Juneau excursions

[Puchungui]

Hi. This will be my first time in Alaska. Very interested in Mendelhall and whale excursions but our cruise ship will arrive Juneau at 1PM and leave at 10 PM. Will I have the chance to take the Mendelhall heli/hike tour and then the whale excursion. It will be my first cruise out of the caribbean and I am very scared of the timing. I dont want to be left in Alaska with two kids . Would you recommend to take both or can we take whale excursion at Skagway or Ketchican? Anxious about this trip and to read your opinions. Thanks

[D-Ville Guy]

My wife and I have been to Alaska 4 times. One self tour and three cruises. Two with Princess and on on Carnival Spirit. I would go on the whale tour in Juneau. YOU WILL SEE WHALES. Stop downtown for shopping. Flight tour in Ketchican if budget is there and in Skagway a must is the White Pass train Full day for sure half day is still ok. There will be times that you will not want to leave the deck. ENJOY We were in San Juan 2 years ago and can't wait to return. Where is your cruise port to start the cruise?

[NoobCruise]

Welcome to CC! You'll definitely want to check out the Alaska board for a ton of info and to get all your questions answered.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

We were also in Juneau from 1 to 10 pm. We did the Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier and had a great time, but we did not have enough time at the glacier. We would have liked to walk all the way out to the falls or even the glacier, but we were only given an hour. We found out later that we could have ditched the tour and had the visitor center call a cab for us so we could stay longer. I don't know if you'd have time to do the helicopter tour too. It would be tight on time. Ask over on the Alaska board for better advise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Since you didn't mention how old your children are, you need to check the age limits for the helicopter tours.

If you want to stay some time out at Mendenhale Glacier, there is the Blue Bus that goes out there. Last summer the price was $8 per person each way. The bus drops you off close to the Visitor Center. There is no food out there. It does cost to go inside the Visitor Center. You might consider buying some snack crackers and bottled water if you are going to spend some time out there. Most ships sell snack crackers of some sort. You can not take food of the ship that is not pre-packaged.

[GORDONCHICK]

Hi. This will be my first time in Alaska. Very interested in Mendelhall and whale excursions but our cruise ship will arrive Juneau at 1PM and leave at 10 PM. Will I have the chance to take the Mendelhall heli/hike tour and then the whale excursion. It will be my first cruise out of the caribbean and I am very scared of the timing. I dont want to be left in Alaska with two kids . Would you recommend to take both or can we take whale excursion at Skagway or Ketchican? Anxious about this trip and to read your opinions. Thanks

 

I don't think you will have time for both as tours. A good whale watching excursion should be at least 6 hours. However, most of the independents will either drop you off at Mendenhall or will stop and wait for you (probably about 30 minutes or so). At least this was our experience with Harv & Marv's and Alaska Galore! tours. Now, you can be dropped off there and there is a hiking trail you can do on your own (we didn't so I can't say where or how far it goes) and catch the city bus back to town.

[tigger_ag]

You can't take food to Mendenhall Glacier with you because of the bears!

[Puchungui]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I will check on the Alaska Forum.

[Puchungui]

Ok. No food.

[Puchungui]

Did you take the ship excursion? I will travel with HA Zuiderdam July 13. My kids are 6-10 and 13

[NoobCruise]

Did you take the ship excursion? I will travel with HA Zuiderdam July 13. My kids are 6-10 and 13

 

Who are you asking? If you would like to reply to a specific person, at the lower right of each post is a button that says "quote". If you click on that, it will quote that post at the top of your post - like your post is at the top of mine. That way everyone knows who you are specifically responding to.

 

Since I sailed HAL, I'm guessing you may be asking me? Yes, we took HALs ship excursion on the Westerdam. We're fairly new to cruising and DH just didn't want to risk venturing out to private tours and take a chance on missing the ship lol

 

We were originally booked on the Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer roundtrip out of Juneau. When we went to join the tour, we were told it was cancelled due to weather, but we could book anything else on the spot, so we hopped on the Whale Watching and Mendenhall Glacier Excursion. We're looking at doing another Alaska cruise next year and will probably try private tours as they sound like they have smaller numbers and you get to see more.

 

Since you're sailing on HAL, I recommend checking out the HAL board where you can get all your HAL questions answered. BTW we loved HAL :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=171

[cruzeluver]

We used Orca Enterprises for whale watching in Juneau and cannot recommend them highly enough! There office is right across the street from where the ships dock so getting there is a snap. They are very professional, easy to work with and the experience was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. We saw several whales as well as sea lions. We were back with plenty of time for walking around town and lunch.

[Teeara]

I would make the whale watching tour the #1 shore excursion for Juneau. I did a Photo Safari when I was on our Princess cruise in 2008. We saw humpback whales, killer whales and sea lions. I think the kids would be more interested in seeing them than a big glacier. We also did Mendenhall during the Photo Safari and although it was a nice walk, there wasn't really that much that I think kids of that age would find interesting.

 

DEFINITELY do the White Pass Railroad in Skagway! That was great and I think the kids would love being on the train. If you decide to do the train, MAKE SURE TO SIT ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE TRAIN CAR. The conductors will discuss what you see on the way UP the mountain and all the stuff to see will be on the left side of the train. Those on the right side will be against the mountain wall and won't see anything until the trip down which goes much faster and without the commentary.

 

Here's a link to my photos to give you an idea of what to expect on your Alaska cruise: http://2008alaskacruisediamondprincess.shutterfly.com/

 

Have a wonderful time! I had a great time in Puerto Rico in April 2011 and hope to return soon.

 

Theresa

[sail7seas]

We really enjoyed our visit to Mendenhall and the Visitor's Center on our June Oosterdam cruise. I was happy we did the tour which also included a salmon bake. Lunch was very good. :)

[dustyroad]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Since you didn't mention how old your children are, you need to check the age limits for the helicopter tours.

 

If you want to stay some time out at Mendenhale Glacier, there is the Blue Bus that goes out there. Last summer the price was $8 per person each way. The bus drops you off close to the Visitor Center. There is no food out there. It does cost to go inside the Visitor Center. You might consider buying some snack crackers and bottled water if you are going to spend some time out there. Most ships sell snack crackers of some sort. You can not take food of the ship that is not pre-packaged.

 

the buses run every half hour back and forth to the glacier and town . give yourself time too get back too the ship. harv and marv and capt larry with orca whale watching company have specieal deals for dropping people off at the glacier after the whale tour. you might want too check them out.