Carnival Spirit - Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion

Carnival finally opened the the new Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion.

If you are interested, I'm attaching the information below from the Carnival site. You have to book it by sending an email - go to Carnival Excursions to get the email address. It changed 3 times in the last week so I don't want to include it here in case it changes again.

It took a week for us to get a response, but we are booked!!!

On this excursion you will:

• Board a deluxe, waterjet-powered catamaran that has pulled alongside the Carnival Spirit in the waters of Tracy Arm.
  
• Discover many wonders around each bend of this serpentine, 30-mile fjord. Listen to the onboard Naturalist who will inform you about the area.
  
• Trace the bases of cliffs that rise 4000-feet above the jade-colored sea.
  
• Enjoy an up close view of North Sawyer Glacier, with frequent stops to view wildlife.
  
• Hear the “white thunder” as immense spires of ice break from the South Sawyer Glacier and crash into the sea.
  

NOTE: In the event unpredictable ice conditions preclude your ship from entering Tracy Arm Fjord, the tour will be modified to explore Endicott Arm Fjord. A warm, rainproof jacket, hat and gloves are recommended to fully enjoy the outside observation deck.

This excursion runs at 11:15 AM on all sailings when the ship is cruising the Tracy Arm Fjord, the price of the tour is $149 per Adult & $99 per Child.

This is only for those guests wishing to book the "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer"

This is an exclusive seasonal excursion that must be pre-reserved due to high demand. As this tour has limited capacity we ask that you contact us directly at Tracy Arm Excursion Reservations, so that we may help coordinate your shore excursion tickets.

Please be sure to include the following in your email:

Full Name, as it appears on your booking

Booking #,

Sail Date,

Number of adult tickets

Number of children’s tickets

Upon receipt of your email, you will receive a confirmation reply letting you know that we are working on your request.

These tickets will be charged to your Sail and Sign account when you board your ship and will apply to the same cancellation policies as all online bookings.

I am on the May 18th cruise and would love to do this. However, I do not (and have not) seen it listed on excursions. Are you seeing this from your booking page?

I have not heard about this excursion before. Is it really necessary to be able to enjoy the full beauty of the fjord?

It's not on your booking page. Go to just the general carnival excursions and select Alaska/Tracy Arm. It's been listed for a month or so but the details (price, how to book) only appeared about 10 days ago.

My past Alaska cruise did not cruise the Tracy Arm Fjord so I am not an expert. But from what I've read it seems to be a beautiful place and you will enjoy it, but sometimes a big ship doesn't get near the glaciers. People who have done this excursion say it is great. Up-close-and-personal to the glacier just sounds fantastic to us.

I have not heard about this excursion before. Is it really necessary to be able to enjoy the full beauty of the fjord?

It is absolutely grossly superior with this add on tour. No comparism.

Carnival finally opened the the new Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion.

If you are interested, I'm attaching the information below from the Carnival site. You have to book it by sending an email - go to Carnival Excursions to get the email address. It changed 3 times in the last week so I don't want to include it here in case it changes again.

It took a week for us to get a response, but we are booked!!!

 

 

 

On this excursion you will:

• Board a deluxe, waterjet-powered catamaran that has pulled alongside the Carnival Spirit in the waters of Tracy Arm.
  
• Discover many wonders around each bend of this serpentine, 30-mile fjord. Listen to the onboard Naturalist who will inform you about the area.
  
• Trace the bases of cliffs that rise 4000-feet above the jade-colored sea.
  
• Enjoy an up close view of North Sawyer Glacier, with frequent stops to view wildlife.
  
• Hear the “white thunder” as immense spires of ice break from the South Sawyer Glacier and crash into the sea.
  

NOTE: In the event unpredictable ice conditions preclude your ship from entering Tracy Arm Fjord, the tour will be modified to explore Endicott Arm Fjord. A warm, rainproof jacket, hat and gloves are recommended to fully enjoy the outside observation deck.

This excursion runs at 11:15 AM on all sailings when the ship is cruising the Tracy Arm Fjord, the price of the tour is $149 per Adult & $99 per Child.

This is only for those guests wishing to book the "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer"

This is an exclusive seasonal excursion that must be pre-reserved due to high demand. As this tour has limited capacity we ask that you contact us directly at Tracy Arm Excursion Reservations, so that we may help coordinate your shore excursion tickets.

Please be sure to include the following in your email:

Full Name, as it appears on your booking

Booking #,

Sail Date,

Number of adult tickets

Number of children’s tickets

Upon receipt of your email, you will receive a confirmation reply letting you know that we are working on your request.

These tickets will be charged to your Sail and Sign account when you board your ship and will apply to the same cancellation policies as all online bookings.

Hello fellow cruiser, We are on the Carnival Spirit on May 25th and we are wondering if this this is worth it, since we are already going through the Tract Arm? It's sounds great but we don"t want to spend the extra money if it isn"t worth it.

Thanks for any help

Cruising Again,

Thanks for posting. I would have never noticed. I did send an email. Now I await a response. Thanks.

Hello fellow cruiser, We are on the Carnival Spirit on May 25th and we are wondering if this this is worth it, since we are already going through the Tract Arm? It's sounds great but we don"t want to spend the extra money if it isn"t worth it.

Thanks for any help

It "can" be well worth it. I put together this photo sample, since it is difficult for people to understand the extreme difference of these transits. By cruiseship- you are NOT going to see much wildlife, nor get very close- IF at all to the glacier. So it depends WHAT you want out of your trip- or how many times you have been here?

In the photo sample, that season, this was the FIRST time the cruiseship got within view of the South Sawyer glacier, and taken with a normal lens, the CLOSEST the ship got. Hopefully the photos will illustrate the differences for you. http://community.webshots.com/user/budgetqueen

As a point- in the tour description- I do"question" the Board a deluxe, waterjet-powered catamaran that has pulled alongside the Carnival Spirit in the waters of Tracy Arm.???

I am going to assume you have an AFTERNOON Juneau port time? (only way this makes sense to me. :)

We did this excursion through NCL and were really worried about the extra cost. Only three people in our group of 12 decided to do it. It was the most AMAZING day. We saw SO MUCH more than the ship. We got right up to Sawyer glacier (ship got within binocular distance only). Seeing everything from such a smaller vessel was BREATHTAKING. When we sailed out of Tracy Arm back on the big ship it was still scenic and beautiful but there is no comparision to the detail and small ship experience we had. When we put a slide show of our pictures together after we returned home, others who sailed with us were amazed. They did not realize all they sailed by.

I sent an email this morning, and got a reply this evening. Excursion is booked for May 18, 2010 sailing!! So excited.

Thanks Budget Queen - it was your response to another thread that made me keep looking for this excursion with Carnival. I didn't see it last year and if it's new - I'm so glad they added it. We have no ports the day we cruise Tracy Arm Fjord - we arrive in Juneau the next day at 7:00am. Does that make sense?

Budget Queen, This sounds great but does this mean we would take this during our Cruising Tracy Arm Day or when we pull into Juneau? We are there from 7am to 3pm. I saw your pictures it helps to understand what we would miss if we don't take this tour. We have never been before so we want to make the most of it.

Thanks for any help

It "can" be well worth it. I put together this photo sample, since it is difficult for people to understand the extreme difference of these transits. By cruiseship- you are NOT going to see much wildlife, nor get very close- IF at all to the glacier. So it depends WHAT you want out of your trip- or how many times you have been here?

 

In the photo sample, that season, this was the FIRST time the cruiseship got within view of the South Sawyer glacier, and taken with a normal lens, the CLOSEST the ship got. Hopefully the photos will illustrate the differences for you. http://community.webshots.com/user/budgetqueen

 

As a point- in the tour description- I do"question" the Board a deluxe, waterjet-powered catamaran that has pulled alongside the Carnival Spirit in the waters of Tracy Arm.???

 

I am going to assume you have an AFTERNOON Juneau port time? (only way this makes sense to me. :)

Thank you, CruisingAgain, for posting this! I sent my reservation request in today and already got a confirmation back.:) I had also read some great things about this excursion but thought it wasn't offered since I didn't see it - I never thought to look on the general excursions page (wonder why it doesn't show up under My Bookings? :confused:) Budget Queen, your pictures are gorgeous - can't wait until July!

I sent an email this morning, and got a reply this evening. Excursion is booked for May 18, 2010 sailing!! So excited.

I have been trying but I can't seem to get my computer to send the damn email. It has something to do with Vista. I guess I will go back and try again....

Tigger,

I had a problem under their email also, so I sent it under my own, yahoo. It worked fine. Good Luck.

Sadajo - I don't have it in my bookings either and I don't think they will put it there since we did it by email instead of the regular booking. I'll bring along my confirmation letter.

Triggerman - I agree with d-ray - couldn't use the link they provided to send the email. I copied that email address to my own email.

BUDGET QUEEN or anyone with feedback, I need help!!!! I am now booked on Tracey Arm Fjord Excursion from the Carnival Spirit. But in Skagway I am booked on the Glacier Wilderness Safari and Adventure excursion, is this repetitive???? Should I do something different in Skagway, rent a car, train ride(for a few hours) 8-9 hours to long.

So Confused..............................

BUDGET QUEEN or anyone with feedback, I need help!!!! I am now booked on Tracey Arm Fjord Excursion from the Carnival Spirit. But in Skagway I am booked on the Glacier Wilderness Safari and Adventure excursion, is this repetitive???? Should I do something different in Skagway, rent a car, train ride(for a few hours) 8-9 hours to long.

 

So Confused..............................

It's a little similar, depends if you want to vary your touring more?? The Glacier Safari gets consistant rave reviews, so you are sure to have a great time. But the other options are also excellent. :)

Thanks Budget Queen - it was your response to another thread that made me keep looking for this excursion with Carnival. I didn't see it last year and if it's new - I'm so glad they added it. We have no ports the day we cruise Tracy Arm Fjord - we arrive in Juneau the next day at 7:00am. Does that make sense?

Hopefully, then they will let you off the cruiseship before you enter the Arm, then load you back up after the glacier viewing???

This is unknown without it being a Juneau day as well, like some itineraries.

I have been trying but I can't seem to get my computer to send the damn email. It has something to do with Vista. I guess I will go back and try again....

I finally just sent it out under my regular email late last night. I was happy to see it had not bounced back this morning. Hopefully, it will be alright and I hear back from them today.

Just sent my request hope it comes back with tickets reserved. Sounds like a great excursion. Thanks for posting!!!!

Does anybody know if Princess do a trip like this? I can not see anything on the website about it.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I also would never have seen it. I want to thank everyone for their input and especially Budget Queen for the pictures. I sent my e-mail today. Hopefully I will hear back soon.:)

I have been trying but I can't seem to get my computer to send the damn email. It has something to do with Vista. I guess I will go back and try again....

I also had to copy the e-mail address and subject line into my own (google) e-mail. Hopefully it worked!

Hopefully, then they will let you off the cruiseship before you enter the Arm, then load you back up after the glacier viewing???

 

This is unknown without it being a Juneau day as well, like some itineraries.

The excursion begins at 11:15 according to the description and is 3 hours long. We will load directly from the ship into a tour boat from what I understand (like a tender). We arrive in Skagway at 7 AM the next day (Friday) on the Spirit. We will be in Juneau on Saturday at 7 AM.

Just recieved our confirmation from Carnival. Super excited about this excursion. Would have never known if it wasn't for this thread. Thanks

I got my confirmation today. I am extremely excited about this. I have a feeling this will be an incredible excursion and well worth the money. Thank you for bringing my attention to this. I had no idea it was offered until I saw this thread.