This is my second consecutive year going to Hubbard Glacier on Norwegian Jewel. Last year I did the Hubbard Glacier Explorer. I believe you should always try to do a glacier tour your first time at a glacier. It worked out great for me because we had bad weather and if you weren’t on the tour, you didn’t get to see the glacier.

This year I decided to save the money and and show you what it’s like to experience the glacier from the ship. It worked out perfect with great weather this time.

This is a great spot if you want your private little viewing area. This is on lido deck just before you enter the buffet area. I’m not sure how early they had to get here to reserve this spot. It’s 2:25pm now.

We are approaching the glacier.

You can see the Hubbard Glacier Explorer tour leaving. The ship was extremely far away from here last year. It was a long ride back. The glacier wasn’t within sight of the ship. 

I found a brand of beer that still comes in glass bottles here.

They opened up the crew area for viewing. I’m going to head down.

They have signs guiding you there.

Cruise Director

This is amazing. These people have no idea how fortunate we are to be this close to the glacier! I’m just standing back out of the way and reaching up for my pictures while others are jockeying for position. Occasionally I share my story from last year. Some appreciate it. Some don’t believe it.

I saw a lot of frustrated people leave because of the crowd. It really thinned out if they would’ve waited 20-30 minutes.

When I got down there at 3:20 it was packed. This is what the crowd looked like when I left at 4.

It looks like it’s even less crowded down there now.

Let’s take a look at the view from lido deck.

I grabbed a couple Boston Lagers.

That’s a Seabourn ship that I always see in Alaska.

The glacier explorer is on it’s way back.

The Seabourn ship is getting really close to the glacier. You probably don’t need a glacier excursion with them.

The glacier excursion is back and unloaded. We will likely be pulling away from the glacier soon.

Last year when I did the excursion in bad weather, the ship was way out there where the boat is heading now.

Having experienced Hubbard glacier on both good and bad weather days, I think I can give a well-informed opinion on how to handle this day. I would definitely recommend the Hubbard Glacier Explorer if you can do it. If you want to get a close look and be able to see and hear calving, that’s the only way to go.

If all you want is a picture with the glacier in the background, the ship is good for that. But there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen. I will say the time it didn’t happen they did take us by Sawyer Glacier and Tracy Arm Fjord as a makeup.