Pearl, what time of day in Glacier Bay?

[Newbie0210]

On the Pearl, on the day we're at sea and cruising Glacier Bay, what time of day are you actually in the Glacier area? Is it all day, or just the afternoon, or just morning? I'm wondering if it could be an all day affair gazing and viewing, or if there is a big chunk of time where there's nothing special to see.

 

Thanks!

[shellgoodman]

It's all day. My family woke up late that morning as my daughter (only 9) kept us out late dancing the night before in the Spinnaker Lounge. We made it to breakfast (slow) at 9am in Summer Palace as the Garden Cafe was once again a madhouse. All I wanted to do was run to the deck as you're at the glacier at 9:30sh. We ran to deck 7 and it was a fantastic spot to see Marjorie Glacier. Then later you're at Lampugh Glacier. We went to Stardust at 1:00pm to see a slideshow about the glacier which was interesting but I noticed the men around me including my DH was sleeping though. Again, I felt like I was missing out on the wildlife in the ocean by going to this indoor presentation. Instead, I should have gone to the 12th deck with the Park Ranger who was pointing out wildlife with lots of interesting info. Leaving Glacier Bay at 3pm was amazing as we saw tons of otters, sea lions, and whales.

[hxl2001]

We've just returned from the June 14th Pearl cruise - we entered Glacier Bay early - around 6am. But we arrived at Margerie Glacier (the main Glacier viewing) around 9:15. The Pearl was very close to the glacier but initially you couldn't see it clearly because of low cloud / mist that drifted over the glacier. However we stayed there for 1 hour and the mist slowly cleared and eventually we saw the glacier in sun + blue skies.

 

It was interesting to see it both in cloud and sun since it had a very different 'personality' in each of the weather conditions.

 

After leaving the Margerie / Grand Pacific Glaciers we cruised to the Lamplugh Glacier (look for the huge waterfall inside an ice cave) and then on to John Hopkins Glacier where we also stayed for a while (30 mins?).

 

Finally we slowly cruised out of Glacier Bay by around 3:30pm

 

The whole Glacier Bay area has wonderful scenery (unless there is very low clound - which can happen) - so I wouldn't say 'there's nothing special to see' for any of the time you are there.

 

While talking about fog in Glacier Bay ... early in the morning there was one large fog bank in Glacier bay .... we were being followed into the bay by a Princess ship, at one point I could see the bottom half of the other ship, but the top half was compltely missing in the fog - I didn't take a photograph but probably should have - it looked very eerie.

[Toyz711]

as stated, above, you enter glacier bay very early. for us, in sept of '06, it was very dark at 6am. but at that time you can see the park ranger's boat come up to the ship and the park rangers hop up to a ladder on the side of the ship and climb. (this happens on the port side, aft gangway)

for a couple of hours you just cruise through, until about (for us it was 10am) that the park rangers start their talk over the loudspeakers. we could hear it on TV, in the cabin. we had a balcony cabin, port side, and got great views. in sept, you can get close to another glacier...john hopkins...that the ships can't get close to during the rest of the year. (breeding zone and pup area for harbor seals)

we left glacier bay sometime after 2pm.

the thing is, the area entering and leaving the park is great viewing area for humpbacks and other wildlife. from a distance, we were able to watch some sea otters ...they were just dark specks, but it was still fun to watch they swim away from the ship's movement.

when leaving glacier bay, look for "spouts"...we saw one doing some leaps, but this was a long ways away. did see some other spouts.