mberry

The Glacier Bay NP website provides a map of a "Typical Day Tour" of the park. I have checked each of the (four) sites listed on their Visiter Services Directory under "passenger ferries" and none seem to offer the pictured day tour route. Is it possible to get to Glacier Bay and take a one day tour without being on a cruise ship?

NWWanderer

Yes, but it's not a ferry, it's a tour boat run by the park service with a ranger on board. We stayed at Glacier Park Lodge and did the boat trip which was great.

mberry

Thanks. Do you know if the tour boat is only for people staying at the lodge? The lodge looks really nice, but I just want to see Glacier Bay; a stay at the lodge is a bit out of my budget.

PaulRabe

As I examine

http://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisi...ur%20Route.pdf
and
http://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisi...-tour-boat.htm

and it appears that you can take a one-day tour by showing up at the dock at Bartlett Cove with a ticket. The PDF also shows a camp site near this dock. SO, if you can get to Gustavas (by plane or passenger ferry), travel the ten miles from Gustavas to the camp site, and then show up at the dock the next day with your ticket; you can get a one day boat tour of the NP without being on a cruise.

mberry

Thanks, PaulRabe. That's a lot of IFs, but maybes are plentiful in my vocabulary, so I'll work on a plan!

PaulRabe

I did a little more research, just for fun (bizarre as it sounds, planning a trip, even one I'm not going on, is one of my favorite activiites).

This URL
www.gustavus.com/gethere/index.html#ferry
tells how to get to and around Gustavus. It would seem you could get to that city, spend the night at just about anywhere you want in town, take a TLC taxi
www.glacierbaytravel.com/tlctaxi.htm
to Bartlett Cove in the morning, and then take the one day boat tour once you get there. Or you could take the taxi out to the camp site the day before.

This map
http://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisi...%20Map%201.jpg
shows that it's not too far between the campground, the Visitor Center, and the dock from where you'd take the one day boat tour. Note that the campground
www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisit/campground.htm
is free, and you get what you pay for -- it is NOT for camping newbies.

The Alaska Ferry does not stop at Gustavus, but an Aramark Ferry (NO vehicles) does go between Auke Bay (near Juneau) and Bartlett Cove.
www.visitglacierbay.com/park/directions.cfm

I picked a random summer date and found you can fly Alaska Airline between Juneau and Gustavus Airport for about $100.

mberry

Wow! Thanks for all that information. I got a much less detailed answer when I wrote directly to the park. After pricing it out (with meals, lodging, and the Glacier Bay tour), the ferry comes to about the same price as an all-inclusive cruise - even if I pitch a tent on deck instead of getting a cabin. I'd been reluctant to take a cruise, but rearranged my itinerary so that the cruise would follow 12 days doing the Anchorage/Fairbanks circuit. By then, I think I'll appreciate leaving the logistics to someone else!