Hubbard Glacier

[Kapricorn]

Have Celebrity ships been able to approach closer to Hubbard Glacier over the past couple of weeks? When I was on the Infinity at the end of May, she halted seven miles from the glacier, due to a massive amount of loose ice in the sea. I'll be on the Mercury next Friday, and am curious about the chances of getting a close-up look at the glacier.

 

Donald.

[mii]

There is a thread on that very subject on the Alaska board.

 

marilyn

[Kapricorn]

Thanks, Marilyn! I had been under the impression that the "Ports of Call" section was for information or feedback about the various cities or tours in them. Hubbard Glacier is not exactly a "port." For those who wish to follow up on Hubbard Glacier, here it is:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=574611&highlight=Hubbard

 

I'll post a message there after my return about how close the Mercury was to the glacier.

 

Thanks!

Donald.

[ocngypz]

I just returned from the 7/13 sailing.. we got within 6/10's of a mile from the face of the glacier. The closest any ship is allowed is 1/2 mile.

 

If this worked.... here's a picture of Hubbard calving. The misty part towards the bottom is the ice falling.

[Kapricorn]

Thanks for the photograph, Ocngypz! Six-tenths of a mile from the glacier is just fine, much better than seven miles. I don't see loose ice in the sea in the photograph. I'm already looking forward to my cruise!

 

Regards,

Donald.

[ocngypz]

Here's some ice. You had to get through the ice floes to reach the glacier. In front of the glacier it was pretty clear.

[trcori]

gee whiz, did you change captains before this trip? As I posted here recently, two weeks earlier we stayed wayyyyy far from the glacier, and the amount of ice in the water looks about the same. I'm jealous! -- TR

[Kapricorn]

Trcori, I'm also surprised! On the Infinity last May, the ice in the sea (see attachment) was less than in the photographs taken by Ocngypz two weeks ago, yet we stayed seven miles from the glacier.

 

Donald.

[paulam]

We just returned today from 7/15 Infinity sailing. I'm not sure exactly how close (or far away) from Hubbard we were, but we definitely didn't get right up there. To me this was not a very impressive part of the cruise. I had been telling my daughter so much about the massiveness of the glacier and was so looking forward to her seeing what I had been describing to her. During our day at Hubbard she told me "Mom, I'm sorry but from what you told me, I really thought I would be more impressed by the glacier". All was not lost however, as we had a great day at Mendenhall Visitors Center. Our view of Mendenhall from the park was much better than that of Hubbard from the boat.

[ekeberg]

I just returned from the 7/13 cruise on the Mercury also and we did see a lot of ice in the water and also got very close to the glacier.

We were told by a couple of the crew that the captian had gotten a lot of complaints so he got mush closer this time than they had all year. I saw several crew members at the rail taking pictures.

 

Lynn

[Kapricorn]

Last Tuesday (July 31), the Mercury ventured to within the minimum allowable distance of 1/2 mile from Hubbard Glacier. Here's one of the photographs which I took there.

 

Awesome!!

 

Donald.

[FreewayFortune]

Thanks for posting the pics. The Hubbard Glacier is spectacular.

[sunspot49]

We just got off the Summit and we got VERY close to Hubbard Galcier. We were told that we were 1/2 mile from it. It was beautiful!