Like many ideas my husband has, I thought he was absolutely crazy when he said that one of our PCS options from McChord AFB, Washington to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska was a 5 day ferry boat ride that the Air Force covers. Turns out that this is one of the Air Forces best kept secrets, and is one heck of an experience!
Before I begin, you need to book early!! We booked our trip for August in April. I know that some timelines may not allow for this but we booked the day we got our orders.
FIRST THINGS FIRST, ROUTE OPTIONS
When PCSing via ferry, officially known as the Alaskan Marine Highway, you have two options. The first being a 3 day ferry from Bellingham, WA (1 hr. north of Seattle) to Juneau, AK, then a 2 day drive through Canada and AK to bring you to Anchorage. I’ve heard amazing things about the drive through Canada so definitely a good option. I must admit that those first 3 days featured the most beautiful scenery of our entire trip. Due to Covid restrictions at the Canadian boarder, we chose not to drive. Instead, we took the 3 day ferry, stayed the night in Juneau, then caught another 2 day ferry from there that took us right into Whittier, AK, just 1 hr. south of Anchorage.
OUR EXPERIENCE
FOOD
We packed 1 mid size and 1 small cooler for the trip. We brought things like oatmeal cups for breakfast, sandwich stuff for lunch, and snacks with the intention of buying dinner in the dining hall each night. Then the additional small cooler was filled with alcohol and sparkling water (cause ya girl was 9 wks pregnant at the time). There are ice machines that take quarters on board so we were able to keep the coolers chilled. The dining hall food was surprisingly good, diner-like food albeit a little pricey. We ended up eating more meals there than we anticipated but the breakfast was SO big and yummy.
ROOMS
On both ships we made sure to book rooms with a port window and an attached bathroom although the second ship offered rooms without bathrooms. Our first room slept 2 and our second room slept 4. The space was very tight in the first room and the beds are twins that are straight prison quality, but not terrible to sleep on. We brought 2 Barefoot Dreams blankets (I love my knock-off!) and ended up never getting under the covers.
SEA SICKNESS
We were given a major tip to bring Dramamine on the boat with us because it sells out ASAP onboard. On the first boat, they gave us a 30 min notice before we hit open waters to go and take medicine if needed. The second boat was mostly in open waters and there was 1 brief period when the sea sickness hit me so bad that I was dripping in sweat by the time I made it back to the room and just had to lay on the floor until it wore off. Sea sickness obviously varies person by person but also seasonally, as we had moderately smooth waters so we were lucky with that. I was nervous that first trimester nausea would lead to more sea sickness and I was thankfully fine for the most part. I took Dramamine precautionarily during the trip.
THINGS TO DO
We brought a few card and board games on board with us. We also brought books and folding chairs so most of our time we spent on the back deck reading. It was epic. The boat was stocked with board games in one of their community rooms so we could have skipped that step but we really didn’t ever feel truly bored. Just spent time enjoying the peace and took naps daily, it was heaven.
TAG ALONGS
You can bring pets on board but they must stay in the car and you can only let them out at certain times, about once every 4-8 hrs. We knew that that schedule for 5 days + our dogs personality that that would not be a good thing for him so we opted not to bring him on board. Plus we had our car totally loaded to the brim with items the movers wouldn’t take (including guns packed separate from ammo). My incredible parents were so incremental in making this experience amazing for us, they flew with our 1.5 year old and dog from SEA to ANC so that we could make this trip alone. There were plenty of pups and babies on board so its definitely doable although that would have very much changed our experience if we had our daughter with us.
In the end, this was an experience of a lifetime. In the midst of a crazy, stressful move, we were so thankful to get to spend 5 days reconnecting without even cell service to distract us. It was the perfect way for us to kick off our Alaskan adventure!
