Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer--yes or no?

[mcat12]

Trying to make a decision on whether to take this excursion with Carnival or not. It would take place after a day at sea and as I understand would basically be getting off of the cruise ship (which is also traveling the fjord) into a smaller boat to get closer to the glacier. We are going mid-march so I'm wondering if we would really be able to get that much closer that it would be worth the $184x2 we would spend. What do you think? We already have whale watching planned for Juneau and flight seeing in Ketchikan. Appreciate any input! :)

[Assateague Island Princes]

You mean mid-May, right? Not mid-March, I hope!;) While Tracy Arm is a lovely scenic sailing day from a cruise ship in ideal weather conditions, it is usually difficult to traverse that early in the season due to ice. I'm not even sure the smaller boat excursion will be able to get as far as it normally does at that time of the year??? Others who are more familiar with this excursion (we haven't done it yet), will post their recommendations, I'm sure. I do know that later in the season folks rave about this smaller boat into Tracy Arm, and I'm hoping that we get the opportunity to do so at some point in the future.

[mcat12]

Yes, definitely mid MAY!! :) Thanks for catching that. What you said is exactly what I'm hesitant about. I'm wondering if the ice will still be too thick for even the small boat to navigate through, in which case I'd feel as though we were wasting almost $400. If anyone has done this excursion I'd love feedback, especially if you did it early in the season.

[CowPrincess]

We did Tracy Arm as a full day cruising on the cruise ship. It was AMAZING. It was late in the season (September), though, and we had a day of spectacular weather. We were not able to get close to the glaciers due to ice.

 

DH and I are going back to Alaska and we again chose September (we could only go in May or September). The ONLY reason DH is going back to Alaska :rolleyes: is to see Tracy Arm and to go to Sitka (waving at AIP as I say that :D) and my gut feeling was that we'd have a better chance of seeing more of Tracy Arm in Sept than in May.

 

So, all that said, :) it is impossible to tell you whether you WILL or WILL NOT get significantly closer to the glaciers if you take the small-boat tour. What I can tell you is that it looks like the Miracle is close to double the size of the ship we were on (Ryndam), which MAY affect how far into Tracy Arm the cruise ship gets. Or it may not affect it at all, but to ME mid-May on a large-ish ship, it is reasonable to expect some difficulty in cruising all of Tracy Arm.

 

I guess my advice is regardless of whether you take the small boat tour or not, do not have your heart set on seeing the glaciers. You will still be blown away by what you will see ;)

[bonvoyagie]

If you read the fine print on that excursion, it will state that if Tracy Arm is not accessable then they will go down Endicott Arm and view Dawes Glacier - even in the small boat. If you look on Google Maps you will see that when you enter Holkham Bay if you go north you enter Tracy Arm and if you go south you enter Endicott Arm and at the end is Dawes Glacier. Endicott Arm is straighter and wider than Tracy and does not get choked with ice as easily. Dawes Glacier is also more visible from the cruise ship than Sawyer.

 

This past summer we spent extra $$ and did the Tracy Arm Explorer out of Juneau. We got to park right in front of the glacier and watched it calve several times. We also got to see several different waterfalls and other features of the fjord. It was well worth the money. We also watched the NCL Jewel tranist the fjord and pick up her pax that did the same tour you are talking about. The Jewel got very close - but did not get infront of the glacier - that area was way to iced up - this was in late June.