Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park
Alaska’s Stunning Glacier Bay National Park
Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park
These mammoth glaciers stand as sentinels, observers to the passage of time as they retreat into the distance.
Before you even arrive, you sense it. A change in the air.
You begin in the modern age, at the inlet, floating by lush new forests. As you venture further into the bay, you travel back in time - back to the ice age. As the ship slowly carves its way through icy water, you get the feeling that you are Jack, climbing the beanstalk into the land of giants. Aquamarine waters are filled with icebergs the size of a small car. They lazily float by, watching as you drift into their domain. The exploration of glaciers in Alaska is one of the greatest travel experiences in North America, and nowhere allows you to do that better than here.
This is World Heritage site, an immersive natural lab, a United Nations Biosphere reserve, a national park, and most importantly, a spiritual homeland for Tlingit natives. Here you’ll find countless species of plants and wildlife, placid and serene waters, soaring mountains, and earth shaping rivers of ice.
This is Glacier Bay National Park.
Comprised of 3.3 million acres, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is a part of the 25-million acre World Heritage Site - one of the world’s largest protected natural areas - designated by UNESCO.
Overnight we sailed from Skagway to Glacier Bay National Park. Early in the morning, we dress and head to the bow of the ship to get some of our first views of the glaciers. Glacier Bay isn’t like other ports in Alaska - in fact it’s not really a port at all. Cruise ships generally spend 8-10 hours in Glacier Bay sailing around the serene waters, but you don’t disembark the ship at any point. Ships will get close to the glaciers for observation by passengers from the deck, but you’ll remain on the ship all day.
If each port in Alaska is a show, Glacier Bay is the most exclusive ticket in town. Only two large ships are allowed in Glacier Bay each day, and competition between cruise lines for entry permits into the park is intense. So make sure your itinerary has you going to Glacier Bay!
Guests flock to get a front row seat.
As you get closer to the glaciers, flocks of guests begin to rush to get a front row seat. From far off, it’s hard to tell the immense scale of these mountains of ice, but as you get closer, you begin to understand their awesome, powerful size. Everyone clambers to get a selfie in front of the glacier, because as the age old question goes - if a glacier calves into the water and no one is around to take a selfie in front of it, did it even happen?
The first glacier we come upon is Margerie Glacier, which is a tidewater glacier in the western arm of Glacier Bay. Just over 250 years ago, Glacier Bay was all glacier and no bay. Back then, a massive river of ice, roughly 100 miles long and thousands of feet deep occupied the entire bay. Today, that massive glacier is gone, leaving behind fewer than a dozen tidewater glaciers. Ships must travel 65 miles into the long, finger like inlets before they can see the ones left behind, sequestered to their own alcoves. They flow from the mountains to calve into the sea, inviting us to slow down and breathe deeply the cool of the ice age air. These mammoth glaciers stand as sentinels, ever changing their faces, observers to the passage of time as they retreat into the distance.
While in Glacier Bay, there are several places on the ship to find some incredible views. We find our way to the lower decks, but we could just as easily find spectacular views on the top deck, from the balcony in our staterooms (which I HIGHLY recommend for an Alaskan Cruise), or from the Observation Lounge on the 15th floor - one of the highlights of sailing to Alaska on the Norwegian Bliss.
Observing the glaciers from the lower decks.
We spent most of our day in Glacier Bay outside on the lower decks because the weather was comfortable, and there was plenty of seating. The ship provides binoculars - the kind that are attached to the ground you might see at any number of tourists site - but I definitely recommend bringing your own binoculars. Although there are over 1,000 glaciers in Glacier Bay, you’ll likely only see four to five tidewater glaciers. Some of the most frequently viewed are the the Margerie, Reid, and Johns Hopkins glaciers. Ships generally linger in front of each glacier to give guests plenty of time to admire the their incredible beauty.
While glaciers are obviously the star of the show in Glacier Bay, there is so much more to see here. As the glaciers have retreated, young new forests now cloak parts of the land with incredible rich green hues. Flora and fauna are abundant, and while we visitors appreciate them for their aesthetic beauty, there are many specialists who travel here to study the incredible biodiversity.
In fact, a lot of what we know about animals, plant life and climate change has come from studies at Glacier Bay. While some glaciers are retreating and some are advancing, overall the accelerated melting of ice in modern times is a dramatic and persistent reminder of large, potentially disruptive shifts underway from our warming climate. Being in such close proximity to Alaska’s melting glaciers really helped us form a personal connection to climate change. While we are lucky enough to enjoy these beautiful mountains of ice, it’s important to think about the future, and to ask ourselves how Glacier Bay may change even in our own lifetime. We need to ask ourselves what we can do to help preserve this breathtaking environment for future generations of humans and animals. It entices us to take a moment in which we do nothing but attempt to focus on, what could be, the waning years of the glaciers as we know them.
Glacier Bay is a great place to see a ton of wildlife, provided you’re not me! Seriously, I kept missing wildlife this entire trip. My travel companions would see, say, a giant brown bear foraging for food, and I would turn around to see it for a split second just as we rounded the corner, barely catching a glimpse before they disappeared from view. In Glacier Bay you can find, seals, whales, bears, otters, eagles and more! So keep your eyes peeled, your binoculars at the ready, and hope you have better luck than me!
The floor to ceiling windows in the Observation Lounge on the Norwegian Bliss make it a great - and warm - place to view Glacier Bay National Park.
After a few hours of glacier viewing outside on deck, we make our way to inside to Deck 15 and the Observation Lounge. The Norwegian Bliss was built specifically for Alaskan cruises, and while part of the year you’ll find this ship in the Caribbean, Alaska is where the Bliss truly shines - and that is largely because of the Observation Lounge. This space was made to provide breathtaking views of glaciers and mountains in Alaska. It covers the front 3/4 of the ship, and it includes tons of seating areas, buffets, bars, and often there is live music as well. It’s a great place to relax with a book, grab something to eat, play a board game or simply stare out the windows at the scenery as you float by. What really makes it spectacular are the towering, floor to ceiling windows that provide 180 degree views at the very front of the ship. It’s truly an experience like nothing else.
Something else that truly enhanced the entire experience while in Glacier Bay were the National Park Rangers. The Rangers board the ship early in the morning to answer questions, give announcements over the loudspeaker, and provide insight and perspective into what we saw with commentary throughout the day. They also teach classes in the main theater throughout the day, lecturing about the park and the environment. They talk about what it’s like to live in Glacier Bay, and what to look for while you’re here. Then, at the end of the day, they disembark, climb back into their own boat, and sail off into the sunset like super heroes!
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