Tracy Arm excursions for 2023?

[DaveOKC]

We want to take the Tracy Arm small boat Excursion on our Sept Volendam cruise, but nothing is showing up on our shore excursions for this sailing.  The itinerary shows a service call there about 9 am, but no excursions.  Has anyone seen this excursion for 2023 sailings?

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by DaveOKC

[RuthC]

If the ship has a service call planned, I would expect it plans to have that exact shore excursion also. There is no other reason for the service call that I can think of. 
HAL probably doesn't have the contracts with the boating company signed yet, and can't offer the shore excursion until it does. 
Great excursion! 

One year I booked the Volendam Alaska cruise for the sole purpose of taking this excursion; I wanted to take it that badly! It wasn't the nicest of days, but I am still glad I took the cruise and the excursion. 
I had been up Tracy Arm on a ship a few times, but the perspective from the catamaran was totally different. So much closer to the waterline is a very different view. We got so close to Sawyer Glacier, it was amazing! 

Hope the excursion shows up soon for you to book. 

[BigMattT]

Have been waiting on booking a 2023 Alaska sailing until I can confirm the Tracy Arm excursion, too. On our 2022 Eurodam sailing, they offered it… and then cancelled it— saying it never should have been offered for our itinerary. Fingers crossed we’ll be sailing. 

[sue1898]

That excursion is showing up as available to book on our late June K’dam cruise.

[dreamer321]

I booked this excursion for my Koningsdam cruise in May.  As mentioned earlier in the thread, HAL is probably waiting for the contract with the excursion operator to be signed before advertising it or maybe it's sold out already.

[DaveOKC]

Strange that I cannot book this excursion for Sept (on the Volendam).  I rechecked the itinerary and it is showing a service call at 9 am for 20 minutes.

 

[Bostonjetset]

Is there anything to see during these quick Tracy Arm sailings (K’dam in August) if one is NOT doing an excursion?  Just want to know if I should bother to make a point of going out on deck to see anything at Tracy Arm or just relax until we get to Juneau. 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, Bostonjetset said:

Is there anything to see during these quick Tracy Arm sailings (K’dam in August) if one is NOT doing an excursion?  Just want to know if I should bother to make a point of going out on deck to see anything at Tracy Arm or just relax until we get to Juneau. 

It's a quick stop in order to transfer passengers taking the boat trip up Tracy Arm. Nothing much to see, other than calm water, trees, and the rocky land those trees are on. You'll see similar after the ship moves toward Juneau. 
Grab some extra shut-eye, have a nice breakfast, and spend the time relaxing. 

[Dancing Shoes]

I hope the excursion comes up.  I saw the arm back in 1975 with my parents.  I choose the Volendam 2018 specifically for this. I wanted my husband to experience it. 

[milop1965]

On 3/3/2023 at 12:01 AM, dreamer321 said:

I booked this excursion for my Koningsdam cruise in May.  As mentioned earlier in the thread, HAL is probably waiting for the contract with the excursion operator to be signed before advertising it or maybe it's sold out already.

When was it available to book?  I'm planning ahead for my May 2024 cruise and I don't want to miss it!

[DaveOKC]

We reserved this excursion for our Aug 2022 cruise on the Eurodam but it got cancelled at the last minute, so we really want to do it this time.

 

[dreamer321]

3 hours ago, milop1965 said:

When was it available to book?  I'm planning ahead for my May 2024 cruise and I don't want to miss it!

I booked my cruise on November 28, 2022 and booked my excursion November 30, 2022. I don't know how much earlier it was available for booking since I didn't start looking at excursions until I booked the cruise.

[Hllb]

3 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

We reserved this excursion for our Aug 2022 cruise on the Eurodam but it got cancelled at the last minute, so we really want to do it this time.

 

Do you know why it was canceled? I have it booked for our June cruise, so was curious

[DaveOKC]

I do not know why.  It might have been due to a miscalculation of port times as we did not get into Juneau until afternoon.

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

51 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I do not know why.  It might have been due to a miscalculation of port times as we did not get into Juneau until afternoon.

 

Lots of changes as ships have reduced speeds so as to not disrupt whales.  Is changing and sometimes shortening port times.  Same with excursions like Tracy Arm.  

[BigMattT]

5 hours ago, Hllb said:

Do you know why it was canceled? I have it booked for our June cruise, so was curious

It was just a mistake that it was offered for our itinerary. Round trip Juneau to Tracy Arm Fjord excursions only depart in the morning. Our itinerary had an afternoon call to Juneau with no service call scheduled prior at the entry to Tracy Arm Fjord. 

 

We were disappointed at first, but mistakes happen. Ultimately, we had the most relaxing voyage. The sunrise views entering glacier bay were so astonishingly beautiful. Eurodam really is a perfect ship for Alaska.

[Hllb]

10 hours ago, BigMattT said:

It was just a mistake that it was offered for our itinerary. Round trip Juneau to Tracy Arm Fjord excursions only depart in the morning. Our itinerary had an afternoon call to Juneau with no service call scheduled prior at the entry to Tracy Arm Fjord. 

 

We were disappointed at first, but mistakes happen. Ultimately, we had the most relaxing voyage. The sunrise views entering glacier bay were so astonishingly beautiful. Eurodam really is a perfect ship for Alaska.

Well crap....ours is an afternoon docking as well. Now I don't know what to do - I'd like to do that excursion, but certainly don't want to do nothing at that port stop!

[Colorado Klutch]

The Tracy Arm excursion is not offered for my May, 2023 Alaska cruise. I was wondering if there is too much ice early and late in the season. 

[DaveOKC]

6 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

The Tracy Arm excursion is not offered for my May, 2023 Alaska cruise. I was wondering if there is too much ice early and late in the season. 

There often is too much ice early in the season.

[BigMattT]

19 minutes ago, Hllb said:

Well crap....ours is an afternoon docking as well. Now I don't know what to do - I'd like to do that excursion, but certainly don't want to do nothing at that port stop!

Does your ship have a service call at Tracy Arm Fjord before arriving at Juneau? If so, then you’re probably fine. Ours did not have one scheduled AND was an afternoon Juneau arrival.

[Hllb]

10 minutes ago, BigMattT said:

Does your ship have a service call at Tracy Arm Fjord before arriving at Juneau? If so, then you’re probably fine. Ours did not have one scheduled AND was an afternoon Juneau arrival.

Not that I can tell, no. This is going to make me upset - I canceled another excursion that is likely sold out now once I saw this offered. I've emailed Allen Marine to get verification from them, and trying to reach out to HAL but I don't expect them to have any kind of answer. I'm hoping things have changed since last year, but fear not.

[Hllb]

22 minutes ago, BigMattT said:

Does your ship have a service call at Tracy Arm Fjord before arriving at Juneau? If so, then you’re probably fine. Ours did not have one scheduled AND was an afternoon Juneau arrival.

Well, on the upside, here's a review of that tour and they also had a 1-10PM port call, so perhaps the reason they canceled yours was incorrect? Not sure, this was from 2021. Yes, I'm grasping at straws here LOL.
 https://eatsleepcruise.com/tracy-arm-fjord-and-glacier-explorer-excursion-review/

[Hllb]

In doing some research, I found a website that you can book this tour with Allen Marine, and it will somewhat show you a schedule. What I learned for myself, is that they appear to do this tour in the morning on most days, but in the afternoon on Mondays. My cruise is in port in Juneau on a Monday afternoon. Most Mondays are available via this website, but not the day my cruise is in port, presumably because HAL has them booked that afternoon. 

 

Either way, I thought people may find this helpful: https://truealaskantours.com/tour/tracy-arm-fjord-glacier-explorer/

[BigMattT]

On 3/6/2023 at 8:11 AM, Hllb said:

In doing some research, I found a website that you can book this tour with Allen Marine, and it will somewhat show you a schedule. What I learned for myself, is that they appear to do this tour in the morning on most days, but in the afternoon on Mondays. My cruise is in port in Juneau on a Monday afternoon. Most Mondays are available via this website, but not the day my cruise is in port, presumably because HAL has them booked that afternoon. 

 

Either way, I thought people may find this helpful: https://truealaskantours.com/tour/tracy-arm-fjord-glacier-explorer/

 

We were also in port on a Monday. It’s possible I got bad info. All HAL officially says is “due to operational considerations”… but calling a few tour operators gave me the other explanation.

 

I hope the excursion goes as planned! It sounds promising.

 

Also: things may have changed, but none of the Juneau operators would book cruise passengers on a Tracy Arm Fjord excursion without it being booked through the cruise line.

 

Lastly… no matter what you do, for Alaska, be prepared for unexpected changes and cancellations. More than half of our planned excursions in Alaska have been cancelled due to weather or equipment over the years. Safety first!

Edited March 8, 2023 by BigMattT

[Laminator]

On 3/6/2023 at 9:15 AM, Colorado Klutch said:

The Tracy Arm excursion is not offered for my May, 2023 Alaska cruise. I was wondering if there is too much ice early and late in the season. 

I booked the Tracy Arm excursion for my May 20th Koningsdam cruise.