Celebrity's Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration Excursion - Is it Worth it?

[BeachTunes]

Hello!

 

We just made final payment for our September Solstice cruise to Alaska! Yay! This trip will mark hitting my final US state. I've been to the other 49 and just need to cross Alaska off my list!

 

We'll be in an aft Concierge Sunset Veranda Stateroom and are looking forward to the wake views as we have only sailed in midship staterooms in the past. I imagine the Hubbard Glacier views will be wonderful! We'll likely also jump up to the bow for alternative viewpoints. 

 

That said, there is a very expensive excursion that a lot of various forums say is a MUST when at Hubbard Glacier... The Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration. It's currently offered at 25% off but it still costs a whopping $537 per person Canadian! (That's around $390 USD per person.) A g-note for a two hour tour just to get closer to the glacier seems excessive to me. But I'm curious if it really is as great as many people say. We've already splurged on the Taku Lodge Feast and Glacier Flight in Juneau. Trying to decide if this experience at Hubbard will delight or disappoint! If it's on a loud, crowded vessel, I think I'll pass but I can't decide, even having watched a few YouTube videos. I imagine it would be an absolute drag in the rain, a situation no one can predict. 

 

Any feedback would be appreciated! (I will post this on the Alaska board as well as I believe the ships all use the same tour operator. Although, it seems Celebrity's pricing is the highest! Go figure!)

 

Thank you! 🙂

 

 

Edited June 7 by BeachTunes

[Peteymil]

1 hour ago, BeachTunes said:

Hello!

 

We just made final payment for our September Solstice cruise to Alaska! Yay! This trip will mark hitting my final US state. I've been to the other 49 and just need to cross Alaska off my list!

 

We'll be in an aft Concierge Sunset Veranda Stateroom and are looking forward to the wake views as we have only sailed in midship staterooms in the past. I imagine the Hubbard Glacier views will be wonderful! We'll likely also jump up to the bow for alternative viewpoints. 

 

That said, there is a very expensive excursion that a lot of various forums say is a MUST when at Hubbard Glacier... The Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration. It's currently offered at 25% off but it still costs a whopping $537 per person Canadian! (That's around $390 USD per person.) A g-note for a two hour tour just to get closer to the glacier seems excessive to me. But I'm curious if it really is as great as many people say. We've already splurged on the Taku Lodge Feast and Glacier Flight in Juneau. Trying to decide if this experience at Hubbard will delight or disappoint! If it's on a loud, crowded vessel, I think I'll pass but I can't decide, even having watched a few YouTube videos. I imagine it would be an absolute drag in the rain, a situation no one can predict. 

 

Any feedback would be appreciated! (I will post this on the Alaska board as well as I believe the ships all use the same tour operator. Although, it seems Celebrity's pricing is the highest! Go figure!)

 

Thank you! 🙂

 

 

Will be very interested to see the responses. We are going on our ninth cruise to Alaska in a month on the solstice, and we've always seen the small ship leave and wondered if it would be worth it. The comments I've read were yes it was a great excursion. Often times the celebrity ship has gotten close but that small ship is that much closer. We decided to bite the bullet and do it this time, I'm sure it will be a one and done, but we're going to take advantage. 

[LeeW]

That ship gets far closer to the glacier than the cruise ship.  Last B2B it was cancelled northbound due to fog and folks got refundable OBC.  In four Royal cruise we have never taken it.  Your flightseeing is far more spectacular, so keep that.

 

If you want to get closer to a glacier, try Princess or Holland America.  They go into Glacier bay and spend over an hour near Margerie Glacier.  For Hubbard you will be several miles from the glacier.  In Glacier Bay several ship lengths.  You look UP at the glacier and the ship rocks when calving occurs (have only seen big calving once in four trips, though).

[chadwickx16]

We did it last year, as well as four of our friends and we all thought it was very worth it. However, I think the price has gone up substantially.

[amshowers]

Just did this excursion on the May 17 sailing of Summit.  It was awesome!!  We got within half a mile of the glacier.  It was a full boat, but the outdoor viewing platform has plenty of space for all to view and take pictures.  We saw several instances of calving.  I know Glacier Bay is the preferred experience, but for those of us sailing on Celebrity this is the best glacier experience we can have and I was very satisfied with it.  If this is your only cruise to Alaska and you want to see a glacier up close, this is a great opportunity.  I’m happy to answer any specific questions, but I think it is definitely worth the money.

[BeachTunes]

Thank you all very much for your excellent feedback. I just booked it!

 

I have a feeling we will love Alaska so much that we will want to return but not likely for several years as there are just so many places on our travel bucket list. So I took the plunge on this once in a lifetime experience!

 

I'm going to try not to tell my husband about it until we're on board. 🙂

Edited June 8 by BeachTunes

[nordicacres]

I am actually sailing NCL, but we signed up to do this tour in a few weeks. I will have a (likely) lengthy review of the trip posted on that board if you care to venture over there to check it out. We are sailing 6/24/24.

[BeachTunes]

32 minutes ago, nordicacres said:

I am actually sailing NCL, but we signed up to do this tour in a few weeks. I will have a (likely) lengthy review of the trip posted on that board if you care to venture over there to check it out. We are sailing 6/24/24.

 

Thank you so much! I will definitely be on the lookout for your review. Have a wonderful trip!

[NMTraveller]

18 hours ago, LeeW said:

If you want to get closer to a glacier, try Princess or Holland America.  They go into Glacier bay and spend over an hour near Margerie Glacier.  For Hubbard you will be several miles from the glacier.  In Glacier Bay several ship lengths.  You look UP at the glacier and the ship rocks when calving occurs (have only seen big calving once in four trips, though).

Yes we did this on HAL.  It was up close and a very good view on the cruise ship.

Edited June 8 by NMTraveller

[whitbob]

We did the small boat excursion at Hubbard.  It was expensive, but turned out to be a beautiful day.  How close the ship can get to the face of the glacier depends on the day and amount of ice in the water.  These are iPhone pictures.  They give you an idea how close you get to the glacier, with one on a tight zoom. The first one shows Millennium and was taken looking back from the glacier, so you can see, the ship was not very close that day.  We were happy with the decision to take the excursion.

 

 

[BeachTunes]

@whitbob Wow! What amazing photos! Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm even more excited now! 🙂

[BeasleysMom66]

On 6/7/2024 at 4:39 PM, amshowers said:

Just did this excursion on the May 17 sailing of Summit.  It was awesome!!  We got within half a mile of the glacier.  It was a full boat, but the outdoor viewing platform has plenty of space for all to view and take pictures.  We saw several instances of calving.  I know Glacier Bay is the preferred experience, but for those of us sailing on Celebrity this is the best glacier experience we can have and I was very satisfied with it.  If this is your only cruise to Alaska and you want to see a glacier up close, this is a great opportunity.  I’m happy to answer any specific questions, but I think it is definitely worth the money.

 

I was on that cruise and that excursion and have to agree completely.  I do not regret spending that money one bit.  I know of one person who was on that cruise who was very angry that the Summit didn't get closer than 5 miles to Hubbard while the 130 of us on the excursion got within a half mile.  

 

Dress warm though because when the boat is moving you will need a good winter hat and gloves for sure.

 

 

[BeasleysMom66]

Here is how close the Summit was compared to the excursion boat:

 

 

[BeachTunes]

@BeasleysMom66 Thank you for your feedback and amazing photos! I'm so happy to have booked this tour while it had availability!

Edited June 9 by BeachTunes