Moving to Alaska need help with travel information

[DannyL]

rumor control has it that both are supposed to happen in 2008:
- price hike
- cutback on ferry service

...but you know how the grapevine is......

[cobolt]

Yea..grapevine...but aren't we already seeing some of these changes? Movement of the headquarters office...one of the runs...I can't remember which now I was reading in the ADN, is only going once every two weeks while the main ferry undergoes repairs....it doesn't seem to get any better.

[Xa'at]

No, Cobolt, there is weekly BEL-SKG service as it stands.
I haven't heard anything about a price hike or service cutbacks, and I just rode the darn thing. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised. Funny, I thought Miss Palin actually supported AMHS, unlike Murkowskidiot.

[DannyL]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Funny, I thought Miss Palin actually supported AMHS, unlike Murkowskidiot.

She does, but she wants it to at least break even.
Age was starting to hurt some of the ferries, now fuel is rising in price. And those "if you look hard at them they will break" fast ferries are not helping.
BTW, the "Fairweather" is appropriately named. Let the waves break over 2 ft and they dry-dock it.

[cobolt]

No I'm not talking about the BEL-SKG run....I'm talking about one of the local runs...servicing the smaller communities...I read it the other day but I can't think right now which one it was. I'm not looking at the health of any of the runs originating from BEL...that goes without saying that the tourists will keep that healthy. My concern is with the runs that actually service the local AK communities.

[Arcticthaw]

The run your thinking of is the Kodiak run. The changes are supposedly because of maintenance on one of the ships.

[stiffnecked]

1 weekly run to and from Bellingham during the summer. If you can figure out the charts the weekly schedules are up. Alaska Marine Highway System :: Alaska DOT&PF

KETCHIKAN (KDN) - A substantial reduction in the number of sailings between Southeast Alaska and Bellingham, Wash., is among the changes being proposed by the Alaska Department of Transportation for the state ferry system's 2008 summer schedule.
The agency wants to operate only the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Columbia on one Bellingham run per week this summer. In the past, AMHS has operated two ferries per week on the Bellingham run, long considered to be a major earner of revenue for the ferry system.
DOT also is proposing to shift the AMHS fast ferry Fairweather out of Lynn Canal to service Sitka and Petersburg, replacing it in Lynn Canal (Juneau-Haines-Skagway) with the mainline ferry Malaspina, which would operate as a dayboat this summer season.
In addition, DOT proposes to operate the ferry Kennicott on a two-week-on, two-week-off schedule that would have the ship idle in Ketchikan during the two-week-off periods. The Kennicott schedule would reduce AMHS summer service across the Gulf of Alaska substantially.
DOT Deputy Commissioner Dennis Hardy wrote in a Jan. 2 letter to Alaska communities that the proposed operating plan was "designed to balance the needs for community service, staying within available funding, and maintaining regulatory and safety standards for the vessels."
DOT is accepting written comments about the proposed operating plan through Wednesday, according to Hardy's letter.
The public also can comment regarding the Southeast Alaska schedule during a DOT teleconference that will start at 2 p.m. Thursday.
AMHS summer schedules are in effect from May through September.
As proposed, the base schedule for Ketchikan would run as follows:
• Northbound ferries on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, (one ferry each day).
• Southbound ferries to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, departing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (one ferry each day).
• Southbound ferry (Columbia) to Bellingham departing Ketchikan on Wednesdays.
• The AMHS ferry Lituya would operate two roundtrips daily between Metlakatla and Ketchikan on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.
During the two-week periods when the Kennicott would be in operation, the Kennicott would sail to Prince Rupert late on the first Sunday night/Monday morning of the cycle before returning to Ketchikan on Monday afternoon and continuing northbound that same day.
The Kennicott would return to Ketchikan southbound 12 days later on a Saturday and continue south to Prince Rupert that same day. The ferry would arrive back in Ketchikan early Sunday morning and begin its two-week layover in Ketchikan.

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by cobolt

No I'm not talking about the BEL-SKG run....I'm talking about one of the local runs...servicing the smaller communities...I read it the other day but I can't think right now which one it was. I'm not looking at the health of any of the runs originating from BEL...that goes without saying that the tourists will keep that healthy. My concern is with the runs that actually service the local AK communities.

Whoops, sorry... Yes, I see it now. Bummer about Kodiak...