Voyage of the Glaciers - disembarking at Whittier

[LSWRArt]

We're cruising north to Whittier on the Golden Princess.

Arrival time is shown as 1230 am - so I guess they are tying up soon after midnight while we slumber in our cabins.

We plan to spend the next night in Whittier so we can do a 26 glaciers cruise the next day.

We thought to do a short boat trip the same afternoon as we arrive and that leaves at 1215 pm. As we are making our own arrangements and do not need the shuttle can we get off at any time, or are we still allocated a specific time?

We are in the forward part of the ship on deck 10 (Caribe).

Does anyone have an idea whether we would be safe to book this boat trip with enough time for us to disembark, clear customs and drop our cases off at our hotel?

Will everyone be off the ship by around 1000 am?

Thanks, Art

[Coral]

Yes you will have time. There are no Customs in Whittier - you will clear them in Vancouver and all your ports after that are Alaskan ports.

 

I have never stayed in Whittier but I have taken noon boat trips before.

 

They start disembarking people at 6 am for rail road trips to Denali. I think everyone is off by 9:30 or 10. There are organized times to walk off but you can probably walk off at any time after 6.

[LSWRArt]

Thanks Coral - really helpful.

Enjoy your cruising. Art

[DougH]

Note there is really nothing in Whittier. I think there are only two hotels, one is right next to the pier and about a 5 minute walk. You would easily have time to walk over check in and do the 26 Glacier cruise the same day.

 

Not sure what plans are after Whittier but you might make better use of you time elsewhere after just one day in Whittier.

[Coral]

There should be transportation back to Anchorage after the glacier cruise (train?) as people do these RT out of Anchorage. You may want to spend the night in Anchorage instead of Whittier. More hotels, better restaurants, etc...

[LSWRArt]

hi everyone,

Whittier does not seem to have a lot to offer, but our plan at the moment is to leave the Golden Princess in the morning and to go on the 1215 Surprise glacier cruise with Major Marine which lasts about 5 hours. We would then overnight in Whittiier and catch the Phillips 26 glacier cruise next morning, as that takes 8 hours. Hopefully that way we will see the beautiful Prince William Sound, lots of glaciers closer than we can on the Priness cruise ship and some sealife.

It seemed better to overnight in Whittier than to have two additional journeys to and from Anchorage.

We do then plan to go on to Anchorage, after the second cruise, to spend a few days there and also take an excursion to Denali.

Art

[DougH]

Just make sure you have hotel reservations as there are only two hotels and both are quite small. One is right next to the pier, the other is at the far end of town near the ferry terminal. You walk thru a tunnel under the railroad yards then make a left down to the end of the road. There is a small market attached to the hotel and a nice small museum worth a visit.

 

The scenery in the area is spectacular and both day cruises very nice. Once you have seen it you will find it hard to really even call Whittier a town in the traditional sense.

[Coral]

hi everyone,

Whittier does not seem to have a lot to offer, but our plan at the moment is to leave the Golden Princess in the morning and to go on the 1215 Surprise glacier cruise with Major Marine which lasts about 5 hours. We would then overnight in Whittiier and catch the Phillips 26 glacier cruise next morning, as that takes 8 hours. Hopefully that way we will see the beautiful Prince William Sound, lots of glaciers closer than we can on the Priness cruise ship and some sealife.

It seemed better to overnight in Whittier than to have two additional journeys to and from Anchorage.

We do then plan to go on to Anchorage, after the second cruise, to spend a few days there and also take an excursion to Denali.

Art

 

When I have booked the Phillips 26 glacier tour - it was an afternoon tour starting at noon. Some people book it from Anchorage which may add time to it. You may want to double check on the timing. Maybe there is a new option.

[LSWRArt]

Hi Coral, That is really helpful. I just saw an advertisement somewhere for an 8 hour tour and thought it looked really good. I knew that it was too soon to book for next year, so did not look at the booking details.

With the coach from Anchorage you leave at 0930 and get back 0730 pm. The train is even later at 0945 am to 0915 pm. It is just 5 hours for the actual 26 glacier cruise leaving at 1230 pm.

Art

[LeeW]

The Phillips tour departs from a pier next to the ship and will start checking in just before noon. Note that it is LOTS cheaper to book through them than through Princess. Earliest purchase gets best seats, although you really only sit there for lunch and walk around the boat the rest of the time. Chicken is good if you don't like fish and huge. We did this on B2B and got back to the ship around 6. This is a wow tour with a fair amount of time at 55 mph between glaciers.

[gklake]

We are staying in Whittier just for the scenery. The area is spectacular.

[Hogie bear]

Hello, I hope you had a great time. I'm doing the same cruise next August, can you tell me how your day in Whittier went? I'm also curious about the disembark, what time did you end up getting off the boat. I have originally put the 26 glacier tour on my itenirary but was thinking to take it off because I didn't know what else to do in Whittier. Thank you in advance for your help to this very new to cruising and Alaska