Tracy Arm small boat excursion from Koningsdam

[Sherme]

Has anyone done the Tracy Arm small boat excursion from Koningsdam this season?  Tracy Arm was listed as a separate stop on my itinerary on Navigator until recently.  It is no longer listed as a stop on Navigator, however, the Tracy Arm excursion is still listed on MY itinerary (it’s now only listed under Juneau - it used to be listed under Tracy Arm and Juneau).  I am really hoping that this excursion will happen (I have already had the White Pass train  and Yukon expedition canceled).  I am concerned that the Tracy Arm stop is no longer listed as a stop on the itinerary.  I would love to hear if anyone has done the excursion from a HAL ship.

[shiner6]

I have this booked as well, hope it is still happening! It still shows on my Navigator.

Edited June 16, 2022 by shiner6

[PACD_JG]

Interesting.  I leave next week and it's not on my app anymore either, but it's still showing on the website and the shore excursion is still for sale.  Good luck.

[JT1962]

It is likely that the ship will stop at the mouth of Tracy Arm and those on the small boat excursion will transfer to the small boat, but the ship will continue on to Juneau and not sail Tracy Arm. The small boat will sail to the glaciers, then return to Juneau several hours later, where those on the excursion will re-board the ship. 

[tunafish]

we did it out of juneau earlier this month. It was a cool trip

 

[5waldos]

17 hours ago, tunafish said:

we did it out of juneau earlier this month. It was a cool trip

 

How close did you get to the glacier? We are on this excursion next month and excited about it as it gets very good reviews. 

[tunafish]

10 hours ago, 5waldos said:

How close did you get to the glacier? We are on this excursion next month and excited about it as it gets very good reviews. 

close enough to see everything and far enough not to feel anything. It is hard for me to tell you exactly as I do not know your level of comfort. We saw significant amount of calving during the stay here. I personally see how this trip could be simply majestic, but I also see why they do what they do there. You run on a very capable boat to the glacier, I wish they could bring you really close the ice wall to really hear the white thunder of breaking ice and your boat would rock through the wake from the ice hitting the water. I am not saying risking the ice fall on deck but we were FAR from the actual ice. Once you get to the glacier - there is a lot of ice in the water but I could clearly see how you can navigate through to come close if you wish to do so. For amount of money they charge for this trip... I wish it would be a bit more "adventurous". Do not get me wrong - you can see entire glacier, you just not utilize the true potential of a small boat. 
There is also two very small islands just before the entrance to the Tracy arm. They have ton of seals and sea lions with birds and eagles. They play they fish. Pure joy. Somehow we only made a short stop there on the way in and captain refused to stop back on the way out, what is extra 5-10 minutes out of the 7 hour trip? At the same time on the way back we slowed down to see some hatchery farm in the distance that was nothing more than couple of industrial buildings on the water.
I guess these young guys on the boat lose concept that for some people this is once in a life time event and for them this is an everyday event. just another trip in the books. But regardless we enjoyed it a lot. It is just a majestic place where you can brush on the eternity 

[5waldos]

Sounds a lot like the small boat we took off a Carnival ship several years back- there was a lot of ice and we really didn't get all that close to the glacier. Closer than the ship of course but still a long way out. If memory serves, there is a point where you can go right or left to one of the two glaciers. We didn't get beyond that point. The cost of the two trips (the one from the ship and the long day from Juneau) is about the same- but the time spent is very different. The 7 hours is a very long day- hoping that the trip to and from the glacier area is worth while. Still trying hard to book the shorter ship based trip to Hubbard Glacier- totally booked which is all my fault. 

[DevilinaBluDress]

It was a highlight of our trip in May! Glaciers, fjords, and wildlife galore. A pod of orcas were playing all around the boat which was incredible. Saw brown and black bears, eagles, seals, sea lions, mountain goats, an otter, and humpback whales. 

 

It was a VERY long excursion. The snack was donut holes and one Ritz cracker with a tiny piece of smoked salmon. Food and drinks for sale on board. I was glad we brought clif bars with us. 

[cabland]

Hmmm...I WONDER if the excursion is on, BUT is not meeting the ship at the mouth of Tracy Arm, and instead you head to Juneau and take it BACK to Tracy Arm from there.  The latter has generally been offered for all of the boats that dock in Juneau, but the former was nice as you didn't have to burn time backtracking to Tracy Arm.  Will be VERY interested to hear what you guys all report back (and hope the excursion where the little boat meets you at the mouth is still on)!

[disneylover89]

I had this excursion booked for my July NCL cruise but it was cancelled.  I'm so disappointed, the excursion sounds fantastic.

[QueenWiggler]

On 6/18/2022 at 9:20 PM, cabland said:

Hmmm...I WONDER if the excursion is on, BUT is not meeting the ship at the mouth of Tracy Arm, and instead you head to Juneau and take it BACK to Tracy Arm from there.  The latter has generally been offered for all of the boats that dock in Juneau, but the former was nice as you didn't have to burn time backtracking to Tracy Arm.  Will be VERY interested to hear what you guys all report back (and hope the excursion where the little boat meets you at the mouth is still on)!

For mine in September, it is meeting us at the boat at 7am and returning us to the ship at noon. From there the ship is scheduled to dock at Juneau at 1pm. I have asked Royal Caribbean about it as I was concerned from other reviews that the tour may take longer and they said that "no excursion will take you from one port (the fjord) to another (Juneau)." Not sure I believed him so I moved my Juneau excursion to be safe. 

[quack2]

I took the excursion directly off the Zuiderdam last Friday.  Beautiful sunny day in Tracy Arm.  (though I think the icebergs are more spectacular on a cloudy like I had previously.)  We saw a couple of humpbacks and lots of harbor seals and pups on the ice floes near the glacier.  Saw the glacier calving a couple of times.  Nice stops at the waterfalls that crash into the bay.  Its a beautiful spot in a beautiful state.

 

I will say it makes for a long day.  We got off the Zuiderdam at around 9:00 a.m. and got back to Juneau at 3 p.m.   I had an evening whale watching excursion in Juneau at 5 p.m. so I didn't really get to see much of Juneau on foot.

Edited June 25, 2022 by quack2

[quack2]

I should add that I didn't like the Allen Marine boat on this excursion as much as the Adventure Bound boat I had previously on my Tracy Arm round trip from Juneau.  The Allen Marine ship had no outside seating which I really enjoy on these longer excursions.  Also, it seemed more crowded than the trip I took with Adventure Bound.

[WeatherFun]

This is exactly the plan we had for our trip on Zuiderdam next Week. We also booked a private whale watching trip from Harv & Marv. I had worried we may get back to Juneau too late to catch the whale watching trip. Looks like we are good. Do you need to wear winter coat for Tracy Arm excursion? Thanks for the information. 

[quack2]

17 hours ago, WeatherFun said:

This is exactly the plan we had for our trip on Zuiderdam next Week. We also booked a private whale watching trip from Harv & Marv. I had worried we may get back to Juneau too late to catch the whale watching trip. Looks like we are good. Do you need to wear winter coat for Tracy Arm excursion? Thanks for the information. 

I had no problem doing both.  Only sacrifice was that it leaves little time to walk the streets of Juneau.  Oh, and the MDR was closed by the time I got back from the whale watching trip.