sharon_pei

I am not sure about the $350/adult price quoted here: i am seeing a staggering $459.95/adult price in my princess app (for this June), which completely makes it a no-go. i'm sure its amazing, but life has many amazing things that won't take $$ like this. You can see that most people are not so crazy about how amazing this experience is going to be at this price point as all 20 tickets are unclaimed for.

Now i am a bit confused: in a different thread it was mentioned that it would take someone who is experienced in mountainous driving to drive this route and in case weather gets wet and foggy, it's not necessarily a safe drive. But a lot of people encouraging self drive have said the drive is easy and has nothing to be concerned of. Which one is true? For someone who isn't confident in long distance mountainous driving, is it something to avoid to be safe (since nobody has a crystal ball for weather)?

Quick Q on grabbing breakfast and sitting outside: at 6am would it not be freezing outside, or am I overestimating the brutality of alaska temperature?

Am i understanding it right that for those who stay in interior cabins, we would need to choose between going out to the deck to see glaciers vs staying indoor at 'visitor center' to learn from the park rangers? I can see why balcony cabins have a huge advantage here now.

would not a bear bell work better?

May i ask if one needs to worry about bear risk in any of these recommended places? We are planning to hit most of these and want to be conservative, but the fact that one can't bring bear spray back to cruise ship is a bothering us.

I checked ACT's schedule and it's pickup time is 8:45am. Is it too risky considering the disembarkation would involve 2600+ (for princess) people. so i am thinking using cruiseline's transfer could be a bit worry-free.

I saw a few threads about Princess transfers to get people to and from Whittier, but I logged into my account on their app and found no information about it whatsoever. Wonder how to book this transfer directly with Princess if its not in their new app?

we've booked Bennett lake tour via Chilkoot, but reading a lot of good experience of self drive makes me start to consider the self drive option, except that avis only has super expensive rentals left (~$400 for a day). May I ask from where did you guys get rental cars in Skygway?

Thank you for the detailed information. Does this mean for a scheduled 6am-3pm glacier bay stop, late risers can get up at 8am without missing glacier views? that sounds so much better!

Beginning my day at 6 a.m. is incredibly challenging -- it tends to leave me feeling disabled for the remainder of the day. I'm curious to know how much is sacrificed for night owls like myself who struggle to function before 7:30 at the earliest.

May I also ask if one needs to carry bear spray for this itinerary? Also, would we be able to take bear spray onto a cruise ship if we purchase one here and hopefully don't use it? We wouldn't do too much hiking this time: maybe this itinerary in Juneau (plus the hiking trails on the top of Mt Robert if nice weather), and Exit glacier vista hike in Seward. The rest would be guided tours or just stroll around vista points. So I wonder if its still a good idea to get bear spray and if so at which port shall we get it?

yeah. acknowledged. that's the exact reason for this thread: to see if we need to have a backup plan in case if this self drive itinerary is weather dependent (same as Mt Robert Tram). If so, we want to be prepared.

Just that rainy/foggy weather that might create visibility issue for scenery -- we are mainly after nice scenery (ideally with glaciers). For example, lots of recommendation on skipping the Mr robert tram if it rains. btw, we are going in 2nd week of June.

We are planning to do dyi self driving based exploration in Juneau following the guidance from this forum on : Mendenhall Glacier first...... From there drive north with stops at Shrine of St Terese and Eagle Beach.....From there return to town, take the bridge to Douglas Island turn left at the round about and drive to the end of the road....... Treadwell Trail Just wonder if we do so, are we vulnerable to bad weather in case of bad luck? I also heard that this itinerary (except the Mendenhall glacier part) is more for those who've been to Juneau before than for 1st time visitors. is it so? we are not that into whale watching, and one of us refuses to get onto a small aircraft, hence the dyi idea. but want to double check if it's good before committing.