Tracy Arm in May or Sitka instead????

[jormot]

We are looking at a May 21st cruise that offers a Tracy Arm excursion via Allen Marine and a small boat. The first official cruise of the season that offers this excursion is the week after we are going, however they did say there is a 75% chance the excursion will be offered the week we go. Has anyone done the Tracy Arm excursion this early in the season and what was your experience? The itinerary included Glacier Bay so I am not sure how much they compare. Also, if Tracy Arm is not the best choice this early in the season we may switch itineraries and take a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay & Sitka. Any thoughts from those experienced Alaskan cruisers our there?

[Budget Queen]

Have you been to any of these places before?

 

I have been to Tracy Arm, several times, in that timeframe, most often have gotten in to the Sawyer Glacier/s. Including the last 2 years.

 

Sitka, is also a very worthwhile place to visit. YOU will need to determine- which choice is better for your preferences. They are, equally excellent options.

[Northern Aurora]

Ooooh- Sitka!! Sitka is my absolute favorite Southeast Alaskan community. While only you can decide if this community is of interest I can describe it.

 

I've been there several times, including one time when Museums Alaska and the Alaska Historical Society had their annual meetings (which are held back to back as so many people attend both) there in conjunction with Alaska Day. Alaska Day, which is October 18th, is a state holiday which commemorates the transfer of Russian America to the US, and the transfer ceremony was held in Sitka. This is the type of community which has great spirit, and they go "hog wild" on Alaska Day with days of events, re-enactments of the transfer ceremony and so forth. There is a wonderful parade and the Coast Guard even does rescue swimmer demonstrations on the Japonski Island bridge as one of the events to attend.

 

The community itself is lovely with the beautiful Mt. Edgecumbe in the background. It is a very arty community with a number of art galleries (not the proliferation of souvenir stores selling tourist related items found in so many other SE communities) and an annual music festival.

 

The Russian heritage is evident with the Russian Orthodox church (St. Michaels) in the center of a street. This church serves an active Russian Orthodox parish, but the original building did burn in the 1960s. What we see now is a replica, but a number of the priceless icons were saved and now displayed. The Russian heritage is also felt in the Russian Bishops House, which is the restored home/working quarters of Bishop Innocent (Veniaminov), and operated by the National Park Service.

 

The Tlingit heritage is also strong in this community, with the incredible collection of totems at the Sitka National Historical Park (which locals call the totem pole park). The Naa Kahidi Dancers also provide insight into the Tlingit culture and heritage.

 

The Sheldon Jackson Museum is actually part of the Alaska State Museum. Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who was part of the contingent of US officials who were present for the transfer ceremony; Jackson's role was to establish an education system in Alaska. But he was a great collector of First People artifacts, and a museum housing the bulk of his collection was on the campus of the private Sheldon Jackson College. The college is now defunct but the state of Alaska purchased the building and its collection.

 

There are also other tourist attractions including the New Archangel Dancers (which I find too touristy for my tastes), the Alaska Raptor Center and the Fortress of the Bear.

[peety3]

We took the TA small boat while aboard the Grand Princess last year. The Grand was scheduled to dock in Juneau at 2pm, and it got there a little early from what I heard.

 

The small boat made it back to the Grand right at 2pm. As we did earlier for boarding the small boat, we tied up to the starboard tender platform and made our way up from (I think) deck 3 to deck 4 forward/starboard, did the show&tell for ship's security, and got our cruise card scanned to reboard the ship. I chose to be one of the last off the small boat (bad choice!), and didn't make it onto the Grand until about 2:25 or so.

 

For some reason (I forget why), I couldn't find an elevator with enough room to squeeze in (I did have a big camera/lens on my shoulder...) and get up to our cabin, so I ended up climbing the stairs from 4 to 9 carrying ~30 pounds of photo gear. We were able to change clothes (surprisingly refreshing and warming to put clean clothes on!), go up to the Horizon Court with our camera gear, and stake out a table while we had lunch. We weren't rushing, but we also weren't wasting our time, and made it off the ship comfortably for our 3:15 meet time for our Juneau whale watch. I'm truly glad that I chose to switch from the 2:45 tour to the 3:15.

 

We'll be doing the small boat tour from the Ruby in August, though the Ruby has a different timetable (TA 0500-0900, Juneau 1230-2200, small boat tour scheduled 0730-1300) than the Grand did last year (TA 0600-1000, Juneau 1400-???, small boat tour scheduled 0800-1400). We'll be doing the "same" whale watch again, scheduled for 1345. One of the things I didn't plan was the food service aboard the small boat: I was expecting just snacks, so I brought a few pre-packaged snacks to cover me until our late lunch. I didn't predict that they'd offer other more substantial options for sale. For our upcoming cruise, I'm specifically intending to buy lunch aboard the small boat and skip the trip to the HC. The food aboard the small boat may not be as good, but the timing and convenience wins in my book (now that I know).