HAL's Tracy Arm Tour

I am booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam next September and I wanted to book the Tracy Arm tour which picks up next to the ship and drops off in Juneau. But when I go into my shore excursion page, it lists that there are no excursions available for Tracy Arm. I am not sure whether it's so early that they haven't opened the tour for reservations yet or the tour is so popular that it's too late to reserve. Would anyone have insights? Thx.

I am booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam next September and I wanted to book the Tracy Arm tour which picks up next to the ship and drops off in Juneau. But when I go into my shore excursion page, it lists that there are no excursions available for Tracy Arm. I am not sure whether it's so early that they haven't opened the tour for reservations yet or the tour is so popular that it's too late to reserve. Would anyone have insights? Thx.

 

I would call Holland America.

Some in your roll call might also be sharing your interest.

 

 

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I will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam in July and taking the Tracy Arm tour. For a while, I couldn't see the excursion on the HAL website so I contacted Allen Marine (the ship's contractor) and asked if the tour would be offered and they told me yes. Sure enough, a few days after I received my response from Allen Marine, the tour appeared on the HAL website for booking.

 

Prior to me contacting Allen Marine I had contacted HAL and the representative wasn't much help so that is why I contacted Allen Marine directly.

Keep checking.

 

This was my most favorite excursion ever.

September might be too late for that excursion. I recall reading posts in the past stating that the company pulls its boats out of Juneau around the end of August. I would call or email Allen Marine and ask them.

So Allen Marine e-mailed back to say that they would have stopped running the Tracy Arm excursion by the time my ship makes the stop because the weather conditions would be less than ideal. So Cruise_More_Often was correct.

 

Here's where I'm confused. The itinerary lists Tracy Arm as a "service call only" port. My understanding is that this language is used to warn customers that the ship will not actually be entering the fjord and instead only make a stop near the entrance of the fjord to let guests board the smaller vessel operated by Allen Marine. If the ship doesn't actually sail into the fjord and if HAL doesn't provide customers with the option of taking the shore excursion, wouldn't the inclusion of Tracy Arm as a stop on the official itinerary venture into the false advertising territory? I don't want to get tangled up in the legal nuances here but I wonder whether raising the issue with HAL will improve my chances.

If the ship doesn't actually sail into the fjord and if HAL doesn't provide customers with the option of taking the shore excursion, wouldn't the inclusion of Tracy Arm as a stop on the official itinerary venture into the false advertising territory? I don't want to get tangled up in the legal nuances here but I wonder whether raising the issue with HAL will improve my chances.

My itinerary doesn't show "Tracy Arm" as a "stop". It says "Tracy Arm Inlet" and so far I haven't seen anywhere where it is presented as, even as such, and not clearly identified as a service call rather than a port of call. Is there anyplace you have seen Holland America (specifically) post that the ship would be going into Tracy Arm (i.e., beyond the Inlet) or that Tracy Arm Inlet is listed without a notation that it is a service call?

 

 

(The image is a lot easier to read on my screen. Sorry but nothing I have done would make it bigger. But trust me, it says what I say it says, above. :))

Edited December 7, 2016 by bUU

A couple of clicks and I found your cruise going into Tracy Arm and yes the Tracy Arm small boat excursion is offered on you cruise http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetailsPort.action?destCode=A&flexibleMonths=false&noOfFlexibleMonths=1&pageNumber=0&voyageCode=I741&directionCode=G&fromSearchVacation=true Click on "Tracy Arm inlet, Alaska US” and it'll come up

Edited December 7, 2016 by Eaglecw

I am booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam next September and I wanted to book the Tracy Arm tour which picks up next to the ship and drops off in Juneau. But when I go into my shore excursion page, it lists that there are no excursions available for Tracy Arm. I am not sure whether it's so early that they haven't opened the tour for reservations yet or the tour is so popular that it's too late to reserve. Would anyone have insights? Thx.

 

If they for some reason they can’t go up Tracy Arm, excessive ice they’ll try to go up Endicott Arm towards Dawes Glacier if they can.I looked at all the sailing of Nieuw Amsterdam and it shows the Racy Arm small boat tour offered on all of them

Itineraries in Alaska are weather dependent. September is the end of the season and some vendors may not be available. The days are getting shorter and the weather is more undependable, the tourist season is winding down. I would not consider a service call at "Tracy Arm" to be a guarantee any more than the cruise ship entering Tracy Arm would be a guarantee.

Itineraries in Alaska are weather dependent. September is the end of the season and some vendors may not be available. The days are getting shorter and the weather is more undependable, the tourist season is winding down. I would not consider a service call at "Tracy Arm" to be a guarantee any more than the cruise ship entering Tracy Arm would be a guarantee.

Absolutely, both at the end of the season and at the beginning. When we cruised to Alaska on the Nieuw Amsterdam last May, the small boat excursion wasn't offered. I emailed Allen Marine and found out they don't start doing that excursions until late May because of ice. We were able to do the excursion only on our first Alaska cruise in 2006. We have returned to Alaska three more times, always in May, and we have never had the excursion offered since.