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! 

[Ileneilene123]

On 6/5/2024 at 1:09 AM, bundtkate said:

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.

Hi again. Did you happen to notice if folks brought any food on board from the ship? One recent review said they were not actually permitted to take any food off of the ship. Also, while our PCC said that lunch was for purchase on board, that doesn’t seem to be case — just snacks as you described. I saw a few reviews that complained about this. 

Between both of our excursions that day, we will be out from 10:30-8pm w/ no feasible plan for lunch. Getting nervous that our plans may not be doable if we cannot bring our own lunch on board. Thanks. 

Edited June 30 by Ileneilene123

[oakridger]

If Allen Marine is still running the excursion, I would call them directly and ask about the food for purchase offerings on the excursion.  I called them a couple years ago directly with a different question and they were very helpful!

 

This was my favorite Alaska excursion to date!  Have fun!

 

~Nancy

[bundtkate]

7 hours ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Did you happen to notice if folks brought any food on board from the ship?

No one did and, in general, I don't believe they allow most food off for customs reasons. You're not allowed to bring foreign fresh food (e.g. fruit and veg) into most countries, including the U.S., and since cruise ships probably restock at varying ports this usually means nothing leaves the ship unless it's prepackaged. Beyond that, I'd wager the excursion wants you to buy their food so they don't want you to bring your own.

 

7 hours ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Also, while our PCC said that lunch was for purchase on board, that doesn’t seem to be case — just snacks as you described.

There were more substantial items available for purchase, like sandwiches, but I did not pay close attention to what was available specifically since I wasn't interested in buying it. I'd second oakridger's advice to call. Allen Marine was the name of the company still.

[BadgerRedux]

On 5/26/2024 at 7:57 PM, Ileneilene123 said:

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

First time cruiser here so no experience to share, but hoping someone can clarify - I'm sailing on Nieuw Amsterdam in July and signed up for a 7 hour "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer" on our Juneau port day; I've been watching this thread as I assumed our excursion would be the same/similar to OP's from Zaandam, but the description I see on HAL's website doesn't mention anything about tendering or meeting "the ship later in Juneau" (and it does say "Enjoy a picnic-style lunch").  Is there another place I should be checking for more accurate excursion details or is OP's excursion not similar to mine?

 

ETA same note as below:  Never mind, just checked the Allen Marine site and I see that they offer two different excursions:  Tracy Arm Fjord (one way) and Tracy Arm Fjord (round trip); sounds like OP is considering the one way, and I'm scheduled for the round trip.

Edited June 30 by BadgerRedux

[BadgerRedux]

5 minutes ago, BadgerRedux said:

First time cruiser here so no experience to share, but hoping someone can clarify - I'm sailing on Nieuw Amsterdam in July and signed up for a 7 hour "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer" on our Juneau port day; I've been watching this thread as I assumed our excursion would be the same/similar to OP's from Zaandam, but the description I see on HAL's website doesn't mention anything about tendering or meeting "the ship later in Juneau" (and it does say "Enjoy a picnic-style lunch").  Is there another place I should be checking for more accurate excursion details or is OP's excursion not similar to mine?

Never mind, just checked the Allen Marine site and I see that they offer two different excursions:  Tracy Arm Fjord (one way) and Tracy Arm Fjord (round trip); sounds like OP is considering the one way, and I'm scheduled for the round trip.

[rafinmd]

From my 2018 blog entry:

 

"The trip out was not as good in as the entry and fjord time, but how could it be. We left the glacier about noon, and the snack bar selection was limited, hot dogs, pretzels, and cheeseburger, but the prices were not bad (I think $5 each) and they were not gourmet but good enough."

 

I'm pretty sure the one way is only offered on the 7 day round trips out of Vancouver, and it's because many people disembark in Skagway to continue on to the Yukon and Denali, so this is their only opportunity for glacier viewing.

 

Roy

[Ileneilene123]

6 hours ago, bundtkate said:

There were more substantial items available for purchase, like sandwiches, but I did not pay close attention to what was available specifically since I wasn't interested in buying it. I'd second oakridger's advice to call. Allen Marine was the name of the company still.

 

 

10 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

If Allen Marine is still running the excursion, I would call them directly and ask about the food for purchase offerings on the excursion.  I called them a couple years ago directly with a different question and they were very helpful!

 

This was my favorite Alaska excursion to date!  Have fun!

 

~Nancy

 

Thank you both! I’ll reach out to them. 

Edited July 1 by Ileneilene123

[Ileneilene123]

2 hours ago, rafinmd said:

 

From my 2018 blog entry:

 

"The trip out was not as good in as the entry and fjord time, but how could it be. We left the glacier about noon, and the snack bar selection was limited, hot dogs, pretzels, and cheeseburger, but the prices were not bad (I think $5 each) and they were not gourmet but good enough."

 

 

Thank you!