Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve USACruise Port Guide

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is one of the most dramatic expressions of geological time on earth — a place where visitors can witness, in a single day's sailing, the aftermath of the Little Ice Age and the ongoing story of ecological recovery. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the bay was entirely choked by a single enormous glacier that filled the valley to a depth of 1,500 meters. When explorer George Vancouver mapped the area in 1794, the glacier's face was near the bay's entrance. By the time John Muir arrived in 1880, the ice had retreated sixty miles, revealing the fjord that cruise ships traverse today. The retreat continues, though its pace now carries a more troubling implication for the planet's climate.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve, the park encompasses 3.3 million acres of some of the most intact wilderness in the world. The bay itself is divided into two main inlets: the western arm leads to the spectacular Margerie Glacier, a tidewater glacier that remains actively advancing, and the Grand Pacific Glacier, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border; the eastern arm leads to Johns Hopkins Glacier, hemmed in by mountains and usually clogged with icebergs so densely packed that ships can rarely approach within several miles.

Cruise ships are limited by the National Park Service to a small number of daily permits, which keeps the experience intimate relative to other Alaskan ports. No tendering or docking occurs — ships spend 8 to 10 hours sailing the length of the bay, maneuvering as close as safe to glacier faces, while park rangers who have boarded the ship at Bartlett Cove narrate the geology, ecology, and cultural history over the public address system.