Ultimate Yukon & White Pass Railroad

[bhamcruzer]

Has anyone done this excursion with any cruise line? It is an 8 hour excursion that seems to take you to a lot of places. We're on Norwegian the end of July and are looking at excursions out of Skagway, preferrably ones that involve the White Pass Railroad.

[curiousl8y]

Has anyone done this excursion with any cruise line? It is an 8 hour excursion that seems to take you to a lot of places. We're on Norwegian the end of July and are looking at excursions out of Skagway, preferrably ones that involve the White Pass Railroad.

 

We did that one in May 2005 on the Norwegian Star, and really loved it.

 

It was a loooong day, but my favorite excursion.

 

As soon as you leave the ship, they put you on a bus for the first part of the trip. We only had about 20 people, so there was lots of room to move back and forth to look at views and critters.

 

Our tour guide was amazing. Lots of fun, lots of info, and he stopped on the road for like 20 minutes so we could watch a big black bear eating grass along the side of the road. Awesome.

 

The lunch in Carcross was great, and the people were really nice. We visited the sled dog camp and I got to play with puppies!

 

Our guide took us up to Emerald Lake (it really IS green!), and the Smallest Desert. Very cool. Then he dropped us off at the train for the ride back to Skagway.

 

To be honest, the train ride, while very beautiful, was anticlimactic for me. But we stood on the platform and got some amazing pictures.

 

We were tired when we got back, but it was a fabulous day.

 

Enjoy your cruise! We loved Norwegian, and would sail with them again in a minute if they had the itinerary we wanted.

 

Linda

[thawan]

We did this on NCL Sun mid May 07, only difference we had lunch at Caraboo Crossing. Yes it is a long day, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. DH spent the way back on the transom and had it pretty much to himself, cause no one else was dressed for it. MId May was cold out there. :)

[bhamcruzer]

Thanks very much for your information!

[ute_fan]

We chose to do the Ultimate Yukon and Trail of '98 through NCL. It's the even longer excursion, but the main difference is that it significantly extends the amount of time that you spend on the train. For our excursion, we book a bus from Skagway to Carcross, had about 15 minutes to look around Carcross, and then boarded the train which went all the way from Carcross to Skagway, stopping for lunch in Bennett, Canada, which is only accessible by either train or boat. Absolutely gorgeous scenery along the shores of Lake Bennett and into the little train station there.

 

The trip you're looking at includes the train ride as far as Fraser, then boarding a bus for the remainder of the 40 miles or so to Skagway, the museum in Carcross, the sled-dog puppies, eating lunch somewhere in the Carcross vicinity, etc., and then the bus ride from Carcross back to Skagway.

 

The choice basically boils down to deciding if you want to see more scenery or if you want to spend time in Carcross looking at the museum and seeing the sled dogs.

[qiangf2]

another alternative is to get a rental car to drive to Carcross yourself. It will very cost effective especially if you have a group of 3-5 people.

[ute_fan]

We drove to Emerald Lake the first time we went to Alaska. On our return trip, we were trying to see as much different scenery as possible, so that's why we went with the long train ride.

 

I agree, however, if you have a larger group, renting a car is a good alternative.

[sue402001]

We did this trip last month. I actually liked both parts of the trip but I must say we saw the wild like while we were on the bus. We saw both black & brown bears and caribou. Emerald Lake is a must see. Whatever you decide to do, have fun!

[bellagirl]

ute-FAN-Did you stop at Emerald Lake as well on your excursion and is this the same trip that could be booked through Chilkoot,do you know? I'm looking for the longer trip that involves the bus/train combo,lunch at Bennet depot and then going for Emerald Lake sight-seeing. I take it this isn't the one you went on. Was it something you would do again? I know the excursions are not cheap! Thanks.

[ute_fan]

The tour we took was basically the same one that Chilkoot does. We booked directly through NCL, and there was no mention made of stopping at Emerald Lake. However, when we were there, it was still frozen over. I'm not sure if later excursions are stopping or not. We'd been once before, as we drove to Emerald Lake on our 1st Alaskan cruise, so it wasn't important to me.

 

We met up with people from our roll-call who had booked through Chilkoot. They rode the same train back down that we did, even though we were assigned to different train cars (one "reserved" for the NCL passengers, and I assume the same thing for the Chilkoot passengers). The Chilkoot buses looked very nice -- we were in a regular, large tour bus, while theirs were smaller, with large viewing windows. Our tour guide was excellent, and with only 14 of us on the NCL tour, it worked fine, as we could all move around the train cars and the bus and switch sides without any trouble as photographic opportunities came up.

 

I had assumed that we'd ride the train up and take the bus down, but the tour operated in reserve. I don't know if the Chilkoot passengers on our train made it to Emerald Lake or not -- I didn't think to ask them. The lunch at Bennett was adequate, nothing fancy.

 

Would I go it again? As you mention, it was expensive, and I don't know that I could justify doing the same thing again. Was it worth it once? I thought so. The scenery around Lake Bennett was gorgeous. The day we were there, it was beautiful and sunny, and the wind was calm for the first part of the day, which is extremely unusual. We saw three bears on the excursion -- two on the bus tour up, and one from the train back down. We thoroughly enjoyed the excursion, and some friends from our roll-call who I talked into gonig with us also really enjoyed it. You can't see any of the scenery around the town of Bennett from a road -- the only way to get there is by train or boat. Since we were trying to see as much scenery as possible, it was perfect for us.

 

Here's a view of Lake Bennett taken while we were hiking around after lunch: I've always believed a picture is worth a thousand words! :D

[bellagirl]

Thanks ute_fan for your reply-your picture was breathtaking. Lots of good information! Shelly:)

[just4now]

We did that one in May 2005 on the Norwegian Star, and really loved it.

 

It was a loooong day, but my favorite excursion.

 

As soon as you leave the ship, they put you on a bus for the first part of the trip. We only had about 20 people, so there was lots of room to move back and forth to look at views and critters.

 

Our tour guide was amazing. Lots of fun, lots of info, and he stopped on the road for like 20 minutes so we could watch a big black bear eating grass along the side of the road. Awesome.

 

The lunch in Carcross was great, and the people were really nice. We visited the sled dog camp and I got to play with puppies!

 

Our guide took us up to Emerald Lake (it really IS green!), and the Smallest Desert. Very cool. Then he dropped us off at the train for the ride back to Skagway.

 

To be honest, the train ride, while very beautiful, was anticlimactic for me. But we stood on the platform and got some amazing pictures.

 

We were tired when we got back, but it was a fabulous day.

 

Enjoy your cruise! We loved Norwegian, and would sail with them again in a minute if they had the itinerary we wanted.

 

Linda

 

IS this the one where it's train one way/bus the other? I had booked the white pass/gold dredge package but I'm thinking of changing to this one and getting a shorter gold panning excursion in Juneau instead. This sounds interesting and my daughter wants to go to a dog sled camp as much as she wants to pan for gold and I don't think I can afford a helicopter excursion in addition to some of the other expensive ones we've already booked.

[ute_fan]

The Ultimate Yukon and White Pass Railroad is the NCL excursion that includes the visit to the dog sledding camp. It includes the train ride from Skagway to Fraser, a bus ride from Fraser to Carcross, and the bus all the way from Carcross back to Skagway.

[anick]

We're interested in the Chilkoot Charters Yukon Excursion as well but our ship isn't listed to be in Skagway until 7 am and the tour begins at 7:30. Is this enough time?

 

/thanks in advance for the help

[curiousl8y]

IS this the one where it's train one way/bus the other? I had booked the white pass/gold dredge package but I'm thinking of changing to this one and getting a shorter gold panning excursion in Juneau instead. This sounds interesting and my daughter wants to go to a dog sled camp as much as she wants to pan for gold and I don't think I can afford a helicopter excursion in addition to some of the other expensive ones we've already booked.

 

Yes, it is. It had the word "Ultimate" in it, it was about 8.5 hours long, and involved a bus tour up and the train down. Like your daughter, I was interested in visiting and handling sled dogs and their puppies, so that was the final selling point for me. :)

 

Linda

[just4now]

Yes, it is. It had the word "Ultimate" in it, it was about 8.5 hours long, and involved a bus tour up and the train down. Like your daughter, I was interested in visiting and handling sled dogs and their puppies, so that was the final selling point for me. :)

 

Linda

 

Great!

I just looked up the description at NCL

 

Besides the gold, see why old-timers were attracted to this place. A deluxe motorcoach takes you to the top of White Pass with its breathtaking views, into Canada and the Yukon Territories. Pan for gold, lunch and get a picture with real racing dogs.

 

Did you pan for gold on this one too? Looks like we can take care of her Alaska dreams all in one!

[Yukon]

We're interested in the Chilkoot Charters Yukon Excursion as well but our ship isn't listed to be in Skagway until 7 am and the tour begins at 7:30. Is this enough time?

 

/thanks in advance for the help

 

The ships are typically in Skagway very early (3-5am), and you can get off before 7 if you choose, so the 7:30 departure is no problem.

 

Murray

[anick]

great....thanks for the info!