Skagway rail tour

[susanmaz]

Another advantage to booking the afternoon excursion is that you get to relax in the morning while everyone else is scrambling to meet an early adventure . . . if the day is clear, it's a magnificent view from the docks up through the valley...

[sunset68]

Thanks. Susannaz.
Do we need to carry any passport or picture ID when we get to the Canada side?

[Dave]

Do we need to carry any passport or picture ID when we get to the Canada side?

You always should carry a photo ID when leaving the ship. As for a passport - it depends on the tour. The round-trip train tour doesn't require it. They have an agreement with Canada that as long as you stay on the train while they switch the engines you are not entering Canada. I believe the tour which includes the bus requires you to have a passport.

This tour is another example of needing a passport while taking a cruise. Although a cruise to Alaska might be "closed loop", which doesn't require a passport for the cruise, it does require a passport for some of the tours in Canada.

[gdjoslin]

Originally posted by Dave Beers:
Welcome to cruise-chat, sunset68.

When we did the train last June, I saved $45 over the Royal Caribbean price by buying the tickets myself, online, at the railroad website. It is true that if you buy the tour from the ship the train will load you up at the pier. But the train depot is around a quarter mile away and for $45 I'll take a short walk. What they did was load up the cruise ship tour and then the train came back to the depot for everyone else.

The train website urges people on a cruise to book with the cruise line, but I am sure they have to do that as part of their contract. They really don't care.

It was $309 for three of us for the round-trip train ride. Perhaps the best tour we took in Alaska. You can see the prices and make reservations here. You should check with your particular cruise line to see what their pricing is first.

Dave how was the seating when they pick you up after the Cruise Ship. I assume they had added cars so you could still sit in your groups.

[Dave]

They added cars for those at the train station. We loaded into our own empty cars and the cruise tour people had separate cars. But since we were all on the same train, it didn't really matter. If the train had returned late, those of us who booked on our own were still "connected" to those who booked with the ship.

[gdjoslin]

Makes sense, I was just hoping they did not load you up and expect you to find any leftover seats.
We order the DVD from them before we took our cruise. We found it to be a very good DVD. They give you most of the information on the train. It was just nice to know a bit of history before taking the tour.