Alaskan RR GoldStar vs Royal Caribbean Anchorage to Seward

[Avatar133]

So there's an excursion train from Anchorage to Seward and for my cruise it's listed at $259, but on the Railroad's website, GoldStar service is listed at $220. Is there a difference between the two? Do they both come with food and the wrap-around glass train?

[OCSC Mike]

I can't tell you what the Royal excursion includes but Goldstar definitely includes food and the dome windows.

I took the train all the way from Fairbanks to Seward (with several stops in between) before a Southbound cruise in 2018 so I'm pretty familiar with the train but our land portion wasn't booked through RC.

[twangster]

Royal's train departs later in the day from a station near the airport in Anchorage and it ends right at the cruise terminal in Seward.  It leaves later so that fly in guests landing in the morning can make the train but this means it arrives in Seward late afternoon or early evening. This is a charter train with only Royal guests on board.

The Alaskan Railroad direct train operates from the downtown Anchorage station and ends at the public train station in Seward.  This is a ten minute walk or a complimentary coach ride to the cruise terminal.  The direct train leaves early in the morning and arrives in Seward mid-day.  Anyone can book the direct train including tourists who are not taking a cruise.

Goldstar isn't always offered on the Royal charter train.  It depends.  I'd call and ask.  If it is the on-board experience will be the same as the direct Goldstar booked train.

In both cases once you handoff your luggage in Anchorage you won't see it again until it is outside your cabin door on the ship.

Personally I like arriving earlier to the ship so I tend to book direct.

[Avatar133]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Royal's train departs later in the day from a station near the airport in Anchorage and it ends right at the cruise terminal in Seward.  It leaves later so that fly in guests landing in the morning can make the train but this means it arrives in Seward late afternoon or early evening. This is a charter train with only Royal guests on board.

The Alaskan Railroad direct train operates from the downtown Anchorage station and ends at the public train station in Seward.  This is a ten minute walk or a complimentary coach ride to the cruise terminal.  The direct train leaves early in the morning and arrives in Seward mid-day.  Anyone can book the direct train including tourists who are not taking a cruise.

Goldstar isn't always offered on the Royal charter train.  It depends.  I'd call and ask.  If it is the on-board experience will be the same as the direct Goldstar booked train.

In both cases once you handoff your luggage in Anchorage you won't see it again until it is outside your cabin door on the ship.

Personally I like arriving earlier to the ship so I tend to book direct.

Yeah this is a Northbound from Vancouver to Anchorage cruise

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Avatar133 said:

Yeah this is a Northbound from Vancouver to Anchorage cruise

Odd since your screenshot was Anchorage to Seward.  

Apparently both of our times has been wasted.

 

[FionaMG]

9 hours ago, Avatar133 said:

So there's an excursion train from Anchorage to Seward and for my cruise it's listed at $259, but on the Railroad's website, GoldStar service is listed at $220. Is there a difference between the two? Do they both come with food and the wrap-around glass train?

I may be looking at this wrong but it seems to me like you have two different directions here? One is from Anchorage to Seward, whereas the other is Seward to Anchorage?

[markinct]

We did the gold star service in 2022. It was utterly fabulous. The rear of the car had an observation area that was open to the outside air. The views were fantastic and we met some interesting people. The staff on the train were informative in a very friendly way.

There's a service called Orange Bike Delivery in Seward. They can take your bags from the cruise port to the train. It's a family run business that took very good care of us (and our mountain of baggage!) The hauled our stuff from the port to a hotel we spent the night at, then picked up from the hotel and delivered to the train station. 

https://www.orangebikedelivery.com/luggage.html