It was so helpful to find different people’s experiences with the Alaska port excursions. So I thought I would share ours from our cruise we just completed.
Glacier Day…there seems to be a lot of mixed opinions about whether the Glacier Explorer excursion is worth the high cost. And further debate about whether it’s worth it for kids. We booked a month and a half out with a GTY rate. It saved us over $2k and freed up more $ for excursions. As expected the Explorer was already sold out. So I kept checking probably 5-6 times a day for any cancellations. Eventually I was able to add all 4 of us for the 12:45pm time. But I really debated about whether we would actually keep it. Eventually I decided my husband and I would go but leave our 11 & 8 year old on the Wonder. But in the end, I decided we would all go due to FOMO for the kids. From looking at peoples posts from previous years, the Wonder usually does not get as close to the glacier earlier in the season. This is due to seal pups. An Alaskan official is on the boat as they navigate into Endicott Arm to make sure they are protected from the ships. This proved to be the case for our cruise. The Wonder could only see an upper corner portion of the glacier. And people were crowded toward the front to get a glimpse. With the glacier explorer we were able to see two glaciers. For Sawyer glacier we got 50 yards away. For South Sawyer we were 1.5 miles away but it still looked huge. We were also able to see the seals and their pups from the explorer. Where the Wonder did not get close enough to see the seals. To keep the kids extra engaged I created a Glacier Day bingo card. They got $1 for each bingo. They were eager to find all the things on the cards.
This is a the glimpse of the glacier from the Wonder.
Glacier Day…there seems to be a lot of mixed opinions about whether the Glacier Explorer excursion is worth the high cost. And further debate about whether it’s worth it for kids. We booked a month and a half out with a GTY rate. It saved us over $2k and freed up more $ for excursions. As expected the Explorer was already sold out. So I kept checking probably 5-6 times a day for any cancellations. Eventually I was able to add all 4 of us for the 12:45pm time. But I really debated about whether we would actually keep it. Eventually I decided my husband and I would go but leave our 11 & 8 year old on the Wonder. But in the end, I decided we would all go due to FOMO for the kids. From looking at peoples posts from previous years, the Wonder usually does not get as close to the glacier earlier in the season. This is due to seal pups. An Alaskan official is on the boat as they navigate into Endicott Arm to make sure they are protected from the ships. This proved to be the case for our cruise. The Wonder could only see an upper corner portion of the glacier. And people were crowded toward the front to get a glimpse. With the glacier explorer we were able to see two glaciers. For Sawyer glacier we got 50 yards away. For South Sawyer we were 1.5 miles away but it still looked huge. We were also able to see the seals and their pups from the explorer. Where the Wonder did not get close enough to see the seals. To keep the kids extra engaged I created a Glacier Day bingo card. They got $1 for each bingo. They were eager to find all the things on the cards.
This is a the glimpse of the glacier from the Wonder.
Last edited:
