Juneau - Whales or Tracy Arm?

[shrimpboat123]

We'll be doing a 19 day triple Denali Cruisetour next year with Holland America. On Jul 11, 2013 we'll be in Juneau from 8AM - 6PM. There are two excursions available that are very appealing.

 

The first one is "Mendenhall Glacier & Whale Quest". The second is "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer". From what I've been reading, Juneau is one of the better places to do whale watching. I also understand Tracy Arm is also a site to be seen.

 

My question is - What are the chances of seeing whales on the trip from Juneau to Tracy Arm? Will they be similar to the whale excursions out of Auke Bay?

 

If you had to choose one over the other, what would you suggest?

[Budget Queen]

You may see whales going to Tracy Arm, but it will be far less than any whale watch out of Auke Bay.

 

I do not recommend this ship excursion, since the time at Mendenhall, at most is 45 minutes. Superior is to either just ditch the tour- IF you whale watch first, and take a shuttle back to the dock, or book an independent whale watch vendor- with a prearranged pick up/drop, then using the mentioned shuttle bus in the other direction- when YOU are ready.

 

IF you are interested in the Nugget Falls trail, as an example, you need to allow at least an hour. There are ranger programs also scheduled that some may wish to take advantage of.

[ikirumata]

When we visited Juneau, we did an independent tour out to Tracy Arm. It was absolutely beautiful. We only saw one whale on our way out there, but we saw so many other wildlife...seals, eagles, mountain goats, and even a bear! The scenery itself is also amazing. We used http://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

 

Its quite a long trip from Juneau to Tracy Arm, so plan accordingly.

 

Here are some pics I snapped while on our Tracy Arm excursion.

 

Eagle on Iceberg by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Harbor Seal and Baby by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Bear at Tracy Arm Fjord by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Tracy Arm Fjord by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

You can see other pics I took while in Alaska by clicking on the link in my signature below.

[bonvoyagie]

Both tours are great - and like BQ mentioned, I would not do the ship's wildlife and mendenhall glacier combined tour - you can do much better with other vendors and use the bus to get from mendenhall to the ship.

 

As for Tracy Arm - I have now done it three times 2x on the cruise ship and 1x in a small boat. On the cruise ship you wonder how the ship is going to make some of the tight tiwsts and turns of the fjord - in the small boat, the fjord seems huge. The small boat tour will take at least 6 hrs - we did ours through the cruise line and were the last pax back on the ship.

 

Sawyer Glacier(s) yes there are two North and South. As little as 6yrs ago south sawyer could be seen from the main channel - now it can't - the small boat is the only way to see it now. As for North Sawyer, depending on the time of year and your captain you may get as close as 1/2 mile or as far as 1mi from the face - the small boats have been known to get within a 100yd of the face - we stayed about 1/4 mi off the face for safety - esp after we saw some huge chunks calve off.

 

So pick your poision and save the other for your next visit.

[vbmom87]

This is a tough decision as everything you want to do will be wonderful. Tracy Arm is not a whale watch, but you might see some whales. I had a wonderful whale watch in ISP and a fabulous small boat tour through Tracy Arm Fjord. For me, if I had to choose, it would be Tracy Arm. However, if whales are a real priority for you, you should probably choose differently and follow the advice of the posters above. I am always more fascinated with scenery than with wildlife, so that is reasoning behind my choice. You have to decide what interests you the most.

[Coral]

On both of my Tracy Arm trips through AdventureBound, I saw more whales than I did on my whale watching trips in Auke Bay with Captain Larry. I have probably been whale watching 5 times with Captain Larry (which I enjoyed).

 

This summer, we saw a ton of orcas on our Tracy Arm trip - it was incredible.

 

I would recommend Tracy Arm trip over whale watching. You may not see as many whales as I did but I am guessing you will see quite a few.

[NoobCruise]

We were booked on the Tracy Arm excursion, round trip out of Juneau on Sept 3rd. We were all ready to go and when we went to the lounge to meet with the excursion group, we were told it was cancelled due to weather :/ So we hopped on the Whale watch and Mendenhall Glacier tour. We started seeing whales as soon as we entered Stephens Passage. We saw lots of orcas and humpbacks aswell as a couple other kinds. We had a great time and I definitely recommend it. I was disappointed we didn't get to see Tracy Arm though, so we'll just have to go back ;) I think you can count on seeing whales in Stephens Passage though.

 

 

If you do the Mendenhall Glacier, I recommend going in to the visitor center first and have them call a cab for you rather than take the bus back. With the bus, we only had 1 hour at the Glacier, which is not enough time if you'd like to hike around and hike out to Nugget Falls. We would have loved to walk out to the falls, but with the 1 hour we only made it about half way out. Didn't know we could call a cab and have them pick us up a after the visitor center closed.

[Krazy Kruizers]

When we visited Juneau, we did an independent tour out to Tracy Arm. It was absolutely beautiful. We only saw one whale on our way out there, but we saw so many other wildlife...seals, eagles, mountain goats, and even a bear! The scenery itself is also amazing. We used http://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

 

Its quite a long trip from Juneau to Tracy Arm, so plan accordingly.

 

Here are some pics I snapped while on our Tracy Arm excursion.

 

Eagle on Iceberg by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Harbor Seal and Baby by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Bear at Tracy Arm Fjord by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Tracy Arm Fjord by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

You can see other pics I took while in Alaska by clicking on the link in my signature below.

 

Great pictures.

I love the bear pciture the best.

[Krazy Kruizers]

This is really a tough question.

Both are wonderful tours.

Fortuneately we have been to Alaska many times and have gotten to do both tours several times.

Let us know what you decide.

[Budget Queen]

We were booked on the Tracy Arm excursion, round trip out of Juneau on Sept 3rd. We were all ready to go and when we went to the lounge to meet with the excursion group, we were told it was cancelled due to weather :/ So we hopped on the Whale watch and Mendenhall Glacier tour. We started seeing whales as soon as we entered Stephens Passage. We saw lots of orcas and humpbacks aswell as a couple other kinds. We had a great time and I definitely recommend it. I was disappointed we didn't get to see Tracy Arm though, so we'll just have to go back ;) I think you can count on seeing whales in Stephens Passage though.

 

 

If you do the Mendenhall Glacier, I recommend going in to the visitor center first and have them call a cab for you rather than take the bus back. With the bus, we only had 1 hour at the Glacier, which is not enough time if you'd like to hike around and hike out to Nugget Falls. We would have loved to walk out to the falls, but with the 1 hour we only made it about half way out. Didn't know we could call a cab and have them pick us up a after the visitor center closed.

 

 

Not sure what this poster is referencing, but if they did a Juneau whale watch, they do not go to Stephen's Passage, they sail out of Auke Bay, sometimes, they do make it to the Lynn Canal. Stephen's Passage is transited by your cruiseship and it's very worth while to spend some significant hours on deck. I always see humpbacks, but I've never seen them in the numbers out of Auke Bay. Based on at least 20 whale watches.

[NoobCruise]

Not sure what this poster is referencing, but if they did a Juneau whale watch, they do not go to Stephen's Passage, they sail out of Auke Bay, sometimes, they do make it to the Lynn Canal. Stephen's Passage is transited by your cruiseship and it's very worth while to spend some significant hours on deck. I always see humpbacks, but I've never seen them in the numbers out of Auke Bay. Based on at least 20 whale watches.

 

Yes, we sailed out of Auke Bay. I got Stephens Passage from their website description.

 

http://allenmarinetours.com/sightseeing/juneau/tours/whale-watching/index.html

 

HALs description in the brochure for the Juneau excursions also says Stephens Passage. Scroll down to Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest

 

https://book.hollandamerica.com/shorex/viewFrontEndTourBrochureAction.do?task=getPDF

[shrimpboat123]

When I started to research Alaska last year, one of the areas that caught my interest was Tracy Arm, among other things. At that time some of the cruises offered a Tracy Arm excursion right from the ship with a return to Juneau to re-board your ship. When I initially decided on the 19 day cruisetour, it didn't offer Tracy Arm as an excursion. Much to my surprise, Tracy Arm was included when the Excursion List was posted for the cruisetour a few days ago (a 7 hour roundtrip out of Juneau).

 

The other things I wanted to accomplish with this trip was to see Mt. McKinley, hence we are staying in Denali for 3 nights. Hopefully the weather will be supportive of my wish and I will become part of the 30% club. To enhance my chances of seeing the mountain, I'm going to do a flightseeing excursion to increase my odds. I also wanted to see the major areas of the Yukon and Alaska in one trip.

 

I want to thank everyone who offered their experience and views on my two choices for Juneau excursions.

 

I have decided to do Tracy Arm on my first trip to Alaska. Alaska is all about scenery and that's my major thing. If I see any whales during the excursion, it'll be considered a bonus.

[AlibeeWW]

When we visited Juneau, we did an independent tour out to Tracy Arm. It was absolutely beautiful. We only saw one whale on our way out there, but we saw so many other wildlife...seals, eagles, mountain goats, and even a bear! The scenery itself is also amazing. We used http://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

 

Its quite a long trip from Juneau to Tracy Arm, so plan accordingly.

 

Here are some pics I snapped while on our Tracy Arm excursion.

 

Eagle on Iceberg by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Harbor Seal and Baby by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Bear at Tracy Arm Fjord by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Tracy Arm Fjord by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

You can see other pics I took while in Alaska by clicking on the link in my signature below.

 

Our ship is going through Tracy Arm, does it actually stop there?

[bonvoyagie]

Tracy Arm is a dead end fjord you will transit up to the end - possibly see Sawyer Glacier and return - unless it is iced in, then you will transit another fjord called Endicott Arm and see Dawes Glacier - you will not know which you are going to do until that day as conditions can and do change on a daily - heck hourly basis.

 

You might want to check the Celeberty excursions for the small boat tour that either begins in Juneau and ends with you boarding the ship near the glacier or vise versa.

[chipmaster]

Tracy Arm round trip out of Juneau is one looong excursion. If that is the only scenic glacier you'll get perhaps worth it.

 

If you have never been to Juneau and / or done whale watching IMHO that is a better thning to do. Book an independent whale watch, on the way back or there stop by Mendehnall for an hour or two for a nice hike.

 

Yes Tracy Arm is beautiful but IMHO not more so than the other scenic and actually I think less spectacular. Yes there is on occasion wildlife, but bears are hit or miss as are whales on that excursion in general.

[vbmom87]

When I started to research Alaska last year, one of the areas that caught my interest was Tracy Arm, among other things. At that time some of the cruises offered a Tracy Arm excursion right from the ship with a return to Juneau to re-board your ship. When I initially decided on the 19 day cruisetour, it didn't offer Tracy Arm as an excursion. Much to my surprise, Tracy Arm was included when the Excursion List was posted for the cruisetour a few days ago (a 7 hour roundtrip out of Juneau).

 

The other things I wanted to accomplish with this trip was to see Mt. McKinley, hence we are staying in Denali for 3 nights. Hopefully the weather will be supportive of my wish and I will become part of the 30% club. To enhance my chances of seeing the mountain, I'm going to do a flightseeing excursion to increase my odds. I also wanted to see the major areas of the Yukon and Alaska in one trip.

 

I want to thank everyone who offered their experience and views on my two choices for Juneau excursions.

 

I have decided to do Tracy Arm on my first trip to Alaska. Alaska is all about scenery and that's my major thing. If I see any whales during the excursion, it'll be considered a bonus.

 

With scenery has a priority you will not regret your choice. Glad everything is falling into place for you.

[DougH]

Tracy Arm by cruise ship is OK, but with little chance of getting really close to the glacier. Far superior IMHO is a small boat tour from Juneau or the add on thru the cruise line if offered. Here are some photos from one of my three trips with Adventure Bound from Juneau. I'd say it was spectacular.

 

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00a1-df12-1a76

[shrimpboat123]

Tracy Arm by cruise ship is OK, but with little chance of getting really close to the glacier. Far superior IMHO is a small boat tour from Juneau or the add on thru the cruise line if offered. Here are some photos from one of my three trips with Adventure Bound from Juneau. I'd say it was spectacular.

 

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00a1-df12-1a76

 

I agree. The excursion I will be doing is a small boat excursion. They will be getting up much closer to the glaciers than the cruise ship can.

 

I really liked your Tracy Arm photos.

[AlibeeWW]

I agree. The excursion I will be doing is a small boat excursion. They will be getting up much closer to the glaciers than the cruise ship can.

 

I really liked your Tracy Arm photos.

 

Thanks for the advice and pictures. I don't think a small boat with my 80 year old mom is a good idea (nor a 7 hour tour from Juneau). It will look lovely from the ship's balcony and for a closer look at a glacier we might try the plane to Mendenhall.