Cruising through Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska

Our whole Alaskan cruise was full of amazing, wonderful moments.  Adventures that we had never experienced before!  One thing S was most excited to see (truthfully me too) was glaciers and icebergs.  Our Disney Cruise spent the better part of one day cruising through Tracy Arm Fjord to see the magnificent Sawyer Glacier.

Before we had even entered the fjord we could see icebergs!  We entered the fjord around noon, and we had made the decision to experience the fjord/glacier from our stateroom’s veranda for a couple reasons.  Several hours before we even entered the fjord people were already claiming all the seats on the open decks and there was limited availability to see from against the railing.  We did not feel like fighting for a spot.  The open decks were COLD with the wind blowing, where our veranda because it was enclosed on three sides was warmer (I only wore a fleece jacket over my clothes). 

One of the biggest reasons was S could stay inside our cabin with the balcony door open and stay entertained during the “down” moments of scenic cruising and stay warm with a bathroom close by.  Even though I think I took a picture of every iceberg, enjoyed seeing every waterfall, searching for wildlife and being amazed at how the mountains dropped into the water, my 4 year old did not think spending five hours looking at the side of mountains as fun.  However, reading books, watching a movie, coloring, creating a “scrapbook”, and playing with her stuffed animals was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.  Now don’t get me wrong, she came out to see different aspects and of course to see the beautiful Sawyer Glacier.  She also came running when I spotted a bear with binoculars.

Our Disney Cruise had a BBQ out on the open decks, so that you could enjoy lunch without missing any of the action.  Since we had decided to sit on our veranda, I sent my husband to get a collection of food and drinks to bring back to our room.  The BBQ included chicken, salmon, and beef.  There were a collection of sides including mac and cheese, potato salad and pasta salad.  Also several different desserts were available.

A naturalist was also on board the cruise ship offering a narration of what we were seeing for part of the day.  The narration was available on your TV if you were in your stateroom or if you were on deck via the loudspeakers.

As we were cruising in the fjord, around every bend the landscape would be more stunning, more icebergs in the water of all different colors including the infamous blue ice.  Don’t forget to look behind the ship for a different angle.  From up on deck 6 (the location of our cabin) the icebergs tended to look small, but when a smaller tour boat passed us you could see that the icebergs (just the part above water, which 90% of an iceberg is below water) were larger than those boats.

In all truth when we rounded the bend and spotted Sawyer Glacier, it didn’t even look real! 

The wonderful thing about the fjord is you get to see both sides, since you go in and turn around to come back out.  When we went as far as we could safely venture into the fjord (which was the farthest any cruise ship had gone thus far this year), our Disney Cruise ship turned one way so the starboard side could see the glacier straight on and then turned so the port side of the ship could see the glacier before completing the turn to head back out.

Cruising through Tracy Arm Fjord was one of the highlights of Disney Alaskan Cruise! 

To see more of our adventures on our Disney Cruise to Alaska, click here.