First time cruiser and no Glacier Bay how bad is this

[SweetsugarNL]

Thank you. Would like to go to Mendall in Juneau. On serenade there is no small boat in tracy arm or i dont see it.

Edited September 22, 2019 by SweetsugarNL

[Casey12]

14 minutes ago, SweetsugarNL said:

Thank you. Would like to go to Mendall in Juneau. On serenade there is no small boat in tracy arm or i dont see it.

You picked a bad itinerary. Drop it and look for something better. Go with Glacier Bay - you won't regret it.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Casey12

[SweetsugarNL]

I'm also looking to Koningsdam now.

[Cruise_More_Often]

2 hours ago, SweetsugarNL said:

I'm also looking to Koningsdam now.

 

We went on the Amsterdam in June. The ship did go to Tracy Arm, but it did not offer the small boat excursion. There was a Carnival ship ahead of us while we were in Tracy Arm, and it got pretty close to the Sawyer Glacier. We got to see the back of the Legend, but as you can see, we also saw the glacier.

 

[Coral]

And here is a recent report that missed Tracy Arm: 

  

[kctwinmommy]

5 hours ago, SweetsugarNL said:

Thank you. Would like to go to Mendall in Juneau. On serenade there is no small boat in tracy arm or i dont see it.

 

While I will always recommend the small boat excursion, we also agreed that out of the 3 excursions we did, it would be the one we'd drop first. Just our opinion, and we really loved all 3 things we picked. If you can do it, definitely do it, but it's not the end of the world either. Again, you need to do what you can and what you want. But they wouldn't run a cruise that was a "bad itinerary" if people didn't book it. I feel you could drive yourself nuts trying to plan the "perfect" cruise or vacation. And people seem to do that a lot! There is truly so much to see and do on an Alaskan cruise or trip, don't think or feel you can do it all or that you'll miss something. It already sounds like you're planning a pretty long/big trip to begin with.

 

I mean, we did a European cruise 2 years ago and loved it! Did we see everything we wanted? Nope! But we saw a lot of things in each city we stopped in, we had fun, we enjoyed ourselves, and didn't stress about the little things. Some of it was new to both my husband and myself, some were thing he'd seen, or I'd seen. But it was ALL new to our son, which was fun to experience with him.

 

Oh, it's also possible they haven't listed all the excursions yet either, so it may show up later, I'm not familiar with that ship. I know for Carnival, it was a little different for that one, you had to email them at an address to sign up  for it, with the number and time (out of 2 options) that you wanted. They emailed a confirmation and then charged it to your account once on board. For us, I would say the BEST excursion was the helicopter on to Mendenhall. For others, it's a dogsled, and for others, it's a train. Just do what you want and have fun with it, that's just my opinion of course! Either way, I'm sure you'll see amazing things and have a lot of fun!

[chipmaster]

Lots of nice pictures and wonderful experiences shared, I agree hardly a cruise or excursion that I couldn't produce a stunning and fun image, and sometimes I post a few here too, LOL.

 

Having done Tracy Arm ( including the small boat ),  Glacier Bay,  College Fjord, I know if given a choice, pick the one that is the National Park and the jewel, doesn't it mean the others are good/different, no, but one was worthy of being made a National Park, probably there was a reason. 

[SweetsugarNL]

Thank you all so much!

[Giantfan13]

As has already been posted about our trip, we just got back from Alaska and had a south bound cruise, Seward to Vancouver, with 2 glacier stops. Unfortunately the Sawyer stop was cancelled because of too much ice in the water, or so we were told. Alaska is getting warmer and who knows what will be next year.

This was our third cruise to Alaska and on the previous two we did Glacier Bay and both times, we had glorious weather and it was truly spectacular.

Our time, this year, at Hubbard was great because there was so much calving it was hard not to get pixs of it and see it.

 

If you have the choice, I would also recommend Glacier Bay. it is truly spectacular. 

 

 

cheers

Len

 

[Melinda Brasher]

I think Tracy Arm is beautiful.  It's very different from Glacier Bay, but I love it.  It's more about the scenic sailing up the fjord, where Glacier Bay is more about the glaciers.  I went to Tracy Arm for the second time in August, and worried I might not like it as much as the first time (the first time was on my very first Alaskan cruise, and it was my first scenic cruising day, my first glacier, my first everything.  LOVED it.)  Anyway, this time I thought it might not live up to my memory.  It absolutely did.    

 

It was funny, though.  After we turned around at Sawyer Glacier, everyone was like, "Well, that's done" and went inside, leaving literally 5 of us alone on the bow to enjoy the whole beautiful scenic cruise OUT of the fjord.  Fantastic day.  

 

Some pics:  https://www.melindabrasher.com/2019/09/tracy-arm-fjord-alaska.html

[SweetsugarNL]

Great pictures!

[masterdrago]

On 9/21/2019 at 1:30 PM, skrufy said:

When you depart Seattle you go out into the Pacific Ocean on the west side of Vancouver Island, then into the Inside Passage. There’s always the chance of rough seas. Out of Vancouver you sail on the east side of Vancouver Island, the seas are calm. This route you see the shoreline on both sides of the ship.

Our cruise did the east side but it was dark so no scenery. So figure out what time your cruise will sail that area if you want to view it.

[rkacruiser]

On 9/24/2019 at 2:10 AM, Melinda Brasher said:

It was funny, though.  After we turned around at Sawyer Glacier, everyone was like, "Well, that's done" and went inside, leaving literally 5 of us alone on the bow to enjoy the whole beautiful scenic cruise OUT of the fjord.  Fantastic day.  

 

I agree that the scenic cruising to/from the Glacier was very interesting.  Your comment about many of your shipmates' reaction after the ship turned around caused me to chuckle.  😀 That well describes what I have witnessed on Panama Canal cruises.  After the first set of locks, many of those who often "claimed" the most desirable outside forward viewing locations "lost" interest and headed indoors.   

[Budget Queen]

On 9/22/2019 at 6:41 PM, Casey12 said:

You picked a bad itinerary. Drop it and look for something better. Go with Glacier Bay - you won't regret it.

I completely disagree.