Alaska Tour Jobs» Tales from the Rail – Alaska Tour Jobs

Bernadette- Rail Services

rosen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:46:24 +0000

I grew up in Alaska, having moved here at age five. My dad was a pilot for a small air-taxi service out in bush Alaska, and he flew everything from mail, groceries, and dog-teams to med-evac flights up and down the villages in the Yukon-Kuskoquim River Delta. The most well-known of these villages is Bethel. We spent a few years in the bush (Hooper Bay, Mountain Village, St Marys) before moving to Anchorage, the “big-city”. During my childhood up here, I also lived in Kodiak and Fairbanks. We left the state in ’89. Fast forward eight years: I’m living in Bend, Oregon, just about done with college and can’t wait to get back up to Alaska. My best friend happened to be a driver-guide and she encouraged me to apply for the rail division. I do, and wonder of wonders, I score an interview! Even better – I get hired. My first summer, I was a host guide(aka rail guide). I loved it. The hours were long, but after the first few runs, I really didn’t notice. The first season flew by, and I stayed the winter in Anchorage, working at the hospital, playing with the Anchorage Symphony and telling everyone about what a great time I had on the train. The next summer I was an onboard bartender, and the summer after that, an Onboard Manager. Shortly after my summer as an Onboard Manager, I had the opportunity to work full time for the company, taking a position that put me in Fairbanks in the summer, Anchorage in the winter. In the meantime, I met and married my husband (also a rail employee), who also went on to work full-time in Fairbanks for the Transportation Division. With both of us in Fairbanks, we opted to move there full time and skip the back and forth and having two households. We stayed in Fairbanks for over five years, when the opportunity for promotion came along again, and I was able to move back to Anchorage in my new role as Administrative Manager for the Rail Office. It hasn’t been all about work though! We’ve had the chance to cruise five times (five times more than I would if I hadn’t worked here!) and bring our families with us to enjoy the experience. We’ve been to Europe, the Caribbean, Tahiti, the Panama Canal, Hawaii, and are looking forward to our next adventure this spring. In the ten years I’ve been full-time with the company, my co-workers have become friends and family – we’ve celebrated marriages, births and deaths, new starts and major changes. I feel extremely grateful for the opportunities I’ve found here- a company that not only promotes from within but then continues working with their employees to grow their full potential and offer more chances to advance is a rare one!

Elizabeth – Driver Guide

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:02:29 +0000

It’s 2:30 in the morning, and I’m cresting the hill on Ballaine, headed south. The peaks of the Alaska Range rise up out of the pavement, monstrous purple and frosted pink. This is why it is good to be awake at this hour. This is why I can get up in time for a 3:45am bag pull at Bear Lodge. Denali is probably out to the west, but he will hide away under summoned clouds by mid-morning. My guests will ask later if they will be able to see the mountain from the train. Maybe, I will tell them; you never know.

When I get to the yard, I check the highway board before going to my coach. I leave for Prudhoe Bay on Friday morning with 34 guests. The fireweed is in peak bloom, and there will be miles of magenta blossoms on either side of the haul road for a lot of the trip north. We’ll leave the fireweed and boreal forest behind us as we push toward the bay, traverse Atigun Pass scanning for Dall sheep, and hope that it doesn’t snow. . .even though it’s July. I can smile through my bag pull because I will be at the Arctic Ocean in 72 hours, because I will take photographs of smiling guests who waited years to stand on that beach or plunge headlong into the frigid water just to say they did it. Maybe someone will pull me into the picture with them, and I will live forever on a coffee table in a photo album in Witchita or Hong Kong or Sidney. “And that’s Elizabeth,” they will say to a friend. “She was our guide.”

My coach wakes to the turn of my key with a rumble, a sound I have come to love after three years and over 20,000 miles on Alaskan roads. We are partners in every adventure, over the Denali Highway, up the Dalton, out to the gold mine or just back and forth across town to the airport, her belly full of luggage and my head full of well-wishes for my guests’ journeys home. Come back in winter, we always tell them, and they laugh. But I mean it, I say, as they step down to claim their luggage, feeling awake and alive finally; this is home now, and if ever you return, I’ll be here, and it would be my pleasure to share it with you. . .again.

Elizabeth – Driver Guide – Fairbanks, Alaska

Ashley – Driver Guide

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:01:14 +0000

My husband and I met someone last summer who used to work for Princess on the train. She told me how much she loved it and that I should look into it. We went online and saw the Driver/Guide Position and knew that is what we would want to do. We applied and got hired.

We drove up to Fairbanks from Bend, OR in April for training. It is great to be somewhere with people who actually love their jobs. I had never thought about driving a commercial vehicle before but I love it. The trainers were friendly and helpful.

We have had an amazing summer living in a dry cabin and working for Princess and Holland America. We are within driving distance of Denali National Park, have gone on a flight tour above the Arctic Circle, and are planning a lot of hiking on the way home. We are definitely coming back next summer and can’t wait!!!

Ashley – Driver Guide – Fairbanks, Alaska

Matt – Whittier Supervisor

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:25:48 +0000

I first drove up the Alcan Highway in the summer of 1999. I am no stranger to traveling and to long road trips, but this was a whole new adventure. I was driving north to Alaska! I packed my truck with everything I owned and hit the road. Camped all along the way, seeing the wonderful new sights of British Colombia, Canada as well as the Yukon territory. Each night sitting beside a warm camp fire listening to coyotes cry in the night. It was truly an amazing experience. As the years rolled by I worked my summers in Alaska on the train and my winters in Montana as a Ski Photographer. I drove up and down, back and forth, north and south on the Alcan Highway twice a year and had some amazing experiences. I went through two trucks and multiple sets of tires. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
During my years with the Rail Division I have grown to understand all aspects of our Food and Beverage and Passenger Services operations on the train. Princess has trained me to Bartend, to Serve, and Cook as well as to Manage all these positions as an Onboard Manager. I took great pride in caring for the concerns and special needs of our guests throughout their travels in Alaska. I feel that everyone should travel. It is the best way to meet people of different cultures and back grounds. We all live and grow immensely with this type of interaction with one another. Princess and Holland America promote this and encourages it with all people – guests and employees – by bringing people together. I have had the opportunity to travel to beautiful and exotic places and meet beautiful and exotic people along the way.
Matt – Whittier Supervisor – Princess Rail Division

Todd – Food and Beverage Manager

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:08:58 +0000

During the year of 2000 I was working in Bend, Oregon. Hanging out at the local coffee shop, conversing will local friends was one of my pastimes and one day it was mentioned that one of them worked in Alaska for a summer on the Princess train. This really perked my interest as I had always dreamed of some day venturing up to Alaska to explore what it had to offer. My friend had said to watch the papers and look for a Princess Tours ad. When the ad came out I gathered up two friends and headed to Portland for an interview. Shortly thereafter, I was hired as an onboard cook, and so began my Princess Alaska adventure!

The experience was everything that I had imagined, meeting lots of new people and watching Alaska go by from the train windows were a great plus. This was all I needed to fall in love with Princess in Alaska and found myself staying for the winter…which has turned into six years! Princess has been a great company to work for and provides many opportunities for many people. Princess has definitely made my decade!

Tracy – Rooms Division Manager

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:05:15 +0000

I first visited AK after my family moved here from New Jersey. I was planning on spending the whole summer in Alaska, so my mom suggested that I get a job while I was here. She was working on board the Midnight Sun Express, Princess’ luxury rail cars and suggested that I apply there as well. I did, and within a week I was training as the on board tour sales representative. I was selling the optional tours that are offered at Princess’ Wilderness Lodges. It was great. Not only was I working on a train, but I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy the amazing tours that I was selling to our guests while they were visiting Alaska. I was landing on glaciers, flying around Mt. McKinley, rafting, learning about dog sledding and so much more! I couldn’t believe that this was my job.

Well, the season ended and I went back home. I knew it wasn’t going to be for long, though. I soon packed up and moved back to Alaska…in the middle of winter. I enrolled at the local university and knew I was here to stay. The next summer, 1999, I again worked on board the Midnight Sun Express as a tour sales representative. Then, in 2000, I returned as the On Board Manager. Each summer was better than the last. I went hiking, fishing, berry picking and met so many great people. The three seasons working on board the train were awesome. I learned so much, experienced more than I would have ever imagined, and saw more of Alaska than most people dream. I knew I wanted to make my career with Princess, and I soon had the opportunity.

In 2001, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join the Rail Division in a year-round management role. I enjoyed two great years here before I transferred to the Anchorage Division where I worked closely with the cruise ships and logistics of Alaska, moving people and luggage throughout the state. After another two years in Anchorage, I had the opportunity to experience a part of Alaska that I had not yet visited. I joined the team at the Copper River Princess Alaska Lodge. The newest and smallest of Princess’ lodges is located about 3.5 hours northeast of Anchorage. I am now the Rooms Division Manager, overseeing the front desk, tour desk, bellstaff and housekeeping departments of the Lodge’s operations. Each summer is better than the last. I am lucky to enjoy amazing opportunities every day. I’ve caught numerous red salmon, silver salmon and huge king salmon. I’ve visited the old copper mine of Kennicott, situated in Wrangell St.-Elias National Park, the largest national park in the US. I’ve been 4-wheeling next to the Alaska Pipeline and seen the northern lights, all in one summer.

I have been extremely fortunate to live and work in Alaska, and Princess has afforded me to do so. This is the dream vacation for so many, but I am lucky enough to experience it every day all year long.