Introducing Holland America Line’s Glacier Guarantee™
Are magnificent glaciers at the top of your wanderlust list? Is Alaska calling your name? When you embark on an unforgettable journey with us to the Great Land, you can cruise with confidence knowing you’ll experience the awe-inspiring beauty of glaciers on every Alaska cruise and cruisetour. It’s part of our Glacier Guarantee™, knowing these icy giants are as much a highlight for you as they are for us.
If we don’t visit a glacier during your Alaska journey, you’ll receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 15% of your cruise fare. Don’t sweat it though! We’ve been showcasing the breathtaking wonders of Alaska since 1947, so we know these gigantic glaciers well. In fact, we’re still in awe every time we witness their majesty, and we know you will be, too. Here’s a sneak peek of some of the glaciers you may see on your next Alaska cruise.
Glacier Bay National Park
A cruise through Glacier Bay is a journey through natural and human history, back to the Little Ice Age. Truly a remarkable place, it has acted as a living laboratory for scientists, such as botanist William S. Cooper, who studied how plants react to glacial retreat.
It’s a muse for poets and a beloved wild playground of naturalists, like John Muir. It’s also the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tlingit, who called it S’e Shuyee or “edge of the glacial silt.”
Glacier Bay’s Most Popular Glaciers
Johns Hopkins Glacier: Harry Feilding Reid, a glaciologist, seismologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, named this glacier in 1893.
Margerie Glacier: This was named after French geographer Emmanuel de Margerie, who visited in 1913.
On cruises to Glacier Bay, rangers and Huna Tlingit guides bring the history of this extraordinary place to life with engaging talks.
College Fjord
As you cruise College Fjord, you’re traveling in the path of the 1899 Harriman Expedition that rounded up the world’s leading naturalists, botanists, photographers and nature writers on a two-month voyage from Seattle to Alaska and Siberia.
You’ll notice that many of the glaciers are named after prestigious universities. Glaciers on the left are women’s colleges and the ones on the right are men’s colleges. Some of the more famous glaciers in the College Fjord are Amherst, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, Smith, Vassar and Yale.
Fun Fact: It’s rumored that as an ice-cold snub, the scientists didn’t name a glacier after Princeton.
Hubbard Glacier
Even at 400 years old, Hubbard Glacier manages to stay active. As many glaciers thin and retreat, Hubbard Glacier is advancing at a rate so fast it’s nicknamed, “the Galloping Glacier.”
Hubbard’s massive ice chunks regularly calve off and thunder into the sea. It also caused the largest glacial lake outburst flood in recent history.
Fun Fact: Hubbard Glacier was named after Gardiner Hubbard, one of the National Geographic Society founders.
Mendenhall Glacier
John Muir originally named this glacier Auke (Auk) for the Tlingit Auk Kwaan. In 1891, it was renamed for Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, an American physicist and meteorologist. Sadly, the Mendenhall Glacier has receded 1.5 miles since 1929.
A stop at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center is the best way to learn more about its history. You can also view the glacier and enjoy a salmon feast on the Mendenhall Glacier & Salmon Bake excursion.
Fun Fact: The Juneau Icefield is more than 3,000 years old.
Are you ready to embark on an unforgettable journey to the Great Land with confidence in our Glacier Guarantee™? Learn more about Alaska’s glaciers and the thrilling ways you can experience them.
Article by Lesley McMillen & Amanda Halm.
