Glacier Bay Lodge & Tours — Hotel in Gustavus

Upon arrival, our room was disgusting. Several hairs were found on the toilet seat, in the shower, and both on the bed and under the covers. The shower curtain was filthy with hairs and sand. The bedside lamp was covered in dust. The heat in the room didn’t work. We requested our room be cleaned, and it was. However, a few hairs still remained, the shower curtain still covered with hair and sand, AND our new sheets had large yellow stains. Needless to say, we slept in our sleeping bags because we were freezing and the “clean” sheets were visibly soiled. Somehow flies kept getting in our room despite our window being closed. Not sure how this continued. The bathroom had no hand soap, just the small bar in the shower. This barely lasted us our 3 days, but we were too frustrated with our room to even waste our time asking for more.

The food at the Lodge restaurant was overpriced and barely edible. We only ate there because we had no other convenient option. Several dishes we tried to order were already sold out on Monday while food delivery occurs on Thursday. Our salmon overcooked, the pasta overcooked and flavorless, brownie so burnt we couldn’t cut through it, and the cobbler was just a bowl of cooked berries. Thank god for our waiter Cade who made the rest of our dining experience enjoyable!!!

We generally had pleasant interactions with the staff. In addition to Cade at the restaurant, Deena our bus driver was fabulous. She welcomed us at the airport, gave us a tour of the town on our way to the Lodge, and suggested a whale watching tour for us to do. We likely would not have enjoyed Gustavus without her. The gift shop staff were also very friendly and gave us other great suggestions for our trip, such as visiting the airplane wreck. On the other hand, the desk staff did not seem to know any answers to our questions, namely those related to the laundry machines, and they referred us to the gift shop staff for all of our questions. The desk staff was really only useful for filling our water bottles. Maybe this is why they don’t have water filling stations anywhere besides the dock. Felt very strange having to ask staff to fill our bottles for us. One final experience of note was an evening in the lodge where we were reading and using the wifi on the second floor of the lodge, and it appeared that restaurant staff assumed the lodge was free of guests and started blasting inappropriate music throughout. We merely laughed at this, but imagine other guests would have been upset.

The state of the room for the price we paid had us in disbelief. We were so excited to visit Glacier Bay and were SO disappointed in our stay at the Lodge. Nearly ruined our final 3 days in AK. We will never stay here EVER AGAIN and will make sure no one we know ever does either. Horrible and extremely unacceptable experience!!!! We would have been better off sleeping outside...

It’s Alaska. So, there’s that. Pros: The view & wildlife opportunities are amazing. There did seem to be reasonable ADA access - required, of course, but nice to see in such a remote location. There are a couple of nice little hikes from the lodge + kayak rentals & all-day boat tours, which are highly recommended. Great for a catching a boat ride in to glaciers-edge kayak camping or pitching a tent at the neighboring riverside campground. Beautiful space in the wilderness. Cons: Be aware it’s true wilderness and both camp options are honestly a lateral step to the “rustic” part-time amenities of the Glacier Bay Lodge itself. The nature display, 2 little trails and boating are easily “accomplished” in 2 days, so of there are ambitious/restless types in your group, they are easily & quickly ready to move on. There is no recreation/lounge common areas or even comfortable deck chairs for reading/game playing slow time. And there are actually bears, so have noise-makers and a buddy system on the trails.;) We’re ok with camp-style medium-low clean rooms with poor bedding, no wifi, no amenities and industrial food, it would just be better if we were paying appropriate prices. (And/or be aware if the considerable overcharge is going to Ntl Park Services?) No phones in the room, even for contacting the main lodge, seems a safety risk - we noted people of all ages and abilities that might have some peace of mind w better communication. TIP: Make dinner reservations in advance of arrival, if possible, or you may not get a meal and there are no other options. BYO groceries/snacks, especially if traveling with kids, maybe grab some extra muffins, yogurt or cereal at breakfast. There are zero food & beverage options literally from 9-5. The staff eats lunch in the dining room, but no lunch is available to guests. Nor are any coffee, bar, snacks or takeout options available. (Food truck opportunity!) Highly touted everywhere, for some reason, is that the property is entirely run by Aramark - of the cafeteria prison-food notoriety - and it shows. Despite being in the heart of the world’s salmon fishery, we were served previously frozen pale farmed salmon. (Aramark requires that all food come through their group, which prevents any local catch from reaching the table at the lodge.) “Buffet breakfast” of diner-esque scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits & French toast didn’t vary in our 3-day stay and is $21 pp to serve one’s self. Local Access FYI: The lodge shuttle that runs to the village/airport charges $15pp for the ~20m ride despite the fact that they need to go in anyway to pick up guests. We were told they were required to charge soas not to compete with local taxis with the same fee. There are 2 local restaurants to support, and one is dinner-only, run by the local school. There is one market &...

This is a 3.5 for me. Stayed one night on 7/31/2021. For a lodge in the middle of nowhere, it's fine. This is also the Glacier Bay National Park Visitor Center on the second floor, where you can get your National Park passport stamp.

The hotel picks you up from Gustavus airport in an old school bus, and drops you off at the lodge. From the bus, hotel staff come on the bus to tell everyone the facts about the hotel and where to get your luggage. Afterwards they separate you by last name and you get your keys. Much faster than checking in individually at the front desk.

You pick up your luggage and go to your room. It smells like the summer camp that I went to. They do have ramps and an elevator for people who are in a wheelchair.

Our room (31) was fine. There's no TV and no internet reception in the rooms, so you better like who you're staying with, because the lodge closes at 9 PM. We had to go to the front desk because we didn't have any soap or shampoo, but they're really understaffed after the past year.

Room comes with a bed, a table, two chairs and nightstands. There is no mini fridge or microwave so don't bother bringing stuff that would need those two appliances to be edible. There is one restaurant on site that requires reservations, and all diners must be hotel guests. It's a little old, and the walls are a bit thin, but the room was comfortable and I fell asleep immediately.

When we got to the hotel, the National Park Visitor Center portion was closed for the day so we were worried about not getting our National Park passport stamp after coming all this way.

We walked a trail around the lodge and ended up catching the tail end of a presentation of the park rangers in the traditional house just past the Snow the Whale skeleton. The presentation began about 7 PM.

In the morning, we dropped off our luggage at the front desk and had it tagged with the airline that we were flying back with. This is because checkout is before we'd be back from the official 8 hour boat tour through Glacier Bay with the actual park ranger (and the National Park passport stamp and Junior Ranger program.)

After dropping off the luggage, we walked from the lodge down a trail to Bartlett Cove dock to visit Glacier Bay National Park.

After the boat tour, it was a mad dash to get to the bus on time, as it leaves for Gustavus at 3:45 PM. All of our luggage was waiting for us on the bus.

I would strongly discourage bringing anyone under 21 here. There were so many teens and tweens on ipads in the communal sitting area in the lodge. You could tell they were bored and not interested in the beautiful nature, so save your money and let them come when they're adults who can appreciate...