Tracy Arm and NCL Sun

[canadiangirl77]

Hi, has anyone done this tour with the cruise ship? I am reading the shore excursions and it says that this tour departs Juneau at 1pm and is a 5 hr tour? Well this may sound silly but our cruise ship departs Juneau at 1:15pm? So how can one take this tour?? Is this for the ships that spend longer in port? It says that we will meet up with your ship? Where? 1/2 way to Skagway?? I've heard that in May the cruise ship cant get up to see Sawyer Glacier, if that's the case are they going to wait 5 hrs for me to take my $175 tour?? Please help!

Thanks again!

[shoreguy]

As far as I am concerned the best tour we did in Alaska. You leave from the ship before it departs and head for Tracy Arm. You end up far closer to Sawyer Glacier, stop and see whales on the trip down, at the end of the tour you reboard the ship in Tracy arm. It normally sells out even before you board - book early

 

Check out my pictures from the Sun. All the whale pictures are from this tour as well.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/183516090QfAGmP

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/183473496LzNbOt

 

[tjosh7]

I totally agree with Shoreguy on this one - easily the BEST tour you can take in Alaska!!! We took in last year in May and were able to go right up to the glacier, even with lots of ice in the water. When you meet back up with the ship, you'll have a chance to take some awesome pictures of her with the mountains in the background. Book early - it does sell out!!!

[electricron]

Whereas I agree this tour is awesome, there's also plenty of other great tours in Juneau to pick from. To tell the truth, I don't think there is a bad tour you can pick in Juneau. It's a shame you can't do all of them. I guess that's why so many return to Alaska every year.

[shoreguy]

Whereas I agree this tour is awesome, there's also plenty of other great tours in Juneau to pick from. To tell the truth, I don't think there is a bad tour you can pick in Juneau. It's a shame you can't do all of them. I guess that's why so many return to Alaska every year.

 

But you can - your really only need to be back to the ship an extra 30 minutes early. We did helicopter to Glacier in the AM and this tour in the afternoon. This tour extends a half day into a full day of adventure.

[electricron]

But you can - your really only need to be back to the ship an extra 30 minutes early. We did helicopter to Glacier in the AM and this tour in the afternoon. This tour extends a half day into a full day of adventure.

 

Two, maybe three, tours in one day is a far cry from doing all of them.

All the tours are great in Juneau.

[ute_fan]

This is a wonderful excursion, like Shoreguy said. If you follow the link in my signature line, I've got more pictures. I'd recommend that anyone taking either the Sun or the Star take this excursion, because it highly increases your chances of actually getting to see the Sawyer glacier(s).

 

For example, on our cruise on the Sun in 2004, we were able to see both North and South Sawyer Glaciers, which are located at the end of Tracy Arm Fjord. Due to ice, the passengers who stayed on the Sun never saw North Sawyer Glacier. They did get to view South Sawyer, but we were much closer in the catamaran. On the icebergs floating in the water in front of South Sawyer, there were hundreds of seals. They go there to mate and give birth, as the whales don't normally go that far up the fjord, and they prey on the seals. The people who were on the Sun would probably have not even known they were there -- unless they were using really good binoculars. We actually saw a baby seal being born, and many others sliding off the ice and into the water. It was definitely the highlight of our Alaska cruise.

 

Tracy Arm fjord and the Sawyer Glaciers are beautiful, however the logistics of the fjord does cause problems for the cruise ships. I read somewhere that last summer, only 2 of the cruises were able to get within viewing distance of the glaciers. I don't know if that's really true, but it's what was being reported. If there's been much calving, with the resulting ice in the water, they just can't get the cruise ships up near the glaciers. In the catamaran, where the hull has been strengthened for the ice, you actually sail through some of the ice, and yes, I was sort of thinking of Titanic as we were crunching through the ice :eek: , but we weren't in real danger.

 

Another determining factor is the length of daylight. They have to be out of the fjord by dusk, and depending on what time of year you're cruising, they may simply run out of time to get you close enough to see the glaciers. Like Shoreguy, we also saw whales from the catamaran. We hadn't done a separate whale watching excursion, so we were thrilled to get that opportunity.

 

At the end of the excursion, you tender onto the ship while she's stopped for her glacier viewing, or however far up the fjord she makes it. As far as I'm concerned, you definitely miss out if you don't take this excursion. Do be aware, however, that occassionally not even the catamaran gets all the way to the glaciers. I had friends from this board on the first sailing in 2006 who did the catamaran, and even then they still didn't see the glaciers, due to excessive ice.

 

Good luck!

[ENGINEER]

This excursion was great! On cruise critic we had heard that this was not to be missed and we took the advice.

 

The catamaran had a naturalist assigned to it. She explained everything to us in detail. (She has also been involved regularly in the whale watching tours from Alaska to California.) The trip was fascinating! We saw 3 whales, an eagle couple and their baby in the nest, two black bears, mountain goats and on the ice around South Sawyer Glacier hundreds of harp seals lounged - uncaring of our boat.

 

So interested in the nature of Alaska, this was the bright light of our trip. The naturalist explained how the terrain was developed. There were gentlemen who looked for wildlife. The boat driver knew areas where they saw wildlife most often. They knew where to look for the whales. It was so interesting how it all came together.

 

Because we had time before the Tracy Arm excursion, we went by bus to Mendenhall Glacier.

 

This was well worth the expense. We were so close to the ice that had broken off during the caving. And to see so much of nature just as you imagined - Wow! When we go back to ALaska - which we would like to do - we would do the Tracy Arm Fijord again.

 

Another totally cool thing was when we turned the corner and saw our ship The Sun - looking like a toy against the backdrop of the fijord. As we got closer we saw people on the deck watching us....hundreds of people. They put the bumpers between the ships and put the gangplank between the ship and the catamaran. People were leaning over the railing looking at us and waving. Once on board we had so many people ask us about this excursion. As we told them they all said they wish they would have booked it.

 

By the way - as far as booking this excursion - it fills fast. We booked online a month or two before we sailed just to guarantee our spots.

__________________

 

 

engineer