Will we have enough time in Juneau

Hi- I am really stressing about whether we will have enough time in Juneau. Our ship is scheduled to be there 6:30 AM - 4 PM. We have a 3 hour whale watching tour with Juneau Whale Watch at 8:30 AM. Then we would like to take the blue or white bus out to Mendenhall Glacier. Ideally we would like to visit the Visitors Center and then walk out to the waterfall. I am seriously worrying about whether we will make it back to the ship in time.

We will be bringing snacks in case we don't have time to stop in Juneau. I would like to see a bit of the town but really don't know about the time.

Thoughts or opinions :) Thanks!

You don't say which cruiseline you are with, but a lot of the cruiselines have the same excursions. Celebrity has a combo ship tour that does both the Whale watch and a stop at Mendenhall Glacier. That might be a better way for you to see both and not worry about timing. Unless you prefer a private tour.

Instead of backtracking to the cruise pier to catch a shuttle, arrange for a cab to meet you at Auke Bay at 11:45 after the whale watch. Get dropped of at Mendenhall by noon, and ask to be picked up again at 1:30 or 2. Get dropped off in town 20 minutes later for a litlle sightseeing.

You don't say which cruiseline you are with, but a lot of the cruiselines have the same excursions. Celebrity has a combo ship tour that does both the Whale watch and a stop at Mendenhall Glacier. That might be a better way for you to see both and not worry about timing. Unless you prefer a private tour.

We will be on the Star Princess.

I will have to look into the ship excursions again. I didn't see one that appealed to us originally.

The only thing about the combo tours is that you usually don't have a lot of time at Mendenhall.

We were there for 2-3 hours and we definitely could have stayed there longer if we didn't need to get back to the ship.

Check to see how long you would be there if you do the tour.

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Hi- I am really stressing about whether we will have enough time in Juneau. Our ship is scheduled to be there 6:30 AM - 4 PM. We have a 3 hour whale watching tour with Juneau Whale Watch at 8:30 AM. Then we would like to take the blue or white bus out to Mendenhall Glacier. Ideally we would like to visit the Visitors Center and then walk out to the waterfall. I am seriously worrying about whether we will make it back to the ship in time.

 

We will be bringing snacks in case we don't have time to stop in Juneau. I would like to see a bit of the town but really don't know about the time.

 

Thoughts or opinions :) Thanks!

Lots of whale watching tours have the drop off at the glacier option, although you may have to get one that's not through the cruiseline. You can also buy the white/blue bus ticket one way, so if the whale watch shuttle time doesn't work for you, you can catch the bus back.

You cannot bring food to the glacier, or consume it while there. There's a lot of bear activity and they don't want to make the human habituation even worse.

There's several food options at Auke Bay, so the taxi idea may work out best. Eat there, then go onto the glacier.

Take a local taxi- we asked the driver for his number when we used him to get out to the glacier- we then called him to take us to the gardens and then called him to pick us up and take us back to the ship. Worked out well for us (and for him!). You should have plenty of time.

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Instead of backtracking to the cruise pier to catch a shuttle, arrange for a cab to meet you at Auke Bay at 11:45 after the whale watch. Get dropped of at Mendenhall by noon, and ask to be picked up again at 1:30 or 2. Get dropped off in town 20 minutes later for a litlle sightseeing.

this is what we have done in the past

Yes, just cab between the whale watch and Mendenhall. You need a couple hours at the glacier for what you are considering. You also need to prearrange the cab or call at least 1/2 hour prior to needing the pick up. Do your eating on the whale watch. And don't have any food on you at Mendenhall. You should have no problem just getting a shuttle bus for the return to the ship, but don't wait until the last bus for your return, I'd suggest you leave by 2:30p if you use a cab, again, you need to call at least 1/2 hour prior to needing it.

We did a combo tour through the ship. However, when we were at the glacier, we saw a lot of taxis dropping people off and picking people up. If you want to go to the glacier on your own, I would take a taxi. The walk to the waterfall was mentioned as a 20-30 minute walk one way, so if you are doing that allow 1 hour at least.