hi
i will be on skagway in august with my family - we arrive on the NCL sun at 7 a.m and the ship departs at 8p.m.
I have noticed that the cost of this trip booked via the cruise line is quite a bit more expensive - for the 4 of us a dif of over $50.00. The only dif between the routes is that if you book via the cruise line you can board the train at the port and not at the rail station - my questions are:
1] how far is the rail station from the port?
2] how would one get there and how much does it cost?
3] there are 2 trips one at 815 in the morning and one at around 1245 - is there a prefered time to make this trip?
thanks

The rail station is an easy walk from the pier. No need to get "a ride".
If you do the 815 you will have to "hustle" to get there, but then you would get back in time to "poke around" Skagway.
The White Pass RR is one of the highlights and not to be missed. When we did it we took a ship's excursion that took the train up and a bus back. That way you see different things. There is nothing at the top of the pass, you just turn around and come back, whether by the train or bus
Spectacular scenerary and on the train they annotate. YOu can see the trail and even old debris used by the gold rushers.

The train station is actually where we got off the ship. I would assume your ship would dock in the same place. This would be a very easy trip to book on your own.
There is no walk. When you get off the boatyou will trip on the train!
We did the morning trip and it was great but I am not sure the afternoon wouldnt be just as good. The scenery is fantastic either way. The train was one of the highlights of our cruise.

I would have a camera with a good zoom or a pair of binoculars with ya too. Mountain goats were on the cliffside opposite the train(they are there often) but all we could see was white specks...=)

We took the afternoon ride in case it was a foggy morning. We had all morning to explore Skagway, get back to the ship for lunch and then get on the train. We chose to purchase through the cruise line because I didn't think it was that much of a difference in price. However saving $50 for four would make it worth the walk to get on at the port - not that far anyway. The only bad part about the afternoon ride was when we got back to the ship - the line to get on the ship was unbelievably long! You will love the White Pass trip and Skagwag. Enjoy your trip!
Pam

thanks everyone
Pam - when you got back to the ship after the afternoon trip - what time was it approximately?

The depot is about two blocks from the dock. There are trolley buses at the dock if you don't want to walk. The train ride is about 5 hrs. I would think the morning trip and then have rest of your time to walk around Skagway.

We just rturned from Skagway two weeks ago and took the White Pass train, we enjoyed it very much - our trip was only 3-1/2 hours roundtrip. We came by ferry but I'm always observant of how other travelers move about. Yes, the train is only two short blocks from where the ships dock. The only reason I can see for charging $10+ per person is that you will be taken from the dock parking lot to the train parking lot, again only two blocks on a motorcoach. I also noticed that most cruise ships had their own "train car" so maybe that's the rest of it. We are morning people so I would go with the early train. When we got back to town there were 4 large ships in port, totalling more than 12,000 people, you could barely move. One day is quite sufficient.

There is a local "bus" that runs from the dock to close to the RR station and then goes into Skagway, zips around at the other end of town and starts all over again. I'd guess that the entire trip one-way is about 15 minutes max. Skagway is not a big town. Cost of this local bus ride was $1 per person.

The walk from the dock to the RR station could be a longer one, depending on where your ship docks and depending on which family members - parents or children - are with you.

Whether you should take the morning or afternoon train depends on how long your ship will be docked at Skagway. Each ship has to paid docking fees by the HOUR, so some cruise lines opt to dock for only half a day. Check into your ship's schedule.

Enjoy! It's a great train ride and - yes - do bring a good camera. Also bring mosquito repellent. As one Alaskan told me, their mosquitoes are as big as dive bombers!

Getting on and off at the ship is a bit ridiculous. The Train station is where all the action is and there is a Nat. Park Service theater presentation in the station...which you will miss if you depart and return at the cruise ship. You will just end up walking back to the little town and right in front of the train station. a two minute walk and $50 less money!!!

The main reason the train goes to the ships door is so it can advertise its presence and sell more tickets...at a higher price.

All said, its a great ride up the mountain and you will learn a lot about the history of the gold rush and skagway. Also, don't miss downtown skagway.

Everything is so incredibally within walking distance you will laugh when you see how easy it is. Grandma can do this.

thanks eveyone, i appreciate all the info ans we will definitely save the 50 Dollars - I am sure we will find better ways to spend them.
Do you suggest prebooking or buying tickets at the station?

Pre-book!!! When I made reservations over a month ahead I could only get seats on the late afternoon trip on the second day we were in Skagway. We were departing the ferry and the cruise ships were in town. We stayed an extra night so we could do the train ride.

Panhandle is NOT correct. That train is ONLY for ship booked passengers. The independent booked train boards at the DOWNTOWN depot on 2nd. Easy walk without mobility limitations. You should have no problem with either train and no guarantees on weather in Alaska. Especially if you are coming from Juneau the day before the ships get into Skagway very early. Just be ready to leave your ship when cleared if you take the early train. Sit on the LEFT facing the engine. And as mentioned, be sure to get to the Old depot where the Park Service visitor center is- http://www.nps.gov/klgo/schedule.htm

For clarification the train ride is 3 1/2 hours. AND you definately need to prebook, unless you don't care if you go or not??

The Skagway bus, which picks up on the RR dock at the first ship is $1.50 to the depot.

thanks Budget...I dont know what I was thinking of...maybe the little railway coffee stand.

thanks, my dilema is that we have booked a helo/ glacier walk the day before in Juneau and apparently sometimes the weather does not enable the helos to take off - at the helo company they said that in this case if we wanted to , we could rebook the foll day in Skagway, so I am a bit worried about prebooking the train .
From all of your experience - is August prone to bad weather or will we be fairly safe to book the train?

Chances are very great, there won't be any helicopter bookings left. there is only one company in Skagway and they are also the ship contractors. They are usually fully booked.

Frankly, if you want to take the rail, book it.

We recently were in Skagway with Radisson and found the booking through them was only $6 per person more than the rate on the WPRR web site. The trains that leave from the ships leave ONLY from the ships and the trains you can book at the station seem to be much fewer. Being a train enthusiast,one of the major benefits with the cruise line was that they booked a steam train for the afternoon cruise that the railroad informed me was not available to the general public. If you do the rail trip and have a chance to do it behind steam,it's worth the extra money. There is a scheduled steam excursion on Sunday morning. The railroad is supposed to be taking delivery of a second steam engine this summer so the schedule could be expanded.