Alaska question: Glacier Bay

I've been doing a bunch of reading on Alaska, both on various cruise forums/websites and in books. Virtually 100% of what I've read says that Glacier Bay is the most outstanding-- by a long shot-- sight to see. Regent does not visit Glacier Bay. Does anyone happen to know why? It just seems odd to me that a great cruise line would skip something especially majestical.

Also: For those of you who may have been to Glacier Bay, do you agree that it's significantly more impressive than visiting, say, Mendenhall or Hubbard or Tracy?

Thanks.

Been to all these places and likewise have wondered why Regent doesn't (ever, as far as I know) visit Glacier Bay. They are all very different experiences: Mendenhall, you can walk to near the face of the glacier or paddle to it as we did on our last Regent visit; Tracy Arm is much about the approach up the fjord. Glacier Bay is about many, many glaciers calving right in front of your ship (on Holland America when we did this).

It may be an access issue. Princess and HA have a lot of ships doing this trip which may have used up the capacity-controlled permits to enter Glacier Bay,

Thanks, Portolan. Glacier Bay sounds pretty spectacular. Your surmise sounds like a good guess. I actually telephoned Regent to try to ask the question: got nowhere (to not much surprise).

Did you enjoy HAL? I guess we're too old to feel comfortable about trying another line. My husband greatly enjoys Regent (as do I), and he's not comfortable with changes these days. In any case, surely someone can enjoy an Alaska cruise without seeing "THE" sight. We sure did first time around.

Still trying to decide whether to do this trip. We're not crazy about bad weather, and we'd thought it would be much easier to get to Vancouver than across the Pond. Turns out it's about the same, in some ways even a little more cumbersome to get to Vancouver from Florida.

We have been to glacier bay on a cruise several years ago with cruise west, which had very small ships and is now out of business. It is spectacular,but Tracey arm is more so. The permits to glacier bay are strictly controlled and very limited. We did see some large ships there,but they can't go all the way in.

Did you enjoy HAL? I guess we're too old to feel comfortable about trying another line. My husband greatly enjoys Regent (as do I), and he's not comfortable with changes these days. In any case, surely someone can enjoy an Alaska cruise without seeing "THE" sight. We sure did first time around.

Not nearly as much as Regent. We tried HAL before our first Regent cruise and have only gone back once when we took our daughter along for a Caribbean cruise. Wanted a less expensive option to have her in a separate cabin (she was an adult by then).

We have been to Glacier Bay on both HAL and cruise west. IMHO, Glacier bay is most interesting to me, not just by observing glaciers, but because the glaciers at one time filled the bay. Traveling up the bay to the glaciers is a gorgeous tapestry of the environment over time of glacier recession (larger growth at the beginning and then regressing). The glaciers are impressive, but glaciers can be observed elsewhere. I believe, with out sufficient backup, that the entire bay is a national park and maybe requires naturalists on board. I do think Glacier bay is restricted and does require access permission, but don't know the details.

Hi Poss,

The National Park Service limits entry with a daily vessel limit of 2 cruise ships per day. There are additional restrictions - # vessels per season (shoulder versus prime).

Only five companies are authorized to provide service into Glacier Bay:

Princess

Holland

Norwegian

Carnival

Crystal

Thanks for continuing replies (and I love the phrase "gorgeous tapestry of the environment").

Maybe since Norwegian is allowed into Glacier Bay, they can somehow sneak a few Regent ships in as well-- or am I forgetting which cruise line Regent is "attached" to now?

Here's another thing that's occurring to me: I wonder if boats can even get into Tracy Arm early in the season. (May) We had a spectacular view of Sawyer Glacier last time in Alaska, but that was in July or August. Tracy Arm is on the excursion list, but I'm not sure that means anything. Also, I wonder what people who decide not to do the extra cost excursion (which did not cost extra last time-- unless I'm misremembering) do during the time the others are boating up the fjord.

I would love to have been on the early Alaska trips this year, with the lovely weather. Our former trip was fairly miserable, so if we really decide to take this May cruise, the weather gods better be nice to us.

When we went to Tracy Arm, it was the third week of May. It was the first week that boats had gotten in there, so it will be hit or miss. I believe that Mariner will go a little ways into the fjord, whereas the smaller boat will take you right up to the ice.

Thanks for continuing replies (and I love the phrase "gorgeous tapestry of the environment").

Maybe since Norwegian is allowed into Glacier Bay, they can somehow sneak a few Regent ships in as well-- or am I forgetting which cruise line Regent is "attached" to now?

Here's another thing that's occurring to me: I wonder if boats can even get into Tracy Arm early in the season. (May) We had a spectacular view of Sawyer Glacier last time in Alaska, but that was in July or August. Tracy Arm is on the excursion list, but I'm not sure that means anything. Also, I wonder what people who decide not to do the extra cost excursion (which did not cost extra last time-- unless I'm misremembering) do during the time the others are boating up the fjord.

I would love to have been on the early Alaska trips this year, with the lovely weather. Our former trip was fairly miserable, so if we really decide to take this May cruise, the weather gods better be nice to us.

Third week in May is fine for Tracy Arm. Have done it twice on Oceania Regatta two years apart.

The captain spent hours turning the ship around for the benefit of all very close to the calving ice on beautiful days. On both cruises from SF to Alaska we had great weather.

We've done both Glacier bay and Tracy Arm and I was surprised to discover I was more impressed with Tracy Arm. We did Glacier Bay many years ago on our first ever cruise and it was the highlight of the trip. We did Alaska again on Silverseas a couple of years ago and I was hesitant to book it because it didn't include Glacier Bay. But we wanted to try that cruiselines so we booked it. And it was fabulous!! A very narrow passage that is just fascinating to watch pass by as the captain threads this needle and huge ships are threading that needle right behind you! And you get right up close to glaciers! I would be surprised by anyone who Felt disappointed by it.

I appreciate the continued replies, and now I find that I'm confused.

E.g. SuzCruz and orchestrapal: Are you saying that your actual cruise ship went far enough and close enough to see Sawyer Glacier well? Regent has an upcharge excursion, presumably on a much smaller boat that does the Tracy Arm trip. I was under the impression that ships Mariner size can't get up the fjord that far. But maybe the Silverseas and Oceania ships are significantly smaller? E.g. I wonder if Regent's Navigator goes all the way up, i.e. doesn't need to have a separate excursion. I'll have to research that detail.

I find that I still can't get overly excited about the itinerary because Prince Rupert, Wrangell and one of the other ports don't seem all that interesting. But there's so much that does have real appeal.

Thanks again.

Definitely do the upcharge excursion to Tracey Arm. It was the highlight of our trip....we have done that excursion at least 3 times

To answer your question about the Navigator - when I was on they did have a separate Tracy Arm excursion.

It was 6 hrs long and did have an extra charge - I'm recalling $129 pp? Looks to be $149 pp now.

We did not do the excursion because our children were too young at that time to subject them (& fellow passengers to them) being on a 6h excursion.

If appropriate I certainly would have done this excursion.

You had earlier asked what the rest of the passengers do if staying onboard (not taking the excursion).

Basically the excursion passengers offload onto the catamaran while the ship "treads water".

The ship proceeds on to the Juneau port / dock. The excursion passengers are brought by the tour company (Allen Marine) directly to Juneau to rejoin the ship later.

One other note, if they can't get into Tracy Arm they say they will substitute Endicott Arm. Haven't read much about that location specifically on this board.

We were on Regatta which I believe is a smaller ship than any of the Regent ships.

Thanks for replies. It's curious that the Regent rep whom I spoke with had a different answer from the one that ededmd gives: Regent said that the Mariner threads its way up the fjord as far as it can go and then kind of "hangs out" waiting for the excursion people to head back down and join the ship. Guess which answer I trust!

Hi Poss,

In all fairness to the Regent rep - both answers *may* be true.

We were on a southbound cruise which had Tracy Arm prior to Juneau in the itinerary (similar to the cruise I suspect you are reviewing).

The northbound itineraries I reviewed also visit Tracy Arm before Juneau.

However if a cruise were to have an itinerary where Juneau is prior to Tracy Arm, the excursion folks leave from the dock in Juneau on the catamaran and rejoin the ship at sea - the reverse of what I described.

The ship does wend its way up the fjord but doesn't get nearly as up close and personal as the catamaran. Some of that feeling is the actual proximity and some of it seems to be the scale of being on a catamaran versus the ship.

When we revisit this area I plan to do the excursion.

Happy decision making!

Thanks for replies. It's curious that the Regent rep whom I spoke with had a different answer from the one that ededmd gives: Regent said that the Mariner threads its way up the fjord as far as it can go and then kind of "hangs out" waiting for the excursion people to head back down and join the ship. Guess which answer I trust!

This is an accurate answer as far as I can tell. When we were there, we were on cruise west,so a totally different ship. But we got off onto the small Allen Marine vessel, and got really close to the glacier, while the large cruise ships were in the fjord,,but further away.

I've been doing a bunch of reading on Alaska, both on various cruise forums/websites and in books. Virtually 100% of what I've read says that Glacier Bay is the most outstanding-- by a long shot-- sight to see. Regent does not visit Glacier Bay. Does anyone happen to know why? It just seems odd to me that a great cruise line would skip something especially majestical.

 

Also: For those of you who may have been to Glacier Bay, do you agree that it's significantly more impressive than visiting, say, Mendenhall or Hubbard or Tracy?

 

Thanks.

Ships entering Glacier Bay need to be tested for underwater noise emission. I recall once on HAL having to make several passes at various speed thru a submarine testing station to extend certification.

IMHO Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm are very different, both amazingly lovely. Glacier Bay is very open and access is easy, Tracy Arm is very narrow and subject to ice. Took me 5 trips to get within site of Sawyer Glacier.

I have sailed on the Navigator, Mariner, Voyager and started on the Diamond. I've found the Neptune Suites on HAL with the private Neptune Lounge to offer service comparable to Regent. The Vista class ships, despite being more that twice the size of the Regent vessels, do not feel crowded.

One advantage of the smaller ships is that they sometimes go thru the smaller segments of the inside passage that the larger ships avoid favoring the faster sea passages.

Also on cruises that mention both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm, the Tracy Arm stop is often a "service call" to board passengers onto a catamaran for a small boat excursion.

We took the 6 hour catamaran to Tracy Arm on our Regent cruise and enjoyed it immensely. I would definitely recommend it and agree that the scenery is gorgeous. Also went to Glacier Bay with Holland - also gorgeous. Next year is Hubbard on Regatta. Personally I don't think you can go wrong on any cruise to Alaska. Enjoy :)

We have been to Alaska twice, both times on Regent Mariner. Neither time was Glacier Bay offered, but we really didn't miss it as everything else was so beautiful. Now we are considering another Alaska cruise and think Glacier Bay would be wonderful to see. Because the Navigator is not our ship of choice for Regent (although we really enjoy it when cruising on the Navigator) we are thinking Crystal, provided we like the Crystal TA this December and they still do Glacier Bay. The aft vibration has never bothered us on the Navigator, as a matter of fact, we found the aft vibration on the Voyager (our favorite ship) more pronounced, but again, just doesn't bother us a bit.

I think that you know that the Mariner is returning to Alaska next year. IMO, the Mariner is much more suited to the families that are onboard in Alaska during the summer. Although we would not sail on Crystal, it is interesting to know that they do Glacier Bay. So far, our favorite area of Alaska is Hubbard Glacier - we prefer it over Tracy Arm.

Thanks Jackie, I forgot that the Mariner was returning to Alaska. We will have to re-think the Crystal idea even if it means missing Glacier Bay. The Mariner in Alaska in 2003 was our first Regent cruise. Special memories. Really like the pent house suites on Mariner.