Alaska Ferry Question

Sounds like there is a lot of Alaska experience on this forum.

I am retiring soon and am seriously considering a long trip up there next summer......just starting to research.
I was thinking about doing the opposite....Drive up and ferry back. Hadn't thought it thru enough yet to think about the freezer issues.

Down in the hold where the vehicles are stored, it's usually on the cool side which will help if you leave food in it. If you do, I'd leave it as full as possible and on the coldest setting for several days before.

Between now and then, I'd experiment with the freezer. Buy a remote thermometer so that you don't have to open the freezer to check the temp. Fill the freezer, maybe with ice if you don't want to use food. Park the TC so the refer is in the shade, and see what happens for 36 hours. Use frozen milk jugs with water and you won't even have any water to clean up. This will give you a good idea of what will happen.

Bill

We did five months on our trip to Alaska. We did the Alaska hwy from one end tp the other. Then jumped on the ferry Haines, Juneau, Gustavus, Juneau and finally Skagway. As a rule we ate down the frig for the trip.

We did the 36 hr ride when we were there back in 2010. We turned the frig off as required since it a two way unit (AC/propane). After 36 hrs the food was still OK. It was amazing how well the Norcold held in the cold. The frozen stuff was not rock solid but it was still OK.

I would say to eat it down and shop when you get to Ketchikan. Our last trip, we bought a styrofoam chest and kept some lunch meat, etc on dry ice. During deck calls when you can go below deck to your RV, I would make lunch, grab a bag of chips, etc and take it back up to our cabin for lunch. Really doubt I saved any money, after buying the dry ice and the foam cooler.
The food served on the ferry is good and reasonably priced. I was just reading the other day that the AMHS was shutting down the bars on the ferries. Just not profitable to operate for them. The cabins are plain, clean and comfortable.

The ferry service is the best way to see SE Alaska and parts of coastal western Canada. It gets in much closer to shore than do the larger cruise ships.

The ferry is a great ride but that first leg is long and not terribly interesting. Just a lot of riding. Since you're going to be gone that long, have you considered driving to Prince Rupert and boarding there? We did it that way a few years ago and it enabled us to see Banff, Lake Louise, Icefields Parkway, and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. We then had very short legs to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, and Haines and then drove in to Alaska from Haines. We spent 2-3 days at each stop and loved it. Each is very different with new things to see and do. We boondocked or camped free at all Marine Highway stops except two and just had a ball. Something to consider.

Personally, I'd shop for more food on the other side. But barring that, do what the fishermen do coming back from Alaska. Ice chest the food with dry ice and lots of insulation. But again, I think the price of dry ice makes that a stretch to pencil out. 38 hours with no power is a long time. I wouldn't leave it in the TC. You can't run generator while on the ferry?