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Glaciers are a trademark of an Alaskan cruise, and these hulking, brilliantly colored marvels never get old. There are several types of glaciers throughout Alaska, and our cruises afford amazing views of them from the relative comfort of our ships.
Types of Glaciers
The glaciers of Southeast Alaska exist in two forms: terminal glaciers and tidewater glaciers. Terminal glaciers can be seen in the mountains around the waterways you’ll cruise. These glaciers vary greatly in size, age and color; but all are impressive to view. Tidewater glaciers are glaciers that have surged all the way to the water’s edge, and it is these glaciers that create icebergs as sections of them break off and crash into the water.
Calving Glaciers
Calving is the process of chunks of ice breaking away for glaciers and crashing into the sea. Calving can provide amazing spectacles as some of the sections of ice can be hundreds of feet tall and hundreds of feet wide. Many of our itineraries include ample time at the terminus of various arms and fjords, where the most dramatic calving takes place. Lots of the passageways leading to these glaciers are very narrow and littered with ice, making them impassable for larger, more traditional cruising vessels.
