Tracey Arm Fjord and Glacier Adventure

[tink too]

I can't wait to hear about this! Sounds like something we'd love. We are new to Alaskan cruises (haven't been yet) and I was wondering if this excursion would happen at the same time as the Tracy Arm day Barbecue that I keep reading about. Or would they be on different days.

As the ship is only in Tracy Arm Fjord on 1 day, this will likely be happening at the same time.

 

[Pens Fan]

We took a small boat excursion out of Juneau through Tracy Arm many, many years ago. We were on a land based vacation and our plans to fly to Gustavus and take a boat tour through Glacier Bay were cancelled out by the weather. We took the AK state ferry to Juneau and got on a small boat for whale watching and touring Tracy Arm. We had been so disappointed to miss GB, but this made up for it. Tracy Arm is amazing in a small boat. You can get very close to shore to view wildlife and we were so close to the glacier. You know all the black dots you see from the cruise ship hanging out on the floating ice? Well, on the small boat you could actually tell they were seals without binoculars! We really enjoyed going through Tracy Arm on the Wonder 4 years ago, but a small boat is much better.

My advice - book it if you can! You won't regret it.

 

[Rambler5678]

Are any dates in June being offered?

 

[bcwife76]

OMG - that is so cool!! I hope they still offer this in 2017. This is a repeat cruise for us (did 7 night in 2014 and doing 5 night in 2017) so this would be perfect.

The price is listed on the DCL site now. Adults $205, Kids age 0-9 $145.

Fingers crossed we get to do it on our cruise!!

 

[jenpink]

Are any dates in June being offered?

I have it booked on June 1.

 

[ArmyWife7]

I just booked for July 25 (after a 45-minute hold on the phone). I can't wait to hear from those who do it in May and June. I don't mind missing the BBQ, but I don't want to miss the characters in their Alaska gear. What other activities will we miss?

 

[anricat]

Oh... I didn't even think about missing out on the characters in their gear. Isn't there a fun photo op, too?

 

[uncw89]

Are any dates in June being offered?

I'm going June 20. I just tried to book it and DCL's site won't let me in.....

 

[bcwife76]

Oh... I didn't even think about missing out on the characters in their gear. Isn't there a fun photo op, too?

I don't mind missing the bbq too but I HAVE to get a photo op of M&M in their Alaska gear!!! Yikes......am very interested in reading this years' TR's that include this excursion.

 

[ArmyWife7]

Hopefully, someone will chime in and let us know if there are other photo ops of M&M in their Alaska gear during the cruise. I was thinking about upgrading from my porthole cabin to a veranda just for Tracy Arm Day, but now there is no need!

 

[saxmangeoff]

The characters also do an evening photo op in their Alaska garb.

 

[jtba]

Hopefully, someone will chime in and let us know if there are other photo ops of M&M in their Alaska gear during the cruise.

there were indeed a few different photo ops last july. we didn't take any photos with them on deck during tracy arm day, but that night we got one with Mickey in the lobby after we watched the evening show (we had first seating), then with both of them on friday morning, when the ship docked in juneau. we were in the lobby right after we took photos with the pixar pals. we happened to look up towards deck 4, and there they were! i don't think this was announced in the navigator, so we felt very lucky to have spotted them. the line was super short! the time stamp in my photos said we took our family photo with mike wazowski and sully at 8:38 a.m., then the kids were hugging M & M at 8:44 a.m.

they were wearing their alaskan gear on both occasions.

@bcwife76 fyi! i forgot we had a separate picture with mickey on tracy arm day, too.

 

[ArmyWife7]

Thank you for this information!

 

[cruisehopeful]

We took a small boat excursion out of Juneau through Tracy Arm many, many years ago. We were on a land based vacation and our plans to fly to Gustavus and take a boat tour through Glacier Bay were cancelled out by the weather. We took the AK state ferry to Juneau and got on a small boat for whale watching and touring Tracy Arm. We had been so disappointed to miss GB, but this made up for it. Tracy Arm is amazing in a small boat. You can get very close to shore to view wildlife and we were so close to the glacier. You know all the black dots you see from the cruise ship hanging out on the floating ice? Well, on the small boat you could actually tell they were seals without binoculars! We really enjoyed going through Tracy Arm on the Wonder 4 years ago, but a small boat is much better.

My advice - book it if you can! You won't regret it.

Thanks for your post. Also, thanks to everyone who has posted here. I wouldn't have known about the excursion if not for this thread. I just booked it for my upcoming cruise, but am wondering if I will be able to deal with the cold. How cold was it?

DCL says it is a Catamaran, which here in San Diego are small, open air boats. On the ship, I was able to go inside to warm up as needed. The DCL excursion is 3 hours (I don't mind missing the bbq) and I am thinking that 3 hours is very long to be outdoors in that much cold, even with layers. It also doesn't mention a toilet and I am thinking being outside in the cold for that long will make us need to go, if you know what I mean. I'm not sure if I will keep my excursion or not. Trying to get more info. It sounds like it could be the most amazing part of the whole 7 days, but the fun can be ruined if we are too cold to enjoy it.

 

[jenpink]

I think that there is a heated indoor part of the catamaran from what I have read. I think there are restrooms as well I think you are on my cruise, so see you on this excursion

 

[bcwife76]

@cruisehopeful I had to chuckle at your comments but at the same time I was totally nodding my head because you stated what I was thinking too! I'm assuming there will definitely be parts of the boat that you could go down to to warm up. Heck, they might even offer hot chocolate! And the bathroom is a must lol My bladder is tiny and staring at a waterfall will make me want to go!!!

 

[saxmangeoff]

Here's an ad for an NCL excursion with the same name. Theirs departs from Juneau instead of the ship. I'm guessing this will be what the Disney excursion is like, except you'll board the excursion boat from the ship outside of Tracy Arm.

 

[lpandorf]

This looks great and would love to do this! We booked Alaska for 2017. Have never been and will be our first time on a classic trip. Already so excited for this trip and over a year away. This will be one more excursion to add to the list.

 

[saxmangeoff]

And this guy has a whole series of short videos from the excursion. This is video 1 of of 27.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We did the same excursion with NCL (the only difference being that they picked us up in Juneau rather than from the boat itself like they do with DCL.) It's a great experience. We saw the Sawyer Glacier (including some calving), seals, lots of waterfalls, and even some whales. (The whales were on our way to and from Juneau, so that probably wouldn't happen on the DCL one.) Lots of excellent photo opportunities! Other than our pictures from Glacier Bay, these were some of my favorite photos from the trip.

It's definitely very cold on the small boat, so be sure to bundle up! They do have the indoor cabin, and ours offered hot beverages.