Glacier Bay Lodge & Tours - Gustavus, Alaska

JayBee

A late review, but I spent the summer of 22 working here at the lodge and it was the best summer of my life. It’s a wonderful historic lodge with great views, accommodations and good food. The rooms are average, but you are really here for the views and all the park and area have to offer. So many people only come for one night and a trip on the day boat, but there is so much more than that to experience here. Come see for yourself!

Sonja J.

We enjoyed a one night stay here. The main lodge is very nice and the food was very good. The property is very pretty and hiking trails are nice. The room was very nice for the most part. The bathroom in our unit could use some updating, but they have a very short tourist season so it didn't bother us. We really appreciated being able to leave our luggage next to the front desk because we arrived prior to check in time, and we took the boat tour after checking out. If we would have had to keep our luggage with us it would have been a huge pain. The luggage area next to the front desk is not secured, but it didn't bother us, we just kept our valuables with us.
The day boat tour was awesome! We saw so much wildlife!! The captain did an awesome job getting us really close to the shoreline to see mountain goats, a bear, a wolf, sea lions, etc, and we also got super close to Johns Hopkins Glacier. It was a very memorable experience.

Behnaz P.

Beautiful location right on the bay. We were lucky enough to get a room overlooking the bay. Beautiful views. Two very beautiful trails have been developed from the lodge, one by the bay and the other through the moss-laden woods. ||Our room was large and comfortable and had all the basics. It was a little dark. Since the hotel is isolated in the national park, there’s nothing but nature around and you need a bus or cab to go elsewhere, although there are only two other restaurants in town (with limited hours) and not very much else to do. The lodge has a restaurant on site. Food there was fine. ||A special part of the experience of being in the lodge is the native lodge and totem poles and the wood carver working on new totem poles nearby. Go when someone is in the lodge to explain and show you a film on some of the history of the park and its relation to the native population. ||Finally, we took a lovely glacier tour from the harbor at the Lodge. You don’t have to stay at the Lodge to take the tour, but it’s convenient from there.

Chip K.

My party of 5 got caught up in the cancellation thing as well. Unfortunately, no one actually contacted us. So when we showed up, the nice girl handing out the keys to everyone getting off the shuttle had nothing for us and a panicked look on her face. Clearly this had happened before. Long story short, somehow the Lodge came up with our two rooms and we went ahead with our visit. I feel horrible for those who got cancelled and weren't as lucky as us. But in a VERY remote location like Glacier Bay, when there are structural failures - like plumbing I believe in this case - it's going to take time to fix. Parts and labor are not readily available.|Otherwise, this was a wonderful experience, in a beautiful location. The boat trip was amazing and the entire staff incredibly friendly and helpful.|*** NPS / Aramark *** I have one complaint and that is prior to leaving Juneau for Gustavus, I tried to telephone the lodge to make sure everything was a go and confirm the pickup at the airport. Despite trying a couple of numbers, I was never able to get to a person. That's bad business. GBL is an expensive place to stay, and some basic customer service around the booking would go a long way. This is NOT a reflection on the on-site staff!

Connie H.

We truly enjoyed our stay at Glacier Bay Lodge. The bus was waiting for us when our plane arrived and the driver stopped at the park sign on the way to the lodge for pictures. The rooms were comfortable and clean. Wifi is available in the lodge but it's not the best. The boat tour was amazing. Our captain was excellent and we were able to get close to bears and the glacier! Scenery was spectacular. Glad we opted for this route over a cruise ship as they could not get very close to the glacier at all. The restaurant was decent with good food - service was a bit slow but we didn't really have anywhere else to go in the evening - lol. Take note that the visitor center and the boat provide a stamp for your passport book. However, it is not the official circular stamp. You have to go to the ranger station at the boat ramp for the official stamp.

Chuck R.

This place is a great value and in one of the most beautiful places in the world. The rooms are comfortable enough and the restaurant staff is very friendly. They were out of a couple things every night on the menu, but being a remote location, this is somewhat understandable. They do not have a place at the main lodge to fill a water bottle and the gift shop is lacking snacks and beverages. Pack your own snacks if you come here. Overall a great place.

Bonnie H.

Wow, Wow Wow what a amazing and truly beautiful place. The resort was really nice, dinner was amazing. It was a trip of a lifetime! The resort was right on the edge of the water and right where we got off the boat from the Glacier tour. Highly recommend both.

Gavin G.

Did the day tour. This was an overall pretty good tour where we saw some beautiful scenery as well as a good amount of wildlife.

Ranger Jerry was top notch. 5 stars for him for sure. Great with kids and incredibly knowledgeable about both the topics of discussion and the local area.

A few things to improve:
- They allowed kayak tours to occupy many rows that were desirable seating areas. This left people paying $250+ per ticket in less desirable seating while inanimate objects occupied better seating.
- A non-service dog was allowed on the boat. Make your own judgments on this one.
- Lose the tip jar and pay employees more.