Kenai Fjords National Park Glacier & Wildlife Cruise
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When crew and passengers spot wildlife, the captain slows and maneuvers at a safe distance to give everyone a chance to see. Depending on the season and the day, it may be Dall's porpoises or otters playing in boat wake, seabirds of every variety diving from cliffside nests, or orcas gliding just below the water surface. In the most compact tour, you’ll see the jagged cliffs, seabirds, marine wildlife, and alpine glaciers, including the magnificent Bear Glacier. Includes a short stop at Fox Island with a locally sourced, buffet-style lunch. This is a great option for kids who love Alaskan wildlife, too. Major Marine Tours offers world-class wildlife and glacier cruises in Kenai Fjords National Park, departing from the beautiful harbor town of Seward, Alaska.
Why Choose Kenai Fjords Tours?
Check in at the boat tour office located in the Harbor 360 Hotel. A deli lunch with turkey sandwich, chips, granola bar, brownie, and soft drink is served on board. A vegan/vegetarian lunch option is available and must be requested in advance. Additional snacks, hot and cold drinks, and alcoholic beverages are available for purchase. The staff made sure we had two tables together and everybody was very accommodating. It is nice that you have the tables as your home base for the entire trip.
Trip Planning Help
The sky is clear and the sun creates a million sparkles of light on the face of the ocean. A humpback whale erupts from the shallow waves in a full breach. A glacier cracks loudly making the phrase “white thunder” make sense as a giant piece of ice falls into the water. An otter rides the wake of our boat, holding onto a rock it will use to crack open the clamshell in its other paw for lunch. These are some of the quintessential experiences you can have on a Kenai Fjords National Park cruise.
Prices & Dates
We had a blast and would do this again with this company in a heart beat. Visit an active tidewater glacier and discover the whales and abundant wildlife of Kenai Fjords National Park on our most popular cruise. KFT’s fleet is the largest in Southcentral Alaska; its boats are 95 feet long, with smooth catamarans that hold up to 150 passengers. You can sit inside the heated viewing area with giant picture windows, or stroll the large viewing decks. All tours include at least one meal at no additional cost depending on the length of the trip.
You will spend time in front of a towering tidewater glacier and watch for calving, where giant chunks of glacial ice break off and crash into the water. Tour Kenai Fjords on one of our cruise options ranging from 4 hours to 8.5 hours. Our cruises explore the glacier-carved fjords and abundant wildlife of Resurrection Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park, offering some of the best glacier viewing and whale watching opportunities in Alaska. Whichever cruise you pick, you'll generally see at least one active tidewater glacier, and your captain takes the boat as close to any glacier as safely possible—typically between a half mile and a quarter mile.
Tips for the Best Whale Watching Experience
Kenai Fjords Tours are proud partners of Whale SENSE — promoting responsible whale watching since 2017. Go farther into Kenai Fjords National Park than any other tour. Cruise through the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, with birds, animals and calving glaciers at every turn. Operating since 1974, Kenai Fjords Tours has the most experienced and knowledgeable captains, sailing the newest fleet of custom sightseeing vessels operating in Kenai Fjords National Park. You’ll go along the Resurrection Bay route in search of a good view of the California Gray Whales, who have traveled more than 5,000 miles up from Baja California, and pass by the mouth of the Bay. Major Marine Tours is a certified “Green Business” through the Adventure Green Alaska program, which recognizes business who practice economic, environmental, social, and cultural sustainability.
What's Included
Nothing could have prepared me for the sensory stimulation of this six-hour adventure. The six-hour tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park was dazzling in a whole new way.
If You Don't like Glaciers, Snow-Capped Mountains, and Puffins, Avoid Visiting Kenai Fjords National Park - Outdoors
If You Don't like Glaciers, Snow-Capped Mountains, and Puffins, Avoid Visiting Kenai Fjords National Park.
Posted: Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Passengers will spend as much as an hour in this dramatic setting before heading back toward the Gulf of Alaska on the return trip to Seward. Departing from Seward, this cruise glides past seals, whales and puffins as we explore coastal rainforests, tidewater glaciers and remote Alaskan islands. Experienced and engaging captains narrate the trip, so you walk away knowing a whole lot more about Kenai Fjords National Park and its wonders.
The Alaska Map
Cruises 6 hours and over include a complimentary hearty deli lunch for all guests. For over 30 years, Major Marine Tours has been showing our guests Alaska’s towering glaciers, abundant marine wildlife, and stunning scenery on our world-class Kenai Fjords cruises. Our Kenai Fjords National Park cruises offer some of the best whale watching opportunities in Alaska, with chances of seeing humpback whales, orca whales, gray whales, fin whales, and minke whales. Our 6 Hour Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise explores the world of whales, wildlife, and glaciers found in Kenai Fjords National Park. Our experienced captains will fully narrate your journey and will point out the spectacular sights while providing information on the area’s wildlife, history, and geology.
If you have any questions about these, let me know in the comments. In this post, I promote travel to a national park that is the traditional lands of the Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) people. With respect, I make a formal land acknowledgment, extending my appreciation and respect to the past and present people of these lands.
Before diving into the ranked list of the best Kenai Fjords National Park cruises, I want to quickly cover each of the companies that provide cruises in the national park. This will help you get a sense of why I ranked the tours in the order I did. Saw lots of orcas, humpbacks, sea lions, otters, bald eagles, puffins and big chunks of ice falling off the glacier! Captain was great at pointing things out and very knowledgeable. In addition to wildlife and alpine glacier viewing, you stop at Fox Island where you'll enjoy our signature dining experience.
While we cannot guarantee whale sightings, our captains visit wildlife hot spots and communicate with other vessels about recent wildlife sightings to give our guests the best chances of viewing whales. On average, we see whales on 80% of our 6 Hour Kenai Fjords National Park Cruises. The longer you are on the water, the greater your chances are of seeing whales. Major Marine Tours is my favorite Kenai Fjords cruise operator, and this 8.5-hour tour is their longest tour that will take you to the furthest reaches of the national park. You’ll spend a whopping 8.5 hours out on the water – a great amount of time on a day with good weather (or a miserable unending slog if the water is choppy or has swells!).
Yes, this cruise visits one active tidewater glacier in Aialik Bay. Depending on weather, you may also see Bear Glacier, which is a piedmont glacier and the largest glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, along with alpine glaciers perched high in the mountains. The captain narrates during the cruise, sharing some of his deep knowledge of the Seward area’s history and terrain.
Even on a sunny day, the air coming off a glacier can be quite chilly. If seasickness is a concern, err on the side of caution and take motion sickness medicine in advance. Dramamine, Bonine, and ginger chews are available for purchase onboard. Your captain takes the boat as close to any glacier as safely possible for the best view. Along the way, you’ll head deep into fjords to watch glaciers calf and skim the edge of the Gulf of Alaska with the best chances to spot whales and other wildlife.
Captains are always on the lookout for wildlife and will stop the boat to drift along when something's been spotted. You'll probably see hundreds of harbor seals just basking on the icebergs around you, and you might see any number of puffins, cormorants, sea otters or Dall’s porpoises. Okay, now that I’ve covered all of the companies that offer Kenai Fjords cruises, I want to provide you with a ranked list of all of the cruise itineraries they offer. These are all of the primary cruises offered during the Alaskan summer season. I cover each one briefly to explain why I ranked it that way. Join Alaska’s most popular wildlife and glacier cruise, gliding past wildlife, coastal rainforests, glaciers and remote islands.
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