What are the chances of seeing wildlife and glaciers on this crossing? Is it mainly just beautiful scenery?

You will see wildlife and glaciers. Your capitan comes close to a large colony of sea lions where he turns a ferry around so everyone is able to take a good picture. he also slows down so you could take a good look at Columbia Galcier. Bring your binoculars and look for whales. If the weather is clear and not raining you are going to see many glaciers on the way. You are going to have beautiful scenery during those seven hours.

Thanks, Wildflower. We were thinking of doing the Columbia Glacier cruise out of Valdez the day before, but now I think it would be very repetitious. We've been to Valdez before when our ship stopped there, and there really wasn't much to see, so we thought we'd do the Glacier cruise. We only returned to Valdez because we wanted to do the Richardson Highway drive.

I have been on the Valdez- Whittier ferry several times and it's MAIN objective is transportation. There are sometimes sea otters in the harbor at Valdez. Boat tours are FAR better for glacier and wildlife viewing. The ferry will make a few brief stops- but doesn't go up close to the glaciers like you would get on a specific tour. I really like Valdez, great hiking, and boat tours. I always take one- this year, I'll be using the toursaver coupon.

I think we will go for that Columbia Glacier cruise. I like getting up close and personal with Mother Nature. By the way, BudgetQueen, we are doing Hallo Bay July 1, and will be back home July 8. If that won't be too late for you, I can let you know how it was.

Great - THANKS, I look forward to the Hallo Bay report!

How much before the ferry leaves do you need to be at the dock? We will have a van. The ferry site recommends 2 hrs (and with a 7:15am departure time, this will come EARLY!!) Our B&B hosts in Valdez said just show up 15 minutes before...........

We took the ferry, and I don't remember seeing much of anything. We were to sleepy from getting up early to watch for animals.
It was fun to see the scenery go by, though.
I second the boat tours for wildlife and glaciers.
If your adventerous, you can kayak around Columbia glacier and others with a guide. I highly recommend it. It was one of the highlights of our trip!
I think 2 hrs is a bit early if you already have tickets.
Have fun!

ceejay_ky, you DO NOT need to be there two hours earlier. NOBOBY is going to be at the ferry for at least one more hour. We took ferry three times and never got there earlier than 30 minutes before scheduled departure. As long as you have your tickets purchased in advance you won't have to be at the dock earlier than 30-40 minutes before ferry departs. We hope this year Valdez is going to have a long promised fast ferry to Whittier.

By the way, I agree that the main purpose of the fery is to transport people but each time we saw plentiful wildlife and views were always amazing.

One thing to note is that ADOTPF (the state transportation department) is still indicating that the scheduled in-service date for the Chenega, the new high-speed ferry that will serve Prince William Sound is 2005. AMHS hasn't yet posted the summer timetables, so it's not clear if it will be available for the summer tourist season (sure ought to be) but if it is it will cut a couple of hours (at least) off the Whittier-Valdez crossing time. To do that I would imagine it will steer clear of any chance of icefloes near Columbia Glacier, so if anything I would expect that route to offer less glacier viewing than before, but not certain.

The Chenega's sistership, the Fairweather is working the Juneau-Haines-Skagway run, where it cuts 2 hours off the previous schedule, so I'd expect comparable reductions across PW Sound when the new boat comes on line.

Thanks Wildflower and Gardyloo for the info. Sounds like we can have a little more sleep that morning and might have more time that afternoon for seeing the sights!!