Alaskan Cruise Ports: Skagway Highlights

Our second port day on our Princess Cruises Alaskan Cruise was to Skagway! In the heart of the Inside Passage, Skagway is a historic and picturesque small town. It's a very common stop on Alaskan cruises, so the port can be quite busy, The town reached it's peak during Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. The scenery is mind-blowing - snow-capped mountains, lush forests, and glaciers that'll make you feel tiny in comparison. Highlights include the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad - a train ride taking you through the mountains, offering jaw-dropping views. Plus, Skagway is a haven for hikers, with trails like the Chilkoot Trail and Dewey Lakes offering breathtaking vistas.

First things first: It's highly possible that you will be on a cruise ship that tenders, as there are limited docks in the port due to prior rockslide and risk of more. If you look up as you're getting off the ship, you might see all the netting holding back rocks and protecting the town/port! The tender for our ship was very quick, less than 5 minutes once you were on the boat. You'll want to make sure you factor in time for that before making it to your excursions and getting back on the ship. This information can be found in your itinerary, it will note there's a tender.

Once again, I booked direct through the cruise line for our excursions. We opted to do the White Pass Railroad + Scenic Drive excursion, taking the bus portion first through the Yukon, and finishing with the train back to Skagway. We did have some issues with this excursion, as the pick up point was not properly marked at all, and so we walked quite far out of the way and sprinted back to catch the bus. So, like in Juneau, we lost about 45 minutes of time on the excursion.

The scenery was amazing, and we saw brown bears and lots of eagles along the drive. The highlight was Emerald Lake and stopping to take pictures there -- it was breathtaking! We also stopped in (a very very small town) Carcross for BBQ lunch, which was also a petting zoo + has dog sledding. It was unfortunately too hot for dog sledding, but we did get to see puppies.

All of us agreed the highlight of the day was the White Pass + Yukon Route Railroad, a historic narrow-gauge railway that was constructed during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. It runs from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon, and covers a distance of approximately 110 miles. The railway offers stunning views of the rugged Alaskan wilderness, including snow-capped mountains, glaciers, and deep gorges. You get to travel along along the same path that gold prospectors once traveled in search of riches, adding a rich historical context to the experience. Visitors have the option to ride in vintage parlor cars or open-air platforms, immersing themselves in the scenic beauty and frontier heritage of the region. We stood outside for most of it because the weather was amazing, but if you sat inside you were able to hear the narration from the conductors.

After the train, we walked back into the town and had dinner at a local bar, before heading back to the ship to have drinks on the top deck, watching the sunset on Skagway as we headed back out to sea.

What I'd do differently: I'll be honest, I'd probably pick a more local tour group (I've heard great things about Chilkoot Tours!) if I were to go again. The scenery was beautiful and I loved Emerald Lake, but I wish we had taken more time to get out of the bus for pictures and spent way less time at Carcross (a tourist trap!). Besides that, I'd recommend booking the train tour first and then driving back to Skagway. This is the opposite of what we did, but this way you are not rushing to catch the train back!