Alaska

[kphoger]

The Alaska Marine Highway auto ferry system is starting to roll out wi-fi on its ferries, starting with the M/V Columbia which connects major panhandle communities with Bellingham WA:

https://dot.alaska.gov/comm/pressbox/arch2024/PR24-0042.shtml

The other long-haul ferry out of Bellingham, the M/V Kennicott (the vessel for cross-Gulf of Alaska service from Bellingham to Seward) is out of service for generator upgrades. But it's not among the first two vessels in line for wi-fi service, even though wi-fi would be especially useful for passengers on its multi-day runs.

It was strange, in this day and age, for a lady at our church to be completely unreachable by cell phone while taking a cruise up to Alaska.  She and her husband are rather elderly, so it was a little concerning to him when he couldn't reach her for days on end.

[oscar]

I don't see how additional docks or roads on the west side of the canal would help Juneau.  Are they saying driving to a more southerly dock from Haines would help, because you would only have to take a ferry from that southern point?  Wonder if Haines would just prefer to get on the ferry in Haines just out of convenience (i.e., leaving a car far away, needing a car when you can get to a closer dock more easily...).

The big problem for Juneau is how far the AMH dock is from the city and how inconvenient the ferry schedule can be -- getting in late at night while leaving very early in the morning.  Then again, can't get in the way of the cruise ships, I suppose.

Since the feasibility study and public input hasn't even begun, who knows how Haines residents feel about the idea? My hunch is that the new road and ferry terminal would be most helpful to people (including those in other parts of Alaska, and western Yukon) who want to take their cars to and from Juneau, since ferries are much slower than highways, and the shorter ferry trip would shorten their overall trip time. Haines residents who don't want to (or can't) take their cars to Juneau would continue to catch the ferry in Haines, unless ferry service were discontinued north of the new ferry terminal (the people in Skagway would bitch like crazy about that idea).

Having Juneau's ferry terminal far away from downtown, and long-haul ferries arriving or leaving in the middle of the night (which is a problem also with other ferry ports), still suck, but we don't yet know whether the concept to be studied would make things worse.

[oscar]

It was strange, in this day and age, for a lady at our church to be completely unreachable by cell phone while taking a cruise up to Alaska. She and her husband are rather elderly, so it was a little concerning to him when he couldn't reach her for days on end.

Unless the cruise ships have rolled out cellphone access lately, that's a problem for many places in Alaska. Probably the same for Caribbean cruises.

[Rothman]

It was strange, in this day and age, for a lady at our church to be completely unreachable by cell phone while taking a cruise up to Alaska. She and her husband are rather elderly, so it was a little concerning to him when he couldn't reach her for days on end.

Unless the cruise ships have rolled out cellphone access lately, that's a problem for many places in Alaska. Probably the same for Caribbean cruises.

I thought Skagway had problems with cruise ships coming in with some powerful kind of wifi that affected their own local access.