Tracy Arms

[dustyroad]

i know every year the weather changes day by day. but can anyone tell me your experience of getting into sawer on the ship in mid may?? last june the spirit could not get in and im glad i had booked the onboard tour for the arm and sawer. the waterfalls were awesome, we got really close too the glacier and it was a fanatastic tour. this was on the spirit. so if you think may is a good possibility please let me know. thanks :)

[Charles4515]

'Disappointed' is way too mild a word to use, If I missed the wonderful Tracy Arm Fjord and it was on my itinerary, I would be furious and very upset!

 

I would be disappointed but I would not be furious. There are no guarantees about any itinerary. I am a cruise veteran and from time to time due to weather, medical emergencies etc. a deviation has had to be made in the itinerary. Why would I be furious? The deviations were necessary.

[Budget Queen]

I would be disappointed but I would not be furious. There are no guarantees about any itinerary. I am a cruise veteran and from time to time due to weather, medical emergencies etc. a deviation has had to be made in the itinerary. Why would I be furious? The deviations were necessary.

 

The problems come from uninformed visitors, who read the "glacier" description, that is sometimes noted on itineraries with Tracy Arm.

 

On average less than 25% of the cruiseships, make the full transit, and maybe 50% get within glacier view. AND that "view" can be miles off.

 

This is a very tempermental, sailing. The "timing" has to be perfect, which it rarely is. Ships certainly can and do sail though ice. What happens, is that is used as a very "good" excuse, when actually time simply ran out, and the cpt wants to be out of the fjord at a certain time.

[Kiera99]

Awesome, I feel sooo lucky, that the Infinity was able to sail so deep into Tracy Arm Fjord.

It was a cool, crisp, bright morning and many passengers were wrapped in blankets, as we started the trek into the fjord. We saw seals and beautiful waterfalls. Chunks of beautiful aqua blue ice floated by. The Captain took us real deep and Sawyer Glacier was right in front of us. Passengers were pearched atop railings, stairs and took dangerous chances to snap a good photo.

[Charles4515]

Awesome, I feel sooo lucky, that the Infinity was able to sail so deep into Tracy Arm Fjord.

It was a cool, crisp, bright morning and many passengers were wrapped in blankets, as we started the trek into the fjord. We saw seals and beautiful waterfalls. Chunks of beautiful aqua blue ice floated by. The Captain took us real deep and Sawyer Glacier was right in front of us. Passengers were pearched atop railings, stairs and took dangerous chances to snap a good photo.

 

I am booked on the excursion on the catamaran from the ship so if there are no hitches I should get a close up look at Tracy Arm Fjord.

[Tafky]

I am booked on the excursion on the catamaran from the ship so if there are no hitches I should get a close up look at Tracy Arm Fjord.

Absolutely! This is the one that we took and loved! Hope your weather will be better than ours. Even so, it was great!:)

[Duke's Mom]

Just got back from HAL cruisetour#7. We took the Tracy Arm excursion on the catamaran ( Allen Marine) It was amazing. They picked us up off the Volendam and we continued on into the fjord.

 

Why is it necessary to go on an excursion to sail Tracy Arm Fjord? Doesn't the Volendam go into the Tracy Arm Fjord? I was on the Infinity recently and our ship went past a cruise ship and sailed right up close to Sawyer Glacier. It took a couple of hours to do this. Our Captain took us real deep and up close to the glacier. After we left the Tracy Arm Fjord, we saw the Volendam still at the mouth of the fjord. We had sailed by the catamaran. We were curious as to weather the ship sailed into the fjord or not.

Was on the Volendam sailing July 21st. We did not sail that far into Tracy Arm on the ship and did not see any glaciers or wildlife and then we turned around. Have friends who were on much larger ships that went right to Sawyer Glaciers and backed up because they could not turn around. What we saw was beautiful, but from what I hear, what we missed was amazing. (also, our "inside passage cruising" was at night so that entire day we were supposed to be doing scenic cruising, it was not scenic. Reading some of the posts I see that cruising is dependent upon the tides which I did not know nor do I know how our particular cruise was affected. We got off the ship after 3 days in Skagway so did not go to Glacier Bay. Maybe next time.....

[5waldos]

i know every year the weather changes day by day. but can anyone tell me your experience of getting into sawer on the ship in mid may?? last june the spirit could not get in and im glad i had booked the onboard tour for the arm and sawer. the waterfalls were awesome, we got really close too the glacier and it was a fanatastic tour. this was on the spirit. so if you think may is a good possibility please let me know. thanks :)

 

Just to clarify- the Spirit couldn't get in but the excursion from the ship did? I hope this is what you mean because I have booked the excursion (which is not cheap) and am worried that we would cruise Endicott Arms, which by report and pictures looks way less interesting and not worth that kind of money. This would be really good news!

[Budget Queen]

Just to clarify- the Spirit couldn't get in but the excursion from the ship did? I hope this is what you mean because I have booked the excursion (which is not cheap) and am worried that we would cruise Endicott Arms, which by report and pictures looks way less interesting and not worth that kind of money. This would be really good news!

 

IF your cruiseship sails Endicott, so will the add on boat tour. They do NOT go to separate fjords, ever. There is no guarantee where you will go, and no advance notice. It can be decided upon just prior to the sailing, by the cpt.

 

Additional, yes the add on tour, gets farther into the fjords than the cruiseships.