Day 5 Diamond Princess Alaska Cruise - Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway (Skagway)

Alaska Cruise (Skagway) . 2012 . Sep 19

Skagway – The Gateway to the Klondike

Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway Approximately 8 hrs/from $199  (SGY-180)

Skagway, the town best known for its ‘Klondike Gold Rush’ in the late 1800s, is a town rich in history with prospectors from other regions coming in to dabble with the hope of getting rich.  Along with its history, Skagway, just like the rest of the Alaskan towns, is surrounded by spectacular scenery and wildlife.

The Diamond Princess arrives at Skagway at 7am as scheduled.

The Bald Eagle mascot welcoming passengers to Skagway..

If you are in Skagway, the one must-do activity is to visit the Yukon and Klondike Summit. The Yukon and White Pass Railway, once used for gold mining activities, are now serving the purpose of bringing large numbers of cruise ship tourists through the scenic wonderland called the Yukon.

There are two different options for this – the more affordable version would be to take the Railway from town up to the summit and back to town. The entire journey is longer, as the train is not allowed to go beyond its speed limit. A slightly more expensive method which we opted for, was to take the motor coach up to the summit. The journey is faster, and there are scenic photo stops along the highway. In addition, there is a lunch stop at stop at Caribou Crossing with a wildlife gallery and an animal farm.

As always, we were amazed by the seamless logistics management by Princess Cruises.  Although there were large numbers of passengers going for their various land excursions, there had never been a moment of confusion amongst any of the passengers, for signages were put up prominently and staff were always on hand to help out with questions.  These guys from Princess Cruises sure know what they are doing.

Tip:  As this excursion crosses the Canadian border on its way to the Yukon, passengers are required to bring their passports and photo ID with them.

The orderly scene at the dock where we board our motor coach to the Yukon and White Pass.

The tickets to board the motor coach to Yukon.  These tickets appeared in our cabin on the second morning of the cruise, along with the tickets for other earlier land excursions to Ketchikan and Juneau.

Our comfortable motor coach, with ample leg space, on-board toilet facilities and a free newsletter for every passenger on board.

Tip: Pick a seat on the right hand side of the coach for better scenery.

The docks are full again with other cruise ships.  There’s NCL’s Norwegian Pearl, and Norwegian Jewel and Holland America’s Ms Zaadam which we met in Ketchikan earlier.

Passengers are requested to be back on board by 8pm for sail-away to Glacier Bay.  Meaning that we still get to have time to walk around downtown Skagway when we return from the excursion at about 4:30pm.

Just minutes after leaving the port, you’ll see the railway carriages of the White Pass and the Yukon Railroad at downtown Skagway.

Snow capped mountains and waterfalls line the Klondike Highway as we make our way towards Canada’s Yukon Territory.

At some point, the journey threatened to turn misty, and the guide cum driver had to stop to wipe our frosted windows..

 The rugged wilderness of the White Pass...

The Canadian Customs checkpoint at Fraser.  Get your passports ready, turn it to the page with the photo ID and hold it next to your face, for the immigration officer will come on board to do a quick check.

Once again, we were lucky that the weather turned from misty to gloriously sunny, allowing us to admire the blue lakes and snow capped mountains aplenty along the Klondike Highway.   Our tour guide made several scenic photo stops for us along the way but most of us scrambled back to the warmth comfort of the motor coach after a few minutes of the biting cold.

Bove Island

One of the highlights of the South Klondike Highway is Bove Island, a beautiful outcrop of land set in the Tagish Lake.  Viewed in late summer/early autumn, this small piece of land is breathtakingly beautiful and inspiring.

Emerald Lake

Another sparkling jewel in the Yukon Territory along the South Klondike Highway.   The intense blue-green color of Emerald Lake was created when sunlight reflects off the marl (mixture of Calcium Carbonate and clay) at the lake bottom.    14,000 years ago, this exact same spot was occupied by a glacier, but its retreat caused the valley to be carved and shallow lakes to be formed.   The retreating glacier ice also deposited limestone on the lake bottom, giving rise to the spectacular Emerald Lake we see today.

Caribou Crossing Trading Post

At about mid-day, our motor coach arrives at Caribou Trading Post for our lunch and a restroom stop.  There is also a wildlife museum, and an animal farm with sled dog ride available here.  

Our sticker that labels us as passengers of the tour and allows us to pick up our meal and gain entry to the Wildlife Museum.

 Queuing up for our piping hot barbeque lunch at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post.

Our hearty meal of barbequed chicken, bread, free flow of donuts and hot drinks (included in the package).  This looks very much like a home-run business, so do not expect restaurant-standard food.  But the warm food is a nice respite from the cold weather. 

The canteen-like refreshment area. Though plainly furnished, this place and its adjourning restrooms are clean.   We made a quick meal of our food for we were keen to explore the Wildlife Museum and Animal Farm just next door!

Stay tuned and join us in our next post as we explore the Wildlife Museum and witness a sled dog ride. 

Read these too!

• All our Alaska Cruise posts
• Alaska Cruise Menus

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

Like us on Facebook @ Discover. Book . Travel and follow us on Twitter @Discoverbooktra!

Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!