Don't 'rush' a Tracy Arm tour!

[CanCanCase]

Dear All,

I will cruise to Alaska in late June. My ship will docked in Juneau from 11am to 10pm only. I really want to go to Tracy Arm cause it will be a very long time before we can come back here.

However, we can't find any charter boat that would offer day trip to Tracy Arm so far, so please help me choose between these 2 options:

1. Is it worth it just to fly over Tracy Arm (not landing at all) and back to Juneau within 2 hours for $300 per person?

2. Exploring Juneau

If I can ever get a charter boat, will be an entire day trip. So we won't have any time to explore Juneau. Will we miss out a lot for not doing anything in Juneau?

Thank for all advice

Sure there are cruises to Tracy Arm from Juneau. I just googled one from Allen Marine that lasts 5 hours, giving you lots of time to do other things. Of coruse, you'd have to contact the company to see when the tour leaves. There are full day cruises too. Just google "juneau tour tracy arm".

What else did you want to do in Juneau?

I'm sure the local expert Case can help you put together a very nice day, if you tell him what you'd like to include. What other ports are you visiting (maybe you could do some of the other activities in other ports?) :-)

Yes, I called Allen Marine and they said they don't have tours to Tracy Arm on Sunday. They told me to try charter one of the fishing boat but I can't find any so far. I would love to go to Tracy Arm for 5 hours if you know where to book it.

We also stop in Sitka and Ketchikan. I'm planning to do the following:

Sitka: Historic America & Raptor Center; Silver Bay Nature Cruise & Salmon Hatchery; and maybe Sea Life Discovery by Semi-Sub

Ketchikan: Magnificent Misty Fjords by Floatplane; Totem Bight & Lumberjack Show

Are these good choices?

Hi Everyone!

For clarification, the 5-hour Tracy Arm tours are all trips that leave Juneau on a large(ish) boat, and meet a specific cruise ship in Tracy Arm. It's not like Allen Marine can somehow make the run any faster than the rest of us! ;-)

I do know of 4 charter boats who regularly run Tracy Arm trips - especially when the other tours (Adventure Bound and Allen Marine) either aren't running or have already departed for the day. Harv & Marv's Outback Alaska, Adventures in Alaska, Alaskan Marine Adventures, and Summer King Adventures all go there often and all give great tours. I've either been on each captain's tour of Tracy Arm, or have run a boat myself along side their tours. (In the interest of "full disclosure" I do represent (own/operate) one of those three companies, but I don't want to promote any one over the others... All are fantastic tours.)

I honestly think you would be doing yourself a huge dis-service to attempt a shortened Tracy Arm tour AND do a bunch of other stuff in Juneau on the same day. Most vacations are always a bit of a compromise. When my friends and family come to visit, I've been suggesting they do several things to have a full "Alaskan Experience...":
1) See the area from a small boat
2) See glaciers and ice-bergs up close
3) Have a drink at the Red Dog Saloon
4) Fly in a small float plane

Of course there are other things to to in each port as well, but I think if you fly Misty Fjords (the BEST way to see the monument IMO) you'll take care of #4. 1, 2 and 3 could easily be combined in your day in Juneau.

Now, if you really wanted to go nuts, make no compromises, spend lots of money, and truly do it all, you could always charter a boat For the Tracy Arm tour, AND charter a float plane to land IN Tracy Arm and pick you up for the return to Juneau. I've done this once for a group of friends, and it was quite the adventure. Quite spendy though!

I don't think a "no-landing", float plane only tour of Tracy Arm would be all that great, especially if the fog has set in. Misty Fjords is best seen from a float plane because it's a larger area. Tracy Arm is considered "best" from a small boat. Besides, when you see whales along the way, most folks want to be able to stop and whale watch as well... At $600 per hour in a float plane, you don't exactly want to be telling the pilot to pull over for a "rest stop"... ;-)

I hope this helps some.

Happy Alaska Travels!

-Case

[alaskacabin]

I can do that trip.
Maximum of 5 passengers for this deal.
$250 per person tracy arm or $300 per person endicott arm fords terror (this is a 4 or 5 person trip) Minimum 4 people.
You charter a plane to pick up at the mouth of Tracy Arm probably about $500 charter and extra if you flight see home. We say goodby and continue on to Petersburg or 5 finger. I reserve the 6th seat for my wife on this one.

[CanCanCase]

Exactly. Alaskan Marine Adventures' rates are a bit higher if we're doing lunch, etc. but the general idea is the same.

So many of the cruise ships are shortening their port times, and it's just not working for the 7-9 hour round trip excursion. I love the NCL/Allen Marine idea of running a small boat down to meet up with the cruise ship, but the smaller boats just can't handle the volume from even one cruise ship. Of course, in this day and age of security and TSA paranoia, there are some serious legal requirements that may shut down some of those combined tours.

-Case

[electrajean]

As far as pricing is concerned it does not sound unreasonable to me. But you really need to decide if you can and want to pay that amount. I know that sometimes when people do not have enough money they cut into other expenses that they figure they can do without.

[beck7]

thanks for sharing..its great