What Cruise Lines Are Sailing Into Glacier Bay 2023?

[GSPG]

Having been told Glacier Bay is a must on an Alaskan cruise. If available, could someone please provide a list of the cruise lines able to access the bay next year as I understand only two ships are allowed in a day.

We are thinking of going to the area next August for my daughter’s 30th birthday, but need to look closely at what each line has to offer. Ideally, a demographic of a ship for the younger adult would be suffice.

 

Thank you.

[PACD_JG]

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/glacier-bay-port-494?tab=schedule&month=2023-08#schedule

[CruiserBruce]

The contracts are long (10 years or better) and, IIRC, not set to expire anytime soon. So any cruise lines sailed there in 2022, will sail there in 2023.

[1025cruise]

I believe Princess and HAL have the most sailings to Glacier Bay, plus NCL and Carnival. RCI and Celebrity do not have a contract to sail to Glacier Bay.

[donaldsc]

Try typing "cruise lines authorized for glacier bay" into Google and scrolling down a bit to the NPS site.

 

DON

[Heidi13]

Here is a link to the media announcement

 

https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/news/glacier-bay-issues-new-contracts-for-cruise-ship-services.htm

 

Note - RCCL have declined to use their permits. Viking do visit, but not on all cruises, as they have a 10-day schedule.

[Kirsten T]

Looking at the 2023 schedule here https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1250

on the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska site, looks like HAL, NCL, Princess regularly and occasionally Cunard, Viking and Seaborn. I've never been on NCL but I'd guess that's going to be a generally younger crowd than Princess and HAL (although I love both lines.) Check out the individual cruise line boards to get some good info from CC members.

[GSPG]

On 8/6/2022 at 2:02 PM, CruiserBruce said:

The contracts are long (10 years or better) and, IIRC, not set to expire anytime soon. So any cruise lines sailed there in 2022, will sail there in 2023.

Is there a way of finding out which lines may be able to cruise to the bay after 2024? I have a preference with Celebrity.

Thanks.

[CruiserBruce]

16 minutes ago, GSPG said:

Is there a way of finding out which lines may be able to cruise to the bay after 2024? I have a preference with Celebrity.

Thanks.

If you look in post #6, there is a link to the article that says, in summary, the current contract goes to Oct 2029. So 2030 would likely be the first year, unless RCI decides to use the concessions granted to them, but not currently being used.

[vacation44]

On 8/6/2022 at 8:41 AM, PACD_JG said:

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/glacier-bay-port-494?tab=schedule&month=2023-08#schedule

Thank you for this link.   It was very helpful to me.

[Glaciers]

Another link for those authorized to operate in Glacier Bay.

https://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisit/area-visitor-services-listing.htm

 

[Coral]

On 8/14/2022 at 1:51 PM, GSPG said:

Is there a way of finding out which lines may be able to cruise to the bay after 2024? I have a preference with Celebrity.

Thanks.

Celebrity hasn't gone to Glacier Bay in over 25 years (since I started keeping track). It won't change until 2030 I believe.

[donaldsc]

There are lots of ships in port WEB sites that show what ships will be in port on any given day.  Glacier Bay is considered a port.  You can look all of this up on the WEB yourself.  These sites are very useful for all sorts of cruising questions.

 

DON

[Eartpukaem]

100 times, yes, please Yes, I would skip a few cruise points to visit Glacier Bay. I used https://www.cruisetimetables.com to check available cruises. It is a fantastic day to cruise up the 45 miles of Bay to the three enormous glaciers, which are only 1/4 mile apart. You spend the next four hours traveling up the Bay after park rangers board the boat. You can observe killer whales and bald eagles as you travel past Gloomy Knob before arriving at the International Glacier and Margerie Glacier, which you can see up close. You halt at the John Hopkins Glacier on the way back down and spend some time admiring it.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Eartpukaem

[eileeshb]

It would probably be a good idea to check the cruiseline forums to see what the reports are from folks that have been on ships that went to glacier bay in the past.

I have a cruise booked on Norwegian Bliss for October next year that includes a day in Glacier Bay. However, some of the late season trip reports have said Bliss didn’t get particularly close to the glaciers so if getting close to the glaciers is a priority you may want a cruise line using a smaller ship on such an itinerary, or be careful with your sale dates.