Tracy Arm Alaska Excursion Timing — Cutting It Too Close?

[Ileneilene123]

Hello! We will be cruising the Inside Passage in July on the Zaandam and have signed up for HAL’s Tracy Arm Inlet excursion, tendering off the ship for the excursion. Questions for anyone who may have taken this excursion and then met the ship later in Juneau:
 

How long did the Tracy Arm excursion actually take — was it longer than 6 hours? What time did you get back to ship? 

Here’s the issue … We are also signed up for HAL’s 5:15 pm Heli-Glacier Dog Sled excursion after we return to the ship from the Tracy Arm. HAL said the timing would work but I just noticed they since moved the Tracy Arm morning departure later, from 9 am to 10 am. That’s cutting it pretty close. Is this still doable? Should we change our plans and reschedule the dog sled for Skagway instead? 
Thanks! 

 

Edited May 27 by Ileneilene123

[RuthC]

IIRC, when I took the catamaran up Tracy Arm, we returned to the ship in Juneau sometime around 2:00 PM. I clearly remember reboarding the ship, putting my things away, and heading out up the main street to the Alaska Fudge Company. I had plenty of time to do that, some other shopping, probably stopped at the Red Dog Saloon, and still got back in plenty of time to catch a nap before getting cleaned up, changed, and ready for cocktail time. 

I did take the dog sled tour out of Skagway once, though, and it was great there. 

[Miss Vickie]

When we did were turned to Juneau, got back on board briefly to change clothes, got back off and took a taxi to Mendenhall Glacier and walked around there some, and reboarded the ship without having to rush. I’m pretty sure our Tracy Arm excursion started earlier than 10, though.

[CruiserBruce]

The website doesn't show the length of the excursion? It typically does. If it says 6 hours, they occasionally run late, but overall they have become  pretty accurate in the length of the excursions. 

[bundtkate]

We're on Koningsdam leaving on Saturday and will be doing exactly what you plan to -- Tracy Arm, then a helicopter tour leaving at 5:15pm -- so I'll let you know how it goes for us! Looks like our Tracy Arm tour is still leaving at 9am, but you can always mentally tack an extra hour on to our arrival time in Juneau to get an idea what to expect. Would be great to get there by 2! I'd love to have a bit of downtime in between.

[Ileneilene123]

58 minutes ago, bundtkate said:

We're on Koningsdam leaving on Saturday and will be doing exactly what you plan to -- Tracy Arm, then a helicopter tour leaving at 5:15pm -- so I'll let you know how it goes for us! Looks like our Tracy Arm tour is still leaving at 9am, but you can always mentally tack an extra hour on to our arrival time in Juneau to get an idea what to expect. Would be great to get there by 2! I'd love to have a bit of downtime in between.

Thank you for the replies, everyone. I was so excited that the timing worked for both excursions in the same day, but I am questioning it now w/ the change to the Tracy Arm departure time from 9 am to 10 am. 
 

@bundtkate yes, that would be great if you could please come back to post to let me know what time you return to the ship after the Tracy Arm excursion. I’ll just tack on an hour on as you said. Thank you & Bon Voyage — have a wonderful trip. 

[Dancing Shoes]

It was back in 2018 and we were on this excursion, and we boarded at 10.  I remember getting back about 4 ish to the dock.  Hope you have nice weather.  It is a great trip.

[Ileneilene123]

On 5/26/2024 at 10:30 PM, Dancing Shoes said:

It was back in 2018 and we were on this excursion, and we boarded at 10.  I remember getting back about 4 ish to the dock.  Hope you have nice weather.  It is a great trip.

Thanks so much for this info. Yes, I’m definitely hoping for good weather as well (in addition to our excursions running on time). Thx. 

[bundtkate]

@Ileneilene123 today was Juneau and I think your timing should be alright. We got back to Koningsdam in Juneau after our Tracy Arm excursion around 3:30pm and had enough time to grab a burger at the dive in and walk to our (non-HAL) excursion meeting point at the Goldbelt Tram by 5pm. If your helicopter tour is through HAL you'll have it even easier. It was a long day but OH SO WORTH IT. You are going to have an amazing time.

[Ileneilene123]

9 hours ago, bundtkate said:

@Ileneilene123 today was Juneau and I think your timing should be alright. We got back to Koningsdam in Juneau after our Tracy Arm excursion around 3:30pm and had enough time to grab a burger at the dive in and walk to our (non-HAL) excursion meeting point at the Goldbelt Tram by 5pm. If your helicopter tour is through HAL you'll have it even easier. It was a long day but OH SO WORTH IT. You are going to have an amazing time.

I am so glad to hear that today went well for you with both excursions! That’s great. Thank you so much for taking the time to post here again. I really appreciate it. If the Zaandam is running an hour later than the Koningsdam, this makes me hopeful that we will return from the Tracy Arm at around 4:30pm. Our Heli excursion is at 5:15. No time to eat in between, but we should make it. Did they provide lunch on the Tracy Arm boat by any chance? Enjoy the rest of the trip! Thx. 

[RuthC]

4 hours ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Did they provide lunch on the Tracy Arm boat by any chance?

The excursion boat has a snack bar with some foods available for purchase. 

IIRC, all the Allen Marine tours I have taken offer free donut holes, coffee, and once or twice some samples of salmon (I didn't try those, so don't remember exactly). I did not check out the menu at the snack bar, so don't remember what they fix. 

[oakridger]

2 hours ago, RuthC said:

I did not check out the menu at the snack bar, so don't remember what they fix. 

 

I got a burger from the snack bar when I went.  

[bundtkate]

14 hours ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Did they provide lunch on the Tracy Arm boat by any chance? Enjoy the rest of the trip! Thx.

They did not, but as others mentioned there were snacks for purchase. There were also free donut holes, coffee, hot chocolate and salmon spread on crackers, but not near enough to qualify as lunch. Def have a big breakfast. For the record, the salmon cracker things are delicious and I highly recommend eating as many as possible. They only serve them for a short time.

[Ileneilene123]

Thank you for all of the helpful replies!