G said he woke up when we arrived in Whittier about 1am this morning (the bright lights of the pier area coming in our cabin), but I slept straight through until a train whistle woke me about 7am. Our first views of Whittier from the ship: impressive, snow covered mountains, the Whittier Glacier right above town, brilliant sun shine and reasonably warm (50s and low 60s) temps. We were told it was one of the best two days they've had this summer (yesterday was the other).
We enjoyed breakfast in the buffet (the dining room opened and closed early to accommodate early disembarking passengers), and then decided to walk through town afterwards. Walking through Whittier takes all of about 15 minutes or so, but we managed to get in about an hour of walking while we explored all the nooks and crannies of the waterfront area.
Whittier is a unique little town. It's main claims to fame are the freight dock (1/3 of all goods arriving in Alaska by boat come through Whittier), the train and the Princess cruise ship terminus. The 300 people living in Whittier all live in a single 16 story building which also houses the post office, grocery store and barber shop. The only road to Whittier from Anchorage runs through the same tunnel as the train. In fact, it's only as wide as the train requires, and one way car traffic runs through it on the hour and half hour, right over the train tracks.
Photos 1 and 2: views from our balcony.
Photo 3: Island Princess in Whittier
