Compared
Half day or full day in Kenai Fjords: the hours are the product
This is the single decision that produces almost every disappointed review in this niche. Four hours and six hours are eighty dollars apart and are not the same trip: one of them never reaches ice. Here is exactly what each length covers, and who should book which.
Quick answer
A four-hour cruise stays inside Resurrection Bay and does not reach a tidewater glacier. Six hours does. Eight hours reaches Northwestern Fjord and spends the longest at the face. Four hours costs from $156, six from $250 with lunch, eight from $272. If seeing ice is why you came to Alaska, four hours is not a cheaper version of the trip — it is a different one.
Four, six or eight hours
- Four hours
- $156Resurrection Bay, wildlife, no tidewater ice
- Six hours
- $250one glacier face, engines off, lunch included
- Seven hours
- $241captain picks the fjord on the morning
- Eight hours
- $272Northwestern Fjord, most time at the ice
- Where the ice starts
- Past Caines Headabout an hour of open water from Seward
- Time parked at a face
- 20–40 minon the six-hour boats
- The swell
- Only past the headlandthe first hour is flat on every sailing
- Whales
- Both lengthsbut six hours covers far more water
- Lunch
- Five of twelve cruisesand no shop on board on the rest
- Cancellation
- Free to 24 hon every length
What four hours buys
A good half day, honestly described
A genuinely good half day. It just is not a glacier trip, and it never claimed to be.
The four-hour cruise runs inside Resurrection Bay and does not leave it. That is sheltered water with mountains going straight up on both sides, and it contains a genuine amount to look at: Steller sea lion rookeries on the rock off Caines Head, sea otters almost continuously, bald eagles on the markers, puffins off the cliffs from late May, and humpbacks when they are in the bay.
It is calm, it is cheaper, it is over by lunchtime, and it is a bestseller with 302 reviews at 4.7. For a family with small children, for anyone with a difficult stomach, or for a day when you have a train to catch, it is the right answer.
What it does not contain is a tidewater glacier, because there is not one in Resurrection Bay. The faces are outside the bay, past the headland, an hour of open-water running away. No boat reaches one and returns in four hours, and none of them claim to.
The problem is that the listing says “wildlife cruise” and the buyer reads “Alaska cruise”, and the two are not the same sentence.
What the extra two hours buy
One hour out and one hour back, and a wall of ice at the far end
Two hours of running, and twenty to forty minutes stopped in front of a wall of ice.
The six-hour cruise does everything the four-hour one does, and then keeps going. It rounds Caines Head, crosses an hour of open Gulf, turns into a glacier arm, and stops in front of a tidewater face with the engines off.
Those two extra hours are almost entirely running time, and that is what the price difference is. Fuel and crew for two hours of a hundred-and-fifty-passenger catamaran is not a trivial cost, and on five of these sailings the ticket also now includes lunch.
What you get at the end is twenty to forty minutes stopped in front of something two to four hundred feet high, in water full of floating ice, with harbour seals on the larger pieces and the air noticeably colder than it was ten minutes earlier. On a still day you can hear the glacier working.
The eight-hour trip to Northwestern Fjord extends the same logic: further out, more glaciers visible at once, and the longest stop of any day boat. If calving is specifically what you want to see, sitting there longer is the only thing that improves your odds, and this is the sailing that sits longest.
Which one is yours
Six situations, and the honest answer for each
The hours are not a quality ladder. They are different products for different days.
- You came to Alaska to see a glacier
Six hours minimum, eight if you can spare it. There is no version of this where four hours works.
- You get seasick
Four hours in Resurrection Bay, or the Prince William Sound cruise out of Whittier. Both stay on sheltered water; the six-hour Kenai Fjords trips do not.
- You have small children
Four hours. Six is a long time on a boat for a child who has run out of things to look at, and the open-water hour is the least forgiving part.
- You are on a day trip from Anchorage
Six hours is an eleven-hour day door to door. It is doable and it is long. Consider the Prince William Sound sailing or one of the Anchorage-based tours instead.
- You want the best chance of a calving
Eight hours to Northwestern Fjord. More time at the face is the only lever anybody has.
- The forecast is uncertain
The seven-hour captain’s choice tour, which decides the route on the morning rather than printing it in advance.
The listings show duration in a small field near the price. On this page it is the first column, because it is the first decision.
Prices per hour→Common questions
Half day or full day, answered
Does the four-hour Kenai Fjords cruise see a glacier?
Not a tidewater glacier. It stays inside Resurrection Bay, where there is not one. It is a wildlife cruise with mountains, and it is good at that.
How long does a Kenai Fjords cruise need to be to reach the ice?
Six hours. That allows about an hour of open-water running each way plus twenty to forty minutes stopped in front of a face. Eight hours reaches Northwestern Fjord and stays longer.
Is the six-hour cruise worth the extra money?
If seeing a tidewater glacier is why you came, yes, because the four-hour trip cannot do it at any price. If you mainly want wildlife and calm water, the four-hour trip is better value.
How long is the boat actually stopped at the glacier?
Typically twenty to forty minutes on a six-hour sailing, with the engines off. The eight-hour trip to Northwestern Fjord spends the longest of any day boat.
Which is better for seasickness?
Four hours, because it never leaves sheltered water. The alternative is the Prince William Sound cruise from Whittier, which is sheltered for its whole route and still reaches ice.
Can I see whales on the four-hour trip?
Yes, humpbacks come into Resurrection Bay and are seen regularly. The six-hour trip covers far more water and crosses the open Gulf where they feed, so the odds there are better.
Go deeper
More on cruising to a glacier in Alaska
What an Alaska glacier cruise costs
Fifteen departures priced per person and per hour, from $116 to $1,334.
Kenai FjordsThe Kenai Fjords glacier cruise
Aialik, Holgate and Northwestern — which boat reaches which face, and for how long.
VerdictThe best Alaska glacier cruise
Fifteen departures ranked for one decision, with a straight answer at the end.
WhalesWhale watching on an Alaska cruise
Humpbacks feed here rather than pass through — what that means for your odds.
SewardGlacier cruises from Seward
Every sailing out of the small boat harbour, and how to get there from Anchorage.
WhittierThe 26 Glacier Cruise
Prince William Sound, twenty-six named glaciers, and the tunnel you have to time.
