Tracy Arm / Sawyer Glacer Tours from Juneau

[vbmom87]

Hi All:

 

am a bit confused.......:confused: I am leaving for Alaska Aug 24. I have booked the Tracy A. excursion. Some reviews say you don't actually miss much from the ship and it is not worth the money to book the excursion. Is this true, since in August the ship can go closer and not worry about the ice. Sorry, I am new to cruising and forums.....

I do enjoy reading the threads.:)

 

 

Thanks

 

I assume you are booking through the cruise ship as an add on excursion?

 

Budget Queen, the expert on the this board who has cruised to Alaska over 20 times always says she believes it is a necessary add on to get the full experience. Perhaps she will see your post and respond.

[medgirl]

Just a few weeks ago, I booked our family of 4 with Adventure Bound for 7/20. Our ship will be in Juneau from 7am - 8:30pm. Since we were cutting it too close with the 7am arrival, she scheduled us for the 8:30am boat with a return at 6:30pm. No mention of needing more passengers to meet a minimum. She (Stefanie with Adventure Bound) emailed me a boarding pass that allows us to head straight to the boat in the morning to speed up the check-in process, too. She also included a map with directions to simplify things. :) Hope this helps.

 

Thanks, that helps I will keep asking, but our ship doesnt get into Juneau until 7:30 on June 25...so that makes it even more "cutting it too close". Hopefully they will run a 2nd boat that can take us.

 

Does anybody know of any other company that does a similar excursion to Tracy Arm w/o floatplaning? Does any other company take you by boat to Tracy Arm?

[vbmom87]

Thanks, that helps I will keep asking, but our ship doesnt get into Juneau until 7:30 on June 25...so that makes it even more "cutting it too close". Hopefully they will run a 2nd boat that can take us.

 

Does anybody know of any other company that does a similar excursion to Tracy Arm w/o floatplaning? Does any other company take you by boat to Tracy Arm?

 

 

Adventure Bound has been the only vendor to offer this tour out of Juneau. Several cruiselines have been contracting with Allen Marine on selected itineraries as an add on excursion.

 

With your ship docking at 7:30 a.m. you should have no trouble making the 8:30 a.m. time. The Adventure Bound Office is a short walk from the pier, unless your ship happens to dock at the one pier that is about a mile from the other piers. However, there is a shuttle from what I have read, so you will be fine. Just line up at the gangplank early and be one of the first off the ship. I had the same timeframe as you, and I stopped at a sandwich shop first to pick up my vegetarian lunch. They had food on the boat, but nothing vegetarian. We hustled but made it just fine. If you are running a couple of minutes late, just make sure to call them.

[medgirl]

Thx so much vbmom, your comment was very helpful and gives me a little bit of hope. I'm veggie too, so if we do get on board, that is good advice for an all day excursion! But from my emails and conversations with them, the first boat is only half full and will leave very close to 7:30a so they said they'd doubt we'd make it unless we got to port early. Maybe they changed their departure times slightly?

 

I will contact them again just before we leave to see if there is any chance of a 2nd boat. If not, will cross my fingers we get to Juneau early and scramble off the ship and try and catch the 1st boat if the have room!:eek:

[EnglandHolidayGirl]

We've booked the Tracy Arm Glacier trip from Princess. We get picked up from the ship in the mouth of the glacier at 8am and after the trip we meet up with the ship when she docks at Juneau at 2pm. So then have the same time ashore in Juneau as the rest of the passengers. This particular trip is only available on the Sapphire according to the web site.

 

Anyone do this?

 

I'm debating DIY, IE taking the bus to Mendenhall and hiking around. Versus take a private excursion to Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier

 

For better or worst the only Glacier we'll likely get a chance to get close to on this cruise would be on the Tracy Arm cruising and I'm hearing that the chance to get close to Sawyer is hit/miss in early July. Would like to get close, really close. Anyone do the Allen Marine Tours to Tracy Arm or use another outfit that did so in this time periord, late June/July?

 

Thanks!

 

PS: Pictures from this would be appreciated, recent and June/July timeframe

[medgirl]

We've booked the Tracy Arm Glacier trip from Princess. We get picked up from the ship in the mouth of the glacier at 8am and after the trip we meet up with the ship when she docks at Juneau at 2pm. So then have the same time ashore in Juneau as the rest of the passengers. This particular trip is only available on the Sapphire according to the web site.

 

That must be the trip with Allen Marine. Seems I can't even get on that one thru Celebrity.:(

 

Still, I'd prefer the Tracy Arm Excursion w/ Adventure Bound if we get lucky!

[oldmama]

We took the Princess tour with Allen Marine 2 weeks ago & there still was too much ice to get very close. We were only able to get to the point where there is a small island & both glaciers are in the line of site, but still quite a distance. We boarded from the Sapphire directly to the Allen Marine boat after 8AM, got as close as the captain dared, & then watched humpbacks & orcas on the way to Juneau. Reboarded the Sapphire on one side & walked straight through to disembark onto the Juneau dock. The Golden came in Tracy Arm almost as far as we did, but at a different time of year the small boat would probably get much closer.

[chipmaster]

So how is the smaller boat? From what I can gather there is covered/heated area? I'm booked and going with my parents who are older and will not want to spend too much time out in the elements even if sunny.

 

Also how are the facilities and food/snacks? What do they provide as I assume you don't get back on to Juneau and big boat till after lunch.

 

Even with not reaching the glacier, still worth it?

 

We took the Princess tour with Allen Marine 2 weeks ago & there still was too much ice to get very close. We were only able to get to the point where there is a small island & both glaciers are in the line of site, but still quite a distance. We boarded from the Sapphire directly to the Allen Marine boat after 8AM, got as close as the captain dared, & then watched humpbacks & orcas on the way to Juneau. Reboarded the Sapphire on one side & walked straight through to disembark onto the Juneau dock. The Golden came in Tracy Arm almost as far as we did, but at a different time of year the small boat would probably get much closer.

[fleckle]

We took the Princess tour with Allen Marine 2 weeks ago & there still was too much ice to get very close. We were only able to get to the point where there is a small island & both glaciers are in the line of site, but still quite a distance......

Then Adventure Bound would definitely be the better choice, IMHO. We went out on Adventure Bound 3 weeks ago (on May 18th) and Captain Steve very carefully worked his way through the ice until he got us right up in front of the North Sawyer Glacier. We stayed there quite a while watching multiple calvings and even some shooters (ice chunks suddenly shooting up from underwater calving).

 

We also got very close to a number of icebergs on the way in and out. He took the boat along the shoreline right under a couple of waterfalls so that they splashed on part of the deck and some of us who were too close had to jump back to keep from getting soaked. It was a wonderful day, highly recommended.

[phabric]

We've booked the Tracy Arm Glacier trip from Princess. We get picked up from the ship in the mouth of the glacier at 8am and after the trip we meet up with the ship when she docks at Juneau at 2pm. So then have the same time ashore in Juneau as the rest of the passengers. This particular trip is only available on the Sapphire according to the web site.

 

It looks like this tour might be offered to us for next year. We will be in Juneau from 6:30-4 on the Diamond.

 

You were picked up from the ship, how did they do that - you walked off a gangplank from Princess right onto another boat? Did they sell another thing to eat?

 

On the Sapphire, what side of the ship is better to pick a cabin, starboard or port.

[vbmom87]

He took the boat along the shoreline right under a couple of waterfalls so that they splashed on part of the deck and some of us who were too close had to jump back to keep from getting soaked. It was a wonderful day, highly recommended.

 

I was so glad I had waterproof shoes for this trip. When we went by the waterfall, I didn't jump back fast enough and my feet were covered in water. It was great though!!!

[bradswife]

We went on a two week cruisetour and this was our absolute favorite excursion...absolutely worth every penny! It is simply amazing to be so close to the icebergs and then to the glacier. We saw a HUGE calving and Steve started the engine to get away from the big wave that followed. We got to be close to the glacier for about an hour and a half. We saw the adorable seals on the icebergs and we have awesome pictures...You gotta go if you have time!!!!

[medgirl]

New as of June 8/2010, it seems Allen Marine is offering ROUNDTRIP Tracy Arm tours from downtown Juneau, 6.5 hours, $199 per adult. They take a jetboat, not the catamaran that links directly with the cruise ships. So this is different than the add on excursions w/ Princess, Carnival and NCL (which we couldn't do b/c we're with Celebrity)!

 

I would still love to go with Adventure Bound if they become available but if that doesn't work out, this is a backup....though quite expensive!