Boat tours
Kenai Fjords boat tour: what the boats do, and what they cannot
A boat tour is the only practical way into this park, which makes the boats less like an excursion and more like the road. Here is what a Kenai Fjords boat tour covers in four, six and eight hours, what the vessels are actually like inside, and the parts of the coast no day boat reaches.
Quick answer
A Kenai Fjords boat tour costs from $156 for four hours and from $250 for the six-hour national park trip that reaches a tidewater glacier. The vessels are catamarans with heated saloons, large windows and open decks, carrying between a dozen and a hundred and fifty people. Six of the twelve cruises here list step-free access, and five include a meal.
Kenai Fjords boat tours, at a glance
- Shortest
- 3.5 hsmall-boat Blackstone trip, in Prince William Sound
- Standard
- 6 hthe national park cruise most people book
- Longest
- 8 hNorthwestern Fjord, and the most time at the ice
- Vessel
- Catamaran, mostlyheated saloon, big windows, open decks
- Group size
- 12 to about 150the small boats cost more per hour
- Step-free access
- On six cruiseslisted on the sailing itself
- Meals
- On five cruisesno shop on board on the rest
- Guide
- Captain or naturaliston every listing here
- Toilets
- On every vesselthe flights are the exception
- Season
- Mid-May to mid-Sepnothing runs outside it
The boats themselves
What a day on a Kenai Fjords catamaran is actually like
A heated saloon you come back into, and an open deck where everything actually happens.
The standard vessel in this fleet is a high-speed aluminium catamaran: two hulls, a wide beam, and a much steadier ride than a single-hulled boat of the same size. That matters once you are past the headland.
Inside is a heated saloon with tables, forward-facing seats and windows that go most of the way down. There are toilets, there is coffee, and on the boats that include lunch there is a galley. Outside there is deck space fore and aft, and on the larger vessels an upper deck as well.
The important thing about that layout: you will spend the good parts outside. Windows on a working boat are covered in salt within an hour, and nothing is spotted properly through them. The saloon is for warming up between sightings, not for watching. This is why what you wear matters more than the boat you choose.
The two small boats on this page — the three-and-a-half-hour Blackstone trip and the Bear Glacier flight — are a different proposition entirely: a dozen people rather than a hundred, more flexibility about where they go, and a higher price per hour as a direct consequence.
Every trip, current fare
Every boat tour, by length
Sorted by price. The tidewater column is the one to read first: it is the difference between a wildlife cruise and a glacier cruise.
| Cruise | Length | Price | Tidewater glacier | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Wildlife CruiseThe cheapest way onto the water, early season | 4 h | $116 | No | $29.00 | 5.0 · 44 |
| Half-Day Resurrection Bay CruiseHalf a day of wildlife in sheltered water | 4 h | $156 | No | $39.00 | 4.7 · 302 |
| Whittier–Anchorage Scenic TransferThe road back from Whittier, turned into a wildlife day | 6 h | $187 | No | $31.17 | 5.0 · 7 |
| Blackstone Glacier Small GroupA small boat and a beach nobody else is on | 3.5 h | $196 | Yes, Blackstone | $56.00 | New |
| Kenai Fjords Glacier & Wildlife CruiseSix hours to the ice, with lunch | 6 h | $218 | Yes | $36.33 | 4.8 · 185 |
| Captain's Choice Kenai Fjords TourThe captain picks the fjord on the morning | 7 h | $241 | Yes | $34.43 | 5.0 · 33 |
| Glacier & Wildlife Discovery TourThe glacier day that starts in Anchorage | 7 h | $244 | Yes | $34.86 | 4.8 · 23 |
| Prince William Sound 26 Glacier CruiseTwenty-six glaciers on sheltered water | 5.5 h | $245 | Twenty-six, from the water | $44.55 | 4.8 · 189 |
| Kenai Fjords Glacier Cruise with LunchThe full-day Kenai Fjords cruise, most booked here | 6 h | $250 | Yes | $41.67 | 4.9 · 921 |
| Wilderness, Wildlife & Glacier DayBears and moose, with ice as the backdrop | 6 h | $269 | From the shore | $44.83 | 4.8 · 107 |
| Northwestern Fjord Full-Day TourEight hours, and the most time at the ice | 8 h | $272 | Yes, Northwestern | $34.00 | 4.9 · 36 |
| Turnagain Arm Glacier & Tram DayCruise, wildlife centre and the aerial tram | 8 h | $366 | Yes | $45.75 | 4.8 · 4 |
| Bear Glacier Scenic FlightThirty minutes over a lagoon no boat reaches | 30 min | $376 | From the air | $752.00 | New |
| Helicopter Glacier Dog SleddingA dog team on the snow at the top of a glacier | 1.5 h | $593 | You land on it | $395.33 | 5.0 · 21 |
| Knik Glacier Helicopter & Ice ClimbingA rope on a blue ice wall inside a crevasse | 4 h | $1,334 | You climb it | $333.50 | New |
What a boat tour covers
Six things that are on the route, and one that is not
The park coastline is long. What any single sailing reaches depends entirely on its hours.
- Resurrection Bay and the sea lion rookeries
Every sailing, including the four-hour ones. Steller sea lions haul out on exposed rock off Caines Head, and bald eagles sit on the channel markers all the way out.
- The open Gulf and the whale water
Six-hour trips and longer. This is where feeding humpbacks are, and where the swell is.
- A tidewater glacier face
Six hours and longer. Usually Holgate or Aialik; the eight-hour trip reaches Northwestern Fjord. The boat stops and shuts the engines off.
- Seabird colonies
Horned and tufted puffins, common murres and black-legged kittiwakes nest on cliffs the boats pass on the way out to the glacier arms, from late May.
- Harbour seals on the ice
They haul out on floating pieces in front of the glacier faces to pup, which is one reason the boats hold their distance there.
- Sea otters, constantly
In Resurrection Bay and all along the coast. The one animal you are near certain to see on any sailing in any month.
- And what no day boat reaches: Bear Glacier lagoon
The terminus sits behind a moraine in a lagoon full of icebergs, with no navigable entrance for a tour boat. Seeing it means a flight or a guided kayak trip.
The Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward is a five-minute walk from the harbour, and it is the standard plan when weather cancels a sailing.
Seward, in full→What the boats cannot do
Three honest limits, none of which appear in a listing
Time at the face is the product. Calving, proximity and weather are not on the menu.
They cannot promise a calving. A tidewater face sheds ice when internal stress, tide and temperature happen to line up, and nobody predicts that. What an operator can sell is time parked at the face with the engines off. The eight-hour trip sells more of it than the six-hour one, and that is the only honest lever.
They cannot get closer than they do. Operators hold a distance from the face deliberately, because a large calving event sends a wave capable of swamping a small vessel. A few hundred metres from a wall three hundred feet high is closer than it sounds, and the distance is not timidity.
They cannot beat the weather. Sailings are cancelled when the Gulf is too rough, and in September that is not rare. This is precisely why every departure on this page cancels free up to 24 hours before, and why leaving a spare day in the plan matters more here than in most places.
Common questions
Kenai Fjords boat tours, answered
How much is a Kenai Fjords boat tour?
From $156 for a four-hour wildlife cruise in Resurrection Bay, and from $250 for the six-hour national park trip that reaches a tidewater glacier.
What kind of boat is it?
Mostly high-speed aluminium catamarans with a heated saloon, tables, toilets and open decks fore and aft. Two of the trips on this page use small boats carrying about a dozen people instead.
Are the boats wheelchair accessible?
Six of the twelve cruises here list step-free access, including the half-day Resurrection Bay trip, both six-hour Kenai Fjords sailings, the captain’s choice tour, the Prince William Sound cruise and the eight-hour Northwestern trip.
Is there food on board?
On five of the twelve cruises. The rest have no shop at all, so buy what you want in town before boarding.
Do the boats have toilets?
Yes, on every vessel here. The two scenic flights are the exception for obvious reasons.
Can a boat tour reach Bear Glacier?
No. Bear Glacier ends in a lagoon behind a moraine with no navigable entrance for a tour boat, which is why the thirty-minute flight over it exists and costs what it does.
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.
