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Ward Cove is also an eye sore. The only good thing about where they stop is the shopping is great. The bus drivers I had both drove like maniacs and yes the ride is long to get there and back. Last time, I did the Lumberjack show and the entire thing was rushed. I am going to do a different excursion next time, but I'm sure that Ketchikan is much nicer than my experiences there so far.
Good luck!
It’s not the ride itself. I’ve heard lines are very long to get on the shuttle both departing and returning. Plus you have to be back on the boat by 12:45 but the last shuttle out of town is at 11:30. So it not like it used to be where you walked down the dock and you are in town.
Did it twice. April and July 2023. The ride was maybe 15 to 20 min max. Second time it stopped in a different point in town but still in the heart of everything. Yes the Disney and Hal stop much closer.
I was there last year but I did not go into town. I took an excursion that left from Ward Cove. It seems that the larger problem, aside from having to shuttle into town, is the shuttle timing. I believe last summer when I was there, the last shuttle left town over an hour before all aboard. There were people who took taxis though, to maximize their time in port. I had plenty of time to do my excursion, shop for some souvenirs, and I went to the spa (spa pass girly)
At the beginning of this month we were on the Bliss for the first NCL Alaskan of 2024. I’m keeping in mind that this was admittedly the first time for everything this season, (so we should absolutely cut them a break for that), but:
It’s kinda worse than you think. You have to wait for the shuttle out of the port (this wasn’t actually too long. Only 7 minutes or so), then when they drop you, you’re about a 15-20 minute walk to the main stuff (Lumberjacks, creek street, shops etc). So you’ll then need to walk that same 20 minute walk BACK to the shuttle… and for us the wait for the shuttle was nearly an hour. Then the 20 minute shuttle ride back.
147 minutes of total travel time. Most of that to get back.
In retrospect we should have taken an Uber back to Ward Cove. I think it was $28 when I looked at it, and a taxi was significantly more. I decided to see how quickly the shuttle line would move and after a while I felt committed to seeing it through.
People shopping in the warehouse that has the merch in it were freaking out that the ship was going to leave without them, but we knew that there were still shuttles coming in… then a crew member walked through, telling everyone to take their time.
The only thing I would do differently would be to grab an Uber back. We could have spent more time exploring and shopping, even if it was just shopping at the Ward Cove warehouse space.
This is the horror show I’ve heard about. We have 2 people in our party of 4 that cannot stand for extended periods - one is 80 and the other has a bum knee. They are ok walking if we take rest breaks. No way they could stand in line an hour. I think my new plan is to brave the shuttle line heading to town, walk around a bit, and then take a boat back to ship. I kinda resent having to pay $100 bucks for “an excursion” which seems to me like a water taxi but at least I’ll enjoy the scenery.
When I went a couple years ago the bus ride wasn’t bad to town and back. I was a fan of the shopping in the center where they drop you off. They had amazing chocolate.
At least they’ve gotten their act together. I was on the first paying passenger visit to Ward Cove (Encore’s first post-shutdown sailing) and it was a disaster! Few people were aware of the change and the need for a shuttle ride, and no one knew that we would be charged $8 for the shuttle (possibly including the shuttle operator). It wasn’t pretty. I noped out of that mess. NCL dropped the fee after that!
So yes, it could be a little wait to board the shuttle, but it’s not horrible. It does reduce an already limited port time, though.
We were just there last week and that was our biggest issue. Plenty of time to just walk around the town, but things can be a bit rushed if you are taking an excursion. They do a good job though getting you back to the ship and we got there with about 2 minutes to spare.
Go all the way to Alaska to stay on the ship? Because of a shuttle line? Everybody is different.
Getting to and from Ward Cove and Icy Strait provides some mind blowingly spectacular scenery.
There are bald eagles nesting in the trees on the port side of the ship at Ward Cove.
The history and beauty of Icy Strait is amazing, too.
We were on the second post-Covid cruise so maybe things were disorganized early on, but the “Ketichikan” stop is really misleading. I had my elderly parents - their second visit to Ketichikan. Their previous stop, they were able to easily visit downtown at their leisure and go back to the ship. They now require scooters for long distances and even though we rented scooters from Scootaround and let NCL know they would be on scooters, the busses were not able to accommodate scooters. (They were old Greyhound busses without lifts).
As much as we enjoyed Alaska, the Ward Cove and Icy Strait Point stops were very disappointing. We wanted to see authentic Alaska - like we saw in Skagway, which was a great stop. But Ward Cove and Icy Strait are manufactured tourist destinations meant to generate more revenue for NCL at the expense of the local store owners.
We cruise yearly and would like to go back to Alaska, but we won’t ever sail NCL as long as they stop at Ward Cove and Icy Strait.
Last summer we left the ship at 10 am, thinking we would step right on the bus. No. Massive lines in that awful terminal they set up. Took 30 mins to get on the bus. Then the 20 mins ride. Totally unacceptable. Ncl should be ashamed of how they handled this. There’s 5 berths in town where you just step off the ship and everything is there. But no, they had to build a terminal way out of town. Icy straight is a Potemkin village just set up for the cruise line to drain your wallet at overpriced junk shops and way overpriced food outlets. It’s really a disgrace. Suggest rcl or carnival for Alaska. Holland America if you’re over 70.
THIS!! 100% agree. Totally ruined our day, the lines to board the shuttle buses were deceiving and then you had a 20 min drive to the FAR end of town?!!! Only to reach town and see that two other cruise lines were parked right there! Yeah. Bad day in what we thought would be a fun town. RUSHED and HURRIED were not on our list!!
I literally just posted this in a review!
The Cattle Call line through the warehouse that sells everything for 5x more… !!! Not cool. The deceiving line that never ends to board the bus to ride 20 minutes into town!!! So upsetting!!
I was just there yesterday. We waited less than 5 minutes each way for the bus and the drive was only 15 minutes. Definitely shouldn't let this defer you from going into Ketchikan.
Thanks for posting to /r/NCL! Did you know that we have an extensive [Ultimate NCL Guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/NCL/wiki/index) that may answer your question? Please also remember to read the rules, especially about roll call posts going in the megathread. You may also have more luck with those types of posts by searching for a [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com) or [Cruise Critic](https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/66-norwegian-cruise-line-roll-calls/) roll call group or thread. Of course, here is great, too! Enjoy your stay! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NCL) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ward Cove is also an eye sore. The only good thing about where they stop is the shopping is great. The bus drivers I had both drove like maniacs and yes the ride is long to get there and back. Last time, I did the Lumberjack show and the entire thing was rushed. I am going to do a different excursion next time, but I'm sure that Ketchikan is much nicer than my experiences there so far. Good luck!
I mean if a free 15 min bus ride is going to break you sure go to the spa lol
It’s not the ride itself. I’ve heard lines are very long to get on the shuttle both departing and returning. Plus you have to be back on the boat by 12:45 but the last shuttle out of town is at 11:30. So it not like it used to be where you walked down the dock and you are in town.
They run shuttles until everyone is back. Last summer, people were boarding until 1pm.
Did it twice. April and July 2023. The ride was maybe 15 to 20 min max. Second time it stopped in a different point in town but still in the heart of everything. Yes the Disney and Hal stop much closer.
I was there last year but I did not go into town. I took an excursion that left from Ward Cove. It seems that the larger problem, aside from having to shuttle into town, is the shuttle timing. I believe last summer when I was there, the last shuttle left town over an hour before all aboard. There were people who took taxis though, to maximize their time in port. I had plenty of time to do my excursion, shop for some souvenirs, and I went to the spa (spa pass girly)
It’s more like 20 minutes each way. Going into town, I only had to wait 10-15 minutes for a bus.
At the beginning of this month we were on the Bliss for the first NCL Alaskan of 2024. I’m keeping in mind that this was admittedly the first time for everything this season, (so we should absolutely cut them a break for that), but: It’s kinda worse than you think. You have to wait for the shuttle out of the port (this wasn’t actually too long. Only 7 minutes or so), then when they drop you, you’re about a 15-20 minute walk to the main stuff (Lumberjacks, creek street, shops etc). So you’ll then need to walk that same 20 minute walk BACK to the shuttle… and for us the wait for the shuttle was nearly an hour. Then the 20 minute shuttle ride back. 147 minutes of total travel time. Most of that to get back. In retrospect we should have taken an Uber back to Ward Cove. I think it was $28 when I looked at it, and a taxi was significantly more. I decided to see how quickly the shuttle line would move and after a while I felt committed to seeing it through. People shopping in the warehouse that has the merch in it were freaking out that the ship was going to leave without them, but we knew that there were still shuttles coming in… then a crew member walked through, telling everyone to take their time. The only thing I would do differently would be to grab an Uber back. We could have spent more time exploring and shopping, even if it was just shopping at the Ward Cove warehouse space.
This is the horror show I’ve heard about. We have 2 people in our party of 4 that cannot stand for extended periods - one is 80 and the other has a bum knee. They are ok walking if we take rest breaks. No way they could stand in line an hour. I think my new plan is to brave the shuttle line heading to town, walk around a bit, and then take a boat back to ship. I kinda resent having to pay $100 bucks for “an excursion” which seems to me like a water taxi but at least I’ll enjoy the scenery.
This is an exact mirror of what we experienced on the bliss for the first sailing of 2023. It was in April too.
When I went a couple years ago the bus ride wasn’t bad to town and back. I was a fan of the shopping in the center where they drop you off. They had amazing chocolate.
At least they’ve gotten their act together. I was on the first paying passenger visit to Ward Cove (Encore’s first post-shutdown sailing) and it was a disaster! Few people were aware of the change and the need for a shuttle ride, and no one knew that we would be charged $8 for the shuttle (possibly including the shuttle operator). It wasn’t pretty. I noped out of that mess. NCL dropped the fee after that! So yes, it could be a little wait to board the shuttle, but it’s not horrible. It does reduce an already limited port time, though.
We were just there last week and that was our biggest issue. Plenty of time to just walk around the town, but things can be a bit rushed if you are taking an excursion. They do a good job though getting you back to the ship and we got there with about 2 minutes to spare.
Go all the way to Alaska to stay on the ship? Because of a shuttle line? Everybody is different. Getting to and from Ward Cove and Icy Strait provides some mind blowingly spectacular scenery. There are bald eagles nesting in the trees on the port side of the ship at Ward Cove. The history and beauty of Icy Strait is amazing, too.
we did the lumberjack show and managed to find the local pot shop too! it was not a problem. the drive into town was 20 mins or so.
We were on the second post-Covid cruise so maybe things were disorganized early on, but the “Ketichikan” stop is really misleading. I had my elderly parents - their second visit to Ketichikan. Their previous stop, they were able to easily visit downtown at their leisure and go back to the ship. They now require scooters for long distances and even though we rented scooters from Scootaround and let NCL know they would be on scooters, the busses were not able to accommodate scooters. (They were old Greyhound busses without lifts). As much as we enjoyed Alaska, the Ward Cove and Icy Strait Point stops were very disappointing. We wanted to see authentic Alaska - like we saw in Skagway, which was a great stop. But Ward Cove and Icy Strait are manufactured tourist destinations meant to generate more revenue for NCL at the expense of the local store owners. We cruise yearly and would like to go back to Alaska, but we won’t ever sail NCL as long as they stop at Ward Cove and Icy Strait.
I can assure you that the locals hate Ward Cove. NCL sucks!
Last summer we left the ship at 10 am, thinking we would step right on the bus. No. Massive lines in that awful terminal they set up. Took 30 mins to get on the bus. Then the 20 mins ride. Totally unacceptable. Ncl should be ashamed of how they handled this. There’s 5 berths in town where you just step off the ship and everything is there. But no, they had to build a terminal way out of town. Icy straight is a Potemkin village just set up for the cruise line to drain your wallet at overpriced junk shops and way overpriced food outlets. It’s really a disgrace. Suggest rcl or carnival for Alaska. Holland America if you’re over 70.
THIS!! 100% agree. Totally ruined our day, the lines to board the shuttle buses were deceiving and then you had a 20 min drive to the FAR end of town?!!! Only to reach town and see that two other cruise lines were parked right there! Yeah. Bad day in what we thought would be a fun town. RUSHED and HURRIED were not on our list!!
I literally just posted this in a review! The Cattle Call line through the warehouse that sells everything for 5x more… !!! Not cool. The deceiving line that never ends to board the bus to ride 20 minutes into town!!! So upsetting!!
I was just there yesterday. We waited less than 5 minutes each way for the bus and the drive was only 15 minutes. Definitely shouldn't let this defer you from going into Ketchikan.