Ward Cove Transportation

[mitchden]

Serenade of the Seas is docking at Ward Cove (Ketchikan) on July 12. I understand there is free buses into town and back to Ward Cove. If the line is too long or the wait is too long, are there taxis? If so, how much will it cost? Are there Uber or Lyft drivers available to take you downtown?

[J0Y0US]

Never saw any last year. Doesn't mean they don't. 

 

Not sure uber/lyft can pick up or drop off there since it's a private dock area from my understanding.

 

Ward Cove is not a great spot to dock unfortunately. 

[trivia addict]

We did Ward Cove on the Quantum in May. There was almost no wait on either end of the shuttle. Of course that was early in the season, but then the Serenade  is  a much smaller ship also.  The buses are large and run continuously. We were happy with the service.
Ride into town is about 20 minutes.

[quack2]

Ward Cove sucks.

[donaldsc]

10 hours ago, trivia addict said:

We did Ward Cove on the Quantum in May. There was almost no wait on either end of the shuttle. Of course that was early in the season, but then the Serenade  is  a much smaller ship also.  The buses are large and run continuously. We were happy with the service.
Ride into town is about 20 minutes.

 

That is still a total of 40 minutes of your port time not counting the time you spend waiting for the bus.  One of the sites I found said that the typical visitor spends 8 hours ashore in Ketchikan .  That site was dated 2019.  I would suspect that the port times are shorter now.  However using those numbers means that you spend about 10% of your limited Ketchikan port time riding the bus.  I don't cruise on RC but I agree w Quack2's succinct comment  - Ward Cove sucks.

 

DON

[YVRteacher]

The free shuttles run continuously and there has never been a wait when we have been there.  The shuttles are large tour buses.  There are more shuttles than people who need them!

While Ward Cove is certainly less convenient than docking right in Ketchikan, we just looked at this as an opportunity to see a little more of the municipal part of town and to enjoy the great stories from all the shuttle drivers.  It was not an unpleasant experience.

The area surrounding the warehouse and the roads leading out of Ward Cove are really junky and decrepit but once those two minutes are over the drive is fine.

[Jason82]

We docked in Ward Cove last week in the NCL Encore. Buses were aplenty both at 7 AM when we got off and around 11 AM when we returned. No waits either time.
 

While I was disappointed it cuts into port time, it went better than expected. We had a sweet driver who told us about the town and area. Most of the ride has pretty views. 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Jason82

[disneynutssss]

Has anyone seen if they can accomodate a mobility scooter?

[wolfie11]

On 6/25/2022 at 10:54 AM, quack2 said:

Ward Cove sucks.

Wait til they open their new dock in Whittier…

[dmwnc1959]

1 hour ago, wolfie11 said:

Wait til they open their new dock in Whittier…

Isn't there already an existing cruise ship dock at Whittier? Are they building a brand new one? I know Princess Cruises and Holland-America already use that port. 

 

Edited May 19 by dmwnc1959

[wcook]

On 6/25/2022 at 4:49 PM, donaldsc said:

That is still a total of 40 minutes of your port time

Consider it an excursion. A FREE excursion. 

[wolfie11]

3 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

Isn't there already an existing cruise ship dock at Whittier? Are they building a brand new one? I know Princess Cruises and Holland-America already use that port. 

 

They’re building their own.

https://www.cruisehive.com/construction-begins-on-new-alaska-cruise-port-destination/84233

https://www.ncl.com/port-of-call/cruises-to-whittier

[dmwnc1959]

32 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

They’re building their own.

https://www.cruisehive.com/construction-begins-on-new-alaska-cruise-port-destination/84233

https://www.ncl.com/port-of-call/cruises-to-whittier

Very interesting. 🤔 I'll be on Norwegian Jade at the end of April 2025 when she docks in Whittier as the first-ever NCL ship to use this port. I wonder if that new terminal will be completed by then? 

[jean-lynd]

This site explains a lot about Wards cove. Wardcoveak.com