We will have the pleasure of two weeks of land travel following our 7 day inside passage cruise from Vancouver to Whittier. We plan to rent a car and travel from Anchorage to Denali to Fairbanks to Valdez, ferry to Whittier, drive to Seward, Homer then back to Anchorage. We want to do a couple of daylong cruises to see glaciers up close and wildlife. I understand the best wildlife is a long kenai fjords nat'l park cruise from Seward, but what about for glaciers? We were going to do one from Valdez (Stan Stephens or Major Marine) but I've also heard of a 26 glacier cruise out of Whittier. Which is preferable?
Thanks!!

The long tours out of Seward go into Kenai Fjords National Park and visit one or more of the several glaciers there, depending on which the Captain thinks will provide the best experience given the weather and sea conditons that day. The reason the tour is talked about so much for the land and sea based wildlife is that the trip to the glaciers takes a fair amount of time and takes you out of the bay, around a pretty good sized portion of the peninsula, and deeply into a fjord. The exposure to open sea, the much less heavily traveled fjord, and the extra amount of time on the water, compared to bay tours, expand your opportunity to see considerable wildlife.

I have only been twice but each time we saw many, many whales - both humpbacks from a distdance and pods of orcas up close - sea otters, seals and seal lions, many kinds of sea birds including cute little puffins, and, on one of the trips, a black bear trundling along the shore line.

One thing I did not think of on my first trip, along with most of the rest of the passengers that day, was how cold it can get on the water and especially near the glaciers, even in the depth of summer. I highly recommend layered clothes, including rain gear and a warm coat and, especially warm gloves.

Have a wonderful trip.

I highly recommend the longest Kenai Fjords Tour for wildlife and the 26 Glacier tour for calving glaciers.

This is what guide books stated and posts here have confirmed.

No matter how warm the day is, when you start moving it gets chilly. Take rain gear, a hat, gloves and layers.

You might also consider a flightsee trip. Smokey Bay in Homer brought us back from Seldovia over a glacier. I think you can get a 1/2 trip with them for $49. Of course, you can also see the glacier from Homer if you drive up the scenic road from Homer. It's quite different seeing a glacier from the air plus we got a closer look at a mountain sheep.

We took a "wildlife" cruise from Kenai Fjords cruises that went to the Aialak Glacier, and it was by far the most memorable part of a 2-week Alaska cruise vacation. (1 week cruise, 1 week independent travel to Denali & Fairbanks).

I have traveled this area many many times. By far the most extensive glaicer viewing is out of Whittier, little wildlife. For a mix of wildlife and glaciers- Kenai Fjords out of Seward and out of Valdez. Consider the Northeastern fjords tour- 9 hours- they use the fastest boat on this tour and cover a lot of ground for superior wildlife viewing. The regular 6 hour Kenai Fjords tour includes Aialik Glacier, with distant views of a few others. Valdez includes Columbia- one of the best in terms of calving- extremely active with buildling size ice. Mears is less active. Wildlife is less than the Kenai Fjords.

Also when are you going- can make a difference on your choices??

This will be the last week in June. Because we plan to drive to Valdez, then ferry over to Whitier or Seward, we can daycruise out of any of the 3 ports.
Sounds like the recommendation is nothing from Valdez, 26 glacier cruise from Whittier and 9hr Northeastern fjords cruise from Seward. Does anyone know if Kenai Fjords will substitute their $129 2/1 TourSaver coupon for the northeastern tour?