Carnival Miracle in Endicott Arm
Not Tracy Arm
Coincidentally John and I both had the idea of taking another Alaskan cruise at about the same time. While I was eyeing a Celebrity cruise that went to Icy Strait Point (which has a zipline that goes down a mountain) and Hubbard Glacier (which is by far the most impressive of the Alaskan glaciers that cruise ships visit), he went ahead and booked a cruise on Carnival Miracle that did neither. Carnival also allows smoking in the casino whereas as Celebrity is still smoke-free indoors on all of their ships, which is another reason to prefer Celebrity. On the other hand, Carnival costs a lot less. At least the Miracle is one of Carnival’s smaller ships. Smaller ships are preferable for Alaska cruises.
South Sawyer Glacier at the end of Tracy Arm (internet photo)
The Miracle itinerary’s one redeeming feature was that it went to Tracy Arm, one of the few places Alaskan cruises go that I have not been to. Several of the cruises I took that were supposed to go to Tracy Arm ended up going down to Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott Arm instead. One didn’t do either. It just sailed past the entrance with no explanation. The only one that was actually scheduled to go to Endicott Arm was a bigger ship that turned around halfway and left without making it all the way to the glacier at the end. So I’ve been to Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott arm several times and Tracy Arm never. Twin Sawyer Glaciers sit at the end of that one. On the map it also appears that Sumdum Glacier at the start of both arms may be more impressive on the Tracy Arm side since it appears to get fairly close to the water there whereas it’s a hanging glacier up a mountain on the Endicott Arm side.
a little peek into Tracy Arm on the other side of the little island at the start of Endicott Arm
Alas, several months before the cruise there was a big landslide in Tracy Arm and it got closed for the entire season. Unlike the other cruises where not going there was a last minute decision, usually due to the entrance being blocked by icebergs, this time we knew in advance it wasn’t happening. That still didn’t soften the blow of once again missing out on getting to see Tracy Arm though.
the blue dot is Carnival Miracle
Endicott Arm
The day of our visit to Endicott Arm dawned bright and sunny. Unlike on some of my previous visits there were no clouds or mist enshrouding Sumdum Glacier, which was visible in all its glory from the starboard side of the ship before we actually turned into the opening that leads to both arms, and we had a good clear view of it from the port side once we actually entered the fjord. This was the best view I’ve had of Sumdum Glacier.
view of Sumdum Glacier on the approach to Endicott Arm
With the sun shining on the glacier we could clearly see the blue ice as well as the white of the glacier. Sumdum Glacier is not the biggest or most impressive glacier around, but it has the most entertaining name. Because if you just hear someone say it and don’t see how it’s spelled it sounds like some dumb glacier, as in I went to Alaska and saw some dumb glacier. It’s on the top of Mount Sumdum. Back when the first European explorers came to the area it was bigger, still a tidewater glacier loudly calving icebergs into the sea. Sumdum is a Tlingit (local native) word used to describe the loud boombing sound of a calving glacier.
Sumdum Glacier from inside the channel
I got the best photos of Sumdum Glacier on this trip that I have ever had. We had not gone from one side of the ship to the other on previous visits to get that pre-channel view and on some were lucky just to get a glimpse of a small bit of it through mist or clouds. The extra view wasn’t planned, we just happened to be at lunch on a starboard side window when that came into view, and back to our balcony on the port side when actually passing by. I’d only previously seen a bit of it at the top of the mountain and never realized it does still come partway down.
glacier explorer
Just past Sumdum Glacier the ship stopped and loaded the people who spent over $300 for a glacier excursion onto smaller boats that would get up closer to the glacier. If those boats went to Tracy Arm rather than just going down Endicott Arm like our ship did, I would have splurged for that excursion, but they didn’t so we just stayed on the ship. The ship doesn’t get as close to Dawes glacier as the small boats, but it does go far enough to get a good view. We got closer to the glacier the first time I went there on Norwegian Sun in 2006, but the glacier has retreated nearly a mile since then and that was a bit smaller ship. The small boats that get up close help give some perspective of the glacier’s size. From the ship’s distance the glacier looks fairly small unless you notice a boat near the glacier, dwarfed by the glacier’s face.
Carnival Luminosa and the glacier explorer
While we were loading people on the excursion vessels, Carnival Luminosa sat on the other side of the channel waiting for one of them to come back and unload their passengers back onto the ship. We also saw Disney Magic in Endicott Arm while we were there. With more ships going to Alaska and less available glaciers since Tracy Arm closed it’s definitely getting more crowded. On previous visits we did not see any other cruise ships in Endicott Arm while we were there.
entrance to Ford’s Terror
Besides the scenery and any wildlife that might show up, the next thing of interest along the way after Sumdum Glacier is Ford’s Terror. The excursion boat went partway into it, but the cruise ship just sails past. Ford’s Terror is an inlet off of Endicott Arm. The name came from early explorations. Ford was a crew member of a survey ship who paddled up the inlet in a small boat during slack tide. When the tide came in with massive volumes of water he was trapped for 6 hours in the violent currents of the tidal surge, afraid he would never get out. Once the tide went back out he was able to leave, but the 6 terrifying hours he spent there gave the inlet its name.
waterfall
The scenery is beautiful throughout the fjord with steep forest covered mountainsides dropping straight down into the water, stunted evergreen trees growing out of mostly bare rock in some places, and waterfalls pouring down the hillside. The naturalist aboard the ship said people with binoculars might spot mountain goats, but we did not bring any. Some people saw some porpoises and birds, but all I spotted were a couple bugs.
bergy bit that looks like a whale
Bergy bits (small bits of iceberg) float by, some in interesting shapes resembling wave runners, boats, or various birds or animals. You can see a lot of different things in bergy bits if you have a good imagination. Sometimes there is wildlife like seabirds or seals riding on bergy bits, but we did not see any on this cruise.
tufted puffin (internet photo)
The most wildlife we ever saw on bergy bits was when we went to Antarctica where a lot of the bergy bits were covered in penguins. Of course there aren’t any penguins in Alaska. It does have puffins, but we didn’t see any.
distant view of Dawes Glacier
It takes quite awhile to sail down to the end of the channel, which the ship does very slowly. Sometimes there is a distant view of the glacier before actually getting there.
Disney Magic in Endicott Arm
Disney Magic was at the glacier as we neared the end of the channel, but it left so we could go on down to the end. As it headed toward our ship it passed by a large bergy bit that was situated where it gave the appearance that the Magic would run into it until it got close enough to pass safely by. Of course the Disney ship was never in any danger of actually hitting the iceberg, it just looked that way from where we were. It doesn’t really look that way in the picture though. The iceberg looked larger in real life too.
Dawes Glacier
All of the ships on Alaska cruises spend enough time at the main glacier they visit to spin around so that whichever side of the ship people are on they get a good view of it. Meanwhile the excursion vessels from our ship as well as some other small ships got much closer to the glacier than the cruise ships do.
ship in front of Dawes Glacier
The cruise ship stops several miles from the glacier so it looks pretty small unless you notice the smaller ships up close and how the glacier towers over them.
glacier explorer coming back to trade passengers
After awhile the excursion vessels came back to offload the first group and pick up another one who would see the glacier up close and then ride those vessels back to the mouth of the fjord before reboarding the Miracle.
glacier explorer
We definitely got lucky on the weather for that, though it would have been better to actually finally see Tracy Arm rather than going to Endicott Arm yet again.
