Skagway Alaska Blog
Skagway is the port day that I was looking forward to the most. Unfortunately we hit the point in the cruise that we aren’t as ready to get up bright and early like we were in the very beginning. We began getting ready around 6:00 AM, and went up to the buffet to grab some food to eat in the room. Just as we were getting into the buffet there was a ship wide announcement that if you were ready you could get off the ship early. We grabbed a couple quick snacks and ran back to the room to grab our backpacks and took off for the dock. We were among the first couple people off of the ship at 6:45 AM. It seemed like our ship was the only one letting people off early as well, and we were able to do a couple laps around town without the cruise-port level crowds.
We grabbed coffee at Glacial Coffee shop and walked around town a little bit more, picking out which stores we wanted to come back to when they were open. By the Skagway Museum we found an older model of the White Pass train on display. We spent some time there admiring it and planning out our next steps. Our excursion time was originally booked for 9:00AM, but since there wasn’t anyone in port we asked if we could get on the 8:00 AM train.
Our excursion of the day is the White Pass and Yukon Route Scenic Railway ride to the Canadian border. The staff at the train station were great and switched our ticket time with no issues. We bought our tickets directly through them though, not through a cruise line. The only difference is the train has the ability to pick you up right next to the ship, or right next to the train station. We got on at the train station and the car we were in was only half full. The only downside to picking an earlier time to ride was the clouds. The clouds were only beginning to lessen by the time we arrived back at the train station. I wouldn’t say that we missed out on a -ton- but we did miss out on some of the breathtaking views. The clouds added an ominous feel that I rather liked. They weren’t so bad that we weren’t able to see the bridges, tunnels and waterfalls though.
The trailhead to the Lower Dewey Lake trail is just across the tracks from the train station, and on our to-do list for Skagway. I wasn’t sure how far we’d actually make it but we did the entire loop. The trail started out a little bit steep and leveled out for the rest of it. I was surprised at the amount of people on this trail (my fault for assuming). A lot of them were in day sneakers and flip flops and plugged up the trails a little bit. We did the whole loop in a little over an hour and a half- 4.5ish miles.
Walking back into town, we headed back over to the stores we picked our earlier to get our postcards, and I found the “Alaska” sweatshirt I had been looking for. It was about lunch time when we rolled into Skagway Brewing Company for a beer and some lunch. We tried the spruce tip beer, hoping it would be similar to some that we have in Maine but it was based on the “spruce tip tea” that is famous in Alaska. A slightly different flavor profile. We opted for a smoked salmon dip to go with it, that came out really good. We still had a lot of time left in port after lunch, and we made our way over to Yukatania Point and Smugglers Cove. The fog and clouds have rolled back in and limited the views but Smugglers Cove would have made for a great spot for a picnic. We were both fading fast from walking all day, and agreed to fit another beer into our schedule. This time we checked out Klondike Brewing Co. while we waited for the rain showers to slow down. The spruce beer here was slightly more sprucy, but a bit more sweet. The rain wasn’t supposed to ease up so we headed back to the ship to dry off and relax.
Back on the ship we changed for dinner at the Seven Seas main dining room. The experience was a little bit different than the last few nights. Our table was squished between two other tables in the middle of the room. When I say squished, I mean I could have reached over and eaten off my neighbors plate. I understand this is a cruise ship with limited space but that was way too close for me- especially since we picked this cruise line for the “freestyle” dining. Dinner itself was spot on, Ben had a New York Strip and I opted for Lemon Tilapia. Buffet ice cream was on the agenda for dessert- I’m slightly addicted to it. The hot tubs were empty as we walked by after ice cream, and they were also empty when we came back up with our bathing suits and towels. What luck. The evening plan is to catch the comedy show and play cards in the sports bar. Tomorrow we are spending the entire day in Juneau, there will be a lot of walking so I imagine we’ll retire early tonight.