you book a similar excursion through the ship? It might be worth it for the peace of mind.

[DOJO466]

Can you book a similar excursion through the ship? It might be worth it for the peace of mind.

 

No not available. I would have if it was.

[Budget Queen]

I fly to/from Haines so that would be your only alternative if you don't get that last ferry.

 

Actually- it could be "telling" that your cruise ship does not offer this?

 

I wouldn't bother with a round trip ferry, it's too tight of a timeframe for my choices. I'd fly back. Problem is, there likely isn't going to be any scheduled service, and you would be chartering. (which I've done)

[geoherb]

We did the opposite on our first cruise--taking the ferry from Skagway to Haines and back. We had more time since we kayaked there instead of doing something as long as the train trip. I wouldn't want to risk depending on the last ferry of the day to get back.

[varoo]

I fly to/from Haines so that would be your only alternative if you don't get that last ferry.

 

Actually- it could be "telling" that your cruise ship does not offer this?

 

I wouldn't bother with a round trip ferry, it's too tight of a timeframe for my choices. I'd fly back. Problem is, there likely isn't going to be any scheduled service, and you would be chartering. (which I've done)

That is what we use as backup when cutting it close on riding the last fast ferry of the day from Haines back to Skagway.

 

We priced a chartered flight, from Haines both to Skagway and to Juneau (the ship's next port). Although that was expensive, we figured it would be fine for backup to give us peace of mind, just in case.

 

Fortunately, the last ferry worked out fine for us each time so we never needed the chartered flight.

 

Also, when we wanted to do our own thing in Haines, we checked to see if the cruise ship had one of their own excursions scheduled to return to Skagway on the last ferry that day.

If they did, we felt reasonably safe, figuring they would hold the ship for their own excursion even if the ferry should be late.

 

[DougH]

Many more cruise ships stop in Skagway than Haines, with your tight schedule I'd explore the area around Haines on this trip and save the Railroad for another cruise that stops in Skagway. Maybe rent a car and drive outside Haines, or I highly recommend a flightseeing trip with Paul from Mountain Flying Service. I went with him last year over Glacier Bay and it was spectacular.

[varoo]

Many more cruise ships stop in Skagway than Haines, with your tight schedule I'd explore the area around Haines on this trip and save the Railroad for another cruise that stops in Skagway. Maybe rent a car and drive outside Haines, or I highly recommend a flightseeing trip with Paul from Mountain Flying Service. I went with him last year over Glacier Bay and it was spectacular.

It also provides a wonderful way to see Glacier Bay for those who are on cruises that do not go to Glacier Bay.

 

For those who wish to rent a car and drive outside Haines, don't forget to bring along Murray's guide to Exploring the Haines Highway

 

http://www.explorenorth.com/library/roads/haines_highway.html

[judynorth]

We did a float trip in Haines and loved it.

[Eaglecw]

Last year we took the fast ferry over to Haines from Skagway and went on a jet boat excursion out of Haines with Chilkat River Adventures and had awesome time, we had so much fun the wife wants to do it again this year. The ferry ride to Haines was uneventful, prefect weather, the water was like glass, smooth. The year before when we were in Skagway, when we got there in the morning the weather was beautiful, in the early afternoon a big storm moved in and the wind came up. The fast ferry was on its way back to Skagway when the storm came up and it was over an hour late getting back to Skagway, they held the ship as it was a ship sponsored excursion, had it not been a ship sponsored excursion they would have left those folks at Skagway. When the ferry did make it back to Skagway from Haines the cruise ship had arranged transportation for those people who were on the ship sponsored excursion. Those people who weren’t on the ship sponsored excursion had to sprint down the pier to get to the ship before they lifted the gangway. The last person made it just as they were about to lift the gangway, had he been 2 minutes later he would have been finding his way to the next port on his own. I would only take a ship sponsored excursion on something like this because the chances of something unforeseen happening are pretty good, bad weather, mechanical failure etc.

[wolfie11]

The problem is that if the weather is too bad for the ferry, it's not going to be flyable either. The ferry is more reliable than flying when it comes to weather. Haines is drop-dead beautiful. I almost always catch the ferry to Haines and do something there when I am in port in Skagway.

[varoo]

The problem is that if the weather is too bad for the ferry, it's not going to be flyable either. The ferry is more reliable than flying when it comes to weather. Haines is drop-dead beautiful. I almost always catch the ferry to Haines and do something there when I am in port in Skagway.

That is only one reason why we want to know our backup options for getting to the next port before heading off on our own -- just in case.

 

Happy to say that in all our years of cruising, we have never yet needed to use even one of our backup plans as we have always made it back to the ship in time, no matter where in the world we went.

 

 

We generally prefer to make our own sightseeing plans and tend to avoid ship excursions, or in some cases where feasible arrange independently to use the same transportation that a ship excursion is using.

 

But we are not carefree daredevil types and we do believe in being reasonably prudent, so in situations where there is no reasonable alternative backup plan, then we will book a ship excursion.

 

 

If you use any of the well-known, reputable independent tour operators in Alaska, they have their own backup plans for getting passengers back to their ships just in case anything should go wrong.

We find them to be much more conscientious than the ship's own tour operators about getting passengers back to the ship on time (for obvious reason).

 

 

Edited April 17, 2015 by varoo

[cdnchris]

Putting this message in a 2nd thread just in case... can those of you who have taken the ferry from Haines to Skagway tell me if the dock is the same as the one used for the cruiseships? I have a ticket for the 6:45am ferry this June and I'm just planning ahead. I have booked an independent tour that gets back to the Skagway dock shortly after 4 so should have no issue with catching the 6:05 ferry. I know that is the same ferry time the afternoon cruiseship excursion on the White Pass railway will be using which was one of the main reasons I was ok with booking it. I certainly hope I don't have to sprint too far if I have to run for the ship! (how far??!)

[Budget Queen]

Putting this message in a 2nd thread just in case... can those of you who have taken the ferry from Haines to Skagway tell me if the dock is the same as the one used for the cruiseships? I have a ticket for the 6:45am ferry this June and I'm just planning ahead. I have booked an independent tour that gets back to the Skagway dock shortly after 4 so should have no issue with catching the 6:05 ferry. I know that is the same ferry time the afternoon cruiseship excursion on the White Pass railway will be using which was one of the main reasons I was ok with booking it. I certainly hope I don't have to sprint too far if I have to run for the ship! (how far??!)

 

The Fast Ferry, leaves from the same dock area as the cruise ship in Haines. here is a map http://www.hainesskagwayfastferry.com/maps--directions.html

[cdnchris]

Thank you! (for your reply in both threads) I'm taking a chance and travelling by myself on a day trip in Skagway so I needed to ease my mind on getting to and from the ferry.