Syd-Los Angeles Then Alaska Marine Highway

[RB]

Hoping to pick some brains. We are looking at May 2010 & the current price on V Aust premium economy looks very enticing for Sydney-Los Angeles return. The current thought is to add on an independent trip through Alaska using the Marine Hwy. Does anyone have experience on the ferries through Alaska & any thoughts of maximising airline earning $ within US/Canada. We are QFF members, Mrs RB will drop back to silver Feb 2010, me NB.

 

[Cocitus23]

The Alaska Marine Highway is an excellent cheap alternative to the cruise ships, if you want to see the Inside Passage. One difficulty is that its only port of call in the "lower 48" is at Bellingham WA. Most likely you would fly from LAX to SEA then take a bus to Bellingham, a distance of 178 km. Look at the web sites for Belair Airporter Service and for Alaska Marine Highway.
An alternative to consider is to fly to Anchorage, rent an RV and do the following circuit: North to Denali National Park, East on Denali Highway to Paxson, South to Valdez; then West on Alaska Marine Highway across Prince William Sound to Whittier and back to Anchorage. Will take you about 5 days. Summer only.
Can't help you on points maximisation. Sorry.

 

[Cyclogenesis]

I jumped on the AMH in prince rupert (BC) and sailed up to Juneau in winter 2006 (after finishing my PhD) a real highlight, a magnificent journey I recommend to everyone... Get a cabin, it makes the trip much more pleasant... It is lovely visiting all the communities that rely on the boats. My trip was SYD -ChinaAirlines> YVR -greyhound(never again!)> Lake Louise -ShuttleBus> Jasper -Train(Awesome)> Prince Rupert -AlaskaMarineHwy> Juneau -AlaskaAirlines>Anchorage -Alaska/Horizon> YVR-ChinaAirlines>SYD

I flew China Airlines back then as money was a real issue (finishing PhD) and I wanted cheap as possible...

Here is a pick going up the inside passage:

more pics here:
Pot of Grass productions :: Canada

 

[Cocitus23]

Further to my earlier comments about accessing Bellingham from Los Angeles: Bellingham is well north of Seattle (especially Seattle airport, SEA, which is south of the city. In fact Bellingham is not far from the Canadian border. Looking at the map, you might be tempted to fly into Vancouver airport (YVR), which virtually sits on the border, on the Canadian side. AVOID THAT TEMPTATION. Although YVR is much closer than SEA to Bellingham, the delays at the border crossing are invariably long (hours), quite apart from customs and poor ground transport connections. Much better to fly into SEA. Bellingham has its own airport, but I think takes only has local flights.

 

[Cocitus23]

Bellingham has its own airport, but I think takes only has local flights.

After writing that last sentence, I thought I should check it out, and I discovered that Alaska Airlines actually runs a few short hop flights from Seattle to Bellingham each day. What's more, the fares from LAX right through to Bellingham looked surprisingly good, change out of US$100. So unless you definitely wanted to visit the city of Seattle, this air connection looks quite attractive to me.

 

[Seat 2A]

I've ridden the AMH plenty of times. In fact, I'll be on it again in about six weeks. However, I am unable to shed light on your question primarily because your post gives no indication of how long you'll be staying on our fine continent. Do you plan to visit only Alaska or do you want to see some other places in the Western U.S. and/or Canada as well? I mean, if you've only got two weeks and want to do the ferry plus tour around Alaska, I personally reckon we're just whistlin' Dixie here. On the other hand, if you're fixing to stay longer...

So - how much time do you have?

By the way, if you just Google "Alaska Marine Highway" you'll get two or three sites that'll give you plenty of info as well as book your passage. They're all good.

 

[serfty]

G'day Seat 2A, welcome to AFF.

 

[RB]

Thanks for the ideas so far.
We are looking at a month or 5 weeks. Hoping to see more of Alaska, Western Canada ( have seen Vancouver & Banff area) & a little of Western USA (previously seen Vegas & San Francisco). We are hoping to get around by air/train/bus rather than drive. Seat 2A, with your experience can you suggest towns to spend more days at after getting off the ferry? I have done a fair bit of net reading & looked at some feedback on Trip Advisor.
No plane booked yet but the Y+ into Los Angeles with V Aust looks attractive way of getting over there & back.

 

[Warks]

Just back from Canada and we'd originally planned to do Prince Rupert to Port Hardy (Vancouver Island) on the ferry (Inside Passage) but it was a bit late in the season for the run through northern BC - we had snow in Banff on 1-2 October and a few days earlier on the Icefield Parkway. Not a problem in summer of course.

Also I found the cost of putting a car on the ferry pretty exorbitant. C$390 in peak and 'only' C$220 in off-peak. Couple that with $170 per adult and $85 per child and a cruise is looking cheap!
It also only runs from May 18 to the end of September so I'm not sure what off-peak and shoulder periods are.
http://www.bcferries.com/files/fares/pdf_format/FARES_Effective_Oct_01_2009_final.pdf (page 26)
There's also a shorter trip to Bella Coola which may be a bit cheaper

 

[straitman]

Further to my earlier comments about accessing Bellingham from Los Angeles: Bellingham is well north of Seattle (especially Seattle airport, SEA, which is south of the city. In fact Bellingham is not far from the Canadian border. Looking at the map, you might be tempted to fly into Vancouver airport (YVR), which virtually sits on the border, on the Canadian side. AVOID THAT TEMPTATION. Although YVR is much closer than SEA to Bellingham, the delays at the border crossing are invariably long (hours), quite apart from customs and poor ground transport connections. Much better to fly into SEA. Bellingham has its own airport, but I think takes only has local flights.

The border crossing can be hours but there can also be no wait situations. We recently had 4 crossings and the longest wait was 17min which included going inside to have passports stamped. The quickest was Canada to USA about 5:30pm where there was no waiting at all.

There are several local traffic frequencies that include advice about the expected delays at each crossing.

 

[Warks]

Regarding the border crossing at Peace Arch - according to my sources it's really busy when the Canadians are going into Washington state for work in the morning and coming home in the evening. We recently passed through from the Canadian side at about 7pm and it took about 10 minutes.

On the way into Canada I was advised by various sources (including AFF and my local guide) not to use Peace Arch but to go via Langley, This is a quiet little spot that should be quick but isn't open late. Well we spent a good 1.5 hours in the queue! That was Saturday around 6pm. The Canadian Customs & Immigration official told me the surge in traffic was due to people's GPSs advising them to take this route as it was quicker!

 

[straitman]

Regarding the border crossing at Peace Arch - according to my sources it's really busy when the Canadians are going into Washington state for work in the morning and coming home in the evening. We recently passed through from the Canadian side at about 7pm and it took about 10 minutes.

On the way into Canada I was advised by various sources (including AFF and my local guide) not to use Peace Arch but to go via Langley, This is a quiet little spot that should be quick but isn't open late. Well we spent a good 1.5 hours in the queue! That was Saturday around 6pm. The Canadian Customs & Immigration official told me the surge in traffic was due to people's GPSs advising them to take this route as it was quicker!

We found the truck crossing quick into Canada (10:00 ish) and the Peace Arch was the no waiting one at 5:30pm going back to the USA.

 

[Seat 2A]

Seat 2A, with your experience can you suggest towns to spend more days at after getting off the ferry? I have done a fair bit of net reading

First, since there's only one ferry in the entire month of May that can connect you from the southeastern communities (Juneau, Ketchikan, etc) up to Whittier, the odds are pretty good that you won't be on it. So the focus here is between Bellingham and Juneau.

If you're on an afternoon or evening departure out Bellingham, hopefully you'll have some time to visit Bellingham's Old Town, also known as Fairhaven. It's about a 3-4 minute walk from the terminal. Lots of old brick buildings, quaint stores and restaurants, etc. Also worth noting is that the Amtrak train station is practically across the street from the ferry terminal.

Along the way to Juneau, you might want to get off for a day or two in Ketchikan. I personally wouldn't want to stay any longer, not because Ketchikan's a bad place (rainy though...) but because you really don't need more than a day to see the place. I'd send a link to Ketchikan but because I haven't posted enough times at this site, I'm prohibited. Google it.

Juneau is the capitol of Alaska. It's definitely good for a day or two, but no more. Very pretty, mountainous location. Consider a helicopter flight up the Mendenhall Glacier, rent a kayak or go whale watching. There's plenty to do.

From Juneau, it's just a short ride (2-4 hours each way, depending upon a fast or slow ferry) up to the Lynn Canal to Skagway, a pretty little town that was the jumping off point for the Klondike Gold Rush. Consider a ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad. Again, this site won't allow me to post links, so Google some of this stuff for more info.

From Juneau, you'll have to fly 570 miles to get up to Anchorage and onto the main road system. A map of Alaska will give you a better idea. From there, anywhere you go from Homer to Valdez to Denali Park will be good.

 

[RB]

Thanks again. At this stage we plan on getting ferry from Juneau on 6th or 8th June.
Seat 2A do you have thoughts on Tok, Fairbanks & Barrow?

 

[Seat 2A]

At this stage we plan on getting ferry from Juneau on 6th or 8th June. Do you have thoughts on Tok, Fairbanks & Barrow?

You're getting the ferry from Juneau? So you're flying up to Alaska and then ferrying back? Okay then, a couple of things. Visiting Tok would be like visiting Kulgera, NT on the Stuart Highway. Not much there, but a good place to grab a bite to eat and top off your fuel.

Barrow has the distinction of being the northernmost point in Alaska (though it is not the northernmost point in North America). It is home to the Inupiat people and historically is a whaling town. Actually, Google Barrow and check out the wikipedia info. on it. Pretty good stuff. There are tours you can do up to Barrow that include a visit to Point Barrow and a "night" in town. I say "night" because by June the sun will not be setting in Barrow. It's up 24 hours a day.

As for Fairbanks, it's the largest city in the Interior (All of Alaska north of the Alaska range). Fairbanks is a college town and home to two military bases. Like any city of 40,000 people (75,000 in the immediate area) with a university, there's plenty to do in Fairbanks at all times of the year, especially summer. Daytime temperatures are generally about 20-25 degrees Celcius and the sun is up for all but about two and a half hours. Assuming you'll have rented a car, driving to Fairbanks is part of the attraction. I love the rolling hills, rivers and forests here. A very pretty area.

Again, because I haven't posted a certain number of times, I am prohibited from providing links but I encourage you to Google your way along and you'll no doubt find all kinds of further information.