Anyone back from Alaska on the Zaandam?

We're excited to board her on May 16. Wondering how the 1st cruise of the season was for the Zaandam. Did you make it all the way up Tracy Arm to Sawyer Glaciers?

We're excited to board her on May 16. Wondering how the 1st cruise of the season was for the Zaandam. Did you make it all the way up Tracy Arm to Sawyer Glaciers?

And I'll be boarding her on May 23, so I'm keenly interested as well!

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that ships the size of Zaandam are too large to make it far enough up Tracy Arm fjord to actually see Sawyer Glaciers. I've been there twice, on Regent Mariner and HAL Volendam, and both times had to take the excursion where we disembarked the ship and boarded a much smaller boat in order to continue up the fjord to reach the glaciers.

I'll soon be returning to Tracy Arm on Amsterdam and was not envisioning that the ship itself could go far enough up the fjord to see the glacier. Maybe I'm wrong.

I would like to know too. We will be boarding on Aug. 1. Appreciated if someone can post a MDR menu for this Alaska season. Whoever goes there before us, please report back.

Thanks in advance.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that ships the size of Zaandam are too large to make it far enough up Tracy Arm fjord to actually see Sawyer Glaciers. I've been there twice, on Regent Mariner and HAL Volendam, and both times had to take the excursion where we disembarked the ship and boarded a much smaller boat in order to continue up the fjord to reach the glaciers.

 

We had the same experience last May on the Zuiderdam. The smaller boat excursion was fantastic. We were able to get "up close and personal" with Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier. My favorite excursion of our cruise.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that ships the size of Zaandam are too large to make it far enough up Tracy Arm fjord to actually see Sawyer Glaciers. I've been there twice, on Regent Mariner and HAL Volendam, and both times had to take the excursion where we disembarked the ship and boarded a much smaller boat in order to continue up the fjord to reach the glaciers.

 

I'll soon be returning to Tracy Arm on Amsterdam and was not envisioning that the ship itself could go far enough up the fjord to see the glacier. Maybe I'm wrong.

It depends on ice conditions in Tracy Arm (and possibly whether the seals are having their pups???? not sure about that, sorry ;) )

The advantage to the catamaran tour is that the catamaran is SO much smaller than the cruise ship. It is more manoeuverable (sp?) so can often get through areas of more ice than the cruise ship could.

On the Ryndam we got almost to the glacier -- we could see it but not close enough to watch any calving -- before ice conditions stopped us.

Some cruises sail the fjord for most of the day (which is what my cruise did), and some only offer a "service call" to board the catamaran tour boat.

We were on the Zaandam's first trip to Alaska for 2014 (May 2-9). It was a wonderful trip with incredible weather, smooth seas, fabulous food and great service.

There were 8 of us and everyone really enjoyed it. Most of the time we were on the decks it was sunny, and while not hot, it was very comfortable in a sweater - jackets were not needed most of the time. My husband and I were in a Neptune Suite, we spent lots of time on the balcony - on the Tracy Arm day we even 'entertained' on the balcony.

We had no rain, and little cloud - mostly sunshine.

We did not go all the way into Tracy Arm - the captain said we may not be able to go in due to the ice that was still in the arm. I am not sure how far we went in to see, or even if we went in at all - but for sure we didn't see any glaciers. When he announced we couldn't go in, he told us we were going to go into Endicott Arm instead. It was nice, but not like I remember Glacier Bay from a few year's back. But that was OK, we were having fun just visiting on the balcony.

The food in the MDR was really good - most memorable was the roast chicken with the sage dressing - yummm! I didn't think to save the menus though, I should have as they were in the suite for us each day.

Everything about the cruise was really good - the only negative thing was that my husband & I lost the vote on the dining arrangements - we like anytime dining while everyone else wanted early seating - and that's late lunch to us :-)). I did find out though why we like late dining - we had a table that seemed to be in the midst of 'kiddie corner'. It seemed like there were tons of kids on this cruise - mostly youngsters that were pre school age. And of course we had a screamer two tables over. There probably wasn't as many kids as it felt like though. :-))

On the sea days there were a lot of kids in the coveted pool, so maybe it wasn't just my imagination.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that ships the size of Zaandam are too large to make it far enough up Tracy Arm fjord to actually see Sawyer Glaciers. I've been there twice, on Regent Mariner and HAL Volendam, and both times had to take the excursion where we disembarked the ship and boarded a much smaller boat in order to continue up the fjord to reach the glaciers.

 

I'll soon be returning to Tracy Arm on Amsterdam and was not envisioning that the ship itself could go far enough up the fjord to see the glacier. Maybe I'm wrong.

I've been up Tracy Arm three times on R-class ships. Twice on the Amsterdam, when we did get fairly close to the north glacier, and once on the Volendam (before the itinerary was changed to a service call) when we didn't get close to the south glacier at all.

I'm returning on the Volendam this August for the sole purpose of taking the shore excursion up on the catamaran. A couple of weeks later I'll be back up there on the Amsterdam.

So, yes, ships the size of the Zaandam can definitely make it up Tracy Arm, and back down again, safely. Whether or not you see the glacier depends on ice conditions.

Hi

When I went on my cruise in June 10 on the Amsterdam . We sailed into Tracy Arm we went in but did not get close to glaciers. But all the ice that was in the bay either had eagles, seal seal pups on the ice. All I can say is this was the most outstanding thing I every saw. All the ice big and small. I had tears in my eyes The beauty of entering the arm is something I will never forget. If you were on this cruise please contact me my camera's flash card got corruted and I lost most of my photo's of all the ice and animals. IN 2012 we got all the way in but there was very little ice. I have been all over USA and some of the world But that trip in to Tracy arm is still in my memory. So enjoy it it ice or no ice.

Mary

Just got back today from the Alaska trip on Zaandam. It was wonderful and relaxing. As for Tracy Arm we couldn't go all the way because there were too many icebergs. We even hit one and the boat vibrated. But the captain got us close enough to see the actual glacier. See my pic. We were okay with that because we got to see the mendenhall glacier in Juneau. A definite must do. A bit of a walk to get close to it but well worth it.

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Just back also from 18 days on the Zaandam, had an awesome cruise. First week was some of the best weather we have seen for so early in the season. Second week weather more normal with clouds and rain but we did get closer to the glacier in Tracy Arm then the first week.

Hi

 

When I went on my cruise in June 10 on the Amsterdam . We sailed into Tracy Arm we went in but did not get close to glaciers. But all the ice that was in the bay either had eagles' date=' seal seal pups on the ice. All I can say is this was the most outstanding thing I every saw. All the ice big and small. I had tears in my eyes The beauty of entering the arm is something I will never forget. If you were on this cruise please contact me my camera's flash card got corruted and I lost most of my photo's of all the ice and animals. IN 2012 we got all the way in but there was very little ice. I have been all over USA and some of the world But that trip in to Tracy arm is still in my memory. So enjoy it it ice or no ice.

 

Mary[/quote']

 

I never thought about what would be different from seeing Tracey Arm vs Hubbard glacier calving. Thank you for sharing. I may have to rethink which itinerary now!