Cruising Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska

We are on the Emerald Princess at the end of June 2018. Are we missing out on Tracy Arm Fjord by not doing the excursion that is offered? It is a 6 hr trip on a catamaran. It's our first time doing an Alaska cruise and we want to make sure we don't miss out on anything.

Thanks!!

Michelle

You'll get different opinions on this for sure. We enjoyed it, it was fun to do, but we also did other glacier excursions, and if I HAD to skip one again, it probably would have been this. But, we could afford it, so we did it and I'm glad we did. I hope that makes sense! LOL! It's pretty cool to be so close when the glaciers calves, it rocks the boat! And we also were able to get into some of the other little spots along the way down and see waterfalls and wildlife. Oh, and we did Endicott Arm, as most ships haven't been able to get into Tracy Arm for the past few years.

This little guy kept popping up by our small boat...

I should add that this is what it looked like from the cruise ship when we got back on. We were on the Carnival Legend when we did ours...

Thanks for the information and the pics are awesome.

Michelle

We are on the Emerald Princess at the end of June 2018. Are we missing out on Tracy Arm Fjord by not doing the excursion that is offered? It is a 6 hr trip on a catamaran. It's our first time doing an Alaska cruise and we want to make sure we don't miss out on anything.

Thanks!!

Michelle

For someone who has never been to Alaska or to Tracy Arm I think you might be disappointed in the cruise ship experience up in Tracy Arm. 99% of the time the ship barely makes it to Sawyer Island so you can see the Glacier from a distance, don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful but you’ll see more and have more of a memorable experience if you take small boat excursion. We do this trip every other year and it is always a highlight of the trip when we take the small boat excursion from the ship up in Tracy Arm. It’s a real rush when the Glacier calves and your boat rolling and rolling, all I can say is WOW! Then the small boat captain puts the bow of the small boat under a waterfall and the water is falling onto the bow of the boat. You’ll miss all of that on the cruise ship. Take the small boat excursion it’s well worth it, Allen Marine puts on a great excursion.

I would definitely add it. Unless you have Glacier Bay on your list - I would do the small catamaran to Tracy Arm.

Thank you everyone for the photos and information. We will be doing this excursion for the very first time in 2 weeks! So excited! :)

Thanks for information.

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I’ll be on Celebrity Solstice in July- they offer this excursion at 8am then my itinerary lists us as being in Juneau from 1:30-10pm. This is my first Alaskan cruise so apologies if this is a stupid question- how do we get on the catamaran at 8:00am and does it just drop us in Juneau when done?

Also- I’d like to take the Mendenhall glacier/dog sledding tour with TEMSCO later that day. If we’re there 1:30-10:00 and I decide to do Tracy Arm excursion, what time should I book the flight/sledding? And is that too much in one day? I’m young (ish) and am traveling with my 10 year old daughter.

Thanks so much for your guidance!

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I find the add on ship excursion for Tracy Arm "necessary". :) It is grossly superior compared to the cruise ship transit.

For clarification- Tracy Arm is NOT the same as Endicott, and I don't find much similar in the transits, and wouldn't make choices the same.

Depends what you want out of your visit?

I’ll be on Celebrity Solstice in July- they offer this excursion at 8am then my itinerary lists us as being in Juneau from 1:30-10pm. This is my first Alaskan cruise so apologies if this is a stupid question- how do we get on the catamaran at 8:00am and does it just drop us in Juneau when done? s

We are doing the same excursion in early July. As I understand it, you board the excursion boat from the ship like a tender. The Ship sails on to Juneau without you, and when the excursion boat gets to Juneau you reboard the ship like getting off a tender. You may then disembark th ship to enjoy Juneau.