anyone seen an iceberg?

[gardenmusic]

I want to book my 'big' holiday of a lifetime. Probably the last of the challenging holidays due to though we are quite fit.
I want to see ice, and icebergs.
Has anyone been on a holiday and seen them?
We can be away for a max of 14 days. I have read endlessly about Alaska and Greenland, and although the holiday companies talk about ice and massive icebergs, when I look deeper there does not seem to be a guarantee that we will actually see them, or go to where they are. The usual brochures are all a bit vague.
I want to be somewhere where the bergs are not weather dependent, the whole idea of the holiday is to see them.
I know it will be expensive, but we are not in the 30k per person bracket!
Has anyone any actual experience of this, please?

Newfoundland. Saw many as we landed so would assume you can go on a boat.

Antarctic peninsula or South Georgia maybe? I think they do cruises from Argentina

As PP says, Newfoundland, also Labrador

I do think wherever it is you go it somewhat depends on the time of year from my understanding

I have, but through work in my younger days, off Iceland. A bit like the northern lights, there are no guarantees, much will depend on the time of year, the weather, ocean currents, whether any icebergs have calved from the main ice sheet and so on. You’ll also need a ship and captain confident enough to go through/venture close an ice field.
i didn’t go here, but this sounds like a good bet and lots of other amazing things to see - Iceland is a wonderful country
https://iceland.nordicvisitor.com/travel-deals/escorted-groups-guided-tours/icelandic-winter-highlights/991/

Ilulissat in Greenland.

Thank you, some new places for me to google.
I love Iceland. I didn't see any icebergs there, though. Certainly going back.

Yes, in Greenland, there are loads of small ones floating right by the shore. I saw bigger ones on a boat trip. I went in October, flights and accommodation cost about 1000 per person for 4 days so it’s not cheap but nowhere near the 6k upwards you pay for arctic cruises

Loads in the Antarctic. I did an 11 week cruise which was amazing, but I believe there are 14 day cruises from Montevideo to the Antarctic. Hundreds of whales too.

Snowjive2 · Today 08:45
Ilulissat in Greenland.
I had read about Ilulissat, and it did look hopeful, and nearer!

Ratisshortforratthew - where abouts, please?

Please would you tell me which companies you went with?

I put my trip together myself, pretty straightforward. Flew from Copenhagen with GreenlandAir, but you can also fly from Reykjavik.

Thanks Snowjive, I am a bit scared of doing that.

Ooh @Ratisshortforratthew if you don't mind could you tell us a bit more about your Greenland trip?
Sounds like it could be our next family adventure 😊
(Sorry for butting in!)

@gardenmusic If you do a cruise in Alaska that goes into Glacier Bay you will see the glaciers (ice) but they can be very dirty. Mendenhall Glacier is a shore excursion. I’ve seen floating ice but not a true iceberg.

I agree with pp that what you want is Antarctica, it’s expensive but if you can afford it worth it. Try to go for a very small ship c100 or less as they only allow 100 passengers a day to go ashore.
There are a lot more providers than you think so do your research and also look at YouTube videos.

HarrietJonesFlydaleNorth
You are welcome to join in. The more the merrier.

Harassedevictee, yes, I was beginning to have my doubts about Alaska, the holidays I looked at seemed very vague about actually seeing the bergs.

I've been to Sermilik Fjord (southeast Greenland) and I would say you are pretty much guaranteed to see lots of icebergs there - Helheim Fjord, one of the fastest retreating outlets of the Greenland Ice Sheet calves icebergs into it, so it's pretty active.
There's a few cruises about, but probably ways to do it a but more DIY as well - you can fly to nearby Kulusuk from Iceland, and I suspect there are shorter trips/excursions into Sermilik from there.

This trip would be awesome, and you would 100% see so many icebergs
https://www.polar-quest.com/trips/greenland/east-greenland-and-the-mighty-fjords-around-sermilik-2024

If you want an unchallenging trip, an Alaska cruise is very easy, you'll find many elderly and low mobility people on those.

We sailed in Glacier Bay (big, impressive) and took a helicopter to walk on the Mendenhall glacier. Was great. Also took a side tour to an iceberg lake and another whale watching trip which was incredible.

I would recommend going on a smaller ship like Azamara or Oceania or similar if you have the ££ rather than a mega ship.

Thank you rbe, bookmarked for later
Chewbecca thanks, Oceania was one of the lines I liked best.

I’d highly recommend Ilulisat - I was there at Easter. Absolutely guaranteed you will see a lot of icebergs in the icefjörd, and the Icefjörd centre is great. So beautiful and fascinating.

As PP have said, it doesn’t need to be expensive. Fly in from Copenhagen or Iceland (we had a few days in Iceland en route) and book hotels, etc, yourself. It’s not a cheap destination but a DIY holiday is def affordable.

Id recommend doing at least one trip on the ferry. We saw loads of icebergs from that (we went south from Nuuk).

Ilulisat seems to be the most likely and nearest, so I will focus on that.
Many thanks to everyone. I am a step nearer to my dream coming true.
I will look for a package, because although we are still fit, we prefer as much guidance as possible.

This was amazing.

Jokulsarlon in Iceland is full of icebergs that break off the glacier and is absolutely stunning, I couldn't recommend it highly enough. We did it as a day trip from the capital with boat trip included. Check out google images for absolutely stunning pics.

But they don't have penguins 🤔

Sue152,
I have heard of Jokulsarlon, but I was under the impression there were just little chunks, rather than bergs?
Fully intend to get there next trip to Iceland.

PrincessofWells
Stunning! Antarctica?

I'm literally just home from Alaska. We did see icebergs complete with seals on top but they were small not huge titanic wrecking size. Don't know if that helps 🤷‍♀️🤞🏻