Grand Princess and Tracy Arm Fjord catamaran excursion question

[sloopsailor]

We'll be on the Grand next June with Tracy Arm Fjord in the itinerary. There is an excursion available where people transfer to a catamaran directly from the ship. It supposedly gets up closer to the glaciers.

 

I am a bit confused as how this works. Does the catamaran trip come back to the ship when it is done? Or does it go to Juneau where we get back on the ship? Juneau is our stop two days prior to Tracy Arm, so it seems odd that the ship would go back there again.

 

And what does the ship do after people transfer to the catamaran?

 

I have searched for information in both the Alaska and Princess forums and much of it seems to be contradictory.

 

Thank you in advance for any clarity on this excursion.

Edited November 5, 2016 by sloopsailor

[Kamloops50]

We'll be on the Grand next June with Tracy Arm Fjord in the itinerary. There is an excursion available where people transfer to a catamaran directly from the ship. It supposedly gets up closer to the glaciers.

 

I am a bit confused as how this works. Does the catamaran trip come back to the ship when it is done? Or does it go to Juneau where we get back on the ship? Juneau is our stop two days prior to Tracy Arm, so it seems odd that the ship would go back there again.

 

And what does the ship do after people transfer to the catamaran?

 

I have searched for information in both the Alaska and Princess forums and much of it seems to be contradictory.

 

Thank you in advance for any clarity on this excursion.

 

I wonder if your a little confused . The ship itself is cruising Tracy arm in June 2017. They will not have a catamaran tour Tracy Arm if the ship is cruising there. The Catamaran tour is usually the day that the ship is in Juneau. You might referring to the catamaran tour of Misty Fiords .

[Cruise Raider]

We'll be on the Grand next June with Tracy Arm Fjord in the itinerary. There is an excursion available where people transfer to a catamaran directly from the ship. It supposedly gets up closer to the glaciers.

 

I am a bit confused as how this works. Does the catamaran trip come back to the ship when it is done? Or does it go to Juneau where we get back on the ship? Juneau is our stop two days prior to Tracy Arm, so it seems odd that the ship would go back there again.

 

And what does the ship do after people transfer to the catamaran?

 

I have searched for information in both the Alaska and Princess forums and much of it seems to be contradictory.

 

Thank you in advance for any clarity on this excursion.

 

So, just in case this is on ....

We've seen a small boat filled with pax from the ship while in the fjord and they sailed up closer ... really close... to the face of the glacier. We saw them from our balcony cabin and wondered how they got there so asked around and ran into one of these pax later during our cruise. At first I thought it might have just been tourists that were staying in Juneau but that wasn't what we learned from our discussion with that pax.

Of note, I have no reason to lie so don't need to see anybody arguing with me on this point. I also cannot confirm that this passenger wasn't lying to me although he showed us some of his pictures he took. Anyhow, that is just my disclaimer as lately, when I come on here to answer questions, people feel the need to chime in to chide me for my answers .. just trying to be helpful.

 

So...on with my answer, we saw the small boat, which went faster than the cruise ship ... which moves very slowly down the arm / fjord. The captain got us up as close as we could go to the face of the glacier but it was nowhere as near as the small boat was. We idled and the captain slowly turns the ship so the glacier can be seen from either side of the ship.

The pax that went on the small boat said it was the best excursion he had been on ...and we met up with him and his group again in Juneau. They actually got onto the small boat from the cruise ship. He had used adventure smith explorations

not sure if they still run this same excursion as this was a few years ago and off a Celebrity ship. I believe we did the Tracy Arm Fjord.

When looking into it for my next time up ... I think we found it to be too expensive for us but still on my bucket list of things to do when the budget allows.

[sloopsailor]

I wonder if your a little confused . The ship itself is cruising Tracy arm in June 2017. They will not have a catamaran tour Tracy Arm if the ship is cruising there. The Catamaran tour is usually the day that the ship is in Juneau. You might referring to the catamaran tour of Misty Fiords .

 

Well, I did admit that I was confused! :D

 

Our cruise is on June 17, 2017 on Grand out of San Francisco. When looking over the available excursions, there is one listed for Tracy Arm Fjord (I've attached a screen grab of the page). It lists that there is a catamaran excursion that leaves directly from the ship. If that is not accurate, and that this excursion is not available on my cruise, then why do they list it on the page of excursions? THAT is why I am confused.

 

[Coral]

Well, I did admit that I was confused! :D

 

Our cruise is on June 17, 2017 on Grand out of San Francisco. When looking over the available excursions, there is one listed for Tracy Arm Fjord (I've attached a screen grab of the page). It lists that there is a catamaran excursion that leaves directly from the ship. If that is not accurate, and that this excursion is not available on my cruise, then why do they list it on the page of excursions? THAT is why I am confused.

 

 

I am sure it is available for your cruise. I have heard others who have done the same excursion.

 

I have only done a 3rd party that is RT out of Juneau.

 

Hopefully someone can answer your question. You may wan to ask on the Alaska page.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Coral

[Cruise Raider]

Well, I did admit that I was confused! :D

 

Our cruise is on June 17, 2017 on Grand out of San Francisco. When looking over the available excursions, there is one listed for Tracy Arm Fjord (I've attached a screen grab of the page). It lists that there is a catamaran excursion that leaves directly from the ship. If that is not accurate, and that this excursion is not available on my cruise, then why do they list it on the page of excursions? THAT is why I am confused.

 

 

It does look as though it is offered. I would think they would pick you up and drop you off right at the ship....docking again in Juneau sounds unreasonable. This looks like a description of the excursion I saw. I would say that the pax I met highly recommended it.

It looks awesome!! Please report back on how you liked it if you decide to go. Alaska is my favorite itinerary and I will go back.

[Colo Cruiser]

We'll be on the Grand next June with Tracy Arm Fjord in the itinerary. There is an excursion available where people transfer to a catamaran directly from the ship. It supposedly gets up closer to the glaciers.

 

I am a bit confused as how this works. Does the catamaran trip come back to the ship when it is done? Or does it go to Juneau where we get back on the ship? Juneau is our stop two days prior to Tracy Arm, so it seems odd that the ship would go back there again.

 

And what does the ship do after people transfer to the catamaran?

 

I have searched for information in both the Alaska and Princess forums and much of it seems to be contradictory.

 

Thank you in advance for any clarity on this excursion.

 

 

We have done this tour before and it was approx. 60ft steel hulled sightseeing type craft with seating inside and out.

We got much closer to the glacier and were able to see lots of wildlife both in the water and ashore.

We returned to Juneau on the tour where the ship was already tied up.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[notentirelynormal]

I really hope we can do this on our cruise. August 2017, Grand Princess with the next port Victoria. I SO hope so. I'm keeping an eye out just in case it becomes available early. That would be so cool and a great way to leave Alaska. With a very limited amount of people they can take on the boat I want to make sure I'm in the picking.

[peety3]

We've done this excursion twice, once from the Grand Princess and once from the Ruby Princess. Unless it's super rainy (as it was from the Ruby), this can easily be the best excursion in Alaska, period.

 

The cruise ship is limited in how far it can go into the fjord, so the excursion gets you massively closer to the glaciers, enough to not only witness the calving of the glaciers, but rock the boat a tiny bit when the waves from the calving ripple out from the face.

 

From a logistics perspective, it's a unique process, different than most every other excursion. You have to book through Princess, and unfortunately you do miss out on some of the views while you partake in some "Hurry Up and Wait" in the Princess Theater. The crew will open up one of the tender platforms on deck 4, and the excursion boat will come up alongside and tie to the platform. Meanwhile, the shore excursions staff will lead you down to the tender platform to scan your cruise card as you leave the ship and step up 3-4 steps to get on the catamaran. This will be done in the fjord, so don't go for a swim; the water's perhaps several hundred feet deep. ;)

 

The cruise ship will spend ~60 minutes in the fjord, then head for Juneau. Meanwhile, the catamaran for the excursion will spend about 2 hours at the glaciers, then bust a move for Juneau as well. To keep the feds happy, you'll reboard the cruise ship at the tender platform, pass through ship's security as though you were in port, and scan your cruise card to rejoin the cruise. If you have an excursion in Juneau, you'll walk to the other side of the ship, scan your cruise card, and exit the ship to walk down the gangway into Juneau. I've heard that the excursion crew must bag up ALL of the trash and toss it onto the tender platform after the passengers have boarded so the ship can incinerate it; it could potentially carry international bugs if people brought something from the ship onto the boat.

 

If you go this route, I'd suggest you be cautious about booking excursions in Juneau afterward, and leave plenty of time. I'd probably also suggest booking those Juneau excursions through the ship, so if you're amazingly late getting back, you can show Princess that you were delayed at sea and make them give you a refund. In 2014 when we did the tour from the Grand Princess, we got to the ship around 2:00. My wife was one of the first to reboard, and got up to our cabin as the boat was pulling away; meanwhile, it was almost 2:25 when I got back on board the ship. We changed clothes (just to get the cold clothes off us and fresh clothes on), took our camera gear with us up to the buffet, inhaled a late lunch, and made it to our 3:15 whale watch with 5-10 minutes to spare. In 2015 when we did the tour from the Ruby Princess, we got to the ship around 1:35, reboarded around 1:45, darted across the ship and down the plank, only to see that our 1:50 whale watch had left without us. We said the right things and the bus came right back to get us. That said, thankfully we planned ahead and chose to buy lunch while onboard the excursion (they offer limited free snacks but do sell some other stuff aboard).

 

It's money well spent IMHO, and we would ABSOLUTELY do it again if/when we do our next Alaska RT from Seattle.

 

Here's photos from our 2014 cruise, starting as the ship is heading into Tracy Arm: Scroll to the right, and you'll see what the excursion entails. By picture BFAA, we're back at the ship, and BFAB shows the view as the small boat pulled away.

 

Similarly, here are pictures from our 2015 cruise, starting from the morning of Tracy Arm: There were two small boats for that excursion; hence the view of the other tour boat. Photo #4030 is the transition to our whale watch in Juneau, so yes, you may see some whales on the way to Juneau.

[caribill]

We'll be on the Grand next June with Tracy Arm Fjord in the itinerary. There is an excursion available where people transfer to a catamaran directly from the ship. It supposedly gets up closer to the glaciers.

 

I am a bit confused as how this works. Does the catamaran trip come back to the ship when it is done? Or does it go to Juneau where we get back on the ship? Juneau is our stop two days prior to Tracy Arm, so it seems odd that the ship would go back there again.

 

And what does the ship do after people transfer to the catamaran?

 

I have searched for information in both the Alaska and Princess forums and much of it seems to be contradictory.

 

Thank you in advance for any clarity on this excursion.

 

From the excursion description on the Princess web site:

 

The adventure begins as soon as you board your luxurious, high-speed catamaran directly from the cruise ship. Relax in the warm, spacious cabin surrounded by panoramic windows as your experienced captain sails past curious seals resting on floating icebergs.

 

Tracy Arm is a classic fjord, with turquoise tidewater, elevated glaciers, stunning mountains and a towering rock wall over a mile high. While exploring the length of this ice-carved fjord, cruise beneath cliffs that rise 4,000 feet above the jade-colored sea and feel the mist on your face as the vessel cruises almost directly under a plunging waterfall. The area teems with wildlife such as bears, mountain goats, and bald eagles and the waters are home to humpback whales and harbor seals.

 

The extraordinary maneuverability of your cruising vessel allows you to get as close as possible to the ever-changing face of South Sawyer Glacier. From the topside observation decks enjoy unforgettable vistas. You can even see and feel the "white thunder," as immense spires of ice break from the glacier and crash into the sea. Continue on to view the beautiful North Sawyer Glacier, which cannot be approached by large cruise ships. Unobstructed views present wonderful photo opportunities.

 

An onboard naturalist provides a wealth of information about the area that John Muir called "one of the most dramatically stunning fjords of southeast Alaska." Enjoy a variety of complimentary snacks and beverages served by your friendly Alaskan crew as you trace the rugged shores of Stephens Passage on the cruise back to Juneau where you will rejoin your cruise ship.

[sloopsailor]

.....The cruise ship will spend ~60 minutes in the fjord, then head for Juneau. Meanwhile, the catamaran for the excursion will spend about 2 hours at the glaciers, then bust a move for Juneau as well. To keep the feds happy, you'll reboard the cruise ship at the tender platform, pass through ship's security as though you were in port, and scan your cruise card to rejoin the cruise. If you have an excursion in Juneau, you'll walk to the other side of the ship, scan your cruise card, and exit the ship to walk down the gangway into Juneau. I've heard that the excursion crew must bag up ALL of the trash and toss it onto the tender platform after the passengers have boarded so the ship can incinerate it; it could potentially carry international bugs if people brought something from the ship onto the boat.

 

.....An onboard naturalist provides a wealth of information about the area that John Muir called "one of the most dramatically stunning fjords of southeast Alaska." Enjoy a variety of complimentary snacks and beverages served by your friendly Alaskan crew as you trace the rugged shores of Stephens Passage on the cruise back to Juneau where you will rejoin your cruise ship.

 

And this is where I am confused. :confused:

 

Our itinerary goes to Juneau two days BEFORE Tracy Arm Fjord, then heads to Victoria after leaving the fjord. Both of you describe going to Juneau as a port stop AFTER the fjord. There in nothing to hint in our itinerary that we visit Juneau twice.

 

Someone out there must have experience with this excursion with the same itinerary as ours if it is actually offered, since this exact itinerary is done several times each year.

 

I am starting to believe, however, that the excursion webpages for our cruise is in error regarding this specific excursion, and it is not offered. :(

Edited November 6, 2016 by sloopsailor

[notentirelynormal]

And this is where I am confused. :confused:

 

Our itinerary goes to Juneau two days BEFORE Tracy Arm Fjord, then heads to Victoria after leaving the fjord. Both of you describe going to Juneau as a port stop AFTER the fjord. There in nothing to hint in our itinerary that we visit Juneau twice.

 

Someone out there must have experience with this excursion with the same itinerary as ours if it is actually offered, since this exact itinerary is done several times each year.

 

I am starting to believe, however, that the excursion webpages for our cruise is in error regarding this specific excursion, and it is not offered. :(

 

What Sloop said.

[Coral]

 

I am starting to believe, however, that the excursion webpages for our cruise is in error regarding this specific excursion, and it is not offered. :(

 

Most people take this tour out of Seattle (which then goes to Juneau).

 

You are out of SFO which is less common and SFO RT cruises has several different itineraries. I would ask on the Alaska board or call Princess.

[Posaune]

This is by far one of the top two excursions in Alaska. We were lucky that on our cruise they had two boats on this tour. The first took about 80 passengers and we were on the smaller boat with about 30. The all female crew was very knowledgeable. On the way back out of the glacier bay we stopped while surrounded with about 100 spouting whales. It was an amazing sight.

[Papa Yoda]

I got all excited until I Read the Fine Print - this is only available on the Ruby

 

"This tour is only available to Ruby Princess passengers and is late May through early September."

 

But then the personalizer let me book in for oour May '17 on the Emerald (same itinerary)

Edited November 6, 2016 by Ferd Berfle
added booking

[peety3]

Sorry that I missed that earlier detail about your itinerary. I do suspect you're out of luck for this super-convenient and mega-amazing excursion. You may have the option of booking a similar round-trip excursion independently during your Juneau day - everyone who's done it reports as much profound love for it as we've had with the direct option while in TAF, but I would be hesitant to give up essentially my entire day in Juneau to do it as a round-trip out of Juneau. Adventure Bound seems to be the operator for this, though it's possible it may be offered by Allen Marine as well (they handle the direct option with Princess).

[Ando]

What a fantastic sounding excursions - sorry OP that it is not applicable to your sailing though :-(

 

We were so fortunate on a Cunard cruise visiting Tracy Arm Fjord about 20 years ago. The captain was able to get the 20,000 GRT ship within a few hundred feet of the face of the glacier and we too experienced the ship being rocked as massive walls of ice carved off the glacier into the sea. The captain said he had never been able to get anywhere near that close, and we stayed there for about 3 hours just enjoying the amazing spectacle. Later I think he set a new Alaska-cruise speed record heading for the next port as he had to make up the extra time we spent there :D

Edited November 7, 2016 by Ando