Glacier Boat Excursion

[Rambler5678]

For anyone that did this excursion recommend it? Going in Mid-June. Would be pricey for our family of four. Would seeing it from the ship and/or going to the glacier in Juneau be a good and less pricey alternative?

 

[anricat]

There's a large thread about it with loads of reviews from this past summer. You probably didn't find it in the search because the original poster spelled Tracy Arm incorrectly. I asked if they could please change it for the search, but they did not.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/tracey-arm-fjord-and-glacier-adventure.3507884/

I will say that we did not do it and we were perfectly happy with our decision. We decided to save our money for other things. It is a lot when you add it up across the whole family. We got quite close to the glacier, thought the small boat did get closer. Not tons closer. I don't have any photos of the glacier with the boat in it, but some others might.

The glacier in Juneau is completely different and also worthwhile. We really enjoyed ourselves. If you decide to go, I would definitely recommend doing it the way we did which was to go first thing in the morning with a car rented at the Juneau Car Rental Company which is conveniently located right at the dock the Wonder (has historically) docked at. The car for us was $60 for the day and a better deal than the $30/person round trip shuttle there and back. Plus, we were able to get there before the shuttles were running and practically had the place to ourselves. Here's the portion in my trip report where I talk about Juneau and it includes loads of photos of the Mendenhall Glacier: http://www.disboards.com/threads/wo...fun-in-vancouver.3537617/page-2#post-56343773

 

[Geomom]

I will say that we did not do it and we were perfectly happy with our decision. We decided to save our money for other things. It is a lot when you add it up across the whole family. We got quiet close to the glacier, thought the small boat did get closer. Not tons closer. I don't have any photos of the glacier with the boat in it, but some others might.

We were on the same cruise as 'anricat' and I do have a photo of how close the excursion boat got. The Wonder DID get closer to the glacier after the smaller boat left as you can see in the second pic with the view out of our deck 2 porthole--it's not much further away than where the excursion went. We also did NOT do the excursion and had no regrets about that. It was too pricey for our family of 4, and this was our first trip to Alaska, so we were happy to see it the way we did. Staying on the Wonder, while outside, you can still hear the sound of the waterfalls, the sound of ice cracking in the water, etc. It really was amazing just being on the big boat. Note that ALL of the 2016 cruises went to Endicott Arm and saw Dawes Glacier, so no one has actually done the 'Tracy Arm' version of that excursion. From what I have heard, the cruise boats can get closer to Dawes Glacier in Endicott Arm than the Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm.

 

[Aby]

We did the excursions this past August and we felt it was one of the best excursions we have ever done. The Dawes glacier was beautiful and we got to see and feel multiple calvings up close. The journey there was breathtaking, and there were so many amazing photo opportunities of the Wonder with the glacier and other Alaskan scenery in the background. The photos I got alone made the trip worthwhile. Each person will have their opinion, but we felt it was worth the money!

If you want to see some of the pictures I got, you can see them in my trip report here.