Tracey Arm Fjord and Glacier Adventure

[cruisehopeful]

I went ahead and cancelled it. We are going to be there a few days and there is still room on both excursions. If we can go to Tracy Arm, I'll go ahead and try to rebook it while on the ship.

 

[jenpink]

Seems like everyone I talk to is cancelling g it. I may cancel too, just haven't done it yet.

 

[poison ivy]

Was Endicott on the itinerary?

 

[cruisehopeful]

Was Endicott on the itinerary?

No. When there is too much ice to go into Tracy Arm, many cruise ships (all lines) will go to Endicott Arm instead.

 

[TJA]

EDIT: Is there a trip report somewhere?

There is a guy who is posting on Instagram and twitter, dustin2008 or @Dustin2008. He has some pictures.

Thank you -- I was hoping to see some sort of live report.

 

[jetskigrl]

First reviews are not positive. Looks like the Wonder sailed Endicott Arm instead of Tracy Arm this week. Reports were the Wonder got closer to the glacier than the catamaran

I am very curious to hear about it when they go to Tracy Arm. I read that review also and was thinking that maybe being in the other Arm made a difference in the excursion experience.

 

[The Grays]

Where are these reviews being posted?

 

[psac]

I am very curious to hear about it when they go to Tracy Arm. I read that review also and was thinking that maybe being in the other Arm made a difference in the excursion experience.

We're thinking the same, but our sailing is next week. Hard to think the ice will be that much better by then, so we cancelled. If we find out that morning we're doing Tracy, we might try to book day of. For later in the season, it may be worth it to keep. ?

 

[psac]

Where are these reviews being posted?

On twitter, same username as posted above, and then the Facebook group for this week's sailing, someone from next week's sailing was booked for that one and changed to our week, but stayed in the group and now saw all these negative posts.

 

[AussieBeth]

We did the port adventure yesterday. This is my trip report:

We paid for 2 adults and 1 child. About $500 ($760 Australian) all up. I was very disappointed. We did the 12;00 departure and because of that we didn't get to eat lunch onboard. We were told there would be snacks, water & hot chocolate available.

We boarded the ship knowing the Wonder was going down Endicotte arm but everyone from the staff kept saying we were going on the Tracey Arm. I assumed this meant we were going down Tracey. They, unfortunately for us, meant the Tracey arm excursion not the actual destination. Once we found out onboard that the Wonder was following us we were a bit disheartened.

The snacks mentioned before were a few donut holes, hot chocolate with no milk and water from the tap... We could purchase mini pizzas ($4) chips, pop drinks & beers.

We didn't see any unusual wildlife and the commentary was less informative that I know is given on the ship (having done this cruise before)

When we finally got to the glacier I was very happy to see how close we were. There were rumblings that the Wonder wouldn't make it down as far as we did, however 20 minutes later the Wonder glided in behind us and got as close, if not closer to the glacier than we did.

It was at that point that I felt cheated. There seemed to be no reason for us to have spent that much money for no added value. We also missed the BBQ lunch on deck so I feel like we actually lost.

However As I said before, we have done Tracey Arm on the Wonder and I believe that if we had been sailing down Tracey Arm we would have gotten closer to the glaciers than the Wonder can, making it much better value for money, however seeing the Wonder can get just as close to the glacier down Endicotte Arm the tour should have been cancelled by Disney.

On the ship many people have complained to the port adventures team about our sailing. I really think it was just dumb luck that the wonder & the tour boat has the same experience this week.

 

[louv2001]

Thanks for this. Just cancelled for Monday's cruise.

 

[Viviene Anthony]

Thanks @AussieBeth for your report. DH and I were planning on booking this excursion up until I started hearing that there are negative reviews out. Hope to hear more from people who have also experienced it.

 

[bcwife76]

@AussieBeth Ugh, I'm so sorry it was such a disappointment (and waste of money)!

 

[The Grays]

What's the weather like now ?

 

[cruisehopeful]

On the ship many people have complained to the port adventures team about our sailing. I really think it was just dumb luck that the wonder & the tour boat has the same experience this week.

I hope that helps to prevent the port excursion staff from saying it is a Tracy Arm excursion when it is going to Endicott Arm. I was planning on asking and booking the catamaran if it was going to Tracy Arm, but it sounds like they told you it was going to Tracy Arm when it wasn't. I appreciate the review. I know posting to the internet probably isn't the most fun thing to do while you are on a vacation, but it helped us out a lot.

 

[AussieBeth]

What's the weather like now ?

It's not too bad. About 7'c and windy but out of the wind, in the sunshine it's beautiful.

 

[psac]

I saw @Dustin2008 post on Twitter that they refunded everyone who took the excursion half of their excursion cost. They must have gotten A LOT of complaints!!! Good for them to do that, though. I can see them either cancelling the excursion completely or cancelling it whenever the ship goes down Endicott in the future. They can't be happy about having so many unhappy passengers.

 

[poison ivy]

I was hoping they'd issue refunds. I'm not sure if half is enough but it's something. It just seemed like a complete waste of money from the testimonials coming in. I feel bad for that poor first group of guests that had to experience this.

 

[AussieBeth]

I saw @Dustin2008 post on Twitter that they refunded everyone who took the excursion half of their excursion cost. They must have gotten A LOT of complaints!!! Good for them to do that, though. I can see them either cancelling the excursion completely or cancelling it whenever the ship goes down Endicott in the future. They can't be happy about having so many unhappy passengers.

Yes, they did refund everyone 50% which I think was a really nice gesture.

 

[Jaxasaurous]

My husband and I did this and we were on the 3pm boat. We enjoyed it and were surprised by the amount of complaints there were. It was nice not having to fight for a view of the glacier.
On our excursion we did see wildlife and the boat got close to a a few seals, probably a little closer then it should have. I liked how we were almost level with the icebergs, and were able to get some good pictures of the seals and eagles on the icebergs. Being on a boat with 3 decks gave us a different perspective and different views of the wildlife and the size of the glacier versus the Wonder which was 10+ stories and you're looking down at the water.
We also got some amazing pictures of the glacier with the Wonder in front of it, not many people can get those pictures (unless you don't mind paying Shutters for their pictures).