I found the Hubbard Glacier Explorer excursion to be be a bit on the expensive side. At $400, it’s more than I paid to walk on a glacier for two and a half hours from Anchorage. I did get a $50 discount with NCL’s Free At Sea promotion taking the price down to $350. After watching videos of ships getting close to the glacier, I was really thinking twice about this excursion. One thing those videos don’t show is all of the times the ship couldn’t get close to the glacier. That’s exactly what happened today so my recommendation is to always book the excursion if you want your best odds at seeing the glacier.

It’s 2:30 and I have reached the excursion meeting point.

At 2:42 I boarded the excursion boat.

The boat does have a bar. I made the mistake last year of not bringing any money. I fixed that this time.

I got two Single Engine Reds. I had this at the Fish House in Ketchikan last year.

And we are on the move.

The boat has indoor seating downstairs as well as two standing levels outdoors. I’m outside upstairs.

That looks like the Norwegian Sun that I saw last year in Victoria. 

That looks like the Seaborne ship I saw last year in Juneau.

More people are starting to gather outside as we get closer to the glacier.

And this is our first look at Hubbard glacier.

They picked up two pieces of ice. One for people to touch and take pictures with and another to make drinks with. I never went downstairs until we were back to the ship so I didn’t get anymore drinks or see the ice.

Imagine being in that little boat out here.

There’s no way any of the ships are able to see the glacier today. You have to be on this excursion to see it.

One thing we got to see here that I didn’t get to see at Sawyer Glacier last year was calving. I think it was too early in the year for the ice to be melting that much last year.

 

And we are heading back.

The upper deck has cleared out. I’m soaked but I’m going to hang here the entire ride back.

Seaborne

And now the Jewel is finally in sight. It’s not getting anywhere near the glacier.

I went down and was able to get a cup of hot chocolate.

Everything got really wet out there but I’m really glad I booked that excursion. The weather wasn’t the best. Multiple ships were out there but if you weren’t on this excursion, you didn’t see anything.