Alaska Marine Highway

[ThreeToGo]

We are hoping to take the once in a life time trip to Alaska via the Marine Highway system. Given that we have always just driven from place to place, California to Alaska, all thru Mexico and then down to Panama almost always without reservations, we really don't know how to plan a trip requiring schedules. Has anybody out there on this forum blogged this trip? We would appreciate suggestions on when we should go, ie. is June too early, how far in advance we should make reservations, etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[fulltimedaniel]

The trip by ferry is very cool and the inside passage is beautiful, and SE is one of Alaska's jewels for sure. I have done it in my own sailboat the ferry and a small runabout (don;t ask) I can tell you that you could book a suite on a cruise to the south pacific for less money than this will cost you if you have a sizeable RV.

And it is filling up NOW so book it if you want to go.

[fanrgs]

EEWally wrote:
The best piece of advice that we ever had on this forum was to get more time in Sitka. We would have liked more time than our 4 nights there.

Agree completely! We did Sitka on an overnight from Skagway, with a midnight ferry stop in Juneau. We got a cabin for the night, but spent the daylight hours awake and glued to the views of Peril Strait, a route that cruise ships cannot traverse. So, we were seeing parts of Alaska that cruise ship passengers never glimpse and it is spectacular. Just imagine a 408-foot ferry fishtailing around curves in the strait!

Then the views in Sitka of the volcano, the sunsets, and bald eagles so numerous, they are like pigeons in a city park. Whale-watching, salmon fishing, bears on the beaches visible from cruise boats, dense groves of Sitka spruce--Sitka just can't be beat. So, try to spend as much time as possible in our favorite town in all of Alaska (and I have been in pretty much all of Alaska--Chicken to Shemya Island, Hyder to Nome and Kotzebue--except the North Slope).

[older_fossil]

In 2012 we spent the entire month of June exploring SE Alaska using the AMHS. We booked individual hops between port towns. This allowed us to spend a few days exploring the area around each port, only travel during daylight hours, and our ferry legs were short enough for the fridge to stay cold with the propane off. This trip included several days Juneau->Sitka via the "fast ferry", plus several days taking our tow Jeep to the Glacier Bay Lodge from Juneau. I blogged about our entire Alaska trip, but the SE Alaska portion starts at: http://arts-work.blogspot.com/2012/06/clover-pass-eagles.html

[PA12DRVR]

Ozlander wrote:
If you want a cabin on the ferry, you need to book it NOW.

The 4-bed cabins with private bath (not available on all ferrys) will go last (because of $$$$), but the above is pretty good info.

[EEWally]

Our 2 weeks with the Alaska Ferry system with 5 layovers are shown at the link in the signature.

We left Prince Rupert on a May 17. Made reservations the previous November. We played around with the schedule a lot and only needed a room on the Juneau-Sitka leg. There were no middle-of-the-night departures or arrivals but we also missed Wrangell and St. Petersburg.

We also worked in a trip to Prince of Wales Island from Ketchikan.

The best piece of advice that we ever had on this forum was to get more time in Sitka. We would have liked more time than our 4 nights there.

[Ozlander]

If you want a cabin on the ferry, you need to book it NOW.

[Tripalot]

We have taken the ferry a couple of times. The first time we were tenting and so did not get off at any of the ports. Our children were very young and getting into a port in the middle of the night and then trying to find a place to camp was the reason.

We always regretted not seeing Juneau, Ketchican etc. so in our later years we took our truck camper and did the stops. It is a great trip. The one bit of advise I have is to check the schedules very carefully and try to book your travels during daylight hours. The scenery is outstanding and it would be a shame to miss it after paying the cost of the trip (expensive). We had ferry reservations but did not worry about reserving campgrounds at any of the towns
and never had a problem. Often we would camp at the ferry dock ready to board
the next morning.

[lucy6194]

We arrived in Haines in mid August with no ferry reservations. If we couldn't get on we'd drive back out. Walked into reservations office and made reservations that included 3 days stops in Juneau Sitka Ketchikan to Prince Rupert. We been back without the 5th wheel and done wrangle and Petersburg.S E alaska and the ferry are the best. So many great memories only wish it didn't take so long to drive there.

[PghBob]

We used the ferry system for our return trip from Alaska in 2015. We took the ferry from Haines to Juneau, stayed a few days in Juneau, then took a different ship from Juneau to Bellingham, Washington. The later segment took four overnights, thus we booked a cabin as well. It was a wonderful experience, great employees, good food, and stops that allowed us to visit Sitka and Ketchikan for several hours. More time in those places would have been nice, but our schedule was constrained by other reasons. Agree with PA12DRVR that SE Alaska is a different experience.

We booked early Spring for the Ferry. Reminder, the fee is based on the overall length of your rig (and toad), and whether or not you want a cabin. (Some folks just pitch a tent on the aft deck of the ship). In general, we would recommend the ferry to anyone considering it.

[accsys]

You might want to check our blog for our trip from Prince Rupert to Haines and then on up to the Yukon and Alaska in 2009. The AMH portion starts at Prince Rupert and contains pictures as well as a narration of everything we did. There's even a Final Expense Summary on the last post.

[PA12DRVR]

The AMHS will be expensive if one is taking a big rig or truck/trailer, but IMNSHO, the experience on the AMHS is not to be missed.

SE Alaska is a "whole nother experience" and the AMHS allows lots of flexibility to stay in certain spots for longer periods of time if you want. My bucket list includes taking all the routes the ferry has to offer. I've got SE done for the most part, working on the SC areas (Whittier, Valdez, Cordova, etc) and saving the Western (Kodiak, etc) routes until last.

My suggestion would be to determine when you want start your AMHS trip, where you want to stop for how long (in my view, KTN, JNU, and Sitka are worth multiple days) and when you have to conclude your trip (i.e. in Whittier or wherever you're returning to). If you get that info and pass it on to the AMHS, they'll likely be glad to propose an itinerary around the ferry schedules.

[lizzie]

We took the ferry from Prince Rupert to Haines last year. We towed our 24" TT with our GMC truck A total of 49 feet. I made our reservations in March for a June 4th sailing. We stopped for three days in Ketchikan where we camped at Signal Creek CG in the National forest. We had reservations but did not need them as it was almost empty. We reboarded the ferry and continued to Juneau where we camped at Lake Mendenhall, again in the NF. We left our rig there and flew to Glacier Bay to spend the night at the National Park Lodge and do the boat tour. For the 23 hour trip from Ketchikan to Juneau we had a cabin on the ferry. We took our rig off at Haines as we wanted to drive the Haines Highway but we stayed there for five days at Oceanview Campground. During that time we took the passenger ferry to Skagway for a day trip. It was absolutely fabulous and I highly recommend it. I will be glad to send you more information if needed. lizzie

[Yeti_plus]

We went north on the ferry system last year. Like Teacher's Pet we took about 12 days from Prince Rupert B.C. to Skagway. We made our reservations about march for an early June trip.
Look at the AMHS schedule and you can figure out how long you will be in one place. We were 2 or 3 days in most places with only one day in Petersburg. Arrived at 11:00 PM and left next day at 9 or 10 PM. If we waited for the next ferry we would have been there for at least 3 days.
We chose to do the inside passage northbound, so once we arrived in Skagway we were without any commitments to be somewhere on a specific day.
We stopped in Ketchican, Wrangell, Juneau, Petersburg, Haines and Skagway.
The ferry schedule dictates your length of stay at any destination.

[Teacher_s_Pet]

We left Indiana May 20th in 2013 and returned 79 days later. No reservations at all except The Alaska Marine Highway, which were made in early February 2013 for a July boarding. We took 12 days to make it from Skagway AK to Prince Rupert BC, with at least 2 night stops in Haines, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan We made the trip in our 21 foot B+ without a toad.