Princess small boat excursion to view Glaciers

[Therese S.]

I have read previous posts that you can book small boat excursions that take you up close to the glaciers. 

Is this something you book from Princess or directly with the tour company?

If from Princess, do you board the boat directly from the ship and return before the ships leaves the glacier area?

Will this excursion show up as something to book under the Glacier Scenic Cruising Day?

Which Glacier can you do this from?                                        

If you book on your own, which port would that be from?

 

We are booked on the 22 day Ultimate Alaska cruise RT from San Francisco leaving June 2025 on the Ruby Princess.

Here's our ports in order

San Francisco

2 Sea Days

Ketchikan

Wrangell

Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier Scenic Cruising

Haines

Icy Strait Point

Hubbard Glacier Scenic Cruising

College Fjord Scenic Cruising

Valdez

Anchorage (Seward)

2 Sea Days

Sitka

Juneau

Skagway

Glacier Bay National Park Scenic Cruising

At Sea

Victoria

2 Sea Days

San Francisco

 

We have been to a majority of these ports but its been over 15+ years.

 

Ive read that the small boat excursions are very expensive and book up fast.  Right now, there are no excursions available for any of the Glaciers but I check frequently and I dont want to miss out on the chance.

 

Any help is appreciated, thank you

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17 by Therese S.

[wolfie11]

You have to book with the cruise line.  They are not always offered, as another ship may have booked the boat that day.  They do fill up fast, so keep checking.

[Sarnia 432]

We did this tour in Hubbard Glacier.  We have been to Alaska several times and only saw this tour on a couple of occasions.

 

it was an amazing tour, we got up really close to the glacier.

 

saw lots of calving

the ship was at anchor a long way back

 

one of the best excursions we have done, would do it again in a heartbeat 

Edited January 17 by Sarnia 432
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[SightCRR]

We are booked on the 28 day HAL Alaska Jun 2024.  HAL offered tour at Hubbard and when we booked cruise about 7 months out tour was already waitlisted. We are watching for changes after final payment. 

[Northern Aurora]

We also have done such an excursion, but not with Princess and not at Hubbard.

 

To our OP -- these excursions are booked directly with the cruise line.  Folks essentially tender off the cruise ship onto the small vessel which can approach the glacier front much closer than the cruise ship.  In our case the small vessel took a different route to Juneau than the cruise ship.  The the excursion vessel approached the cruise ship as it was finishing the docking procedure in Juneau.  These excursions sell out very quickly.