White Pass summit rail trip booked with Princess

[lorri111]

Hi, have booked the 3 hour round trip White Pass rail trip from Ketchikan Alaska and was wondering if we are allocated seats or there is a switch of sides at turn around point to maximise viewing.

[caribill]

Hi, have booked the 3 hour round trip White Pass rail trip from Ketchikan Alaska and was wondering if we are allocated seats or there is a switch of sides at turn around point to maximise viewing.

 

You pick your seats when boarding, first come, first choice.

 

No forced switching of sides.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Just so you area aware.........The train wheels squeal so loud you might want to take ear plugs. If you don't use them ok, but you will be happy you have them in case. Also, it rocks side to side for the entire 3 hours and the motion might make you a bit queasy.

 

Alaska is an amazing place and this train trip is really a once in a lifetime.

 

Enjoy

[Rosethorn40]

If I remember correctly, the left side offered the best viewing, but there are outside viewing platforms that you can use to take photos

[luvteaching]

We did this trip in July in Skagway (not Ketchikan - must have been a typo). When you get to the summit the seats are "switched". The backs move and face forward going up and then switched to face the opposite direction going back down. An announcement is made to also switch sides of the aisle. My husband is in a scooter and we were in the handicapped car (which was great by the way) and the system worked very well.

 

The attendants come around to see you, for $20.00, a hat, DVD, and book combo. It's worth the money for a great souvenir - at least my husband thought so!

 

It is a bit noisy and it's a rickety ride but a lot of fun. Once you leave Skagway you can go out on the platforms of each car for picture taking and there is quite a lot of commentary as you go.

 

Enjoy!

 

Karen

[Daisyloo]

Like described above, when you get to the summit, the train stops. They switch the engines from the front to the "new" front. The seat backs flip over the seat, so that the seat now face the opposite direction. They ask everyone to switch seats with the persons across the aisle. It works well.

As far as noise is concerned, we had no issue at all, and the motion was what we expected from a train. We really enjoyed the excursion. The scenery is awesome.

[RetiredNTraveling]

We most definitely would recommend the right side on the way down! Wow the scenery is wonderful.

Just Mike

[timetravler]

The scenery you don't see on the way up, you will see on the way down. Therefore it doesn't matter what side you sit on. BTW, I have done this excursion 3 times. When you book it through Princess you get a train car all for those who booked through Princess and usually it is the train car closest to the ship. This excursion is well worth the money and great for all ages.

[sashas_mom]

The advantage of starting out on the left side of the train is the narration is given only on the way up. It's nice to see what the speaker is referring to.

[Ethel5]

We did this tour last month and at the top, we flipped the seat backs AND changed sides. good trip and quite beautiful.

[cruisequeen4ever]

As others have said, you choose your own seats, and you want to be on the left side for the train ride up to the summit. They seem to fill the cars back to front, or at least they did when we went. We asked to go all the way to the front to have a better chance of being able to spread out, since our car would be filled last. Sure enough, ours was half full, so we all got to sit on the best side both ways! [emoji106]

[capriccio]

I haven't done this excursion with Princess - we did it with Chilkoot Charters - but I will share something I learned: be in the last car of the train going up the Pass if at all possible so when you stand on the rear viewing platform you have an unobstructed view looking down behind you. We were lucky - Chilkoot reserved the last car of the train and the number of passengers was limited to the number of seats on one side of the train car.

[lorri111]

Thanks so much for all the advice guys. BTW, is the seating configuration 2-aisle-2? I am hoping that since we are going early (late May) that maybe there will be lots of spare room to move about :-)

[luvteaching]

Thanks so much for all the advice guys. BTW, is the seating configuration 2-aisle-2? I am hoping that since we are going early (late May) that maybe there will be lots of spare room to move about :-)

 

Yes, it is. The seats are old ones - not that plush. I like to get out on the platform for picture taking. There is one at each end of the car.

 

Karen

[IECalCruiser]

We were fortunate in 2010 to be on the first train departing in the afternoon. We actually went around the loop and they didn't need to change the locomotive to the other end. We had the longest trip because we were the first to leave and the last to return. At least then, noise and motion were no issues.