Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer 1st or 2nd time slot, what do you prefer?

[l4dk]

Hi,

I have reserved this excursion for the 12pm slot and now 3pm is available. I am not sure which one will be a better fit for us. It is our first Alaskan cruise.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks

 

[jenpink]

I booked the 12pm slot and plan to keep it. I don't love crowds. My thoughts are that more people will be crowding the rails on the way into Tracy Arm, when I get off the excursion the crowds will calm down, and I can enjoy the rest of the day. The BBQ just sounds like more crowds.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I'm in the same boat as jenpink, literally. Sailing into the arm is very exciting for everyone on the ship. Everyone will be out on the deck and it will be freezing cold. I loved it before (on my previous Alaska cruise), but now with the choice of being in a smaller boat with less people sounds even more divine. I'm keeping my noon time. The BBQ was very good, but I'm not a foodie and can easily eat something else.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I initially had the 12:01pm slot as that's all that was open initially but I changed it to 3:00pm. We aren't 100% sure yet if all 3 of us will do it or it'll be a solo treat for either DH or myself. We love eating together and didn't want to miss the BBQ so I think the 3:00pm works best for us. I have sailed previously in 2013 and think we'd enjoy being on the ship as it goes through Tracy Arm instead of the other way around but it's a really tough choice! If we do keep the 3:00pm slot, we'll miss dinner so either way we are missing something

Heather

 

[LeslieG]

I'm a little confused about this excursion. It's my understanding that DCL sails all the way through Tracy Arm, while some other cruise lines do not. I thought the other lines would drop people off at Tracy Arm, sail on to Juneau where the excursion would end and meet up with the ship. The excursion would give people the opportunity to go all the way into Tracy Arm to see the glacier. In the case of DCL, I guess the small boat would be just going alongside the ship the whole way through Tracy Arm?

 

[cruisehopeful]

In the case of DCL, I guess the small boat would be just going alongside the ship the whole way through Tracy Arm?

The description says we will get up close to waterfall to where we can feel it on our face and get closer to the glacier and have a better view of wildlife. There are a lot of ice floats in the Arm. A smaller boat can get around those easier and sail up close to land. I don't expect that it will sail next to the Wonder. It is very pricey, considering that you can see much of the same stuff from the ship. Since I've already been on the Wonder through Tracy Arm (and it was my favorite thing about the entire cruise), I am excited to try it closer up. If I hadn't already seen it, I probably wouldn't pay for a smaller boat excursion.