Prince William Sound cruise: Whittier, Valdez and the glaciers next door

Look at this part of Alaska on a map and you see two bites taken out of the same stretch of coast. The southern one is Kenai Fjords National Park, sailed from Seward. The northern one is Prince William Sound, sailed from Whittier on one side and Valdez on the other. Both have glaciers that come down to the sea and end in it. Both are day trips on a boat with a meal on board. That is why the same person keeps searching for both.

The differences are practical rather than scenic. The first is the port. Kenai Fjords means Seward, and nothing else. Prince William Sound means Whittier if you want the 26 Glacier Cruise, or Valdez if you want Columbia or Meares. Those are three different towns, and you cannot swap one for another on the morning.

The second is the length of the day. The Whittier listing runs 11 hours, which is far longer than anything sailed out of Seward, because it is written as a full day from Anchorage as well as from the port. The Valdez pair are six hours and seven and a half hours, which is the same shape as the Kenai Fjords choice: the longer boat gets further along the coast.

The third is what each one is known for. From Whittier the route is named in the listing: Passage Canal, Esther Passage and College Fjord. From Valdez, Columbia Glacier is described as retreating back into the Chugach Mountains, with ice standing in the bay in front of it, and the longer run puts Meares Glacier at the end of seven and a half hours instead.

And the fourth is price, which does not follow any of the above. The Valdez runs are the lowest fares on this site at $180 and $200. The Whittier cruise at $260 sits alongside the Seward sailings. Below, all of them are set out with their inclusions written as the operators write them, then measured against the Kenai Fjords National Park cruises so the comparison is an honest one.

From Whittier: $260, the 26 Glacier Cruise. The longest day on this site at 11 hours, and the one with the route written into the listing: through Passage Canal and Esther Passage to College Fjord, to see tidewater glaciers and marine wildlife. The fare names a meal with a choice of Alaska smoked salmon chowder, a hearty vegetarian chili or an all-beef hot dog kids meal, plus coffee, tea and water, a USB charging station at every table, and high-speed catamarans with multiple restrooms. The listing also carries a no-seasickness guarantee, which is an unusual thing to put in writing and tells you what people worry about on this water. 175 reviews at 4.8.

From Valdez: $180, six hours to Columbia Glacier. The lowest fare on the site, and a day built around one glacier. The listing describes Columbia Glacier retreating back into the Chugach Mountains and the ice that stands in the bay because of it, plus the shoreline of Prince William Sound and its waterfalls on the way. Included: a light lunch of soup, a bagel, cream cheese and cookies, coffee, tea, lemonade and water, a snack bar and gift shop on board, an on-board guide with a map in English, Dutch, German and Korean, and transfers to and from the RV parks in the core of Valdez. 180 reviews at 4.8.

From Valdez: $200, seven and a half hours to Meares Glacier. The same water, the longer route. The listing names Meares Glacier, the waterfalls and bays along the shoreline, and the captain and crew on the natural history of the area. The food is written out in three parts, which tells you how the day is paced: a morning bagel snack, a late lunch and a dinner roll, with coffee, tea, lemonade and water throughout, and a guide with a multilingual map. 66 reviews at 4.9, the highest rating of the three sound cruises.

The land option: $200. Not a cruise at all, and worth knowing about precisely for that reason. It is a six hours small-group shuttle run with stops at Portage Lake, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and Beluga Point, with all entrance fees, water, snacks and wifi in the vehicle, pickup included and drop-off anywhere in Anchorage. 13 reviews at 4.6, so it is a small sample. If somebody in your party does not want a full day on the water, this is the version of the region that keeps them on land.

And the comparison everybody actually needs. None of these is Kenai Fjords National Park. That is Seward, and it is four sailings: $265 for six hours with lunch, $267 for the wildlife-led version, $271 for the seven-hour Captain’s Choice, and $297 for seven and a half hours with two active tidewater glacier stops. If the park is what you came to Alaska for, book one of those and treat the sound as a second day rather than a substitute.

If you want the named route: $260. Passage Canal, Esther Passage and College Fjord in one 11-hour day, with the meal, the charging points and the no-seasickness guarantee written into the fare, and 175 reviews at 4.8 behind it. It is also the one sold from Anchorage as well as from Whittier.

If you want one glacier and a shorter day: $180. Six hours from Valdez to Columbia Glacier, the most reviewed of the Valdez pair at 180 reviews and 4.8, with soup, a bagel and cookies on board and a guide and map in four languages.

If you want the longer Valdez run: $200. Seven and a half hours out to Meares Glacier, with the food written out across the whole day and the highest rating of the three sound cruises at 4.9, though from 66 reviews.

If somebody is staying on land: $200. Six hours, Portage Lake, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and Beluga Point, entrance fees included and a drop-off anywhere in Anchorage. Thirteen reviews at 4.6, so go in knowing how thin the record is.

The verdict. Within the sound, book $260. It is the only one of the three that writes its route out in full, it feeds you properly across a long day, and its 175 reviews at 4.8 are the strongest record of the ports next door. But be honest about which coastline you came for: if the words in your head were Kenai Fjords National Park, the sound is not it, and $297 from Seward — seven and a half hours, two active tidewater glacier stops, 391 reviews at 4.9 — is the sailing that matches them.

1. Using “prince william sound” and “Kenai Fjords” as the same thing. They are two coastlines and three different ports. Seward is the park; Whittier and Valdez are the sound.
2. Booking a Valdez cruise while staying near Whittier. $180 and $200 sail from Valdez, and the transfers named in the Columbia listing are to and from the RV parks in the core of Valdez itself.
3. Reading 11 hours as 11 hours on the water. $260 is written as a day from Whittier or Anchorage, which is why the clock is that long.
4. Judging by the fare alone. $180 and $200 are the lowest prices on this site, but they are a different sound from a different town. Cheaper is only cheaper if you were going to be in Valdez anyway.
5. Expecting the land run to be a cruise. $200 is a shuttle tour with stops at Portage Lake, the wildlife centre and Beluga Point. It is a good day, but nobody stands off a glacier face on it.
6. Leaving a small-sample rating unread. $200 is 4.9 from 66 reviews and $200 is 4.6 from 13. Compare those with the 851 behind $265 before you treat them as equivalent.