Disney's Alaska Cruise - Day 3: Tracy Arm

The second full sea day is different from the other two days. This is the third day of your cruise and it is also the day that you will turn around and start heading south again. This is the Tracy Arm day!

    

Tracy Arm is a massive and beautiful glacier. Starting at around noon on the day that you see Tracy Arm you will enter some seriously small sections of water. And on both sides of the ship there will be beautiful scenery to include mountains, small glaciers, and waterfalls. You may also be lucky enough to see some wildlife. On the day that we were there a bear and mountain goats were spotted.      

Don't forget to periodically walk from one side of the side to the other - the view is not the same on both sides of the ship.
While you are sailing though these narrow stretches of water there will be times where the nature guy on board will be talking over the speakers about all there is to know about Tracy Arm. It is some seriously cool stuff is you're at all interested in nature or history.      

One of the coolest parts, besides the actual glacier, is the ice that floats in the green/blue water. The water is this color because of the silt that comes from the glaciers. Isn't it a beautiful color?      

As for the ice - on out particular cruise three huge chunks of ice were picked up and brought onto the ship! We took pictures with two of them.        

As I said, you will start these part of the journey and once you reach the glacier, or as close as you can get safely, the ship will stay there for about an hour before turning around and heading south.
The glacier is amazing! There are plenty of opportunities to take pictures of and with it. The completely open decks - 4, 9, and 10 are the places to see this amazing piece of nature's art work. We stayed on deck 4 for most of the time from around 1 until about 5, but there were a lot of people there - especially on e we were at Tracy Arm. No matter where you are you will be treated to amazing views.      

Seriously, be sure to charge your cameras or phones the night before. We took at least 500 photos on this day alone.
Inside the ship everything is the same as a normal sea day. All of the shops and restaurants still have that same hours that they regularly would. You can still let your little, or not so little, ones enjoy the kid's clubs. And you can still hit the gym - although the running path on deck 4 will be pretty clogged with people.
Before we entered Tracy Arm and went down to deck 4 we were hanging out on deck 9 - the pool deck - having some lunch. Cast members were walking around offering blankets and pea soup in a bread bowl. We passed on the blankets, but we definitely enjoyed some tasty soup!      

If an ice block or three are brought in you can get your picture with it and feel what ice from a glacier feels like.
Since it is the third night of the cruise you will be dining at the third main dining restaurant - after this you will have experienced them all. So on the fourth night when you go back to the first restaurant you dined in the themed dinners will begin! In our case Frozen night was happening, but I cannot say if this will continue next summer.
The second sea day is truly amazing and you will be surrounded by towering hills, rushing waterfalls, and ice. We certainly enjoyed it and we hope that if you cruise to Alaska that you will enjoy it too.