Which excursion would you choose in Juneau between these two?

[Hllb]

I have one booked that canoes in front of Mendenhall, then lands and allows you to hike around Mendenhall: https://liquidalaskatours.com/tours/mendenhall-glacier-ice-adventure-tour/

 

But I have this tour available through HAL and it also looks fantastic. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/shore-excursions/TAC/83701.html

 

Thoughts between the two? I like the idea of getting up close to Mendenhall, but I also have read it's not that impressive since it's retreating. On the other hand, you might not get in to Tracy Arm on any given day.

[arpie05]

I think it depends on what you're wanting to do. I was last in Alaska four years ago and would like to do the canoe you mentioned. You can go on YouTube and search for Alaska excursions and there are some nice videos that show both excursions. We didn't do the upclose boat because it's a long time you're confined to the small ship (maybe 6 hrs). We thought it would be boring. One of the videos mentioned you need warm clothes because it is cold. We paid for a balcony to watch the glaciers from our room - if you didn't have a balcony - going out on the boat might be nice but I got very seasick whale watching (LOL).  Yes the small boat gets closer but for me  - not that big of deal.  ALSO - really the point too is - do you want a physical excursion or sedentary? The canoe and hike would involve much more activity than just watching from a small boat.  maybe you can save some money between now and then and do both. 

[Hllb]

18 minutes ago, arpie05 said:

I think it depends on what you're wanting to do. I was last in Alaska four years ago and would like to do the canoe you mentioned. You can go on YouTube and search for Alaska excursions and there are some nice videos that show both excursions. We didn't do the upclose boat because it's a long time you're confined to the small ship (maybe 6 hrs). We thought it would be boring. One of the videos mentioned you need warm clothes because it is cold. We paid for a balcony to watch the glaciers from our room - if you didn't have a balcony - going out on the boat might be nice but I got very seasick whale watching (LOL).  Yes the small boat gets closer but for me  - not that big of deal.  ALSO - really the point too is - do you want a physical excursion or sedentary? The canoe and hike would involve much more activity than just watching from a small boat.  maybe you can save some money between now and then and do both. 

The tours are the same day so I have to pick. Thanks for the YouTube recommendation though. I’m now thinking I definitely want to walk on the glacier. The video I found explored an ice cave too - that’s not guaranteed of course but would be awesome! And good point on the length of time on a small boat. Given my son’s potential sea sickness (I saw your tips on my other thread, thanks!), that could end up pretty miserable.

 

 

[cruisewiththekids]

I'm pretty sure that tour no longer goes onto the ice.   I checked on it last year, and that's what I was told.   Best to check so you're not disappointed. 

[Hllb]

33 minutes ago, cruisewiththekids said:

I'm pretty sure that tour no longer goes onto the ice.   I checked on it last year, and that's what I was told.   Best to check so you're not disappointed. 

I’ve been reading that too and that is so disappointing. I can’t believe the price is still that high. I’ve emailed them to ask about it. It still gets good reviews but for the cost for our family, I’m not sure it’s worth it. That will be super disappointing!

[Coral]

I like the Tracy Arm excursion. I have not done the liquid Alaska tours but the reviews are pretty great with them on this board. The small boat to Tracy Arm also gets excellent reviews.

[Hllb]

31 minutes ago, Coral said:

I like the Tracy Arm excursion. I have not done the liquid Alaska tours but the reviews are pretty great with them on this board. The small boat to Tracy Arm also gets excellent reviews.

How rough was the water when you went?

[Coral]

8 hours ago, Hllb said:

How rough was the water when you went?

I often do the 10 hour tour out of Juneau through a private company to Tracy Arm and they have to go fast to get to the area. I can't say it has been rough but any area in Alaska has the potential to be rough.

 

This tour has less distance to go.

 

 

[Coral]

Most large cruise ships don't get close to Tracy Arm. Tracy Arm is missed probably the most of all the glaciers. The small ship is far superior and if the cruise ship does get to Tracy Arm, you will get much closer on the small ship (and people rave about this). I believe if the ship skips Tracy Arm (it happens often), the small boat tour is then cancelled I believe.

 

Sometimes ships divert to Endicott Arm as it is an easier passage.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Coral

[Hllb]

18 minutes ago, Coral said:

Most large cruise ships don't get close to Tracy Arm. Tracy Arm is missed probably the most of all the glaciers. The small ship is far superior and if the cruise ship does get to Tracy Arm, you will get much closer on the small ship (and people rave about this). I believe if the ship skips Tracy Arm (it happens often), the small boat tour is then cancelled I believe.

 

Sometimes ships divert to Endicott Arm as it is an easier passage.

Our ship is doing glacier bay but they have an excursion out of Juneau (7hrs) that is supposed to do Tracy Arm with Endicot as a back up. 

[Coral]

18 minutes ago, Hllb said:

Our ship is doing glacier bay but they have an excursion out of Juneau (7hrs) that is supposed to do Tracy Arm with Endicot as a back up. 

Correct.

 

I pick itineraries with long port days. I just go to Tracy Arm as a private excursion out of Juneau that takes 10 hours.

 

I am familiar with your tour (to Tracy Arm from ship) - I just haven't done it (though I have been to the area on a small boat). Though visiting Tracy Arm via ship is the least desirable of the glaciers - the small boat trip is very desirable and fills up quickly. I would strongly recommend booking it. I would post a question on this board (with Tracy Arm small boat tour from ship in title) about that tour specifically and you will get comments.

 

This tour will book up! 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Coral

[Casey12]

I would do Tracy Arm in a small boat in a heart beat. It is fantastic.

[Anita Latte]

Planning Alaska is EXHAUSTING... When I planned for our 2018 cruise, I was very wary of each day sort of blending into the next and not having more distinct memories of the different things that we did. I was very wary of any of the activities that were purely sight seeing without some sort of participation to distinguish each tour...because if all you do is sit and look here, sit and look there, then how do you really remember the days of the cruise? Whether or not we were doing the absolute BEST tour each day became secondary to my thoughts on what our vacation was going to be as a whole.

 

The small boat excursion does look amazing but I am concerned over the stories of lack of seating, the length of the trip, the difficulty in hearing about what you are seeing if you weren't inside, the lack of food, etc. If you are already going to be doing a smaller boat in ISP for whale watching...and you are going into Glacier Bay...then I would definitely be going for the canoe. 

 

If you read the FAQ on Liquid Alaska, and have a general understanding about possible daily changes in glacier ice conditions, then you go into the tour with eye wide open. The ice caves and even walking on the ice is something that is assessed daily and it's possible that you could see/do both. It all depends on conditions.

 

If it were raining, I would much rather be in the canoe than stuck on a possibly crowded boat. The canoe is a great story...at it's best, you will be in a boat full of people all hoping to have a great day. The camaraderie there is an entirely different spirit than the possible jockeying for position on the small boat to get the best photo op.

 

In Juneau, among other things, we did visit the Mendenhall glacier. From the distance, it is true that it doesn't seem that impressive, but the view from across the lake is far and just shows a fraction of that glacier. But I would have loved to be on the other side of the lake walking along the morraine and getting a closer look at it. 

 

Again, if you already have the smaller boat excursion in ISP for whale watching...I would let that be the small boat excursion for your trip and pick this one for a more adventuring kind of a day. You family will have such a great story at the end of the canoe trip...regardless of the perfection of the weather, etc. 

[Hllb]

4 minutes ago, Anita Latte said:

Planning Alaska is EXHAUSTING... When I planned for our 2018 cruise, I was very wary of each day sort of blending into the next and not having more distinct memories of the different things that we did. I was very wary of any of the activities that were purely sight seeing without some sort of participation to distinguish each tour...because if all you do is sit and look here, sit and look there, then how do you really remember the days of the cruise? Whether or not we were doing the absolute BEST tour each day became secondary to my thoughts on what our vacation was going to be as a whole.

 

The small boat excursion does look amazing but I am concerned over the stories of lack of seating, the length of the trip, the difficulty in hearing about what you are seeing if you weren't inside, the lack of food, etc. If you are already going to be doing a smaller boat in ISP for whale watching...and you are going into Glacier Bay...then I would definitely be going for the canoe. 

 

If you read the FAQ on Liquid Alaska, and have a general understanding about possible daily changes in glacier ice conditions, then you go into the tour with eye wide open. The ice caves and even walking on the ice is something that is assessed daily and it's possible that you could see/do both. It all depends on conditions.

 

If it were raining, I would much rather be in the canoe than stuck on a possibly crowded boat. The canoe is a great story...at it's best, you will be in a boat full of people all hoping to have a great day. The camaraderie there is an entirely different spirit than the possible jockeying for position on the small boat to get the best photo op.

 

In Juneau, among other things, we did visit the Mendenhall glacier. From the distance, it is true that it doesn't seem that impressive, but the view from across the lake is far and just shows a fraction of that glacier. But I would have loved to be on the other side of the lake walking along the morraine and getting a closer look at it. 

 

Again, if you already have the smaller boat excursion in ISP for whale watching...I would let that be the small boat excursion for your trip and pick this one for a more adventuring kind of a day. You family will have such a great story at the end of the canoe trip...regardless of the perfection of the weather, etc. 

I'm normally much more decisive than this LOL. I think the problem is that my initial desire of kayaking at Mendenhall was dashed as there are only 4 spots left and we need 5. Then I saw amazing video of the Liquid Alaska tour and was really excited. But reading reviews from last year, it seems like they do not venture onto the glacier at all anymore, though I've reached out to them via email and waiting to hear. I can certainly understand, with the current climate issues, but given the cost of that tour is over $1700, I don't know that it's worth it to simply step on the shore near the glacier. I did go ahead and book the Tracy Arm excursion, since they're both refundable, while I decide. 

 

I keep trying to determine the tour operator of the kayaking tour to see if we could possibly squeeze a 5th person in, but can't figure out who actually runs that tour. Anyone know?

[Anita Latte]

A quick google search:

 

https://alaskashoretours.com/excursions/juneau/mendenhall-lake-kayaking-adventure/

 

The thing about the glacier conditions...I wonder who decides what is deemed "safe" because that is what it is all about. I can't imagine that each independent tour company is the one responsible for that evaluation. I would think that since these tour companies have to have the special license to operate their tours on Federal property that somehow, the management of the land is the one responsible for letting the tour operators know conditions and what is permissible. So, I don't know that one company would be able to do something that another company would not be able to do.

 

But you'd have to get some good communication to figure out how those decisions are being made. I saw on the Liquid Alaska site that they are just now hiring for the 2023 operating season. You might have better luck tackling this from another POV and try talking to the management at Mendenhall to see what the deal is there.

[Hllb]

7 minutes ago, Anita Latte said:

A quick google search:

 

https://alaskashoretours.com/excursions/juneau/mendenhall-lake-kayaking-adventure/

 

The thing about the glacier conditions...I wonder who decides what is deemed "safe" because that is what it is all about. I can't imagine that each independent tour company is the one responsible for that evaluation. I would think that since these tour companies have to have the special license to operate their tours on Federal property that somehow, the management of the land is the one responsible for letting the tour operators know conditions and what is permissible. So, I don't know that one company would be able to do something that another company would not be able to do.

 

But you'd have to get some good communication to figure out how those decisions are being made. I saw on the Liquid Alaska site that they are just now hiring for the 2023 operating season. You might have better luck tackling this from another POV and try talking to the management at Mendenhall to see what the deal is there.

 

I'm pretty sure that site is a reseller for the tour, and not the originator. They sell tours at many cities.

 

 

[Crew News]

The shore excursion with HAL to Tracy Arm passes through most of the ice fields in Tracy Arm and provides some amazing photographs that include ice chunks, sea lions, whales, and glaciers.  The box lunch and additional snacks while enroute made quite an impression.  I strongly recommend this excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hllb]

20 minutes ago, Crew News said:

The shore excursion with HAL to Tracy Arm passes through most of the ice fields in Tracy Arm and provides some amazing photographs that include ice chunks, sea lions, whales, and glaciers.  The box lunch and additional snacks while enroute made quite an impression.  I strongly recommend this excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful pictures! What was the ship like? How many people does it hold? Were the seas rough when you went?

 

[Crew News]

11 minutes ago, Hllb said:

 

Beautiful pictures! What was the ship like? How many people does it hold? Were the seas rough when you went?

 

The boat held about 30 people and was definitely high speed.  Since we proceeded down the Juneau channel and never left the Inside Passage, there were very few waves and no waves inside Tracy Arm.  Traveling at high speed negates any motion of the water.

 

The small boat could slow and come close to the large chunks (bigger than a house above water) of ice for great pictures.  Here is a link to other photos that I took on this excursion plus some taken from my cruise ship one summer:  Tracy Arm

[Coral]

Here are some of my small boat Tracy Arm pictures (different company/different boat):

 

[Hllb]

4 minutes ago, Coral said:

Here are some of my small boat Tracy Arm pictures (different company/different boat):

 

 

That first one looks like you could touch it! You guys are really selling me on this tour LOL. I'll have to show the family tonight. I did book it today, just in case it sells out. If there's only room for 30 on a ship of 2,000, I'm surprised it wasn't already sold out. 

[Coral]

12 minutes ago, Hllb said:

 

That first one looks like you could touch it! You guys are really selling me on this tour LOL. I'll have to show the family tonight. I did book it today, just in case it sells out. If there's only room for 30 on a ship of 2,000, I'm surprised it wasn't already sold out. 

We brought a piece to touch onboard.

 

Most people who cruise Alaska are new cruisers and they think they will see enough from the ship and that it isn't necessary to book the smaller boat. I don't know how many  Allen Marine's ship holds - I will trust @Crew News on this.

 

I have also seen whales and bears on mine - though they don't advertise it because it is a chance, they are in the area.

 

Here is the company that does the excursion through the website - there are some pics on this website:

 

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

 

Here is the pic of us bring some ice onboard.

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Coral

[Hllb]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

We brought a piece to touch onboard.

 

Most people who cruise Alaska are new cruisers and they think they will see enough from the ship and that it isn't necessary to book the smaller boat. I don't know how many  Allen Marine's ship holds - I will trust @Crew News on this.

 

I have also seen whales and bears on mine - though they don't advertise it because it is a chance, they are in the area.

 

Here is the company that does the excursion through the website - there are some pics on this website:

 

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

 

Here is the pic of us bring some ice onboard.

 

 

Thanks, there is a good picture of a boat on their site. I'd say it probably holds 50ish if it were crowded.