Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Ah, Alaska. Snow-capped mountains, deep icy waters, and wildlife that stops you in your tracks. I obsessively researched our Alaskan cruise, determined to make it the GOAT (greatest of all time). While no trip is ever truly perfect, this one came close.
Every forum I scoured insisted on a day in Glacier Bay, and after experiencing it, we couldn’t agree more. We took the Princess 7-day Inside Passage cruise from Seattle and highly recommend it.
On the Glacier Bay scenic cruising day, starting super early in the morning (maybe 6AM), we put on literally every jacket and sweater we packed, grabbed binoculars and my camera, and found a perfect spot on the deck to take in the view.
It was freezing and the wind was no joke, but the views and wildlife were worth every single shiver and frozen finger.
Pro tip: If you’re heading to Glacier Bay, splurge on the balcony. We were the the only goofs on the deck, but having a private view is worth every penny, and you can sneak inside to warm up without missing the shot!
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve contains over 1,000 glaciers! It’s kind of humbling to realize the sheer scale of the glaciers against the vast ocean, making our massive ship feel tiny in comparison.
At this point in the day the sun had warmed things up a little, and people had started gathering on the top deck. This view…I could not get over it.
Somewhere in this picture is a family of bears! Through my camera lens I could see them moving, but they were just too far to get a good picture.
Funny story! Rueben and I were standing next to a few people when one of them says, yeah those are bears. I automatically said, WHERE?! He was such a good sport about pointing out where they were, and I wholeheartedly thanked him.
And now…the animals. The cherry on top of the beautiful day!
WE SAW ORCAS! I’ve always wanted to see them in the wild, and even from afar it was the best thing ever! Rueben got to see a second pod later in the day, lucky guy.
Humpbacks! I loved being able to see so many spouts. On the last day, literally on our way out of Alaska, a whale was ‘waving goodbye’ to us over and over. It was magical.
We saw SO many otters. Hundreds! They are too adorable. If you zoom in you can see this one eating.
Harbor seals! I was so happy to see this little sausages barely acknowledge us cruising by.
The most ‘Alaska’ picture ever – a bald eagle on an iceberg!
Glacier Bay was surreal, made even better by super interesting talks by naturalist Michael Modzelewski. It truly is a nature lover’s dream.
Next up: back to Colorado!
