I purchased my ferry passage in early-March through the "Alaska Marine Highway System" for departure on July 20th.  Several people told me it would be important to purchase early for passage during the summer months.  They were right.  Cabins were sold out by the time I booked in March, so I paid $914 round-trip for me and the Cycle of Education to ride on the deck.  The Cycle was strapped down below (something I had to do myself and was supposed to bring the straps for, unbeknownst to me), while I slept in a tent up on the deck below the dining room. 

After strapping down the Cycle it was a mad dash up to a higher deck to get the best spot I could for my tent.  I had heard that a few tents would enjoy partial cover under the dining hall overhang on deck 6.  This was especially important to me since I had stripped the flaking waterproofing of of my tent with the intent of re-waterproofing it, but didn't get it done before leaving Seattle because I had not accounted for the minimum 48 hour cure time.  Competition for spots was fierce.  Nonetheless, I did manage to get partial cover.  I still feared directional rain and ocean mist, but I was very lucky to meet Mr. Ron Giese from Sacramento who so kindly loaned me a tarp and straps.  We went down and dug it out from the very back of the truck he was transporting on the ferry.  Everything (and I mean everything) he was transporting had to be moved to get to this tarp.  Thanks so much Ron!


My first night of sleep was only a few hours.  That steel deck makes for a very firm mattress.  At 3:30am I wandered to the purser's desk and visited with the young lady working the night shift.  She suggested I rent pillows for $1 each to make a bed in my tent!  So, I rented six pillows and a blanket for $8.  That is perhaps the best $8 I have spent during Education Ride 365!


The ferry between Bellingham WA and Haines AK only runs once a week.  The "Columbia" makes port calls in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Juneau along the way over a 3.5 day passage.  The Ketchikan stop was for a 1.5 hours, so I decided to get off and ended up splitting a cab ride with four other folks the ten minutes to "downtown" for some tourist shop hopping.  Really it was to get a real latte, as the coffee and latte machine on the ferry were rather sub-par...to speak generously of them!  We were allowed to split the cab fee of $10 between us, so for a $4 round-trip we were able to get away from the ferry for an hour of shop hopping around the huge cruise ships.  The other port calls were very short and the towns were tiny, with the exception of Juneau....but the stop there was at 3:30 in the morning.  So, I only got off in Ketchikan the entire passage.






Food on the ferry is best brought on board oneself!  The cafeteria is marginal and relatively expensive for what one gets.  The dining room is actually quite good, but pricy.  One fact that helps is tips are prohibited for employees of Alaska, which covers the entire crew.  So, were no tips on this ferry.  There is a lounge and a few other diversions, but all told the majority of time on boat is spent looking at the wonderful scenery, reading, visiting with other passengers, and sleeping.  For me, my sleeping was quite fragmented...mostly in 3-4 hour chunks.  Perhaps if I were in a cabin it would have helped.  The (rude) little drummer in the tent next to me didn't help, nor did the regular loudspeaker announcements from ship personnel.