Skagway Water Shuttle Mess

[SCX22]

Currently on the Majestic Princess.  The ship berthed at Railroad Dock Forward, which meant that we had to tender.  Officers stated the harbormaster limited the number of tenders used to 2.  This snarled the water shuttle service, and it was a cluster for quite some time.  Around 9:00 a.m. the Holland America's Niew Amsterdam helped out the Majestic by dropping one of its tenders to use as a water shuttle for the Majestic passengers, which upped the number of tenders being used to 3.

 

Is this unusual for another ship to help?  I noticed the Majestic had 3 tenders on the port side aft, and 3 tenders could have been used from the get go.  Even the shore excursions were delayed because of the early morning water shuttle fiasco. 

 

On a different note, the major landslide is directly above the parking lot of tender pier, so I'm not sure how tendering made passengers safer.  It was still pretty close to the no man's land that the engineers blocked off.

[SuzieQ521]

Oh that's too bad!

 

We water shuttled tendered a few weeks ago at RRF on the Royal Princess and it could not have gone smoother. We definitely used more than 2 boats.  I wonder why the change? 

 

And I agree on the landslide being so close but I guess the worry is that a big ship (like the Majestic and Royal) would have no time to move if something would go awry; that's why they have to "park" so far out.

[fpsphil]

I know last year when the slide first happened they were borrowing tenders from other ships. Might be a liability around dropping the tenders on the starboard (docked) side before they actually dock. Majestic only has 2 tenders on the port side if I recall correctly.

[mith]

Last week in Skagway on Discovery Princess they lowered tenders from the pier side before docking and had 4 tenders alongside, only 2 in harbor at one time, and other two loading/unloading at the ship.

Edited June 15, 2023 by mith

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, SCX22 said:

Currently on the Majestic Princess.  The ship berthed at Railroad Dock Forward, which meant that we had to tender.  Officers stated the harbormaster limited the number of tenders used to 2.  This snarled the water shuttle service, and it was a cluster for quite some time.  Around 9:00 a.m. the Holland America's Niew Amsterdam helped out the Majestic by dropping one of its tenders to use as a water shuttle for the Majestic passengers, which upped the number of tenders being used to 3.

 

Is this unusual for another ship to help?  I noticed the Majestic had 3 tenders on the port side aft, and 3 tenders could have been used from the get go.  Even the shore excursions were delayed because of the early morning water shuttle fiasco. 

 

On a different note, the major landslide is directly above the parking lot of tender pier, so I'm not sure how tendering made passengers safer.  It was still pretty close to the no man's land that the engineers blocked off.

It makes it safer for the passengers by keeping them off of the dock under the slide area. There was a fair amount of remediation done on the slide area since last season. Part of that work was to install sensors that would give a couple of minutes warning if a slide started. Enough time for buses from the rear dock to clear the area but not enough for people on the dock area if it was used for passengers to on and off of the ship.

 

When another CCl line ship (usually HAL) in port it has been very common for them to help with tendering since the slide problem started.

Edited June 15, 2023 by ldtr

[cruisingrob21]

I'm sure CCL brass will be having a chat with that harbormaster.  Not good for skagway businesses either.  I wouldn't be surprised if threats are lobbied about moving some of the bigger ships to other ports because of this.

[Guest ldtr]

2 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I'm sure CCL brass will be having a chat with that harbormaster.  Not good for skagway businesses either.  I wouldn't be surprised if threats are lobbied about moving some of the bigger ships to other ports because of this.

Considering that those 2 docks in Skagway are owned by a subsidiary of CCL (along with the Railway) I really doubt it.  The cruise lines are considering themselves lucky that the docks can be used at all this year, even if tendering is required for the front dock.

 

There has already been some rather tense negotiations between CCL and the city because of the lease that is ending on one of the other piers that also was part of the Railway purchase.  The city  has decided not to extend the lease and will take over control of that pier.

[memoak]

The tender time is under 10 minutes to the small boat marina not near the slide. On the Discovery last week there were no tender tickets needed after 10 am

[sirclean]

Just got off the Sapphire on a 2 week Alaska Run (Vancouver-Whittier-Back).  On the way up, we docked, and the way back we had to use the water shuttle.  I was delayed more on the way up when they had to redo the ramps getting to the dock than people were taking using the water shuttle the following week.   The repositioning of the ramps also delayed excursions (including one we booked). 

People using the water shuttle were using tickets for less than 2 hours.  Everything seemed to be flowing well.  When I went to the balcony that afternoon, only 2 shuttles were running, but, as I noted, there was no line up by then.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Sorry you had to go thru that mess.

Skagway is one of the places we don't book anything, No tours, just walk the town.

Therefore we can leave the ship later, when lines die down, No hurry.

 

The Main street area (Broadway) is so easy, just walk down one side to Bites on Broadway...

say Hi to the owners, and get a Cheese biscuit (sooooo Good).  Then we walk down the other side of the street....Hit Wells Fargo if need more cash, Post office to mail anything, and end with souvenir shopping at the large store before we get back on the ship. 

Lather rinse repeat, past decade. ☺️

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo