Alaskan Cruise - Alaskan Railroad Anchorage to Seward

[bpriest]

Hello Everyone, 

 

I am traveling to Alaska with my wife in September 2024 onboard Radiance of the Seas. Our ship leaves 09/13, we are arriving in Anchorage on 09/12 spending the night. We are then taking the Costal Classic Alaskan Rail Road Train departing at 6:45AM Anchorage to Seward to get us to the ship. I did not book this through Royal Caribbean as I don't see it as an option anywhere, so I booked it directly through the Alaskan Railroad. I did some research and found alot of older posts pre covid about how taking the train works but wanted to confirm the process. From the sounds of it our baggage will be taken directly in Anchorage to the ship either by a truck or on the train. Also the train station in Seward is about a 11 minute walk from the pier. Is this still the case? Also does Royal Caribbean offer the Alaskan Railroad because if they do, I'd consider rebooking with them so I don't get left behind god forbid something happened.

 

Thanks in Advance!

[twangster]

Royal does charter a separate train that operates from closer to the airport in Anchorage to the cruise ship dock in Seward.  It sells out quickly and may or may not offer gold star service with dome cars.  You can call Royal to inquire if there is availability.  It leaves later in the day on the premise that fly in guests arriving the day of the cruise can still use their charter train service.  As a result you get to the ship later in the day, such as early evening.

The train booked direct with the Alaskan Railroad that leaves from the main or "downtown" public train station still operates as it did pre-CV.  

I like getting to the ship earlier in the day so I've always booked direct with the railroad.

[steverk]

I took the train from Seward to Anchorage last time I was there.  Wonderful! Take gold class. Worth every penny 

[SolariumSnoozer]

We took the train to Seward in August 2022.  Make sure you have your Royal luggage tags attached to your bags.  In our case there was a truck carrying all the cruise luggage.  The luggage goes right onto the ship and is waiting by your cabin.  The train arrives late morning so book an excursion in Seward, we did a wildlife cruise.   As @steverk mentioned, take the gold class service.  

[bpriest]

Thank you everyone. I will definitely have my luggage tags on prior to getting on the train. I did purchase the Adventure Class due to cost, even through the Gold Class sounds amazing. I appreciate the advise. I am assuming they still run the city shuttle in Seward and or the walk isn't bad from the train depot. 

[OCSC Mike]

In 2018 we did a 10-day DIY land portion before a southbound cruise and took the train all the way from Fairbanks to Seward (with several stops obviously) and could not believe how smoothly everything was handled. Almost every hotel/lodge we stayed at in various towns transported our luggage to the train for us.

We spent 2 nights in Seward before the cruise so go with others' responses to your specific questions; just wanted to share how great we felt the train was. I'll also be the dissenting opinion and say we felt no need for Gold Class. We were in regular class (forget what they call it) and on some legs had an entire car to ourselves (mid-June). There is also one car with an upper deck viewing area like Gold Class. You are asked to only spend 15 minutes at a time there but we could have sat up there for hours if we felt the need. We became friendly with another couple while staying in Denali who were taking the train with us afterward and we visited them in Gold Class. It was nice but I'd rather spend my money on other things. Different strokes...