For years, sailing through Tracy Arm in southeast Alaska has been a highlight of many cruise itineraries, drawing visitors with its dramatic fjord landscapes and active glaciers that calve into icy waters.
The narrow passage, framed by rugged wilderness, has long been considered one of the region’s most scenic cruising experiences. However, this season several major cruise lines are choosing to bypass the route.
The decision follows a massive landslide last summer, when a large section of a glacier collapsed into the fjord, triggering a tsunami that sent waves surging high up the opposing mountainside. The event raised concerns about the stability of surrounding slopes, which remain potentially hazardous.
Citing passenger safety and ongoing geological risks, cruise operators have opted to alter itineraries, reflecting a more cautious approach as conditions in the area continue to be assessed.
“Tracy Arm is the majestic princess, you know, she is the queen of fjords,” said travel agent Nate Vallier.
The destination cruise and tour companies have chosen as an alternative – nearby Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier – is “still beautiful by any means, but it’s just not the same”, he said.
Tracy Arm, southeast of Juneau, is a roughly 50-kilometre fjord that leads to the Sawyer Glacier and features wildlife, including seals and bears.
On 10 August 2025, a landslide originating high on a slope above the toe of the South Sawyer, near the head of the fjord, sent water surging more than a quarter mile (more than half a kilometre) up the mountain wall opposite the slide and out Tracy Arm.
No ships were in the fjord, officials said, and no deaths or injuries were reported. But kayakers camped on an island near where Tracy and Endicott arms meet had much of their gear swept away by the rushing water.
Southeast Alaska, largely encompassed by a temperate rainforest, is no stranger to landslides. And while it’s long been known the fjord network in the Tracy Arm region has been susceptible, the slope that failed had not been identified as an active hazard before last summer’s collapse, said Gabriel Wolken, manager of the state’s climate and ice hazards programme.
Scientists are working to understand not only what caused the slope to collapse but to understand what other hazards might exist in the fjord, he said.
The area remains unstable, said Steven Sobieszczyk, a US Geological Survey spokesperson. Steep landslide areas continue to change for years after an initial slide, he said by email.
“Continued rockfall and small-scale sliding from the exposed landslide scar are expected and could impact the water, potentially causing a future localised tsunami,” he said.
Major cruise companies, including Holland America, Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean said in response to inquiries from AP that they are replacing a Tracy Arm visit with Endicott Arm. MSC Cruises, Virgin Voyages and regional tour company Allen Marine also are doing Endicott and Dawes Glacier instead. Norwegian Cruise Line said it does not have voyages sailing by Tracy Arm.
Endicott already has been a stop for some ships previously and an alternative when conditions in Tracy Arm, such as excess ice, have been unsafe.
Vallier, who owns the Alaska Travel Desk, said he would have liked cruise companies to give travellers more advance notice about itinerary changes.
After leaving Seattle, the first ships of the season are due 21 April in Ketchikan and in Juneau the following week.
Seeing a glacier – particularly a dynamic, calving glacier – is a bucket-list item for many tourists, and that’s what has made Tracy Arm so popular, he said. While the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau is a major attraction for the capital city and cruise port, many visitors view it from across a large lake, and it has diminished or entirely retreated from view from some hiking overlooks.
Kimberly Lebeda of Wichita, Kansas, was excited when she booked tickets for a Tracy Arm excursion for her family last year. Lebeda, who researches areas she visits, said she was sold on the scenery.
But the night before the stop, they were told that due to ice in Tracy Arm, they would go up Endicott instead. Her family and others who’d booked the excursion got off the ship and onto a smaller boat with glass windows, abundant seating and snacks. They saw seals on ice floes, waterfalls and “a wall of ice” calve from Dawes Glacier, she said.
She called it “an amazing thing to witness”.
“Was it worth it? Yes, because I don’t know if I’ll ever get to do that trip again,” she said. “Again, I haven’t ever been to Tracy Arm so I can’t really compare. But to me, was it worth it and was it exciting? Absolutely.”
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