cruise to whittier, alaska
 

cruising to alaska. Deboard ship at whittier at 8am w/a 12-hr time before flight leaves Anchorage. Will have luggage. What is a good thing to occupy some time? I'm exploring transportation to Anchorage, but should have about 8 hrs there before flight.

I can't help you with what to do in Anchorage, but check on this. On Holland America (Alaska cruise last week), they had a thing called "Luggage Direct" where they picked up your luggage from your stateroom at the regular time (the night before debarkation), and took it to the airport and checked it on your flight for you. It was a $19 charge per piece of luggage. We found it really convenient to not have to lug it around everywhere, and not worry about it or be burdened with it while we waited for our flight.

I think that gives you enough time to take a Prince William Sound cruise out of Whittier if you wanted to.

thanks!

If their "12 hour" comment, is from 8am, they do NOT have time for a PWS boat tour.

IF you truely want to get the most out of your short time, I would recommend a costly one way car rental with AVIS. with that, you could stop at Alyeska, take the tram, go to Portage Glacier visitor center, take a glacier boat tour, stop all along the beautiful arm. Then head north, drive Hatcher Pass, Musk Ox Farm, Eklutna Spirit House tour, etc etc etc.

With only one day there, I would fill it to take full advantage. :)

Transportation to/from Whittier is more complicated and takes longer than one would think - with less flexibility. There is a tunnel which carries both trains and cars, and it runs in only 1 direction at a time, on a schedule. This is why the train and cruise schedules often do not match up well enough to allow time to do anything. Be careful with your timing in relation to your flight

We paid for the train ride from Whittier to Anchorage. They (Princess) picked up our luggage on the last night from our stateroom and handled them all the way through until we arrived in Anchorage and went to their conference-center-type place to claim them. We (6 of us) left the luggage there all day while we walked around Anchorage and lunch. Went back there and picked it up before leaving for the airport later that afternoon. This was in 2008. All of this was arranged through Princess and we would do it this way again.