Alaska Tracy Arm Excursions

[Delbankin]

We are looking to book a cruise next year with HAL and are considering options for tours. We are keen to get the full glacier experience and are concerned that on general cruising with the ship we won't get close up due to sea conditions and ice.

 

Our back up plan was to take a small boat tour which we understood starts and ends from the ship at the entrance to Tracy Arm. If I interpret recent posts correctly they suggest that the tour ends in Juneau where the small boat meets up with the ship.

 

If that is the case I am wondering if this would scupper our other plan for close up glacier viewing which was to take a land trip to Mendenhall Glacier, we thought from Juneau.

 

Can anyone advise if these two possible tour options cross over or if it is possible to do both.

[RuthC]

My first question is when does the Tracy Arm shore excursion return to Juneau? It's a long day when you take that excursion, in the fresh air, and you may be too tired to head out again.

Second question is when are you going? I ask that in terms of when should you expect the daylight to fade? It gets dark at ground level while the sky is still very light when you are in the mountains.

Another consideration is transportation to Mendenhall. The public busses stop at some point, so you will need a way out and back.

The Park Services building at Mendenhall closes while there is still time to walk around, but you won't be able to go in and ask questions, or use the comfortable restrooms. I don't know if there are outside restrooms.

Isn't Glacier Bay also on the itinerary? I thought the line-up was either scenic cruising in Tracy Arm, or the opportunity for a shore excursion there and the glacier cruising was Glacier Bay.

If so, I would skip Mendenhall and check out downtown, do the shore excursion up Tracy Arm, and hope for nice weather in Glacier Bay.

[Delbankin]

Thanks RuthC for your helpful reply.

 

We have had another think about what we might do and we have decided to forgo the Mendenhall Glacier in favour of a small boat trip to Tracy Arm. This should ensure we get the full glacier experience if the HAL vessel can't access the fjord.

 

We would indeed be cruising through Glacier Bay so as you say we can pray for good weather and hope we get the full benefit of the scenery.

[Crusin Kelly]

We just returned from 7 day RT Seattle. Our ship did Tracy Arm then to Juneau. The Oosterdam was able to go all the way up to the Sawyer glacier and we spent quite some time there at the end of the fjord. Not much calving while we were there and not much ice in the channel either. . .

 

Tracy Arm is not much in comparison to Glacier Bay, IMHO. IF you have seen Glacier Bay - there is not really much need to see Tracy Arm. IF you have seen Tracy Arm from the ship, and don't get me wrong, there is much beautiful scenery there, but there is not really much need to take another smaller boat all the way back in to see it again.

 

On our pervious one way Alaksa cruise, we did an excursion from Seward down the Kenai penninsula - saw whales AND glaciers. This is a much better option IMHO than Tracy Arm.

 

We did a Glacier landing by helicopter in Juneau - WOW ! Touch and feel - even to drink the water... what an experience! Yes - pretty expensive, but how many times will you have that opportunity?

[RuthC]

Tracy Arm is not much in comparison to Glacier Bay, IMHO. IF you have seen Glacier Bay - there is not really much need to see Tracy Arm. IF you have seen Tracy Arm from the ship, and don't get me wrong, there is much beautiful scenery there, but there is not really much need to take another smaller boat all the way back in to see it again.

I can't agree with this point of view.

 

Glacier Bay is a day crammed full of viewing glaciers, with the expanse of a bay, and gorgeous scenery as a plus.

Tracy Arm is a closed-in fjord of gorgeous scenery, with the possibility of seeing a glacier at the end as your bonus.

The two are totally different experiences, and imo, both are worth the time.

 

Now, when it comes to seeing the fjord from a smaller ship vs. a larger cruise ship, the two can't be compared. I have sailed fjords in both types of vessel, and was amazed how the difference in perspective changed my experience. The smaller boat can get closer to the shore, and further up the fjord than the larger ship.

 

I've sailed up Tracy Arm via cruise ship twice, but never had the opportunity to go up in the smaller catamaran that the shore excursion uses. I booked an Alaska cruise for next summer for just that purpose. I know it will be different from the previous trips.

[spacepotatoes]

We did this on the Zuiderdam last year. The small boat brought us back to the ship in Juneau around 3:30 PM (that excursion started at either 10 or 10:30 AM). We were docked at the furthest berth from town so we had to wait for the next shuttle, which dropped us off near where the Mt. Roberts tram tickets are sold. In that area, you can buy tickets for buses to Mendenhall Glacier. The last bus left Mendenhall at 6. By the time we waited for the next bus and made the drive out there, we had about an hour to actually spend there. So, doing the Tracy Arm boat tour will definitely cut into Juneau time but in my opinion, it is well worth it. Mendenhall is nice but compared to the Sawyer Glaciers and to Glacier Bay, it's not that big a deal, other than the fact that you can get so close to it.

 

Edit: just to clarify, the Mendenhall portion was not an excursion with HAL. We did that on our own. I'm not sure if you're looking at a particular excursion or not, OP, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the times we had to work with.