Infinity within one mile of Hubbard Glacier

[deadzone1003]

A friend who is working aboard the Celebrity Infinity has just emailed me and said the ship got within one mile of Hubbard Glacier which is pretty good news since we were expecting the ship to get only within 8 or 9 miles like last year. My friend had said the captain of the Infinity had only expected to get within 7 miles of the Glacier, but the ship had cruised very slowly through quite of bit of ice to get within a mile of the Glacier. I just hope all other ships visiting Hubbard in May and June have the time to navigate through the ice. I am not familiar with how close ships get to Hubbard Glacier, can someone elaborate?

[themerle]

This is great news! I know a lot of people will be pleased and excited to hear this. We decided not to go to Hubbard Glacier this year because we were afraid the ship couldn't get close. Hope all of the ships are able to get close this year!

Hope everyone enjoys their cruise!!!!!!!!

[willcruise4life]

;);) Thank you for posting the news,i've been waiting for this good news,even check the webcam of the cruise ship but they don't have it,i know that the Holland America Oosterdam were at Hubbard Glacier yesterday 5/6/2008,does anyone has news about that,i can't wait until those people get back and post a review about their cruise ,i will be cruising Alaska in July this year.:)

[Italy52]

Thank you so much for the update. Like others, we have been anxiously awaiting news about Hubbard. We sail to Alaska May 30th on the Radiance and can't wait to experience this glacier.

[deadzone1003]

I hope I didn't get everyone's hopes up too high. Remember, this first voyage to Alaska by Infinity is a 2 week trip and perhaps they have the additional time to navigate through the ice. The 7-day trips may not have the luxury of additional time to navigate through the ice in order to get closer. Also, the captain of the Infinity may be quite daring for a Celebrity captain (or RCCL captain). Better get a few more reports before getting your hopes up too high.

[JJ2sail]

We were on Radiance last year, and I would say we were within a quarter of a mile. You could feel the cold blast from the glacier, and you could not see the entire glacier because it is so big. I took a 3 shot panoramic and still could not get it all in. We have friends going this year in June, so I have been watching for information.

 

 

This is the panoramic, as we were pulling away.

 

[Sunshine Gal]

A friend who is working aboard the Celebrity Infinity has just emailed me and said the ship got within one mile of Hubbard Glacier which is pretty good news since we were expecting the ship to get only within 8 or 9 miles like last year. My friend had said the captain of the Infinity had only expected to get within 7 miles of the Glacier, but the ship had cruised very slowly through quite of bit of ice to get within a mile of the Glacier. I just hope all other ships visiting Hubbard in May and June have the time to navigate through the ice. I am not familiar with how close ships get to Hubbard Glacier, can someone elaborate?

 

If this is true it is indeed good news. Last year the Infinity and Summit were unable to get anywhere near Hubbard Glacier until July. It may be that Celebrity is finally taking more interest in really showing off Alaska and not treating it like the Caribbean. It may very well depend on the skill of the Captain and the Captain's desire to get close to the glacier that is the determining factor as to how close some cruise ships will get to the glaciers. A few years ago on the Celebrity Summit we only got within about nine miles of the glacier and that was a disappointing because there were a couple of other cruise ships that were right in front of the glacier. On my next Alaskan cruise I am going to take a ship that goes to Glacier Bay because of the almost certainty of being able to see the glacier.

[aaklang]

That is such great news! We are sailing on Infinity next week and will be at Hubbard in about 11-12 days. We are scheduled to be there from 12 - 4 p.m. so hopefully we will have time to get close!

[MilliesMom]

We have been to Alaska twice but have never seen Hubbard Glacier. We are going on the Radiance in Sept and can't wait. Got our fingers crossed that we can get close. Looking forward to seeing everyone's photos.