Alaska glaciers

[wailea4me]

I am trying to plan a cruise to Alaska. I'm confused with all the different glaciers. What are the best glaciers to see - Hubbard, Tracy Arm, or Glacier Bay? Also, is the Inside Passage a must see? Thanks.

[fsdj1097]

I am trying to plan a cruise to Alaska. I'm confused with all the different glaciers. What are the best glaciers to see - Hubbard, Tracy Arm, or Glacier Bay? Also, is the Inside Passage a must see? Thanks.

 

First off, when you say best, that's hard to determine what's best for you. Hubbard Glacier is one of the few tidewater glaciers that is actively advancing. It is also one of the largest, with the face of the glaciers being over 6 miles across. Glacier Bay is actually an accumulation of glaciers with Marjerie Glacier being the one that most remember. Tracy Arm contains the twin Sawyer Glaciers at the very end of the inlet. However, Tracy Arm is very iffy for most cruisers as very often there is too much ice in the water to get close enough for viewing.

 

My recommendation is to book the itenerary that has multiple glacier viewing opportunities to maximize you chance of getting up close to one of the reasons that a lot of people cruise Alaska to see.

 

I have cruise the Inside Passage twice and consider it a must see.

[skibozo]

Don't forget the Mendenhall glacier in Juneau.Very pretty. At the dock you can find shuttle buses for about $16 roundtrip. Blue bus seems to have a good rep here.

 

Inside passage is gorgeous.

[Chenega]

If you take a major cruiseline to Alaska, you will go through the Inside Passage and Southeast Alaska. That's simply the normal route. With a few exceptions, some do the inside passage only while others also go one way between Vancouver or Seattle and Southcentral Alaska (Whittier or Seward).

 

In my opinion, any glacier viewing is good but the best are Glacier Bay and/or Hubbard for overall accessibility.

[chipmaster]

If you can only pick one, Glacier Bay. There is a reason of them all this is the "national park"

 

As another posters said, Mendenhall which is a short distance from Juneau is worth a stop in that port.

 

As to inside passage, this IMHO is not a must do if one is limited to a roundtrip.

[Chenega]

Any cruises in Southeast Alaska and the ports of Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, or Skagway are part of the so-called Inside Passage of Alaska. No way around it even with a roundtrip only. That's a fact of our geography.

[Glaciers]

Although Margerie Glacier put on quite a show for us last year in Glacier Bay, I would rather go back to Hubbard. It's just so huge. It can be difficult to get to sometimes though due to ice. There was a post a month or so ago that said they may start limiting large ships to Hubbard. It would be nice to get clarification on that.

 

It would be unusual for a SE Alaska cruise not to do a good portion of the inside passage.

[fsdj1097]

Round trip cruises from Vancouver travel the inside passage on the 'Inside' of Vancouver Island.

 

Many round trip cruises from Seattle sail outside of Vancouver Island and in the open Pacific the entire first day and last day of the cruise.

 

IMHO, the R/T Vancouver sailings are much more scenic.