Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises

• It’s easy to get to from Anchorage (about an hour by car or rail to Whiitier where you depart)
• It's affordable: 3 excellent companies offer a Prince William Sound tour for under $120
• The waters are calm; tours are seldom cancelled due to weather
• Rainy days aren’t a problem—the waterfalls swell and more spectacular

Prince William Sound has the densest concentration of tidewater glaciers in the world, some flowing a dozen miles from ice-capped peaks to terminate in cliffs of ice towering hundreds of feet above the water. You'll also see spectacular waterfalls and wildlife, including bald eagles, seabirds, otters, Dall’s porpoises, and occasionally whales (but typically not on the same frequency as in Kenai Fjords National Park, your other main choice for an Alaska glacier cruise).

Preview top sights and day cruises with our Virtual Prince William Sound Tour »

Here are two more reasons why Prince William Sound cruises are so dramatic:

• You’re never far from shore. That means you’ll look straight up at peaks rising 2000-9000 feet right from the water’s edge
• The history of glaciation is evident everywhere you look, from newly-de-glaciated barren hillsides, to ancient moraines just below the water’s surface

• Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises “Glacier Adventure” ($89 adults, $44.50 child, 1:30p-5:30p, lunch included) spends 45 minutes at the glaciers. The rest of the time you’re seeing sights and engaging in fun science experiments, like towing plankton up from the water and analyzing it under a microscope, learning about different animals and feeling their pelts, harvesting glacier ice and measuring how long it takes to melt, etc..)
• Major Marine Tours ($99 adult, $49 child, 1:15p-6:15p) heads straight out to the glaciers where you’ll spend 3 hours listening to the icebergs, watching the glaciers calve, and feasting on an all-you-can-eat salmon and prime rib buffet ($15 extra). The meal is great, and a Forest Service Ranger is on board every cruise.

Two “longer” cruises venture deeper into the Sound, explore Harriman Fjords (named for the famous 1899 Expedition that mapped the area) which is even more spectacular than Blackstone Bay, park at Surprise Glacier which has the best calving in the whole Sound and is the highlight of the trip, and offer more and better wildlife viewing opportunities (sea otters, harbor seals, maybe whales):

• Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise ($129 adult, $89 child, 1:00p-5:30p, lunch included) boasts the fastest, most luxurious catamaran in Alaska, sees the most glaciers, and offers a no-seasickness-or-your-money-back guarantee. The vessel cruises at 45 knots and makes it all the way into College Fjord with a dozen glaciers named after Ivy League schools. If you want to see the most glaciers close-up, this is your ticket.
• Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises “Wilderness Explorer ” ($119 adult, $60 child, 11am-5pm , lunch included). If you want a slower-paced trip that lingers longer in front of the highlight glacier and with wildlife, sees a salmon hatchery where the water boils with swirling fish (end of June to mid-August), navigates through a spectacular, impossibly narrow fjord, and offers fun science experiments, this is your cruise. The vessel cruises at 23 knots.