Hi there!
Hubbard Glacier is a sea day.
There’s a Hubbard Glacier excursion?!?!
There are excursions to get off the cruise ship on a sea day?!
Yes, there is a Hubbard Glacier excursion to get off the cruise ship and get closer to Hubbard Glacier!
You will be stepping off of the cruise ship directly onto a small boat!
It’s kind of like the water shuttle in a tender port… except you’ll be getting on a bigger boat.
ð In Alaska, there are glacier sea days that excursions are offered! If your Alaska cruise is going to Hubbard Glacier, the Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration excursion may be offered from the cruise ship. If your Alasks cruise is going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier, then the Endicott Arm Fjord excursion may be offered. There are no small boat excursions on the Glacier Bay National Park sea day.
ð Sailing to Hubbard Glacier on a Princess cruise ship. You do not need an excursion in order to see Hubbard Glacier. You will be able to see Hubbard Glacier from the cruise ship. But the Hubbard Glacier wilderness excursion will allow you to get closer to the glacier!
If you see the Hubbard Glacier excursion offered during your cruise, you should decide NOW whether or not you want to do it.
If you do decide to do it, you should book NOW!
This is not something that you wait until you are on the cruise ship to do.
The Hubbard Glacier excursion is known to sell out.
I have an Alaska cruise in September, and pretty much the FIRST thing I did after I booked the cruise was book the Hubbard Glacier excursion!
That was in March. There were actually plenty of tickets available at that time so I thought maybe I was overreacting.
I have noticed that the most any Princess shore excursion will show available is 20 tickets, even if there are more than 20 tickets available. Since it was showing “20 tickets” left, I figured there must be tons of tickets left.
But when I checked the excursion in June, it was sold out!
So if you do nothing else upon booking your Alaska cruise, I say book the Hubbard Glacier excursion!
Well, if you think you will like it, that is! If you are going to Alaska for the glaciers, I think you will!
ð The cost of the Hubbard Glacier excursion is around $300. Book the Hubbard Glacier excursion early while there are tickets left!
ð It’s not uncommon for the Hubbard Glacier excursion tickets to sell out!
If you missed the opportunity to do the Hubbard Glacier excursion because it’s sold out and you will be going to Whittier, I recommend checking out the 26 glacier boat tour in Whittier! This is the reason why I’m excited for the Hubbard Glacier excursion! There is such a difference between seeing a glacier from a cruise ship and seeing it up close!
If you have an Alaska cruise booked, you can log into your account at princess.com and then go to the excursions section to search for the Hubbard Glacier excursion.
If you have an early season Alaska cruise or late season Alaska cruise, the Hubbard Glacier excursion may not be offered.
ð If the Hubbard Glacier excursion is offered during your Alaska cruise, you will be able to “view excursions” on Hubbard Glacier day.
ð If there is no Hubbard Glacier excursion during your Alaska cruise, you won’t have the option to “view excursions” for Hubbard Glacier day.
ð Hubbard Glacier excursions are not offered on every cruise ship that goes to Hubbard Glacier.
I had an Alaska cruise in May.
The Hubbard Glacier sea day was on May 2.
There was no Hubbard Glacier excursion.
The day before we went to Hubbard Glacier, the captain even mentioned that it was uncertain whether or not we would be able to get close enough to see Hubbard Glacier at all.
It was unknown if there was going to be too much ice to get close.
It turns out we were able to see Hubbard Glacier and I am pretty sure the Princess naturalist even said it was the closest she has ever gotten to Hubbard Glacier.
I also have a second Alaska cruise in September that goes to Hubbard Glacier.
There is no Hubbard Glacier excursion offered on September 17.
More below about booking the Hubbard Glacier excursion!
ð
How to book the Hubbard Glacier excursion
- Go to princess.com and log into your account
- Go to “my account”
- Go to “manage this booking” for your Hubbard Glacier cruise
- Go to “excursions”
- Go to “view excursions” for Hubbard Glacier day
If you don’t see a spot to book the Hubbard Glacier excursion, I take it to mean that it is just not offered at all.
The exception to this would be if your Alaska cruise is still really far out and they just haven’t updated the excursions list.
Even if the excursion is sold out, it will still appear. It will just say that it’s sold out.
ð Once you are logged into your account and go to “my account,” you will next go to “manage this booking.”
ð You will look for excursions!
ð Your cruise itinerary will appear, along with all of the ports and glacier sea days for which you are able to book excursions, including Hubbard Glacier if it’s offered.
ð If the Hubbard Glacier excursion is not offered, you will have no opportunity to “view excursions” for Hubbard Glacier day.
ð Read the reviews for the Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Exploration excursion from a Princess cruise ship.
Is the Hubbard Glacier excursion offered on the future cruise you are considering?
If you are look at doing an Alaska cruise with a Hubbard Glacier day in June, July, or August, then yes, I would assume that there will be a Hubbard Glacier excursion offered.
If you are considering an Alaska cruise in May or September, then there may not be a Hubbard Glacier excursion in early May or late September.
How to figure out if there’s a Hubbard Glacier excursion for a cruise you haven’t booked:
- Go to princess.com
- Go to the cruise itinerary for the specific sailing of the Alaska cruise you want to do
- Look for Hubbard Glacier day
- Click on “view excursions”
- The Hubbard Glacier wilderness excursion is either there or it isn’t!
This is how I would go about figuring out if there is the Hubbard Glacier excursion offered on a future cruise.
This may not be a fool-proof way of figuring it out, but I think it works.
Actually I do think this method works, and I used it myself before booking my first September cruise. But I don’t want to be blamed in case you book it after doing this, and then find out it’s actually not offered. So, that’s my disclaimer. Book any cruise at your own risk! ðĪŠ But again, this is how I figured it out for myself.
Also, if your Alaska cruise is still a really long time from now, it’s possible that the excursions list hasn’t been updated yet.
Now, if the cruise you’re looking at it just a few weeks away, it is a completely DIFFERENT thing to know whether or not the Hubbard Glacier excursion is actually AVAILABLE and not sold out before you book your cruise.
For that, if it’s really important to you, you might have to rely on the kindness of people.
Like, joining a facebook group that’s dedicated to the specific cruise ship or cruise date you’re looking at and hoping there is a kind soul who is booked on the cruise who won’t mind looking it up. I can tell you that on my Alaska cruise on the Grand Princess that starts on September 2, the Hubbard Glacier excursion is sold out.
ð Hubbard Glacier excursion is offered!
ð There is no Hubbard Glacier excursion.
Do you NEED to do the Hubbard Glacier Wilderness Excursion in order for the Hubbard Glacier sea day to be worth it?
I have not yet done the Hubbard Glacier excursion. But I am booked for it in early September 2023!
And, I am super excited about it, because I have personally seen from another small boat glacier excursion that there is a BIG difference between seen a glacier from a cruise ship vs seeing it from a small(er) boat!
So I am expecting the Hubbard Glacier excursion to be an amazing experience!
Although side note. It’s also possible for these types of excursions to be affected by weather, so it’s also important to manage your expectations!
This is just how it is in Alaska. For example, it’s not uncommon for dog sledding tours in Alaska to get canceled… sometimes even at the last minute.
While it may seem like the cruise ship gets pretty close to Hubbard Glacier, the reality is that you are still pretty far.
The Hubbard Glacier excursion will allow you to get even closer to Hubbard Glacier!
Of course, what is worth it to one person is not a big deal to another.
But if you are in Alaska for glaciers, then I would say there’s a good chance that you will think that the Hubbard Glacier excursion is really great.
That said, you don’t need to do the excursion in order to have a perfect Hubbard Glacier sea day.
Because really, if it’s your first Alaska cruise, you won’t have anything to compare it to (aka the small boat excursion), so you will think the views from the cruise ship are incredible!
As long as the cruise ship is able to get to Hubbard Glacier. Again, weather and other sea conditions will control how far in the cruise ship will go, although it will never go in as close as the small boat goes.
You will love any experience of seeing any glacier from a cruise ship if it’s new to you!
But I imagine that taking a small boat will give you EVEN BETTER views of Hubbard Glacier!
I say this based on my College Fjord glacier experience!
I first saw College Fjord from a cruise ship.
Then, not expecting much, I saw College Fjord from a small boat the next day.
What a difference!!!!
When I was on the small boat, I couldn’t even tell that it was what I saw the day before!
I was actually very confused and I was trying to get oriented with where we were on the small boat vs where the cruise ship was!
And that’s a bit about the Hubbard Glacier sea day!
More glaciers in Alaska:
HAPPY SEEING HUBBARD GLACIER!
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