Is a tour with Disney necessary when cruising through Tracy Arm on Disney Wonder?

[hellokittymom]

Hi, everyone, our family is going to Alaska on Disney Wonder in mid June. I saw that Disney Cruise offers a small boat tour of Tracy Arm for about $200 per person. I know that Tracy Arm is not a port day for this itinerary. The ship will just cruise through Tracy Arm. So I wonder if it is worth to pay for the tour (family of four with three paying adult fare of $200) , or the views from the ship are good enough. Thanks!

[moki'smommy]

The views from the open decks are amazing.

[xlxo]

When I was on the Wonder in Aug 2013..... I was happy where the Wonder was and would NOT spend $200 to get 1/8 mile closer through the ice and wildlife.

 

The small boat is new this year. So I'm very curious to see whether the Wonder is shortening the 31 mile journey up Tracy Arm to meet up with Sawyer.

 

Right now cruise ships are limited to 17 miles up Tracy Arm like due to ice congestion. We can all study the distance up the arm with marinetraffic.com nightly. The Disney Wonder visits Tracy Arm on Wednesday, so you can look at the past track on Wednesday nights to see how close it gets to Sawyer.

 

As the ice clear in the coming months. We can see whether the Wonder is able to meet up with Sawyer and whether the small boat is worth getting 1/8th mile closer.

[moki'smommy]

I laugh each time they announce, "This is the farthest in we've gotten this year!" like it is a big deal. Of course each cruise gets a little farther in than the one before...because each week the ice is a little more melted than the week before.

[jalves]

The views from the ship are great. No need for any special tours.

[Hidden Minnie]

We had great views from the Wonder in early June of 2011 - I don't think you would get $200 of additional value from the excursion. Here's what we saw - it was pretty spectacular....

[hellokittymom]

Thank you everyone for your inputs. @Hidden Minnie, thanks for sharing the picture. It is indeed very spectacular. Can't wait!