Alaskan Cruise: Skagway

Posted on July 4, 2016 By Joe Hardenbrook

With Juneau behind us, it was off to Skagway!

Skagway, with a full-time population of around 1,000 (that swells well beyond that in the summer to assist with the tourist influx) still feels like an Alaskan frontier town. It became the entry point for many during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800s.

It’s also home to the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad – a popular shore excursion for cruise ship visitors.

White Pass & Yukon Route railroad

However, we had a different plan: We booked reservations with Frontier Excursions & Adventures to take a mini-bus along the Klondike Highway and into Yukon. I’ll blog more about that later.

After docking at around 7am, we exited the ship at 7:45 and had a nice walk through town before we had to meet our tour bus.

Make sure and check out the Arctic Brotherhood Hall – with its driftwood facade, and the classic Red Onion Saloon!

Arctic Brotherhood Hall, Skagway

Red Onion Saloon, Skagway

Fun fact: the Radio Shack in Skagway also rents DVDs (can’t really stream movies over Netflix or Hulu…too slow in Skagway) and they sell pizza, hot dogs, and more!

Also spotted a combination Italian/Mexican restaurant in downtown Skagway!

Skagway has a fun, funky vibe. If traveling over land, I would definitely make my way to Skagway, but a brief stop on a cruise is fun too.

Here is the Princess Patter for the day in Skagway: