Princess's Alaska Excursions

[emu1987]

Hello! I am going on an Alaska cruise in June for my honeymoon. We have pretty much everything that we are going to do at each port except for: Juneau...

We have narrowed it down to doing one of Princess's excursions that involve Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching. We are trying to decide between two different choices:

"Alaska's Whales and Mendenhall Glacier Trail" and "Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest"

I was curious to know if anyone could tell me anything about these tours.

Any input on them would be appreciated.

[Budget Queen]

The "trail" tour is going to be an excorted walk on, usually the "trail of time" at Mendenhall. You do NOT need a guide, in my opinion. The visitor center does have guide sheets and with a group, you are only going to go as fast as the slowest person. :)

 

The whale watch will be on a nice boat, with up to 100 passengers.

 

 

The other tour- is a stop at Mendenhall for about 45 minutes, along with a whale watch.

 

I do find independent grossly superior. The groups are smaller on the boats, and you have a drop off/pick up at Mendenhall, then do the other direction, when you are ready. Great advantage to have the freedom.

 

Most people are interested in the Nugget Falls trail, which brings you very close to Mendenhall. Allow an hour.

[Assateague Island Princes]

Unfortunately, with the whale watch/glacier combo thru the cruiseline, you will be limited on time at Mendenhall. I'd highly recommend going independent for your whale watch. We've used Harv and Marv's twice and were more than satisfied - we were ecstatic with the wonderful service, knowledgeable and interesting captains, smaller (6 passenger) boat experience w/personalized service. No fighting for space at the rails when a whale is spotted like on a larger, cruiseline excursion. Can't say enough good things about H&M! They will drop you off at the glacier afterwards and then you can just catch the blue bus ($7pp one way, I believe) back to Juneau when you've seen and done all that you want at the glacier. Check out harvandmarvs.com and see what you think. I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

[FPJC03]

I'll give you a THIRD option. we are doing the whale watch and mendenhall glacier photo safari tour. It is a smaller version that only takes 12-15 people on it and there is a nature photographer there to give you pointers on taking shots. You don't have to be a great photog for this trip, but it is more personalized than the regular whale watch tours. I did lots of research on these trips and found this one to be one of the better Princess excursions.

 

Otherwise, I would have done HARV and MARV's whale watch independent trip since they go on smaller boats and give personalized service. We are going end of July in Diamond.

[frugaltravel]

And be sure to compare the whale watch tours for time on the water. Not sure how much each operator spends on the water, but more time is almost always better. So if one operator is cheaper than another, it might be because they spend 30 or 60 minutes less on the water.

[Snowangel3]

FPJC03 (Frank),

 

How did you like your whale watch and mendenhall glacier photo safari tour? I was thinking about booking that one for our trip next May and was wondering what you thought of it.

 

Thanks!

 

Carol