Glacier Tours Lacking

[masterdrago]

Looking at the excursions on the 7 night southbound from Seward. Mostly all I'm seeing is Mendenhall stuff and of course the 2 hours spent cruising the Hubbard Glacier. I was hoping to find some tours into Tracy Arms and had contacted directly several (Adventure Bound, Glacier Wind & True Alaskan). Most said best to book through the cruise line. Is it possible that after the first of the year, the excursions for our cruise (May '19) will be updated to include more glacier tours while in Juneau? Or does that not happen?

[Matt]

Tracy Arm is a sea day and I'm not familiar with any excursions to that glacier.

One lesson I learned in Alaska is there's a lot more excursion options beyond RC.  Heck, you can just take a taxi to Mendenhall Glacier Park and walk one of the many trails and get close to the glacier.

[masterdrago]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Tracy Arm is a sea day and I'm not familiar with any excursions to that glacier.

One lesson I learned in Alaska is there's a lot more excursion options beyond RC.  Heck, you can just take a taxi to Mendenhall Glacier Park and walk one of the many trails and get close to the glacier.

Thanks Matt. I have been poking around. There are a ton of Prince William Sound tours out of Whittier that look good. Just have to work the timing since we have the pre-cruise land tour. I know right now all are super busy with "right now" tours and most have said contact early October for next May. Tracy Arm just looks so inviting. I know that I'm looking way too early but this will be our 1st Alaska cruise and I'm already excited. I hiked the area near Anchorage in '95 for a couple of weeks and it simply whetted my appetite for more.

[Sweety]

Most of the times, I just wait to I get to the ports in Alaska and book on the pier. I met a teacher on one of the excursions many years ago and we still correspond. I wrote a recommendation to college for one his daughter. During the excursion, we met his family. He gave us more than Royal excursion would have.

 

[twangster]

Also keep in mind there many more glaciers than those the ship will sail past.  Many of the glaciers come from the same ice field but there are dozens and dozens of glaciers in Alaska, many of which only small craft can approach.

In Endicott Arm I saw many small tour boats waiting for us to leave.  One was approaching the glacier as we were leaving.  I imagine one of the jobs of the pilot on board is to regulate traffic towards these glaciers with large cruise ships at them.  The small boats seemed to be lined up waiting for us to leave.  At the time I recall wondering where these boats came from. 

Those "small" pieces of ice are better in perspective next to these "small" boats

[twangster]

This Royal excursion offered for Hubbard looks interesting so I've booked it. I assume they pick up from the ship like a tender boat does.  $269 so not cheap, but it is on sale this weekend for $242.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=HG03&DestinationCode=ALCAN

I did this identical Radiance itinerary on Celebrity last year.  This excursion was NOT offered, I just looked at the excursion book I kept from last year.  Here is a timelapse of Hubbard from the Celebrity Millennium last year:

A cruise ship will be restricted from going closer than 1 nautical mile from the glacier.  The massive current a large ship can create would cause large sections of the glacier to calve so ships are kept at a safe distance. 

Excursion boats like the one above can approach much closer.  You'll also be much closer to the water and dodging the massive chunks of glacier floating by.  They must pick you up straight from the ship which makes this excursion really cool (literally, the water will be cold so I'll dress warmly).

I'm really excited about this excursion and hope it isn't foggy or we have to skip Hubbard for some other reason.

Plus it's a three hour tour on the Minnow.  What could go wrong?

[Carlos A.]

On 7/5/2018 at 9:19 AM, Matt said:

Tracy Arm is a sea day and I'm not familiar with any excursions to that glacier.

One lesson I learned in Alaska is there's a lot more excursion options beyond RC.  Heck, you can just take a taxi to Mendenhall Glacier Park and walk one of the many trails and get close to the glacier.

Hi Matt, would you recommend just taking a taxi to the park visitors center instead of booking a tour?

[twangster]

38 minutes ago, carlosalonsor said:

Hi Matt, would you recommend just taking a taxi to the park visitors center instead of booking a tour?

This is exactly my game plan for Juneau this time - a day at Mendenhall by taxi.

I might also do the Mt Robert's tramway but that will depend on weather that day.   It's usually the same price locally as it is booked as an excursion and it's right where the ships dock.  

[Baked Alaska]

In Juneau, we are flying out on a sea plane to go fly fishing. When we get back we are going to take the tram to the top of Mt. Robert's. I'm really looking forward to Juneau. It's Skagway that's bumming me out. Can't figure out what to do there. Not interested in sled-dog racing or GASP! the train. Since Carnival Cruise Line bought the Skagway line, I wouldn't know what to expect. Probably nothing, but. . . Maybe just walking around port and finding some good local food.

[Carlos A.]

2 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

In Juneau, we are flying out on a sea plane to go fly fishing. When we get back we are going to take the tram to the top of Mt. Robert's. I'm really looking forward to Juneau. It's Skagway that's bumming me out. Can't figure out what to do there. Not interested in sled-dog racing or GASP! the train. Since Carnival Cruise Line bought the Skagway line, I wouldn't know what to expect. Probably nothing, but. . . Maybe just walking around port and finding some good local food.

What is wrong with the train? It was my only option for Skagway 

[Baked Alaska]

9 minutes ago, carlosalonsor said:

What is wrong with the train? It was my only option for Skagway 

@carlosalonsorA direct competitor of RCCL bought it, namely Carnival. I doubt anything will come of it, especially since the train offerings are still on the cruise planner and therefore would be honored by RCCL for late arrivals back to port, etc. But, I wonder how long the price currently offered on the cruise planner will stay what it is (for non Carnival passengers). 

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

@carlosalonsorA direct competitor of RCCL bought it, namely Carnival. I doubt anything will come of it, especially since the train offerings are still on the cruise planner and therefore would be honored by RCCL for late arrivals back to port, etc. But, I wonder how long the price currently offered on the cruise planner will stay what it is (for non Carnival passengers). 

I've thought about that a bit.  Understand Carnival will be buying (deal closes in August) the larger company that also owns the primary pier.  That is why the railroad tracks run down right onto the pier - it's owned by the larger White Pass company. 

Most of the town itself is a national park, not owned by private companies.  For some time now the White Pass railroad has established pricing based on what the market would bear.  If they (in proxy Carnival) ramps up prices they'll likely not fill the train especially on days with no Carnival ships in port such as the day we shared the pier with Radiance.  For days with Carnival ships in port, the train sells out now so why would Carnival lower prices for it's guests and leave money on the table?  Charging other cruise lines more is a net zero to the bottom line and risks not selling out the train.

I think the purpose of buying the company was more about securing berth space and in doing so the ability to guarantee prime docking in the long term.  Contracts have been set for 2019 so it's likely going to be a few years before we see the impact of this acquisition.

[Matt]

18 hours ago, carlosalonsor said:

Hi Matt, would you recommend just taking a taxi to the park visitors center instead of booking a tour?

It's not a bad plan at all, provided you aren't interested in a tour that gets you close to the glacier by some other means (i.e. kayaking).  After going to Mendenhall Glacier Park, I realized it is quite easy to spend the entire day there just walking the many trails available.  

One note, our taxi driver immediately charged us park admission while in the taxi.  When we got to the park, no one checked our tickets that we had paid.  A friend took Lyft to the park and was not charged anything by either the driver nor the park.  Kind of odd.