What is the status of Skagway for 2023 season?

[Panhandle Couple]

I have been looking at on line articles, and no mention of anything past late November.

The status then was as follows:

Landslide area is still being worked on, much of the work manually.

 

A new large "holding net will be installed to replace the destroyed one, and an additional, closer to dock, net installed.

 

This will NOT allow two ships to dock however.  It will be the same as the end of last year.  One ship docking at the far end and tendering in to the small boat harbor.  No one will be allowed to "walk the dock".

 

An expansion of the other "ore dock" to allow 1 small, and 1 large ship will not happen.  Neither RCL or NCL said they can bring their ships in unless the plan lengthens the dock.  With a steep drop of, that is nearly impossible, tripling (or more) the cost.  A moot point, as the cheapest bid for the original plan was 75% over budget.

 

Carnival has the lease for the large dock for 1 more year.  No discussion of what happens after that.

 

Tendering another large ship further away is a problem.  The water is deep, and there are not enough small boat tenders to support.  The tide also is large, up to 20ft, making tender access at all times difficult.

 

Does anyone here have any updated info?

Rumors or inside info from the locals there?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Panhandle Couple]

Bumping this up.

 

Over 200 views and no responses.

 

Hmmm.

[Crew News]

My Holland America Skagway stop in May was cancelled.

[Hllb]

Is there anywhere that says which dock a particular ship uses? Is it true that 3 ships can dock, and just the 4th cannot? I know the railroad dock is for the larger ships, but not sure what constitutes larger in that context.

[Hllb]

I found where they docked last year, if anyone is interested: https://www.skagway.com/cruises-and-ferries/cruise-ship-calendar/

 

My ship docked at the one that is no longer accessible, of course.

[Panhandle Couple]

58 minutes ago, Hllb said:

I found where they docked last year, if anyone is interested: https://www.skagway.com/cruises-and-ferries/cruise-ship-calendar/

 

My ship docked at the one that is no longer accessible, of course.

Thanks!

 

That is a good picture for describing the situation.  It even has the rock slide area (brown gash along the cliff).

 

The workaround last year was to keep only 1 ship at the dock, in the location of the one on the right, yet tender them in.  This is because it is too risky for people to walk the length of the dock  I always wondered why we were walking between shipping containers, now I know.  The rock slide forced its way through those containers last year.

 

From all I can find, no new alternative solution has been made.  

 

Digging in the web site I found the following:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SKG-Skagway-2024.pdf

 

It shows 4 ships per day for most days.  I'm not certain that is the reality at the moment.

[naturelovergirl]

1 hour ago, Hllb said:

Is there anywhere that says which dock a particular ship uses? Is it true that 3 ships can dock, and just the 4th cannot? I know the railroad dock is for the larger ships, but not sure what constitutes larger in that context.

Yes

https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf

The berth codes are beside the ship name and those codes can be found on the CLA Alaska site.

 

[Northern Aurora]

2 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

.....

 

It shows 4 ships per day for most days.  I'm not certain that is the reality at the moment.

 

If you check the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska website as referenced above you will find that there are a number of days in which Skagway will host four ships during the 2023 season.

[Hllb]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

If you check the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska website as referenced above you will find that there are a number of days in which Skagway will host four ships during the 2023 season.

Scheduled yes, but probably not reality for 2023. They were trying to do a work around that didn’t work out

[Hllb]

4 hours ago, Crew News said:

My Holland America Skagway stop in May was cancelled.

Did they cancel it just for your ship, or all their ships/schedule? Did they divert to another port?

[Crew News]

1 minute ago, Hllb said:

Did they cancel it just for your ship, or all their ships/schedule? Did they divert to another port?

I can only speak for my ship.  Victoria was substituted and all excursions for Skagway are to be refunded.  I cancelled my Skagway excursions immediately upon hearing of the change and the refund is now on my credit card.

[Panhandle Couple]

2 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

If you check the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska website as referenced above you will find that there are a number of days in which Skagway will host four ships during the 2023 season.

That is my concern.

 

The 2022 schedule also showed my late Aug visit by the Discovery Princess, which didn't happen.  So they never updated the schedules to match reality. At least for 2022.

[Panhandle Couple]

 

the dock codes are:

 

RRF - Railroad Forward (right side of picture)

RRA - Railroad Aft (right side of picture)

ORE - Ore Terminal Dock (I believe on the left of picture)

BRD - Broadway Dock (just to the right of the Ore dock, much smaller ship there or empty?)

 

So...It appears if your ship is scheduled for the ORE or BRD you will probably be OK.

If scheduled for RRF, probably out of luck.  

If scheduled for RRA, it might change depending on the status of the cliff, and port politics.

 

 

 

 

[Northern Aurora]

31 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

That is my concern.

 

The 2022 schedule also showed my late Aug visit by the Discovery Princess, which didn't happen.  So they never updated the schedules to match reality. At least for 2022.

 

1 hour ago, Hllb said:

Scheduled yes, but probably not reality for 2023. They were trying to do a work around that didn’t work out

 

I wonder if either poster has been to Skagway.  We live in Alaska and have been there multiple times.  We have both driven our own vehicles into Skagway and stopped on cruise ship port call.  

 

We were in Skagway twice last summer -- once a few days before the slide and the second time a few days after the slide.  After the slide the ships which had issues were those scheduled to dock at the forward Railroad Dock berth.  Those at the rear of the dock tendered.  It was a very quick tender ride to the Skagway small boat harbor.  Ships at the other docks were not impacted.

 

While I can only report on my own experience through the years I haven't found serious issues with the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska schedule. 

[erienetuser]

16 hours ago, Crew News said:

My Holland America Skagway stop in May was cancelled.

 

When did they cancel it? I  just booked a  cruise  last  week  for  May and  it's still listed as a stop,  I'm  on  Princess.

[endoellen]

We will be on Radiance of the Seas in May 2023 & also have Skagway as a port of call.  I have already booked an excursion with Chilkoot Charters & so looking forward to it. 

I sent an email to them regarding this matter & this is the reply I got:

The Municipality of Skagway has been working diligently with engineers and construction companies to rectify the hillside next to the railroad dock. The work at the dock area should be completed by May 1st.  If your ship does not make it to port, you will be fully refunded.

 

 

[Hllb]

22 minutes ago, endoellen said:

We will be on Radiance of the Seas in May 2023 & also have Skagway as a port of call.  I have already booked an excursion with Chilkoot Charters & so looking forward to it. 

I sent an email to them regarding this matter & this is the reply I got:

The Municipality of Skagway has been working diligently with engineers and construction companies to rectify the hillside next to the railroad dock. The work at the dock area should be completed by May 1st.  If your ship does not make it to port, you will be fully refunded.

 

 

A disappointing response, at least based on what I've read. It doesn't seem like they have a solution for the dock (though if they actually have one that will be ready by May, I'd be thrilled to hear it, everything I read said there wasn't an option they could do in time for this season). But, if the port is missed, I'd prefer a different port rather than a refund, so that's a bummer.

[cruisingrob21]

16 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

the dock codes are:

 

RRF - Railroad Forward (right side of picture)

RRA - Railroad Aft (right side of picture)

ORE - Ore Terminal Dock (I believe on the left of picture)

BRD - Broadway Dock (just to the right of the Ore dock, much smaller ship there or empty?)

 

So...It appears if your ship is scheduled for the ORE or BRD you will probably be OK.

If scheduled for RRF, probably out of luck.  

If scheduled for RRA, it might change depending on the status of the cliff, and port politics.

Probably the most straight forward assessment I have heard yet.

 

In most instances, the RRF/RRA docks handle the largest ships (Royal Class, Quantum Class, Breakaway Plus class and and Solstice class).  On days when there are just one large ship, on the RR docks, it might be possible to do the tender operation from the aft dock, but on days with two, I'd expect some ships will get sent to Haines/ISP/Sitka.  It could be decided on whomever will be their earlier, or the town may decide based on an allotment of slots that attempts to allow equal access for the different cruise lines.

 

Unfortunately, there may not be alternatives.  For instance, on Aug 10th, the Discovery Princess and Quantum of the Seas are supposed to be at RRF and RRA respectively along with the Disney Wonder and Noordam at the other docks.  Should the Discovery or Quantum be diverted to an alternative port, Haines has the Crown Princess scheduled, ISP has the Norwegian Sun scheduled, and Sitka has the Westerdam scheduled.  While Sitka could accommodate another ship, it may not work to fit in the Discovery or Quantum's schedule.  And I'm not sure both ships could use tenders simultaneously - does anyone know how much room there is at the tender pier in Skagway?  Could it accommodate two large ships and 4 to 5 tenders each during morning and evening peak times?

Edited February 9, 2023 by cruisingrob21

[Hllb]

5 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Probably the most straight forward assessment I have heard yet.

 

In most instances, the RRF/RRA docks handle the largest ships (Royal Class, Quantum Class, Breakaway Plus class and and Solstice class).  On days when there are just one large ship, on the RR docks, it might be possible to do the tender operation from the aft dock, but on days with two, I'd expect some ships will get sent to Haines/ISP/Sitka.  It could be decided on whomever will be their earlier, or the town may decide based on an allotment of slots that attempts to allow equal access for the different cruise lines.

 

Unfortunately, there may not be alternatives.  For instance, on Aug 10th, the Discovery Princess and Quantum of the Seas are supposed to be at RRF and RRA respectively along with the Disney Wonder and Noordam at the other docks.  Should the Discovery or Quantum be diverted to an alternative port, Haines has the Crown Princess scheduled, ISP has the Norwegian Sun scheduled, and Sitka has the Westerdam scheduled.  While Sitka could accommodate another ship, it may not work to fit in the Discovery or Quantum's schedule.  And I'm not sure both ships could use tenders simultaneously - does anyone know how much room there is at the tender pier in Skagway?  Could it accommodate two large ships and 4 to 5 tenders each during morning and evening peak times?

 

Could point - the other ports need to have room as well. I'd be mostly OK with a port change, but would be pretty disappointed with an extra sea day. I know that can always happen, but this feels different since the issue was widely known before the season (except to me LOL).

 

I just spoke to Celebrity about cancellation fees, as I'm thinking of switching cruises, and also asked about this. The person didn't have any information on it but assured me I'd be refunded if we missed a port. I of course didn't really expect them to know the answer - I'm sure they're equally frustrated with the uncertainty.

[cruisingrob21]

5 minutes ago, Hllb said:

 

Could point - the other ports need to have room as well. I'd be mostly OK with a port change, but would be pretty disappointed with an extra sea day. I know that can always happen, but this feels different since the issue was widely known before the season (except to me LOL).

 

I just spoke to Celebrity about cancellation fees, as I'm thinking of switching cruises, and also asked about this. The person didn't have any information on it but assured me I'd be refunded if we missed a port. I of course didn't really expect them to know the answer - I'm sure they're equally frustrated with the uncertainty.

Nothing can really be done until this spring unfortunately - probably still limited daylight up there and snow to contend with.  Spring may bring more rockfalls also.

[cruisingrob21]

Although now that I look at it, ISP has 2 docks for large ships - not sure if they are both active, but it sure looks like it.

Edited February 9, 2023 by cruisingrob21

[cruisingrob21]

This is the latest I've seen.  Sounds like there may have been some work done in the winter, but the "death rock of doom" looms large.

 

https://khns.org/skagways-rockslide-mitigation-report-shows-significant-progress

[Panhandle Couple]

5 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

This is the latest I've seen.  Sounds like there may have been some work done in the winter, but the "death rock of doom" looms large.

 

https://khns.org/skagways-rockslide-mitigation-report-shows-significant-progress

Well, that's my concern. No info since the end of Nov.  And it doesn't look promising.

[Panhandle Couple]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:33 PM, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

I wonder if either poster has been to Skagway.  We live in Alaska and have been there multiple times.  We have both driven our own vehicles into Skagway and stopped on cruise ship port call.  

 

We were in Skagway twice last summer -- once a few days before the slide and the second time a few days after the slide.  After the slide the ships which had issues were those scheduled to dock at the forward Railroad Dock berth.  Those at the rear of the dock tendered.  It was a very quick tender ride to the Skagway small boat harbor.  Ships at the other docks were not impacted.

 

While I can only report on my own experience through the years I haven't found serious issues with the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska schedule. 

Yes, I have been to Skagway twice.  Great place, and probably one of the better cruise stop in North America.

As I stated, I missed it last year, due to the rock slide.

And a 25% reduction (more like 30% due to ship size) in travelers is big for the town and the travelers. 

 

And the key is the cruise lines (all of them) are selling cruises stating Skagway, when in fact they will not be able to supply that port for many of their cruises.

 

The port politics I mentioned is that Carnival (who also owns Princess) has the lease for the Skagway dock for another year.  Then I assume it is up for re-bid, or simply a new contract. Will Carnival demand a priority for their ships?

 

ISP new dock is owned by native Alaskan Corp, so open to all.

NCL last year gave their Juneau dock site to the same Corp for improved development.  I assume that will influence their accessibility to the ISP dock.

 

The new dock at Sitka is owned by Royal Caribbean.  I assume they will give their ships priority there.

 

Haines, never been there but have been told only smaller ships can dock there.  

 

[Panhandle Couple]

10 hours ago, endoellen said:

We will be on Radiance of the Seas in May 2023 & also have Skagway as a port of call.  I have already booked an excursion with Chilkoot Charters & so looking forward to it. 

I sent an email to them regarding this matter & this is the reply I got:

The Municipality of Skagway has been working diligently with engineers and construction companies to rectify the hillside next to the railroad dock. The work at the dock area should be completed by May 1st.  If your ship does not make it to port, you will be fully refunded.

 

 

Looking at the port schedule for May, I see Radiance of the Sea for Skagway as follows:

 

Sunday May 14 - RRF  (not good)

Wednesday May 24 - ORE (Good)

Monday May 29 - RRF (not good)

And

Wednesday June 7 - ORE

Monday June 12 - ORE

The rest of the summer looks like Wednesdays for ORE, Mondays for RRF.