Many cruise passengers know that there’s always a chance that their cruise itinerary can change, causing them to miss one of their planned ports of call.
Usually this happens when weather conditions are unfavorable, but other factors can also contribute to unexpected changes to cruise port plans.
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And even when your cruise itinerary doesn’t change, the port experience might sometimes not turn out like you expected.
Staying flexible and open to the idea that plans could change usually leads to a better cruise experience no matter where you sail, but missing a port or activity you were looking forward to experiencing can still be frustrating.
Some Princess Cruises passengers unfortunately found out what that’s like as they missed planned shore excursions in one sought-after port due to a situation outside of their control — a situation that can happen on any busy day in this destination.
Even though their ship was docked in port and they were ready to disembark at their assigned time, the process of getting passengers off the ship and into the port experienced an hours-long delay.
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Skagway, Alaska is a popular, but sometimes tricky, cruise port.
Image source: Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises struggles to get passengers to shore in Skagway
According to Princess Cruises passenger posts on Reddit, some cruisers have experienced a chaotic disembarkation situation in Skagway, Alaska, on recent days with multiple cruise ships visiting the port simultaneously.
“Currently on an Alaskan Cruise with Princess, and unfortunately we missed our morning excursion (White Pass Scenic Train) in Skagway because Princess absolutely fumbled the de-boarding progress,” pingypongypangy posted in the Princess Cruises community on Reddit.
The cruiser’s ship was required to transport passengers to shore via tender boats during its visit to Skagway, and the process got really backed up. This sometimes happens with tendering, especially when weather conditions aren’t ideal.
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Another Princess passenger chimed in on the thread to note that rough weather conditions caused a similar backup for their ship’s tendering process on the day before.
“We are on the Royal Princess right now, and were in Skagway yesterday. We were late getting on land as well because of the tender situation,” Rstuart11 noted. “But, to add an extra point in, they had to stop the tender boats altogether for almost an hour because of the weather.”
Not every cruise ship that visits Skagway has to deal with the hassle of tendering, however. Tendering is only required at one dock location in the port, which is only used on busier days when there are multiple ships in Skagway.
Skagway tendering headaches stem from past rockslide
Because of safety concerns related to a past rockslide from the hill above Skagway’s Railroad Dock, cruise passengers can’t walk the pier closest to the hill. If your ship is assigned to one particular berth by the hill (Railroad Forward, or RRF), you’ll be shuttled from the ship to shore via a tender boat.
“Since the landslide a few years ago, they tender you a few hundred feet from the cruise ship pier to a typical tender pier as a legal/safety issue if the ship is parked at that pier,” Cuedon explained in the Reddit thread.
Sometimes, a cruise ship’s crew doesn’t know in advance if they will be assigned to the tendering berth in Skagway.
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“Based on some of my trips last season, the ships themselves don’t always know which pier they’re going to be at until the day before or day of,” Cuedon added. “Sapphire got the walk-off yesterday (and the week before), Royal got to suffer the tender.”
The Skagway Visitor Department posted a 2025 cruise ship arrival schedule with each ship’s dock assignment on its website, but all dock locations are subject to change.
If your cruise is scheduled to visit Skagway on a busy day, your port experience can vary based on your ship’s dock location. If you do find out that your ship will be the unlucky one required to tender, be prepared to get up early to get off the ship as soon as possible and avoid potential tendering delays and even missed excursions.
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