Hi there!
You can spend one day in Skagway by doing Alaska’s most popular scenic train ride in the morning, and then walk around downtown Skagway in the afternoon.
Downtown Skagway is walkable from the cruise port, and you can explore the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
There are also some epic Alaska excursions you can do when you are in Skagway cruise port!
I arrived to Skagway by cruise ship on 2 Princess cruises in May 2023.
Below is basically what I did in Skagway during each of the cruises!
Your experience may vary!
ð Norwegian Encore sailing away from Skagway cruise port.
What is Skagway known for?
Skagway is best known for the White Pass Railway that takes you through the mountains by train to the White Pass summit and beyond!
Skagway is also known for being able to explore Alaska’s Gold Rush history through the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
You can also do an epic helicopter tour in Skagway to see mountains and glaciers from above.
You can make it a helicopter tour with a glacier walk to see blue ice (and blue icefalls if you’re lucky!), and you can also make it a helicopter tour to go glacier dog sledding in Skagway.
Skagway is one of the best cruise ports for a dog sledding tour in Alaska.
There are also hikes that you can do in Skagway on your own for free, like Yakutania Point and Lower Dewey Lake.
One of the most famous historic restaurants in Skagway is the Red Onion Saloon.
ð One of the most popular things to do in Skagway from a cruise ship is the train ride.
ð One of the most epic so-very-Alaska things to do in Skagway is a dog sledding tour on a glacier! You can go dog sledding on snow from Skagway even in the summer!
ð One of the epic things to do in Skagway is a helicopter flightseeing tour. Make it even more epic by doing a helicopter tour with a wilderness landing on a glacier!
ð Sailing away from Skagway cruise port. 10:18pm on May 17.
More below about my experience in Skagway cruise port!
ð
Things to do in Skagway for a perfect time in Skagway cruise port
- White Pass Railway
- Klondike Highway
- Helicopter tour
- Walk across Meade Glacier (part of helicopter tour)
- Yakutania Point Trail
- Skagway footbridge
- Dog sledding on Denver Glacier (part of helicopter tour)
This is what I did when in Skagway!
ð Skagway cruise itinerary: I was in Skagway on May 5, 2023 during an Alaska cruise from Vancouver roundtrip on the Sappihire Princess. The scheduled time in Skagway was 7am to 8:30pm. You can book excursions in Skagway cruise port through Princess.
ð Skagway cruise itinerary: I was also in Skagway on May 17, 2023 during an Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage one-way on the Majestic Princess. The scheduled time in Skagway was 6am to 8:30pm.
1. White Pass Railway
The White Pass Railway is the famous Skagway train.
By far the most popular thing to do in Skagway is to take the train to the White Pass summit and beyond!
You can do the White Pass railway as a standalone excursion, or there are many different combination tours you can do that includes the White Pass train.
2. Klondike Highway
You can do the Klondike Highway as a standalone excursion, or you can do it as a combination tour.
I did a combination tour of driving the Klondike Highway up to the White Pass summit (and beyond!), and then taking the train back to Skagway.
Princess excursions in Skagway:
- Klondike Highway
- Klondike Highway + White Pass Railway (I booked this one)
- Klondike Highway by bicycle
3. Helicopter tour
You can do a helicopter tour in Skagway to see the Juneau icefield, glaciers, and snow-capped mountains.
You can make the helicopter ride a standalone excursion, or make it even more epic and add a wilderness landing on a glacier!
4. Meade Glacier walk
You won’t choose a helicopter tour based on a specific glacier, as that will be up to the pilot and the conditions of the day.
My helicopter tour made a wilderness landing at Meade Glacier.
We walked around on the glacier, saw blue ice, and saw glacier waterfalls!
ð You might see glacier waterfalls as part of a helicopter excursion from Skagway!
Princess shore excursion I booked for Skagway: Glacier Discovery by helicopter
5. Yakutania Point
If you want to do Skagway on your own that includes a little bit of hiking, you can hike to Yakutania Point.
Another well-known hike near the Skagway cruise port is the Dewey Lake Trail. This is a bit harder than the Yakutania Point hike because you are hiking up.
When I was sitting on the Skagway water shuttle, I also talked to the Princess naturalist who said AB Mountain is a good hike later in the season when there’s no snow if you have all day. When I asked what “all day” is, he said maybe 5.5 hours.
6. Skagway footbridge
If you have an hour or so to spare, the Skagway footbridge can be an easy walk from the cruise port.
If you’re going to Yakutania Point or Smugglers Cove, you’ll go across the Skagway footbridge to get there.
Otherwise, you can also just make it a walk just to go to the bridge for the views.
If you’ll be spending a few hours on the trails, it will also be interesting to take note of the water level at the Skagway footbridge as you make your way across the bridge.
Southeast Alaska is known for having big tidal changes, and this can be seen from the Skagway footbridge too.
There was a noticeable difference in the water level when I first went across the bridge and when I returned.
7. Denver Glacier dog sledding
The dog sledding tour I did went to Denver Glacier.
This was another helicopter tour with a wilderness landing on a glacier.
Princess shore excursion I booked for Skagway: Dog sledding and glacier helicopter flightseeing
How I did one day in Skagway (x2)
Skagway cruise port day #1 (Sapphire Princess)
In short, this was the planned one day in Skagway for my Alaska cruise on the Sapphire Princess:
- morning excursion: Klondike Highway + White Pass Railway
- lunch: back on the cruise ship
- afternoon excursion: helicopter + glacier walk
And this is basically how it worked out!
Both of my Skagway excursions were booked through Princess.
Just to give you an idea, here is how I spent my one day in Skagway during the first cruise!
- 7:45am: Meeting time in Princess Theater on the cruise ship for Klondike Highway + White Pass railway tour
- 8:30am: Started the drive up the Klondike Highway
- 9:30am: Arrived at train station in Fraser BC to get on the White Pass Railway
- 10:10am: Departed Fraser BC to take train back to Skagway
- 12:05pm: Arrived in Skagway
- 12:35pm: Arrived back on cruise ship to eat lunch
- 2pm: Meeting time at the end of the pier off the cruise ship for helicopter + glacier walk tour
- 2:45pm: Got on the helicopter for a scenic flight across mountains and glaciers!
- 3:10pm: Arrived for a wilderness landing on Meade Glacier to walk around and see blue ice and glacier waterfalls!
- 3:45pm: Got back on the helicopter for flight back to Skagway
- 4:10pm: Arrived back in Skagway
- 5pm: Arrived back on the cruise ship after a (very) quick walk around town
The time in Skagway cruise port during this cruise was 7am to 8:30pm with a back-on-board time of 8pm.
Because the cruise ship was docked at the back of the railroad dock, a land shuttle was required to get from the cruise ship to the end of the pier.
In the morning, I got on a shuttle with my excursion, so it was quick.
All times I used the shuttle on my own, I had minimal wait going both ways, so I didn’t think the shuttle was a big deal at all.
See more about my Alaska cruise on the Sapphire Princess: 11-day Alaska cruise from Vancouver roundtrip
Skagway cruise port day #2 (Majestic Princess)
Here is roughly how I planned my one day in Skagway for my Alaska cruise on the Majestic Princess:
- morning excursion: helicopter + dog sledding tour
- lunch: go back to the cruise ship
- afternoon on my own: yakutania point and smugglers cove
The Skagway excursion was booked through Princess.
The cruise ship was docked at the front of the railroad dock, so a water shuttle was required to get to land.
Well, my plan was doomed from the start because one of the water shuttles the ship was going to use had issues.
They ended up borrowing a water shuttle from another Princess cruise ship that was in Skagway, the Crown Princess.
This seemed to be the reason for the incredible delay of almost all Princess shore excursions leaving from the Princess Theater in the morning.
Although I did talk to someone who seemed to have done one of the earliest excursions and they had no issues, by the time I arrived at the Princess Theater for my meeting time, there was a major delay in getting on the water shuttle.
This delay resulted in me arriving on shore to be told that I missed my excursion because I was late.
They rescheduled the tour for late afternoon.
So I went back to the cruise ship since I was not mentally prepared to immediately go hike. ðĪŠ
That and I wanted to take my daypack with water on the hike, which I did not have with me since I intended to go back to the cruise ship before doing the hike.
So then my day in Skagway became something like this:
- lunch on the cruise ship
- afternoon: yakutania point and smugglers cove
- late afternoon: helicopter + dog sledding tour
And it turned out to be fine.
I met someone who was booked through Princess for a combination tour that included the White Pass railway, and they missed their train timing. I don’t know what ended up happening with them, if they were able to still do all or most of the tour.
I also talked to someone who said they were on the White Pass railway, and they said they barely made their train timing. The train had apparently waited for them for 30 minutes or something for the delayed water shuttle people.
So just hope your cruise ship has water shuttles that are in working order!
The water shuttles are also the lifeboats of the cruise ship, so that’s a better reason to hope your water shuttles have no issues!
See more about my Alaska cruise on the Majestic Princess: 7-day Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage one-way
Sailing away from Skagway
Be out on the open deck as you’re sailing away from Skagway!
What’s going on with Skagway cruise port?
Affecting the 2023 Alaska cruise season in Skagway is a big rock at the top of the hill that may or may not fall onto a cruise ship pier some time soon.
Because of concern that the big rock will fall at any moment, if your cruise ship is docked at the pier closest to this big rock hill, you cannot walk the entirety of the pier.
That’s because if you were to walk it, you would be walking on the pier in the direct spot of where the rock could fall.
And so, if you are docked at this pier, you have to either move very quickly on the pier (land shuttle) or avoid it altogether (water shuttle).
It’s also possible that you might not be docked at a pier that’s affected by the rock at the top of the hill.
In which case, you won’t need a shuttle directly from the cruise ship at all.
So, just because you’re going to Skagway doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll need a shuttle.
See more about taking a Skagway cruise port shuttle.
Whale watching in Skagway from the cruise ship?!
When I was in Skagway on May 17, 2023, there was a whale right near the cruise ships all day long!
Okay, so I wasn’t at the cruise port all day long to know if it was actually there all day long.
But as I was on the water shuttle waiting for it to leave the cruise ship, there was some great whale watching. At that time I saw a whale’s tail several times!
And, when I was on the Yakutania Point Trail in the afternoon looking off towards the cruise ship, I could see a whale several times.
And then, there was also some great whale watching in the evening as I was on the water shuttle returning to the cruise ship! At that time, I saw the whale lunge feeding several times! (You can see its mouth come up to the surface.)
Because of this, I can only imagine that it was there all day long!
So it was FREE whale watching in Skagway!!
So, when you are on the cruise ship, be on the lookout for whales!
Maybe it will be there when you are there too!
Skagway is one of the best cruise ports for:
- Dog sledding in Alaska
- Helicopter tours in Alaska
And that’s a bit about my time in Skagway cruise port!
More cruise ports for your Alaska cruise:
- Best Skagway excursions
- Best cruise ports for dog sledding in Alaska
- Things to do in Ketchikan
- Things to do in Juneau
- Things to do in Sitka
- Glacier Bay National Park
- Sitka National Historical Park
- Best Juneau excursions
- Best Ketchikan excursions
HAPPY DOING THINGS IN SKAGWAY!
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