Alaska Excursions

[Mocha57]

Hi All!

 

We are going to Alaska in a couple of weeks, and I am looking for an opinion. I know I can get opinions off the HAL website, but I wanted to see if anybody here might have some thoughts.

 

Has anybody been on the Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer out of Juneau? It is a 7-hour boat ride into and out of Tracy Arm. That would pretty much be the whole time in port in Juneau. We took the Tracy Arm cruise a couple of years ago, but I don't think we got very far up into the fjord due to weather, ice, etc.

 

We have already done Mendenhall, a whale watching excursion, and Mt. Roberts tram. I'm just wondering if the boatride would be worth the whole time in port. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Mocha

[xlxo]

Which HAL ship are you going on?

 

HAL offers a mid-cruise transfer to Tracy Arm on some sailings. This is the preferred option as you don't need to retrace 50 miles between the Arm and Juneau to maximize your Juneau time for other activities.

http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ExcursionDetails.action?excursionCode=100030935

 

This tour is extremely popular and is a guarantee sell-out before ship departs port.

 

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Edited August 6, 2015 by xlxo

[Alberta Quilter]

I've done the tour from Juneau. It was good, but not great. I was on the 14 day Amsterdam cruise in 2014 when I did it; it wasn't offered for our cruise probably because we did scenic cruising of TA the day before. I have to say, I'm glad I did it but have no need to do it again like some people do. I'm sure this was unusual but we got much closer to the south glacier on the Amsterdam than we did with the small boat tour (due to ice, so those conditions vary greatly from day to day). Instead, we spent most of the time in front of the north glacier which can't be done from a ship. We did see whales going to, and fro, TA but didn't spend a lot of time stopping to watch them (due to time constraints for the bulk of the pax on the tour.

 

I'm glad I did it so I could see what everyone was talking about but I won't spend the money to do it again, even from the ship as the previous poster mentioned.

 

If this is the only way you'll see TA, then do it because it is a lovely fjord.

[RuthC]

I've been up Tracy Arm several times on the ship, but had never done it on the catamaran shore excursion. So, I booked a cruise for that specific reason.

Now, it was the shore excursion that disembarks from the ship at the mouth of Tracy Arm, then returns you to the ship in Juneau; it was not the all day tour. I was glad I took that tour, and might want to do it again, should the opportunity arise. However, I would not want to do it as an all day tour round trip from Juneau. The chances of poor weather, not getting to either glacier, and rough seas between Juneau and Tracy Arm are just too great. I'm not willing to give up some enjoyable time in Juneau to take that chance.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We also would not want to spend 7 hours on a catamaran.

All too often we missed Tracy Arm as the ship could not get close due to bad weather.

[Moriah]

I am booked on that excursion from our August 19th Alaska cruise on Volendam out of Vancouver. My understanding is that the ship will deposit those of us who have signed up for this excursion directly onto the excursion boat and that after the excursion it will take us to Juneau to meet the ship. The excursion starts at 10:30 AM, and Volendam is due to dock in Juneau at 1 PM and stay until 10 PM, so I'm hoping we'll have enough time in Juneau to do another excursion (my friend has never been to Mendenhall or up the cable car...) I'm really looking forward to this excursion. In many many Alaska cruises I've never done it and this will be my first time in Alaska on a "smaller" ship.

[dakrewser]

AS long as you remember that this is about scenic cruising of the fjord and not about Sawyer Glacier (Hubbard, Mendenhall, Exit and all the ones in Glacier Bay are much more impressive) you'll enjoy it.

 

While this pictures are a dozen years old, it probably hasn't changed much. Here's Tracy Arm, and here's Sawyer Glacier.

[zookiebird]

We did the Tracy Arm mid-cruise transfer on the Zuiderdam a few years ago. Totally enjoyed it as it was much more up close and personal than staying on the ship. I'd do it again without hesitation.

[Mocha57]

I am booked on that excursion from our August 19th Alaska cruise on Volendam out of Vancouver. My understanding is that the ship will deposit those of us who have signed up for this excursion directly onto the excursion boat and that after the excursion it will take us to Juneau to meet the ship.

 

Moriah,

That sounds ideal. I saw that excursion and wondered exactly how it would work. We are on the Westerdam out of Seattle, so what is being offered out of Vancouver isn't available to us.

 

Please come back and let us know how you liked it.

 

AS long as you remember that this is about scenic cruising of the fjord and not about Sawyer Glacier (Hubbard, Mendenhall, Exit and all the ones in Glacier Bay are much more impressive) you'll enjoy it.

 

While this pictures are a dozen years old, it probably hasn't changed much. Here's Tracy Arm, and here's Sawyer Glacier.

 

dakrewser,

Thank you so much for posting your pictures -- beautiful!!

 

We would definitely be going for the scenery. Our cruise is scheduled to go to Glacier National Park, so I know we will get our glacier viewing there.

 

Thank you to all who took time to post, especially those who reminded me that the weather is ever-changing and unpredictable in Alaska. Will definitely have to think about time and cost vs the chance of poor conditions.

 

Mocha