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Beth, didn't you ride the AK ferry at least a bit? I was just reading over on rv.net that you can't sleep in your rig and are able to only "visit" your rig occasionally.

What about your pets? And potty?

Beth can tell us where on the ferry they allow for the potty breaks.....I can't imagine but I know that "inside" Dog Shows have set up special small pen/enclosures all the time for that purpose.

But you are reading correctly. Dogs remain in the rigs - humans not.....there are a few cabins that disappear fast but many folks bring their blankets and curl up in chairs or on the floor......so I have heard.... My guys would not be in love with the plan but they could handle it for a day or so if they had to..... I would not be popular with them again until they saw land under their feet and got really long walks......

I am still interested in maybe doing a few of the ferry stops and then get off in the south and travel through Canada the rest of the way......

But then, as Trustee, I am still trying to get my father property ready to put on the market next month. I am trying not to imagine how many ways the next few months could go off track for me. Keeping positive thoughts. At this point running out of gas money is the least of my concerns.....

Mitch, I have taken the Alaska ferry and what you read is true about pets. They are not allowed upstairs and have to remain in the vehicle. But at the time the ferry stops to load and unload vehicles etc. at various ports along the way, you can access you pets and if they happen to be in port for a while, you can leave the ferry and walk around on "dry land". But boy, you had better be back when they are ready to leave or else... Beth can tell you more about that though.

As to sleeping accomodations. When I was on board with my friends we booked a stateroom for the two nights we were to be on board. But as was mentione, you can sleep in the lounge, but have to be up and out with your stuff by 8. You can also sleep in what is called the Solarium on the upper deck. They have lounge chairs up there to spread out in. A number of people did that too while we were on board.

The Alaska Marine Highway starts taking reservations on December 1st of the year prior to your leaving. Like yout go in June of this year, you can make reservations anytime now. If you call them they will send you all the necessary papers. They charge by lenght of vehicle. The sooner you get the reservation papers back to them, with the dates you want to go, the sooner you will be acted upon. Now I am not sure if maybe you can make the reservations over the phone or not. We sent ours in the fall before we were ready to leave and were among the first to be notified in December.

Truth be told. It is a wonderful experience taking the ferry up the Inside Passage. They travel in areas where the big cruise ships can not go. You really see a side of Alaksa that the cruise ships can't. You meet some interesting people from all over the world cause there aren't as many people on board as the cruise ships carry. You get to talk with native Alaskans and find out a lot about places to se eand things to do and just about life in AK in general. The ferries are sailing 24/7 so you can stop at a port in the middle of the night as well as daylight. And with 24 hours of daylight in mid summer, it only gets twilight dary for a few hours. The scenery is so fantastic that you spend all your time on deck. We hardly used our stateroom, except for some sleeping when we got tired. I would do that trip in a heartbeat again.

Here's a link to their site http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/

I only booked a stateroom on the really LONG length overnight and probably wouldn't again - as when they make announcements, you don't get them in the staterooms. So I missed one of the times I could go down and get Peaches out. I went and begged and they got someone to take me down and walk her. She never did pee on the floor (like they would allow - we just have to clean up) - but the time when I got off at a stop, she pee'd with the best of them Amazingly, she was fine - I was the one who hated her being alone all that time. And I only had one or two long stretches - as I was getting off (with the rig) in several ports - which was the reason I took the ferry.

Two people on the ferry brought their dogs on with them claiming they were service dogs. I promise the 2 dachies were not really service dogs, but no one questioned the ladies. They were well behaved. I have no clue what she did about potty for them. I'm afraid Peaches wouldn't have been as good on board as in our own home and getting out occasionally.

As to the number of people on board - depends on which ferry you're on -where hundreds on one of the ferries I was on - and could have been more. I've been on cruises with less. Each leg I was on a different ferry - and the one was gigantic.

You can make your ferry reservations online. Since we have a specific time to be in Washington State, we have our August reservations already.

I saved money by making my reservations after I was in AK - and going to one of their offices and getting one of the deals they offered, over doing it online. But that would only be true if they added an offer, or something similar, like the summer I did it. My savings were over $200 - so well worth it - considering the ferry isn't cheap.

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Another thing I just read on rv.net - all gas must be off, so no fridge... ? ?

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They sell ice on the ferries - we are hoping to get the frig contents down to a few items that will fit in a cooler for the longer portion of the trip when we will have a cabin. I had meant to ask Beth what she did.

We carried a steel belted Coleman cooler with us in the bac kof my Tahoe. With a block of ice it would hold for almost a week. So before we got on the ferry, we made sure the cooler was stocked with ice and it was fine after sitting down in the car dock for two days. Just had to drain out some water.

Turned my fridge off immediately before getting on the ferry, and on again immediately after exiting. I made sure I had no ice cream. Also made sure I had no meats that might go bad (or milk). Other than that - everything survived - and I didn't open the fridge for a few hours after turning it back on. The shorter jaunts, the only things I would have worried about were ice cream or milk products. The one long one - might let some things go bad. BUT, since I was limiting my meat, etc - the couple meat items that were in my freezer started defrosting, and those were my next couple meals. Just a matter of good planning.