This was technically a sea day on our Alaska cruise itinerary but we booked an excursion through Carnival cruise line to board a smaller touring boat that would take us closer to the Sawyer Glacier and two other glaciers in the Tracy Arm Fjord. I have to say, the experience of getting “close” to the glaciers by boat was a little underwhelming after having touched and tasted a glacier in Juneau two days before. Even the smaller Tracy Arm Fjord touring boat was only able to advance to a quarter mile away from the glaciers, and we soon found out why we couldn’t drive the boat any closer. We were lucky enough to witness both glaciers calving multiple times! The spectacle to come was first heralded by a loud crack and rumble that resounded across the walls of the fjord. Ranging in size from small pieces up to car-sized slabs, chunks of ice would then separate from the wall of ice and careen downward to cannonball into the water below, causing rolling waves that rocked our tour boat.

I’ve read mixed reviews from others who have booked this cruise ship excursion to visit a bit closer to the glaciers. It seems your experience will be highly tied to the weather and amount of fog that day. Carnival offered two excursion times, one “ungodly early” and another more “normal early” in the morning. I thought the lighting for photos would be preferable during the earliest time slot, but in hindsight I would recommend the later time as the fog was very thick as the sun was rising. I will say that the little boat gets you closer to wildlife (we saw seals and whales), and the ride through the fjord in the fog passing near countless trickling waterfalls cascading down the sheer cliffs was awesome. The boat ride gets cold so make sure you bring a warm hat, gloves, scarf, and hand warmers! We stayed put on the outer deck the entire time to guard our territory in peak glacier-viewing position and we got quite chilly. Make sure you get the hot chocolate from inside before going to the outer viewing deck!

Is the cruise line excursion to the glaciers worth it?

The main cruise ship actually gets quite close to the glaciers in Tracy Arm Fjord, and you can still hear and feel the glaciers calving from the main boat. So is it worth paying for the excursion on the little boat?

My final verdict is… it depends. If you want to save some money, I recommend skipping the cruise line excursion in Tracy Arm Fjord if you will already have had the following two experiences in some other part of your Alaska cruise itinerary. If you don’t have these two, go for the small boat excursion in Tracy Arm Fjord!

1. An “up close and personal” glacier experience, like a hike or helicopter ride to a glacier, and actually get to touch the ice
2. A wildlife excursion, like a whale watching tour or kayaking/boating excursion with wildlife sightings