🇺🇸 Hubbard Glacier, United States — Cruise Port Guide
The largest tidewater glacier in North America and one of the very few still advancing — six miles of ice face, 400 feet tall, calving so constantly that the water in front of it is a soup of bergs the ship has to nose through.
Updated September 2026
Quick facts
Getting ashore
When to visit Hubbard Glacier
Ships visit between May and September. Ice conditions vary hugely through the season and decide how close the ship can get.
Good to know
How near the ship gets is entirely the captain's judgement on the day, based on the ice. A mile off with a clear view is a better visit than half a mile into a berg field, so do not treat distance as a measure of the day.
Things to do in Hubbard Glacier
Be on deck for the approach
The scale takes a while to register — there is nothing next to the ice to give it away until another ship or a boat appears and turns out to be a speck.
Wait for a calving
Hubbard calves constantly, so patience is rewarded within minutes rather than hours. Watch the face, not the water, and keep the camera running.
Listen to the ice
Cut through the engine noise and the bay fizzes — trapped air escaping from ice under pressure for centuries. Crews call it bergy seltzer.
Look for seals on the floes
Harbour seals haul out on the ice in front of the glacier to pup, safe from orcas. Scan the flat bergs rather than the water.
Photograph the blue
The deep blue in the crevasses is dense, air-free ice absorbing every colour but blue. It photographs best on an overcast day, not a bright one.
Watch from the bow, then the stern
Ships usually rotate slowly so every side gets a turn. Rather than fighting for a rail spot, wait — your side will come round.
Weather by month
Best time to visit: May–Sep; Jun–Jul give the longest daylight
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29° | 19° | 11" |
| Feb | 33° | 21° | 9" |
| Mar | 38° | 25° | 8" |
| Apr | 46° | 32° | 7" |
| May | 54° | 39° | 7" |
| Jun | 60° | 45° | 6" |
| Jul | 63° | 49° | 8" |
| Aug | 62° | 48° | 12" |
| Sep | 56° | 43° | 17" |
| Oct | 46° | 35° | 16" |
| Nov | 36° | 26° | 13" |
| Dec | 31° | 21° | 12" |
A little history
Hubbard is 76 miles long, six miles wide at the face and around 400 feet high above the waterline — with another 300 feet below it. The ice calving off the front fell as snow on the slopes of Mount Logan around 400 years ago.
Almost every glacier in Alaska is retreating. Hubbard is advancing, and has been for over a century, because it is so long that it is still delivering ice faster than the face can melt.
Twice in recent memory — in 1986 and again in 2002 — the advancing glacier sealed off Russell Fjord entirely, turning it into a lake that rose over 80 feet before bursting through in one of the largest glacial outburst floods ever recorded.
How close the ship gets depends entirely on the ice. Captains judge it on the day, and a mile out with a clear view beats half a mile in a berg field.
There is no settlement anywhere near. The nearest is Yakutat, a fishing village of a few hundred people, well out of sight down the bay.