Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is spread over 3.3 million acres of Southeast Alaska, about 65 miles west of Juneau. Glacier Bay is only accessible by plane, boat, or ship, and a day in the park is often included on Alaska cruises.

Cruise ships enter Glacier Bay at the Visitor's Center at Bartlett Cove and pick up a park ranger and interpretive guide for the day. Although 200 years ago the entire tidewater area was covered with glaciers, today it is another 55 mile ride to the tidewater glaciers from Bartlett Cove. On our Cruise West Spirit of Yorktown small ship cruise, we picked up our two guides early in the morning, and spent most of the morning spotting wildlife and enjoying the magnificent glaciers and mountain scenery. We arrived at Margerie Glacier in the afternoon and marveled at this river of ice, cheering when it calved and oohing when the sun brought out the brilliant blue color. By the time we arrived back at Bartlett Cove, it was almost dark. What a great day!