Difference between Tracy arm and Glacier bay?

Please advise.

Tracy Arm is very picturesque. Lots of floating ice and waterfalls. We witnessed some great calving. This was our first and only Alaskan cruise so we cannot compare it. But it was unforgettable. We are going this August on the Millennium to Hubbard Glacier, after a few days in Seward.

Tracy Arm is a narrow fjord just south of Juneau. It was created by Sawyer Glacier which have seperated and are now known as North and South Sawyer Glaciers. The narrow fjord has many twists and turns with steep walls - at the end of it is Sawyer Glacier - if you are lucky you can get within about 1/2 mi or so of the face of the glacier on a cruise ship. Usually there are a ton of ice floes to navigate around - also harbor seals birth their pups on the bergs. Tracy Arm is often avoided during the early cruise season - May - early/mid June and the ships go down a wider fjord called Endicott Arm and visit Dawes Glacier instead. If your cruise line does Tracy Arm just prior to or just after the port call in Juneau there is usually a small boat tour you can take that well allow you to see the fjord from both the cruise ship and a small boat - the small boats usually can get within 1/4 mi of the glacier face.

Glacier Bay is a National Park and allows limited access to cruise ships. Technically it is a fjord but a very wide one so it called a bay. Inside are a number of tidewater glaciers - most ships allow viewing of between 4 and 5 of them. Most ships transit the bay in about 8hrs. There is usually enough room around the glaciers that the cruise ships can avoid any icebergs. There are only three cruise lines that go here on a regular basis - Princess, HAL, and NCL.

If you're considering an itinerary with Tracy Arm, make sure the ship will actually spend several hours cruising it. Some of the ships have Tracy Arm on their itinerary but it is just a service call scheduled, which means the ship stops for about 30 min at the entrance to the fjord to let people who have booked the excursion get on to the small boat, but the cruise ship never actually enters Tracy Arm. I've seen a number of posts with very disappointed passengers who thought they were going to cruise it.

Do a serarch with "Tracy Arm service call" and you'll see what I mean!

If you're considering an itinerary with Tracy Arm, make sure the ship will actually spend several hours cruising it. Some of the ships have Tracy Arm on their itinerary but it is just a service call scheduled, which means the ship stops for about 30 min at the entrance to the fjord to let people who have booked the excursion get on to the small boat, but the cruise ship never actually enters Tracy Arm. I've seen a number of posts with very disappointed passengers who thought they were going to cruise it.

 

Do a serarch with "Tracy Arm service call" and you'll see what I mean!

Thanks for the heads up!:)

Thanks for the heads up!:)

Just repeating what I've read on here. Haven't been to Alaska myself yet.

We have both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm booked. Our cruise itinerary is round trip from Seattle to Juneau, a full day cruising Glacier Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria, BC. Then we booked a ship excursion out of Juneau that takes you in to Tracy Arm. It says to both North and South Sawyer Glaciers on a jet boat, although the fine print says if the fjord is too iced up it may go to Endicott instead, but a small jet boat has a better chance of maneuvering in through the ice then the cruise ship.

If your ship doesn't offer the round trip excursion from Juneau to Tracy Arm, you might check directly with the tour operator, which is Allen Marine Tours.

I went on the Celebrity Infinity to Tracy Arm last month. We went all the way in to see the Sawyer glacier. I have heard that bad weather can prevent ships from getting in all the way in. Also I've heard early in the season there is too much ice (plus the seals) to get too close to the glacier.

I thought Tracy Arm was beautiful and the Sawyer glacier is amazing (I haven't been to Glacier Bay though). I have some photos in the middle of this album:

http://flickr.com/gp/nemoagility/2P1U6L

I've been told if you're only doing Alaska once, to go to Glacier Bay since it's the more classic scenery people think of in relation to Alaska. Whichever itinerary you choose, you can still see Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay through excursions. I think you can do a GB flight tour from either Skagway or Juneau.

One is a national park, the other the "alternative" scenic cruising sailing.

I've done college fjord, hubbard, Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm.

While the narrow fjords are beautiful, as is iceflows, waterfalls, and wildlife it can't come close to Glacer Bay, Hubbard or College Fjord.

Given a choice pick any of the former if you can.

We're just back from a southbound cruise on the Sapphire Princess that went to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. We've taken two roundtrip cruises from Seattle in previous years that went to Tracy Arm. While it was a good experience, it doesn't compare to the 90 minutes our ship spent at Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay.

We've been to Alaska 3 times The first time we booked Tracy Arm & Sawyer Glacier without realizing it wasn't the "preferred" itinerary. The second time we booked Glacier Bay. The 3rd time we booked another cruising scheduled to call at Tracy Arm that was diverted to Endicott Arm. I wasn't surprised at all, and was actually quite pleased to get the chance to see a different spot.

Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm are very different experiences. Glacier Bay is a very wide open water area, with lots of different glacier that you get a view of. Tracy Arm is a narrow, winding fjord, with mountains that drop steeply into the fjord. Both are beautiful in very different ways, but I certainly don't find that Glacier Bay is a "must-do" -- at least not every time I go to Alaska.

My webshots photos have photos of all 3 locations so you can get an idea of what you think you'd rather see. The best thing to do is just resign yourself to needing return to see what you missed this time around :).

We just did HAL Zuiderdam. They do a service call at Tracy Arm where we took an excursion on a smaller boat to both Sawyer glaciers. Considering it's our first cruise to Alaska and it will be many years before we go again, it was worth the money for the excursion to us. We did see a Celebrity ship just as we entered, but my guess is at 10am that they didn't do the whole transit. We did see "The World" heading in as we were coming out and that ship would be small enough to get close.

The Zuiderdam also does Glacier Bay, which was a beautiful day seeing many glaciers.

We just did HAL Zuiderdam. They do a service call at Tracy Arm where we took an excursion on a smaller boat to both Sawyer glaciers. Considering it's our first cruise to Alaska and it will be many years before we go again, it was worth the money for the excursion to us. We did see a Celebrity ship just as we entered, but my guess is at 10am that they didn't do the whole transit. We did see "The World" heading in as we were coming out and that ship would be small enough to get close.

 

The Zuiderdam also does Glacier Bay, which was a beautiful day seeing many glaciers.

The Celebrity Infinity ship I went on last month entered Tracy Arm at 7:30am, went all the way in to see the Sawyer Glacier, and left Tracy Arm at 10:30am. But the weather and how much ice dictates how far the large cruise ships can get into the area.

We were at Glacier Bay last week. It is amazing!

IMG_0827 by BobalinkToo, on Flickr

IMG_0878 by BobalinkToo, on Flickr

I posted a review on the Princess board:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1688661

If you're considering an itinerary with Tracy Arm, make sure the ship will actually spend several hours cruising it. Some of the ships have Tracy Arm on their itinerary but it is just a service call scheduled, which means the ship stops for about 30 min at the entrance to the fjord to let people who have booked the excursion get on to the small boat, but the cruise ship never actually enters Tracy Arm. I've seen a number of posts with very disappointed passengers who thought they were going to cruise it.

 

Do a serarch with "Tracy Arm service call" and you'll see what I mean!

Thanks so much for posting this advice! I have friends who are going to Alaska on Disney in August of 2013, and I am helping them with their research. Their itinerary includes Tracy Arm.

After reading your post I checked the Disney website, and it says that they go in to do as scenic cruise in the fjord.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/alaska/ports/tracy-arm-alaska/

Has anyone who has been on a Disney cruise in Alaska had any different experiences? Since the friends are going in August I am thinking there is less chance of having ice problems.

Thanks so much for posting this advice! I have friends who are going to Alaska on Disney in August of 2013, and I am helping them with their research. Their itinerary includes Tracy Arm.

 

After reading your post I checked the Disney website, and it says that they go in to do as scenic cruise in the fjord.

 

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/alaska/ports/tracy-arm-alaska/

 

Has anyone who has been on a Disney cruise in Alaska had any different experiences? Since the friends are going in August I am thinking there is less chance of having ice problems.

Disney ships have had a great record of getting to the end of Tracy Arm Fjord to see a glacier, mainly it seems, because they allow more transit time to cruise through the fjord. Back in 2011 I did some research, and I believe Disney allowed 7 hours to make the transit. Other ships allowed as little as 2.5 hours, with the average being about 4 hours. When you have that extra time, you are more likely to make it further in. If there is a lot of ice, the ships have to travel much more slowly. I have no idea how much time Disney will be alloting for transit time in 2013, but perhaps a call to CS would answer that, or perhaps even the itinerary online may tell you. I hope they have continued with the longer transit time.

Thanks so much for posting this advice! I have friends who are going to Alaska on Disney in August of 2013, and I am helping them with their research. Their itinerary includes Tracy Arm.

 

After reading your post I checked the Disney website, and it says that they go in to do as scenic cruise in the fjord.

 

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/alaska/ports/tracy-arm-alaska/

 

Has anyone who has been on a Disney cruise in Alaska had any different experiences? Since the friends are going in August I am thinking there is less chance of having ice problems.

I've been to Tracy Arm twice, once in late July and the other in mid-August. We got in far enough to see the glaciers both times, but definitely much further on the August trip. Of course, conditions could vary year to year, but I still think you'd be more likely to get in to see the glaciers in August than in the early season. I still prefer Glacier Bay, but Tracy Arm is nice when you do get in far enough.

Given a choice GLACIER BAY, one is a national park, the other a side attraction because the number of permits and access to Glaceri bay is regulated. Given a choice every sailing would choose Glacier.

Not saying Tracy Arm isn't nice, but if you are only doing Alaska once, find a way to do Glacier. I'd take Glacier over the Disney ship anyday.

I've been to Tracy Arm twice, once in late July and the other in mid-August. We got in far enough to see the glaciers both times, but definitely much further on the August trip. Of course, conditions could vary year to year, but I still think you'd be more likely to get in to see the glaciers in August than in the early season. I still prefer Glacier Bay, but Tracy Arm is nice when you do get in far enough.

Given a choice GLACIER BAY, one is a national park, the other a side attraction because the number of permits and access to Glaceri bay is regulated. Given a choice every sailing would choose Glacier.

 

Not saying Tracy Arm isn't nice, but if you are only doing Alaska once, find a way to do Glacier. I'd take Glacier over the Disney ship anyday.

Thanks for the feedback! My friends have already booked their cruise, and so their itinerary is set. I found a nice YouTube video of Tracy Arm

We went to Glacier Bay in September, 2012 and unfortunately it was socked in with fog, so we saw none of the spectacular scenery, though we did get to see the face of the Marjorie Glacier. I'm hoping to get back to Glacier Bay one of these days, to see it in its full glory.

We are headed for GLacier Bay in July. WE got to see part of Tracy Arm in Sept 2008.

Princess is a cruise line that does go into Tracy Arm. We were on the Golden Princess in 2008. Unfortunately, when we started the journey, it was just a little cloudy. The Captain told us he felt comfortable with it and continued. WE knew that two other ships were close behind us, one the Diamond Princess, the other was a HAL ship.

We saw tons of small bergs and they were very blue. However, before the Captain took the turn to get back into the glacier he stopped for a time. Even though our view ahead was clear, he reported that the ships behind us were reporting heavy fog rolling in and they had cancelled their journey and were turning back. The Captain said he could get us into the glacier, however, he was not sure he could get us out with the heavy fog. He did take the time to turn the ship 360 degrees twice, so people could get a good view of everything we were seeing. He even cut the engines for a few minutes at one point. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. TONS of beautiful water falls and we saw eagles flying all around.

So, we are excited this year to see Glacier Bay.

Each of these areas are spectacular and very worthwhile, in my opinion. I'll again, be going to both this season.

I do, highly recommend the small boat tours, especially the ship contracted tour with their transit- grossly superior comparing the two.

Be advised, on average, only about 25% of the cruiseships are successful with the FULL 30 mile one way transit. As mentioned above, most cruiselines require PERFECT conditions with their timing. At a certain point, they make an announcement, spilling out, "safety", "ice" etc etc stuff with sounds good, but inaccurate for the real reason. :)

Glacier Bay, you will see at least 4 glaciers. This can involve a longer day IF you choose to take advantage. A lot of people will be out an hour, when at the glaciers, but there is WAY more to see, if interested in investing your time, being out on deck- in proper attire. :) This is a FULL day for me, coming from Juneau or Skagway- I'm out about an hour prior to dawn.

For those traveling on Disney Wonder Alaska cruise, please note that Disney has the option of not proceeding all the way up Tracy Arms to the ice flow. After waiting all morning on deck to photograph the glacier, we were told they could not proceed due to the seals. Another cruise ship informed the passengers they could not proceed due to ice on the water. Sounds fishy to me. Very disappointed that this part of the cruise was cut short as this was the main reason for booking the cruise. Also, the captain did not pursue another glacier. Will never book Disney again due to this practice. PS: the weather was picture perfect. What a waste of time.

For those traveling on Disney Wonder Alaska cruise, please note that Disney has the option of not proceeding all the way up Tracy Arms to the ice flow. After waiting all morning on deck to photograph the glacier, we were told they could not proceed due to the seals. Another cruise ship informed the passengers they could not proceed due to ice on the water. Sounds fishy to me. Very disappointed that this part of the cruise was cut short as this was the main reason for booking the cruise. Also, the captain did not pursue another glacier. Will never book Disney again due to this practice. PS: the weather was picture perfect. What a waste of time.

This can happen on any cruise line which sails to Tracy Arm, not just Disney, especially early in the season. The possibility of not getting far enough into Tracy Arm to see the glacier is discussed here regularly.

All of the major glacier sites can be spectacular but it all depends on how close you get. I recently did a B2B on the Island Princess which make 20 trips to Alaska On this one we stopped at College Fjord, Hubbard and Glacier Bay (2x) and I did an all day excursion to Tracy Arm with Adventure Bound.

On this trip all of the cruise ship stops were the farthest I've ever been from the glaciers, with College Fjord and Hubbard at best 7+ miles away. We had perfect weather with clear blue skies and no wind but the visits were highly disappointing as I know how much closer it can be possible to get. In Tracy Arm the closest the cruise ships get is about 3-4 miles from the glacier at best, when someone says they saw the glaciers it is still from a long distance.

Check out some photos from a small boat visit to Tracy Arm and see what getting close really means. IMHO the glaciers in Tracy Arm are among the most spectacular for both color and calving, but you have to do it from a small boat to really experince this.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1283269&highlight=blue+album

I hate to say it but in my experience it seems that each year the ships are stopping farther and farther away from the face of the glaciers, probably because of time constraints caused by fuel costs.(they won't say that, it is always "too much ice in the water") If you are visiting for the first time the glaciers are still fantastic to see (and I go back every year) but the views used to be much much closer in general. It was pretty common to get within 1/4-1/2 mile away and now it seems a few miles is the closest approach at best.

For those traveling on Disney Wonder Alaska cruise, please note that Disney has the option of not proceeding all the way up Tracy Arms to the ice flow. After waiting all morning on deck to photograph the glacier, we were told they could not proceed due to the seals. Another cruise ship informed the passengers they could not proceed due to ice on the water. Sounds fishy to me. Very disappointed that this part of the cruise was cut short as this was the main reason for booking the cruise. Also, the captain did not pursue another glacier. Will never book Disney again due to this practice. PS: the weather was picture perfect. What a waste of time.

It looks like you are a new poster that may not have had a lot of information prior to this cruise? Over and over, I always post, it is "necessary" to book the ship add on tour, which is grossly superior to any cruise ship transit. Few people do. I would never be there without it. On average, you never can count on a cruise ship making the full transit. On average only about 25% of the ships are successful.

Sorry but once the cpt decided to transit Tracy Arm, which is a 30 mile dead end, they are NEVER going to detour to any where else. Decisions would have been made to go to Endicott Arm, before they even got to the area.

You are correct about the "fishy" comment. It sounds good but has little if any basis with fact. The simple answer is TIME. The ships sail a certain amount of time, when that runs out, they turn around. Nothing to do with "safety" etc. When's the last time you heard of a ship sinking in Alaska? :)

I have attempted Tracy Arm 4x, by both small boat and by cruise ship. 2x in May and 2x in July. I have not seen the glaciers at the end on any of these trips.

We saw Endiocott Arm 2x and the other 2x, we went into Tracy Arm but didn't make it that far.

So even if you go in July, you are not guaranteed that you will see the glaciers at the end.

I have yet to miss Glacier Bay. I would choose Glacier Bay.