Alaska cruises avoid Tracy Arm
Cruise companies are steering clear of the popular Tracy Arm excursion after a massive landslide made the route unstable, forcing operators to alter Alaska itineraries. (apnews.com) The move is disrupting a high‑demand excursion and highlights spring hazards for shoulder‑season travel in glacial fjord areas. (apnews.com)
Major cruise lines are dropping Tracy Arm from 2026 Alaska sailings after a 2025 landslide left the fjord under an active tsunami warning zone. (apnews.com) The U.S. Geological Survey said a slope above South Sawyer Glacier collapsed into Tracy Arm on August 10, 2025, at 5:26 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time and generated a tsunami. The agency said the exposed scar can keep shedding rock for years and “this area remains hazardous.” (usgs.gov) Alaska Public Media reported Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises have already told passengers they will skip Tracy Arm in 2026. Most are substituting Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier, another glacier route southeast of Juneau. (alaskapublic.org) The change lands just before the Alaska season starts. AP reported the first 2026 cruise ships are due in Ketchikan on April 21 and in Juneau the following week. (apnews.com) Tracy Arm is not a port stop with buses and docks. It is a narrow fjord where cruise ships or small excursion boats spend hours glacier-viewing, with steep walls, floating ice and little room to maneuver. (apnews.com) That narrow geography is part of the problem after a slide. The Alaska Earthquake Center said people near Harbor Island, about 36 miles from the landslide, reported waves of 10 to 15 feet, and later analysis found the tsunami ran about 100 feet up Sawyer Island. (earthquake.alaska.edu, gi.alaska.edu) Cruise lines are framing the shift as a safety and operations decision, not a cancellation of glacier days altogether. Holland America’s excursion page says “unstable ice and geological conditions” mean all 2026 departures will explore Endicott Arm instead. (hollandamerica.com) Scientists are still measuring how big the event was. The University of Alaska Fairbanks said preliminary analysis put the slide at more than 100 million cubic meters of rock and debris, one of Alaska’s largest landslides in a decade. (uaf.edu) Passengers will still see ice, waterfalls and a tidewater glacier on many revised itineraries, but not the Sawyer Glacier route that made Tracy Arm a signature southeast Alaska excursion. For 2026, the postcard fjord is becoming a geology hazard first and a cruise destination second. (travelweekly.com, apnews.com)
