Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Whittier to Seward

fun2travel

By fun2travel,
in Alaska

Recommended Posts

fun2travel

fun2travel

Posted
Posted

After some more research, (and a comment made by BQ), I am wondering about doing the 6 hour PWS tour in Whittier, then driving on to Seward that evening instead of going back to ANC . We were planning to leave in the morning for Seward anyway. Would this be feasible, mainly how long would the drive be, and would it still be daylight so we could enjoy the scenery.

 

We were looking forward to the drive from ANC to Seward, would this be similar?

 

Any suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AkSusan

AkSusan

Posted
Posted
After some more research, (and a comment made by BQ), I am wondering about doing the 6 hour PWS tour in Whittier, then driving on to Seward that evening instead of going back to ANC . We were planning to leave in the morning for Seward anyway. Would this be feasible, mainly how long would the drive be, and would it still be daylight so we could enjoy the scenery.

 

We were looking forward to the drive from ANC to Seward, would this be similar?

 

Any suggestions?

It's only like about an hour and a half drive, as long as you hit the timing of getting out of the tunnel - out on the hour and in on the 1/2.

 

It's all one big road going south. The Seward Highway. So you'd only miss the first 55 miles from Anchorage to the Portage Cutoff. It all parallels the Turnagain Arm. And if you're coming back to Anchorage to go back to the Lower 48, you'd be doing the same road back. Our roads aren't real complicated to leave town. One road south and one road north.

 

Now from reading the boards there is only one car rental agency that works out of Whittier (at this moment I can't remember which one) so if you rent there and then bring it to Anchorage, you'll have a pretty good drop off fee from what I understand.

 

Not sure when you're coming to Southcentral but for the summer solstice (somewhere between June 21st-22nd) we'll be at 19 1/2 hours of sunlight and then we'll start losing about 1 to 3 minutes a day after that. So you're still probably looking at 15 to 16 hours even into August/September.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NancyIL

NancyIL

Posted
Posted

Now from reading the boards there is only one car rental agency that works out of Whittier (at this moment I can't remember which one) so if you rent there and then bring it to Anchorage, you'll have a pretty good drop off fee from what I understand.

 

 

Right - you can't rent from Avis in Whittier to drop-off the car in Seward - which has only Hertz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fun2travel

fun2travel

Posted
  • Author
Posted
It's only like about an hour and a half drive, as long as you hit the timing of getting out of the tunnel - out on the hour and in on the 1/2.

 

It's all one big road going south. The Seward Highway. So you'd only miss the first 55 miles from Anchorage to the Portage Cutoff. It all parallels the Turnagain Arm. And if you're coming back to Anchorage to go back to the Lower 48, you'd be doing the same road back. Our roads aren't real complicated to leave town. One road south and one road north.

 

Now from reading the boards there is only one car rental agency that works out of Whittier (at this moment I can't remember which one) so if you rent there and then bring it to Anchorage, you'll have a pretty good drop off fee from what I understand.

 

Not sure when you're coming to Southcentral but for the summer solstice (somewhere between June 21st-22nd) we'll be at 19 1/2 hours of sunlight and then we'll start losing about 1 to 3 minutes a day after that. So you're still probably looking at 15 to 16 hours even into August/September.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

 

 

Thanks!

 

What I wonder, does it make sense to drive from ANC to Whittier, take the 6 hour PWS boat trip, then drive back to ANC and leave from there the next morning for Seward, or should we just drive to Seward after the boat trip. It would be about 6:30pm (June) when we would leave Whittier.

 

Just trying to make the best use of our time, but not wanting to rush either.

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NancyIL

NancyIL

Posted
Posted
Thanks!

 

What I wonder, does it make sense to drive from ANC to Whittier, take the 6 hour PWS boat trip, then drive back to ANC and leave from there the next morning for Seward, or should we just drive to Seward after the boat trip. It would be about 6:30pm (June) when we would leave Whittier.

 

Just trying to make the best use of our time, but not wanting to rush either.

 

Thanks!

 

Your plans are now a little clearer! Are you cruising out of Seward? If so - you will have to rent from Hertz in Anchorage to be able to drop-off the rental car in Seward.

 

If you're doing the 6-hour Esther Passage Glacier Cruise - you should be able to make the 5 p.m. tunnel as you head back to Anchorage or continue to Seward. There's probably no need to backtrack to Anchorage, unless you want to return your rental car and take the train to Seward the next morning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AkSusan

AkSusan

Posted
Posted

I totally agree with what NancyIL said. The only thing you are limiting yourself to one car company and will have the drop off fee.

 

You'll be fine on the daylight. June you're looking at 19+ hours of light and so it basically gets dusky about 1:30 or 2 and then back up like at 3. Never forget I had a cousin one year here in June and I went to bed but come to find out, he was out in my backyard at midnight with his camcorder so he could show everyone back at home how light it was at midnight.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fun2travel

fun2travel

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I totally agree with what NancyIL said. The only thing you are limiting yourself to one car company and will have the drop off fee.

 

You'll be fine on the daylight. June you're looking at 19+ hours of light and so it basically gets dusky about 1:30 or 2 and then back up like at 3. Never forget I had a cousin one year here in June and I went to bed but come to find out, he was out in my backyard at midnight with his camcorder so he could show everyone back at home how light it was at midnight.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

 

Thanks again.

 

Is there a solution that would be better? We are three women, flying in to ANC on Wednesday at 1pm, want to see a few things in ANC, then go to PWS for the 6 hour tour on Thursday. We leave from Seward on Friday late on a cruise. I thought if we rent a car we would have transportation in ANC, enjoy the drive from ANC to Seward, and have the car on Friday until about 2pm to see Seaveys, Sealife center, and Exit glacier.

 

My other option is probably to use the coach R/T offered by PWS for the PWS tour. Return to ANC Thursday night, and take the train from ANC to Seward on Friday. This would be about $100 cheaper then the rental car.

But I would not have the car for any ANC or Seward touring.

 

Are there other options that make more sense?

 

I really appreciate everyone's input.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fun2travel

fun2travel

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks Nancy. We do plan to do the Heritage Center as soon as we get the car, because it closes at 5 pm. Any suggestions for afterwards? Probably need something that does not require a lot more walking for my mother's sake.

We are going to stay at the Voyager, is this place okay?

 

Any special places to eat that are resonable?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AkSusan

AkSusan

Posted
Posted
Thanks Nancy. We do plan to do the Heritage Center as soon as we get the car, because it closes at 5 pm. Any suggestions for afterwards? Probably need something that does not require a lot more walking for my mother's sake.

We are going to stay at the Voyager, is this place okay?

 

Any special places to eat that are resonable?

 

I'm not Nancy but I'll answer.

 

Afterwards everything that I can think of would involve walking. Downtown Anchorage is easy to walk but you'll be at about 5th and K at the Voyager (never stayed there because I live here but have heard good reviews about it on these boards) and most of the shopping and such is at between 4 and 5 between A and H.

 

Unfortunately reasonable means different things to different people. Food wise, cross and down about 3 blocks there is Glacier Brewhouse http://www.glacierbrewhouse.com/home.htm or Orso's http://www.orsoalaska.com/

 

Another block over and about 2 or 3 more down there is Humpy's http://www.humpys.com/

 

About 2 blocks west of the Voyager and about a block and a half down there is http://www.r-u-i.com/sim/

 

Right across the street is the Captain Cook and they have a few restaurants in there http://www.captaincook.com/restaurants.php

 

There is a food court in the Fifth Avenue Mall http://www.simon.com/mall/entertainment.aspx?ID=231 but that could possibly be too much of a walk for your Mom.

 

I will also warn you know with these places in the summer that if you don't have a reservation that you may be waiting a while. Even with a reservation sometimes you'll have a 15 or 20 minute wait.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AkSusan

AkSusan

Posted
Posted
Thanks Susan, sorry I called you by the wrong name. The list for places to eat is great, now if I can just decide.............

 

It's no problem. My Mom goes back from visiting (she likes to stay 6 weeks at a time) and tells everyone that here in Anchorage we have some of the best local places to eat.

 

Just remembered since you have a car so I'll add to your list. If you want a great hamburger there is always the Arctic Road Runner. They have two places, one in midtown and one out on International Airport Road.

 

Also, in midtown there is the Moose's Tooth http://www.moosestooth.net/ or they also have the Bear's Tooth Grill.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruizn Mama

Cruizn Mama

Posted
Posted

Ok--Both Susan AND Nancy--

 

I was looking through information on different threads tonight before booking our tour of PWS before boarding Carnival in Whittier. I have read different information and wonder what your feeling is regarding which tour company (based on the different locations visited and also different boats)? For example, Phillips does a speedy 26 glacier tour and it covers a different part of the water than PWS does. In addition, PWS has a 4 hour tour with 2 glaciers, mainly and the 6 hour includes the narrow area of Esther Passage. Major Marine focuses on a different area, I think. Since we are going through College Fjord as we depart Whittier on the big cruise ship, I don't want to duplicate. Recommendations? Rationale?

 

Many thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruizn Mama

Cruizn Mama

Posted
Posted

You know, you have both commented before on this area. Stired, has as well. Let me explain more of what I am looking at. If I decide that the Esther Passage is the route I want, this is the best plan I could find that would work with the times involved and not spending more than needed: The 5 of us can be picked up by one of the transfer companies @ $35 each right from our RV lot @ 7 am. That means we would need to be up and packed very early. We would arrive (straight, no stopping) in Whittier at 8:45--there's no "tour" available with this time-frame. We need to be at PWS tours by 10:30 for the 11 am tour. We don't use any coupons for this tour, because they don't exist. We would be back by 5 and then board Spirit. The cost of this cruise tour is $129 each + tax. If we used their transfer, it would cost $59 each for the one way (vs. $74 RT transfers from PWS Glacier Tours--a whopping $15 savings). Even though it seems like this is a great thing to do, I need to be sure before booking. Leaving later, having cheaper 2 for 1 cruise tour tickets and stopping along the way for the visitor center (Portage?) would possibly be nicer, but I don't really know.

 

I ran a little bit into this problem with our flight-seeing booking in Talkeetna. The time we wanted to use (the tour saver buy one, get one) the coupon was limited to only 7 pm and also 2 coupons per flight. Every 7 pm flight we looked at already had 1 coupon used. So we switched to a different type of booking using the Northern Lights book @ 25% off for 4, and booked for 6 pm. There's so much planning . . . . However, for flight-seeing and glacier landing, at least what we are seeing and doing is identical. The glacier touring, while in the same water, has such different viewing. Or does it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Budget Queen

Budget Queen

Posted
Posted

There is no comparism to cruise ship sailing College Fjords and the PWS boat tours out of Whittier. For more details, search Chenega's posts. Very detailed information.

 

I have gone with Phillips, Major Marine, and Alaska Heritage.

 

If you have the coupons, you may want to use them?? That is how some of my tour choices are made. But, overall Esther Passage blows all the other trips away- if you indeed want the "best".

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AkSusan

AkSusan

Posted
Posted

I can't help with the Esther Passage trip as I haven't done that one yet. I have done the trip with Phillips the 26 Glacier Cruise and the one with Major Marine and have enjoyed both.

 

As Budget Queen said there is no way that you'll have the same experience for the College Fjords sailing on the Spirit and getting up close with a PWS cruise.

 

I really can't help you decide, but the one thing I want to let you know before you make a final decision is that you need to check with any of the companies that are planning to use the 2 for 1 coupons (I was thinking about using one out of the Northern Lights book before our Sapphire Southbound) and I asked and they said they do limit the amount of coupons they will take per sailing. Of course when I called to check there were plenty open but then again I did call in early November.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruizn Mama

Cruizn Mama

Posted
Posted

DougH--

 

Our cruise departs from Whittier, not Seward, and so does the PWS Glacier Tour Company.

 

BQ--

 

I appreciate that last sentence about Esther Passage blowing the others away. I had seen one of Chenega's postings about the cruises in PWS and Kenai, but not all of them. I know Stired also raved about the Esther Passage. I realize that we don't have the coupons for this particular cruise, but this is not the most expensive part of our trip. The Denali flight is clearly the most expensive thing--that we're taking from Talkeetna. I was even willing to plan around the time for that flight and a possible overnight to get a 2nd try in case of unfavorable conditions. I only wish that the PWS Glacier Tour company would give a more significant discount for their shuttle into Whittier. Now I have to deal with another company to get there, and we don't get any stops. It will be tight scheduling that early 7 am departure (packing up from the RV after 8 nights)--but I'm on a mission now! :)

 

I appreciate all the great advice--it is truly helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...