best glacier viewing

[YooperGale]

Hi,

We cruised on the Dawn Princess several years ago and really enjoyed the glaciers in Glacier Bay. Next May we will leave Vancouver Northbound on the Carnival Spirit. Our itinerary does not include Glacier Bay, but it does say "View College Fiord." Are we likely to see glaciers that compare to Glacier Bay. (We chose this itinerary because we want to see Sitka.)

Thanks to all who answer,

Gale:confused:

[LHP]

Hi,

We cruised on the Dawn Princess several years ago and really enjoyed the glaciers in Glacier Bay. Next May we will leave Vancouver Northbound on the Carnival Spirit. Our itinerary does not include Glacier Bay, but it does say "View College Fiord." Are we likely to see glaciers that compare to Glacier Bay. (We chose this itinerary because we want to see Sitka.)

Thanks to all who answer,

Gale:confused:

 

I have never done "Glacier Bay" so I don't have any comparisons. However, we did the Spirit Southbound in July 2005 and the College Fiords were wonderful. Of course, all the fiords have "college" names. I am thinking the one at the end is called the Harvard (but I could be wrong). Basically, we thought the College Fiords were wonderful. We sat on our balcony and ooohhhed and aaauuhhed the whole time. When we reached the Harvard (at the end) we went up to the front of the ship.

 

The Captain stayed there a little over an hour. He did 30 minutes on one side of the ship and then turned the ship for 30 minutes or so on the other side. He got sooo close, it was impressive. The sounds were almost as amazing as watching it!! Don't forget your binoculars!

 

Since you are Northbound and ending your cruise in Anchorage, perhaps you could tack on an extra day or two before flying home to take one of the smaller tourist boats out of Seward through the Glacier Bay.

 

We flew in a week ahead of our cruise, rented a car and did a big loop from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back. It was wonderful.

 

Have a great cruise!!

[YooperGale]

Hello again,

There must be someone out there who has cruised both Glacier Bay and

College Fiord? How do they compare for glacier viewing? Thank you!

Gale

[YooperGale]

Hello again,

There must be someone out there who has cruised both Glacier Bay and

College Fiord? How do they compare for glacier viewing? Thank you!

Gale

[YooperGale]

Hello again,

There must be someone out there who has cruised both Glacier Bay and

College Fiord? How do they compare for glacier viewing? Thank you!

Gale

[LHP]

You might find a solid answer on the Port section of these boards under Alaska. There is a wonderful lady there named BudgetQueen that is a wiz on Alaska. I would bet good money she has done both and could give you the specks on both.

 

Good luck!

[jrmende63]

Hi,

We cruised on the Dawn Princess several years ago and really enjoyed the glaciers in Glacier Bay. Next May we will leave Vancouver Northbound on the Carnival Spirit. Our itinerary does not include Glacier Bay, but it does say "View College Fiord." Are we likely to see glaciers that compare to Glacier Bay. (We chose this itinerary because we want to see Sitka.)

Thanks to all who answer,

Gale:confused:

Gale

I have never seen Glacier Bay so I don't know if it compares, but, I will say that College Fjords are just stunning. Harvard glacier is spectacular! We did the North Bound, May 17,2006. We loved every minute of it!

We loved Sitka. We went on a wonderful wildlife tour with a local Hubby and wife team, saw tons of wildlife and it was the best $$ ever spent!

The Carnival Spirit was just beautiful. We would go again in a skinny minute! Hubby and I went on Temsco helicopters and landed on Mendenhall Glacier. THis was another highlight of our cruise. Mendenhall is really pretty and our surname ( the glacier is named after Hubby's relative, Thomas C Mendenhall). You will enjoy the Spirit....we plan to go again. Alaska is beyond words.

Julie

[gazingm42]

We did the Spirit in July 2004. Unfortunally we did not do the glacier bay to show you pics. But I will tell you we had a family at our table who had done

both. They told us they would do the sprit again to see Collage Fordj.

 

We were so impressed on how close we were to the 250 ft wall glaicer. We could hear the thunder as it would start to break and watch some chunks drop

the same size of a small condo.

 

As stated the capitian 'parked' the ship next to it parralle for about 30 or 45

minutes. Then he would turn it 180 degrees. But the water goin in the Fordj

was blue/green as the caribbean .

 

Have fun.

[YooperGale]

Hi,

I apologize for the triple posting. Is there anyway to delete the extra two? And thanks for your answers!

Gale

[mrmac]

Harvard Glacier is very impressive at the end of College Fjord. It is much better glacier viewing than Tracy Arm. I do think Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay is more spectacular but it's all relative and depends on how close your captain gets you to the glacier. I have some fantastic pictures of both glaciers.

[2Ports]

Did both on our itin last year on another line *cough HAL* and College Fjord was by far the highlight of the trip. Just checked w/ Mrs. 2Ports and she agrees. Enjoy! :D

[YooperGale]

Thanks, everyone. I really want to see Sitka, but also want to see the beauty of glaciers again. Sounds like I can do both on Spirit Northbound next May.

 

Thanks again

Gale