Goldrush Sled Dogs & White Pass Train Adventure (sk85)

[mom02]

Has anyone here gone on this excursion through Celebrity? I'd like to find out more details like is it both train and bus/motor coach? Is there a car seat requirement? The excursion departs at 11:40am, is there lunch included? If not, what do people do about lunch? Can we purchase a dog card ride at the camp?

 

I'm having a hard time getting more information on this excursion from the Celebrity agents. They just read what's on the website, which is not helpful! CC members have been SO much more helpful in providing REAL information to us newbie cruisers! :D TIA!

 

(posting on Alaska board too...)

[ClaudiaB]

I haven't taken this one, but I have a suggestion. Google the name of the excursion and also check Trip Advisor. There are likely independent reviews and descriptions. I agree, Celebrity's descriptions always seem to have been written by someone unfamiliar with the excursion and/or with a language other than English as their native language. Not always helpful. But reviews by real people will help. Also, check the Alaska forum on this board and ask the same question. Very very helpful people over there.

 

We did take a great excursion off the White Pass Railroad. We got on with everyone else but got in a car that wasn't as fancy. We were dressed for hiking. Serious hiking. Several guides pulled out some lunch fixings - bread, condiments, lunch meat, etc. and we each made our own sandwich on the train. We all got off the train about 1/3 the way up and started the hike. We were given hiking poles if we didn't have our own, and the guides packed snacks and all kinds of things for us, including a lot of extra water, in their huge backpacks. I felt bad that they had to carry so much. We each had two bottles of water, a granola bar, a candy bar, and our sandwich.

We spent about 6 hours hiking up the Laughton Glacier, picking over rocks and streams, crossing the river a couple times, walking on slippery ice and just having the best time. We stopped to eat at one point and then it began to drizzle and sleet. It was so cold, but we made it back freezing drowned rats to the platform where the afternoon train picked us up. I'm making it sound like it was miserable but actually it was one of our better excursions ever. It's not for the faint of heart - there are no pathways. But the views cannot be gotten unless there is a great deal of effort made, so well worth it. It was a really fun day. Good guides who were hilarious but extremely helpful, and the people on the trip were awesome. my DH and I were the oldest ones at about 56 the year we went. But we did it!! We definitely got some looks from the other tourists on the train, wondering I'm sure WHO these bedraggled people were,

the wet and cold people with the big smiles on their faces. The best part was walking on the ship and everyone else was presentable and we were dripping wet with cold and needed showers - I know they also wondered what the heck.

[hvsteve1]

Check the White Pass web site to see what they get for the trip. The station is not a long walk from the ship. On a ship's excursion the train also sometimes stops to pick up passengers who are not on the ship's tour.

 

One of the best ways to see the White Pass is to go one way by train and the other by bus or rented car. That way you get to see the railroad from a distance. If it's a one-way train ride, I suggest take the train going up. My experience is they tend to speed up going home and you don't get the same look at the scenery as well as the guide not talking as much.

[Pate522]

We did the land tour (M-F) then boarded the Millennium on Friday for the week cruise. It was great!! The land was by bus and train. You should love it!!

 

We plan to go again and spend more time on the land tour. Alaska is breathtaking!!!

 

Patty

[jsf]

We did the all day White Pass train ride up into the Yukon ( plus lunch) and loved it.

J.

[DrivesLikeMario]

You'd do much better booking it through a private vendor like we did: https://chilkootcharters.com/

 

They don't squish you into a train car like the cruise lines do. We had a train car all to ourselves at the end which made for great pictures. We could move around, go outside on the back and take pictures, hear the waterfalls, etc.

 

They pick you up at the dock and drive you in a van to the train. It was well worth the money to do this and we got to see so much more than the cruise line tour. We went all the way to Emerald Lake, had a delicious lunch at the sled dog place, did a sled dog ride (additional cost) and stopped whenever we wanted for pictures. Def. the way to go but they book up early.

[mom02]

You'd do much better booking it through a private vendor like we did: https://chilkootcharters.com/

 

They don't squish you into a train car like the cruise lines do. We had a train car all to ourselves at the end which made for great pictures. We could move around, go outside on the back and take pictures, hear the waterfalls, etc.

 

They pick you up at the dock and drive you in a van to the train. It was well worth the money to do this and we got to see so much more than the cruise line tour. We went all the way to Emerald Lake, had a delicious lunch at the sled dog place, did a sled dog ride (additional cost) and stopped whenever we wanted for pictures. Def. the way to go but they book up early.

 

Chilkoot was our first choice but they are sold out! :eek:

We were really disappointed we couldn't book with them because we heard such awesome things about them from all the CC members. We also explored other independent vendors like Beyond Skagway and they were also not available.

Cruise newbie mistake and didn't book early enough! So now we are left with the excursions offered by the cruise

[DrivesLikeMario]

Oh no! Sorry to hear it! :( Well, I'm sure you'll still have a good time!

[ScarlettMLB]

It's been 2 years, but this is the same excursion that we did in Skagway.

 

It was a fun trip, but there wasn't an opportunity to ride with the dogs. The Gold Rush part is a very touristy spot that has a sled set up with some dogs and an experienced Iditarod racer who shows you a sled and tells you what it's like to race. Then he hooks up some dogs for a demo run. The highlight is that they then let you pet the dogs and hold puppies. Also at the same spot is a touristy pan for gold area (though you won't have time to do that) and a restaurant that serves its own beer (also no time to do it - and not worth a trip back, as we did.)

 

When we did it we took a bus to the Gold Rush place and heard the presentation and met the dogs. Then we got back on the bus and took it to the Canadian side to get on the train, so you then take the train back down to Skagway.

 

We don't have kids and I don't recall seeing any young kids on the tour, but I don't think there's a car seat requirement. However, that's just me guessing - I have no idea.

 

The train ride is amazing. We really enjoyed the dog portion. We specifically didn't want to ride on sleds, so it worked for us that it wasn't possible. But there are other excursions that do let you ride on sleds. So if that's important to you, make sure that you find one that includes a sled ride. It should be spelled out pretty clearly in the description.

[ScarlettMLB]

And lunch wasn't included - I remember getting lunch after the trip, though I don't remember what time we left. I think there were a couple of different times, so we may have had an earlier one.

 

Generally if lunch is included they mention it. Otherwise they expect you would have eaten before/after.