Question about Alaska excursion times

[jenf22]

Hi all! We booked our Alaska excursions last night and I'm having second thoughts and have a question. We booked the White Pass Railway and Trail Camp for Skagway because it has the panning for gold at Liarsville (we have a 5 year old who loves panning for gold!). I'm discovering this Liarsville stop doesn't include the characters. So what I really want is the "Liarsville Gold Rush Trail Camp and Salmon Bake featuring Disney characters" combined with the White Pass Railway. BUT Disney won't let me book these two. Liarsville is listed as 8:45am - 11:45am and the railway is listed as 12:30. Apparently, Disney wants 2.5 hours between excursions. On the White Pass website, I see the train is at 12:45pm and I can book it on my own. If I book Liarsville, does the 11:45am end time mean I am back at the ship no later than 11:45am? Will I for sure be able to make the 12:45 train? The train is kind of non-negotiable. Our 5 year old would be heartbroken if we missed it (he loves trains - his whole room is decked out in trains). What would you do??? Thanks so much for the help!

 

[lbgraves]

I wouldn't book something too close because things happen to cause delays. The train station is about a 5 minute walk from the ship, so it won't take you long to get there. You will have to check in at the window and pick up your ticket. You will actually be on the same train as those on the DCL excursion. The cars for DCL guests will be right next to the dock, but the engine will back up the cars at the station to connect to those cars by the dock. On the way back, all of the cars will stop at the dock.

 

[wilderness_gal]

Hi all! We booked our Alaska excursions last night and I'm having second thoughts and have a question. We booked the White Pass Railway and Trail Camp for Skagway because it has the panning for gold at Liarsville (we have a 5 year old who loves panning for gold!). I'm discovering this Liarsville stop doesn't include the characters. So what I really want is the "Liarsville Gold Rush Trail Camp and Salmon Bake featuring Disney characters" combined with the White Pass Railway. BUT Disney won't let me book these two. Liarsville is listed as 8:45am - 11:45am and the railway is listed as 12:30. Apparently, Disney wants 2.5 hours between excursions. On the White Pass website, I see the train is at 12:45pm and I can book it on my own. If I book Liarsville, does the 11:45am end time mean I am back at the ship no later than 11:45am? Will I for sure be able to make the 12:45 train? The train is kind of non-negotiable. Our 5 year old would be heartbroken if we missed it (he loves trains - his whole room is decked out in trains). What would you do??? Thanks so much for the help!

Our experience two weeks ago is that the train can easily get off schedule. For our Disney excursion, the train was almost an hour late, which delayed the start of our excursion and resulted in us arriving back later to the ship than expected. As they said in Skagway, the train runs on its own time, so it might be tricky to try to combine plans with the risk of delays..I would not miss the train either, it was a definite highlight and talked about bery positively by other guests as well.

 

[Skylarr29]

From what I have read the gold panning there is not very good and that it's not actually in a creek. The other gold panning excursion (in Juneau I think) gets much better reviews for being more authentic. Just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[Chilly]

do you really need the characters? You'll see them on the ship.

 

[jenf22]

do you really need the characters? You'll see them on the ship.

It's not just the characters - that excursion has a salmon bake and campfire where you can roast marshmallows. I know, kind of lame. But my 5 year old has zero interest in waiting in line to see characters on the ship. On our 5-night Bahama cruise, the only time we saw characters walking around the ship was when they were going somewhere. They would wave, but never stop. I just thought it would be more fun than the plain one. But I don't think I'm willing to risk missing the train. I was hoping I would get some "sure, no problem" responses. Oh well. My son will still love panning for gold. The characters were more for me!

 

[o&smom]

Hi all! We booked our Alaska excursions last night and I'm having second thoughts and have a question. We booked the White Pass Railway and Trail Camp for Skagway because it has the panning for gold at Liarsville (we have a 5 year old who loves panning for gold!). I'm discovering this Liarsville stop doesn't include the characters. So what I really want is the "Liarsville Gold Rush Trail Camp and Salmon Bake featuring Disney characters" combined with the White Pass Railway. BUT Disney won't let me book these two. Liarsville is listed as 8:45am - 11:45am and the railway is listed as 12:30. Apparently, Disney wants 2.5 hours between excursions. On the White Pass website, I see the train is at 12:45pm and I can book it on my own. If I book Liarsville, does the 11:45am end time mean I am back at the ship no later than 11:45am? Will I for sure be able to make the 12:45 train? The train is kind of non-negotiable. Our 5 year old would be heartbroken if we missed it (he loves trains - his whole room is decked out in trains). What would you do??? Thanks so much for the help!

I would stick with what you have. We did this excursion last year and the gold panning was the favorite part of our cruise for our 8 yr old son. Enjoy your cruise!

Marni

 

[Chilly]

It's not just the characters - that excursion has a salmon bake and campfire where you can roast marshmallows. I know, kind of lame. But my 5 year old has zero interest in waiting in line to see characters on the ship. On our 5-night Bahama cruise, the only time we saw characters walking around the ship was when they were going somewhere. They would wave, but never stop. I just thought it would be more fun than the plain one. But I don't think I'm willing to risk missing the train. I was hoping I would get some "sure, no problem" responses. Oh well. My son will still love panning for gold. The characters were more for me!

I saw loads of characters walking around on our Alaska cruise we've just come back from and they all stopped if you went up to them.

 

[jenf22]

I saw loads of characters walking around on our Alaska cruise we've just come back from and they all stopped if you went up to them.

That's good to hear. I think we'll stick with what we've got. It saves us $90 and give us time to wander around the town. If I did the two excursions, it would take all day. Thanks everyone!

 

[bellesister]

Jenn,
Are you a first time cruiser? We are going in June 2013 and I 'm worried about excursions and Palo. Did you have any problems?

 

[jenf22]

Jenn,
Are you a first time cruiser? We are going in June 2013 and I 'm worried about excursions and Palo. Did you have any problems?

No, we cruised in May for the first time. So we booked our Sept3-10 excursions Monday night (at 90 days). As of right now, for our cruise, there are a couple of sold out excursions in Juneau. I think the Hummer something or other, the musher for a day, and a private charter are sold out. There are still TONS of Palo reservations. From what we can tell, our cruise is pretty quiet. However, in May when we cruised, we were first timers and had no problems getting both a Palo brunch and dinner. We got within 30 minutes of our "perfect" times. I think that cruise was close to sold out (they had a sign up at guest services that said the cruise was full so there were no upgrades). My husband booked us right at midnight (10pm our time) for our excursions and Palo. By 6am the next morning (8am Eastern) all the Palo times were gone. So I definitely would stay up to ensure you get what you want. And make sure you know ahead of time. I've been told they hold back Palo reservations so you can book on the ship. Best of luck!