Join Jac and Holly as they view the Hubbard Glacier in Disenchantment Bay on the Norwegian Spirit Alaska cruise.
Hubbard Glacier is a glacier located in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve in eastern Alaska and Kluane National Park and Reserve in Yukon, Canada, and named after Gardiner Hubbard.
The Hubbard Glacier ice margin has continued to advance for about a century. It takes about 400 years for ice to traverse the length of the glacier, meaning that the ice at the foot of the glacier is about 400 years old. The glacier routinely calves off icebergs the size of a ten-story building. Where the glacier meets the bay, most of the ice is below the waterline, and newly calved icebergs can shoot up quite dramatically, so that ships must keep their distance from the edge of the glacier in Disenchantment Bay.
On June 25, 2022, the cruise ship Norwegian Sun collided into a growler (a piece of ice smaller than an iceberg) in foggy conditions as it approached the Hubbard Glacier for sightseeing. The ship was damaged but it was considered safe.