Endicott arm & Tracy Fjord excursion

[Cruiseaholic07]

We are on the NCL encore in August. We have scenic cruising down the Endicott Arm with Dawes Glacier. However, there is am excursion listed for a boat tour up Endicott Arm and Tracy Fjord.  The small boat will meet up with the ship while it's drifting in the Fjord. Is it worth it to do the small boat tour? Or should we just do the free cruise ship drifting down?

[oaktreerb]

Yes, it’s worth it.  The cruise ship may not be allowed to enter the fjord due to ice or seals pupping.  The small ship will get up close to the scenery.  

[Cruiseaholic07]

Thanks!! Trying to look for a 2nd tour for the morning 

[CruiseMGM]

Agree with oaktreerb, here's another vote for TAF in a small boat. We've only done it once before and it was magical. We've just now booked our ship's tour for another visit; ours will be round-trip from Juneau on our August port stop, so it will be a long day, but we're quite excited about it.

 

Have a marvelous time!

[Italy52]

Small boat excursion off the ship.  We have done this twice while taking a Holland America cruise -- enjoyed it a lot. 

[dobiemom]

On 6/7/2021 at 2:17 PM, jcu1210 said:

We are on the NCL encore in August. We have scenic cruising down the Endicott Arm with Dawes Glacier. However, there is am excursion listed for a boat tour up Endicott Arm and Tracy Fjord.  The small boat will meet up with the ship while it's drifting in the Fjord. Is it worth it to do the small boat tour? Or should we just do the free cruise ship drifting down?

I did this on a Carnival cruise. Yes, it is SO worth it! One of the best ship shorex I've ever done! 

 

On 6/8/2021 at 11:57 AM, Italy52 said:

Small boat excursion off the ship.  We have done this twice while taking a Holland America cruise -- enjoyed it a lot. 

Do you remember what it was called? Trying to find it for my Sept cruise. 

[Italy52]

1 hour ago, dobiemom said:

I did this on a Carnival cruise. Yes, it is SO worth it! One of the best ship shorex I've ever done! 

 

Do you remember what it was called? Trying to find it for my Sept cruise. 

For our Holland America Cruise it was called Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer.  It was an excursion purchase through the ship run by Allen Marine. On some cruise lines, the tour falls under Juneau excursions.

[drvmywifecrzy]

Is this the one on NCL to do?

 

[Cruiseaholic07]

Yes

[don't-use-real-name]

There are what appears to be variations to this excursion by cruise line - - -

 

1 - board the excursion trip at the Juneau float plane dock and take a 5 + hour round trip

cruise seeing the South Sawyer glacier in Tracy Arm and time weather and ice permitting

the smaller North Sawyer glacier -

bonus lots of opportunities to see whales and other creatures -

excursion returns to Juneau - board you cruise ship and sail away to next port call

 

2 - your ship meets the excursion in or near the Stephens Passage canal/Holkham

Bay entrance to both the Tracy and Endicott Arms -

and the small excursion craft visits one of the above glaciers at the end of the Arm -

returns back to meet the awaiting ship

 

3 - excursion leaves Juneau float plane dock and visits the Tracy Arm Sawyer glacier -

meets the ship after the excursion in at Holkham Bay - NO return to Juneau - ship

moves on to the next port of call.

 

Shore excursions variable with cruise line - Princess Holland-America Carnival Norwegian other ? 

[Cruiseaholic07]

Norwegian for me, looks like they come right up to ship

[Italy52]

We offloaded from the ship on both Princess and Holland America.

[Eaglecw]

I highly recommend the small boat excursion off the cruise ship. Allen marine is the provider for this excursion, they will pick you up off the ship part way up which ever Arm you go up and they do a good job. It all depends on the ice conditions as to which Arm you’ll be going up. Tracy Arm is usually iced in for most of the season.  The cruise ships normally only go as far as Sawyer Island in Tracy arm, turn around and give you a glimpse of Sawyer Glacier. If Tracy Arm is iced in you’ll go up Endicott Arm to Dawes Glacier at the end. Either one is a beautiful experience. We cruise to Alaska every year and alternate between Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm. We always do the small boat excursion when we go up into Tracy Arm or Endicott Arm.

[Dancing Shoes]

We did this excursion with Allen Marine on our HAL cruise in 2018.  August is perfect and you should expect to see Sawyer Glacier.  We had sun.  I wanted my husband to see this glacier, as I saw it in 1975 with my parents!!  Dress warm with a hat, etc.  You will want to be outside as much as possible.

[quack2]

Agree with everyone here.  The small boat Tracy Arm excursion is one of the best things you can do in Alaska.  I did the round trip out of Juneau and it was awesome.  A long day, but well worth it. 

 

If you're doing the round trip out of Juneau, I think your cruise ship has to arrive by 7 a.m. since the privately booked excursion departs the float plane dock at 8 a.m.

[JayFank]

Does anyone know if it's possible to visit Tracy Arm via Juneau through Royal Caribbean? Unable to locate it under its listing of shore excursions.

[Dancing Shoes]

If you mean arrive in Juneau then do the R/T,  the reason could be that your ship doesn't dock in time to make the sailing as quack2 has mentioned.  Go to Allen Marine and see the schedule and then look at how long RC is in port.

 

Our ship offered it as an excursion that left from the head of the 2 arms...Tracey/Endicott.  

[TMLAalum]

Looking at the timing of Celebrity’s Tracy Arm excursion I am thinking we board off the Millenium but end in Juneau. Anyone ever done this with Celebrity?

[quack2]

I believe Allen Marine primarily serves the cruise ship excursions.

 

Adventure Bound appears to be independent of the cruise ships.  Note that you can book Tracy Arm directly with Adventure Bound.  But just be certain your ship arrives in Juneau by 7 a.m. and doesn't depart until 7 pm or later.

 

https://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

Edited July 7, 2021 by quack2

[JayFank]

5 minutes ago, quack2 said:

I believe Allen Marine primarily serves the cruise ship excursions.

 

Adventure Bound appears to be independent of the cruise ships.  Note that you can book Tracy Arm directly with Adventure Bound.  But just be certain your ship arrives by 7 a.m. and doesn't depart until 7 pm or later.

 

https://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

I contacted Adventure Bound today and was advised to contact them later in the year -- around October and November -- and they'd have dates and times available for May 2022.

[KAE27]

On 7/6/2021 at 5:14 PM, TMLAalum said:

Looking at the timing of Celebrity’s Tracy Arm excursion I am thinking we board off the Millenium but end in Juneau. Anyone ever done this with Celebrity?

 

I'm wondering about this as well.  We just booked this on Celebrity Millennium, and it is called Endicott Arm and is five hours long.  I'm assuming board off the ship, which it seems to indicate, and end in Juneau?  Hope someone can clarify and also indicate if this is worth it as the other seem to be.

 

One other question:  a member of our party has a little trouble with steps and such.  He walks fine and doesn't need assistance but just is slow and a little unsteady with stairs.  The Celebrity excursion description said this, which seemed a bit surprising:  "To fully participate may require extended periods of walking over even and uneven surfaces, steep terrain and/or water activity in a slight current. There may be steps, inclines, cobblestone surfaces, and extended periods of standing. Participants with physical limitations should take this into account."  Could this be correct?

Edited July 8, 2021 by KAE27

[TMLAalum]

6 hours ago, KAE27 said:

 

I'm wondering about this as well.  We just booked this on Celebrity Millennium, and it is called Endicott Arm and is five hours long.  I'm assuming board off the ship, which it seems to indicate, and end in Juneau?  Hope someone can clarify and also indicate if this is worth it as the other seem to be.

 

One other question:  a member of our party has a little trouble with steps and such.  He walks fine and doesn't need assistance but just is slow and a little unsteady with stairs.  The Celebrity excursion description said this, which seemed a bit surprising:  "To fully participate may require extended periods of walking over even and uneven surfaces, steep terrain and/or water activity in a slight current. There may be steps, inclines, cobblestone surfaces, and extended periods of standing. Participants with physical limitations should take this into account."  Could this be correct?

@KAE27

You are right! I was away from home when I posted about this excursion. I believe the warning you quoted is a "blanket" one that might apply to Europe with its cobbestone streets, snorkeling, hiking, etc.. I think the only concern for your friend would be boarding the vessel off the ship, but this would be similar to boarding a tender with steps down to a platform from which you step on to the boat.  From the printout I have in front of me it does appear that we end in Juneau. Our itinerary for Endicott Arm says 5:30 am to 10 am- sure hope we don't have to start this excursion at that wee hour!

[KAE27]

10 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

@KAE27

You are right! I was away from home when I posted about this excursion. I believe the warning you quoted is a "blanket" one that might apply to Europe with its cobbestone streets, snorkeling, hiking, etc.. I think the only concern for your friend would be boarding the vessel off the ship, but this would be similar to boarding a tender with steps down to a platform from which you step on to the boat.  From the printout I have in front of me it does appear that we end in Juneau. Our itinerary for Endicott Arm says 5:30 am to 10 am- sure hope we don't have to start this excursion at that wee hour!

 

 

Thank you so much!!  This is extremely helpful.

 

Ours says 7 a.m., which is slightly more palatable than 5:30.  🙂 

 

[TMLAalum]

@KAE27

Went to the Allen Marine website since they are the provider for this tour. Here is the link:

https://allenmarinetours.com/juneau/glacier-fjord/

When do you sail? I am still waiting to book shore excursions b.c. we have $200 OBC due us in OBC from Celeb thanks to their "Best Offer Guarantee" and am hoping to get even more if the price for our cabin should drop even further!

[KAE27]

3 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

@KAE27

Went to the Allen Marine website since they are the provider for this tour. Here is the link:

https://allenmarinetours.com/juneau/glacier-fjord/

When do you sail? I am still waiting to book shore excursions b.c. we have $200 OBC due us in OBC from Celeb thanks to their "Best Offer Guarantee" and am hoping to get even more if the price for our cabin should drop even further!

 

Thanks again!  Wonderfully helpful.  We are on the August 27 sailing.  How about you?