The Magnificent Hubbard Glacier is located in Alaska

When you think of AlaskaWhat images spring to mind? For us, it’s icy glaciers, humpback whales and vast rugged wilderness. So, when planning your itinerary, keep this in mind. Alaska cruise, we decided to visit the mighty Hubbard Glacier in Alaska’s picturesque Disenchantment Bay.

The Hubbard Glacier is famous for being North America’s largest tidewater glacier. It’s over 120 kilometres long (75 miles), 11 km wide (7 miles) and flows directly into Disenchantment Bay, which feeds into the North Pacific Ocean. 

The Hubbard Glacier height is said to be 600 feet at its terminal face (350 feet exposed above the waterline and 250 feet below the waterline – Source). This is the same height of the Space Needle, in Seattle, Washington. It’s HUGE!

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Where is Hubbard Glacier situated? 

Hubbard Glacier is located at the tip Disenchantment Bay. It connects to Yakutat Bay within the Gulf of Alaska. The Hubbard Glacier lies within Wrangell-St Elias National Park Preserve which is located north of Glacier Bay National Park. Here’s a Hubbard Glacier Map.

Hubbard Glacier cannot be reached by car. If you don’t have a private boat you will need to take a boat.Join an Alaska CruiseHubbard Glacier. Or, you can go on a scenic flight-seeing trip and see the ancient ice from the air.

The glacier is impressive and well worth a visit.

View the full article. It “little”The boat is quite large. If you look closely you will see that there are approximately 25 people on the top deck. 

More perspectives Hubbard Glacier dwarfs the huge cruise ship. 

The camera sensor struggled to focus on the glacier. My photos show the glacier in a turquoise-blue color. To the naked eye, however, the glacier looks more white than it does in the photos.

View from our room on the Celebrity Eclipse Cruise ship

This room is a stateroom Views that are obstructedAs you can see from the photo, the ocean view is not significantly impacted by the orange boat.

It’s incredible to witness a massive calving glacier from the private deck of your stateroom. Bucketlist-worthy!

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The Alaska cruise departs Vancouver and takes four days to reach Hubbard Glacier. Alaska. 

The Celebrity Eclipse floats along the glacier. The ship rotates 360° so that guests on either side can see Hubbard Glacier.

A cruise ship is not allowed to get too close to a calving iceberg out of caution. It is dangerous to be near calving glaciers and the icebergs that result. The depth and width of a glacier that is submerged is also dangerous.

The cruise ship spent an hour in Disenchantment Bay before returning from Hubbard Glacier back to Juneau. The ship sailed from Juneau overnight to Hubbard Glacier. We arrived around 11:00 AM. 

Related – What you need to Know about Alaska Cruises

The obligatory photo of the family on the observation platform of the cruise ship.

Hubbard Glacier fun facts

• The ice that you see on the terminal face was originally snow. This happened more than 500 years ago. [source]
• At some locations, the glacier can be over 2,000 feet thick.
• Hubbard Glacier is located at Mount Logan, the second tallest mountain of North America (19850 feet), in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
• The journey ends in Alaska at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, more than 120 km later. 

Hubbard Glacier from a panoramic view

Hubbard Glacier had heavy clouds and overcast sky during our visit. Although we were a little bummed that we didn’t get the full mountain and glacier panorama – Like this photo – we were told that it’s quite common for this type of weather.

Few hours before reaching Yakutat BayWe overheard crewmembers say that our Alaskan cruiseShips may not be in a position to enter the bay. Hubbard Glacier weather can be unpredictable in August.

Fortunately, that morning the weather was cooperative. The ship was close enough to the glacier to take pictures.

The cruise ship’s viewing deck is a great place to admire the glacier.

Disenchantment Bay is a place where streams of glacial ice flow past the ship.

The water is a stunning turquoise color. It’s hard to see in these photos, because of the overcast skies.

The water looks like the lakes fed by glaciers in the Canadian Rockies. 

Connor is mesmerized when he sees the floating chunks ice that pass by the cruise. 

The observation deck offers a great view of the mountains and glaciers. Highlights from our Alaskan cruise.

The tip of Hubbard Glacier can be seen in the distance.

The surrounding mountain ranges are stunning. Alaska is nature’s finest!

Have you ever visited Alaska? 

Do you have a travel wish list that includes an Alaskan cruise?

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