Juneau Excursion Suggestions

[PandasRUs]

We will be in Juneau in late July. We are a group of 4 adults - not active or high adventure. We have ruled out any whale watching or flight excursions. A couple of us may do flightseeing in Denali. And we are looking at the musher camp in Seward. It appears to me that our choices are then to do the Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Gardens, and/or the Salmon Hatchery. And there is also the walking tour of downtown and the tram.

The tours I have found are HAL for the 3 locations ($80) and an excursion from the internet to the Glacier and the Gardens ($60).

I also checked into renting a car and going to all 3 locations. That comes out to be about ($55 per person).

Would we find other excursions in port which would meet our interests?

Are there places I am missing?

Suggestions are appreciated.

[Glaciers]

For what you have planned, a rental is a great idea. If the weather is decent, in addition to what you have planned, a drive north to the Shrine of St. Therese and Eagle Beach is very nice. The hatchery began dumping fish at the shrine and there can sometimes be whales close to shore in that area.

 

As a side note, they are increasing the fees to $5 for the visitor center at Mendenhall Glacier and/or to use the restrooms. There are a couple trails now that require the fee too. Didn’t go over too well with the locals...

[mumfee]

Hi, Has anyone been on the "Haines Native Culture & Bald Eagle Experience" out of Skagway. Would really like to know what it is like. Can not find any reviews of this excursion. I know that is only drives through the Eagle park, but was interested in what the tour of Klukwan was like.

[Editrix]

How about a food and walking tour?

 

http://www.juneaufoodtours.com/

 

My husband and I did this last year and enjoyed it very much. We were on our fifth Alaskan cruise and had already seen the major attractions. This was something different.

[Editrix]

How about a food and walking tour?

 

http://www.juneaufoodtours.com/

 

My husband and I did this last year and enjoyed it very much. We were on our fifth Alaskan cruise and had already seen the major attractions. This was something different.

 

Here's more information about the food tour.

 

http://www.travelweekly.com/North-America-Travel/Tour-offers-taste-of-Juneau

[DougH]

The state museum in Juneau is scheduled to open sometime in May after a several year renovation. It was a nice stop before and I'm sure will be even better now. I knowit will be one of my stops on my next visit to Juneau.

[mumfee]

The state museum in Juneau is scheduled to open sometime in May after a several year renovation. It was a nice stop before and I'm sure will be even better now. I knowit will be one of my stops on my next visit to Juneau.

 

Hi, Thought you might like to know the charges. Museum admission is $12.00 for adults 18+, $11.00 for seniors 65+, and free for youth 17 and under. It sounds wonderful

[Cruzingal#9]

Does anybody know anything about the whale watching tours out of Juneau? Are they worth the money? I've seen most of them advertise a guarantee sighting or $100 is refunded to you at the end of the tour. I wonder what constitutes a "sighting"?

[mumfee]

Does anybody know anything about the whale watching tours out of Juneau? Are they worth the money? I've seen most of them advertise a guarantee sighting or $100 is refunded to you at the end of the tour. I wonder what constitutes a "sighting"?

Hi, a friend went 2 yrs ago and said a sighting is any sighting of a whale. They went at the end of the season and only saw the backs of a few whales in the distance. You will have to do some research to find out when the whales are in the area you want to sail

[peety3]

Does anybody know anything about the whale watching tours out of Juneau? Are they worth the money? I've seen most of them advertise a guarantee sighting or $100 is refunded to you at the end of the tour. I wonder what constitutes a "sighting"?

We've done them on every stop we've had in Juneau, and have been absolutely thrilled every time. In 2012, we saw a pod of transient orcas, along with several fantastic showings of bubble-net feedings by humpbacks. Our other tours were almost exclusively humpback if not only humpback whales.

 

Harv & Marv seems to have a lot of market share for their 6-person boats. Allen Marine does some good tours on 150-person catamarans. We've tried a few vendors, and we're dead-set on always using Gastineau Guiding; we find their boats to be the most ideal for whale watching: small-boat feel with big boat stability and the best windows of anything on Auke Bay for whale viewing and photography.

[peety3]

Hi, Has anyone been on the "Haines Native Culture & Bald Eagle Experience" out of Skagway. Would really like to know what it is like. Can not find any reviews of this excursion. I know that is only drives through the Eagle park, but was interested in what the tour of Klukwan was like.

You should probably start a new thread with this excursion's name as the title, as you're asking about a Skagway/Haines excursion under a thread looking for non-whale non-flight tours in Juneau. That said, anything in Haines out of Skagway involves a 45-minute "fast ferry" transit each way, and almost definitely a 10-30 minute ride from the ferry dock to wherever it is the tour does its thing. Essentially, be prepared for "planes, trains and automobiles", which may detract from the overall experience, though Haines is a great Alaskan town with lots to see. We had a "river wilderness adventure" that wasn't so good (for our standards), but did a private photo tour in Haines last August that was beyond phenomenal (we stacked the deck in our favor, admittedly).

[PandasRUs]

Thanks for the suggestions for our day in Juneau. Since the others in our group do not want to rent a car, we will probably do the tour of the Glacier, Gardens, and Hatchery. After that we will do a walking tour around the city. Is there a self-guided tour that we can view on the internet?

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

[mapleleaves]

It appears to me that our choices are then to do the Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Gardens, and/or the Salmon Hatchery. And there is also the walking tour of downtown and the tram.

The tours I have found are HAL for the 3 locations ($80) and an excursion from the internet to the Glacier and the Gardens ($60).

I also checked into renting a car and going to all 3 locations. That comes out to be about ($55 per person).

Would we find other excursions in port which would meet our interests?

Are there places I am missing?

Suggestions are appreciated.

 

Does the $80 tour to all 3 locations include admission fees ? The Rainforest Garden alone is $25. So $80 would be a heckuva bargain.

 

Otherwise if might be cheaper to take a cab to each location; that would allow you to spend as much or as little time as you like. ie 45 minutes at Mendenhall isn't really enough and a cab costs about $35 each way.

 

As for a self guided tour .... did you look at Juneau's web site? There is a downtown map with popular tourist destinations noted. There's also a Visitor Guide to download.

 

Another option is a taxi tour. 12th Street Taxi has a 4 hr tour for $280. It goes around downtown, to Mendenhall, the hatchery, and even out to the Shrine of St Therese on the coast. Can be modified to your interests.

[xlxo]

Does anybody know anything about the whale watching tours out of Juneau? Are they worth the money? I've seen most of them advertise a guarantee sighting or $100 is refunded to you at the end of the tour. I wonder what constitutes a "sighting"?

What are your expectations? On my trip....

• most of the time you are looking at the back end of the animal out of the water (tail fluke). I assume they are diving.
  
• there was probably a dozen or more whales when we were out in the water.
  
• you might get lucky if a whale chooses to swim by the boat.
  
• did not get to see any leaps out of the water.
  
• there was a finale where the boat circled a buoy where the sea lions were resting between meals. Or just avoiding the nearby whales.
  
• to see a large humpback.... yes it was worth it for me.
  

 

If your cruise includes Vancouver...

• consider also checking out the Aquarium for Beluga whales.
  
• Orca whales can often be seen on Vancouver/Victoria whale watches.
  

 

Where you expecting a Sea World experience? I hear Sea World whale performances are ending this year.

Edited May 11, 2016 by xlxo

[Cruzingal#9]

Hi, a friend went 2 yrs ago and said a sighting is any sighting of a whale. They went at the end of the season and only saw the backs of a few whales in the distance. You will have to do some research to find out when the whales are in the area you want to sail

 

That would be our luck! Our ship leaves in a little over 2 weeks, so I'll do some quick checking to see if any are up there yet.

[Cruzingal#9]

We've done them on every stop we've had in Juneau, and have been absolutely thrilled every time. In 2012, we saw a pod of transient orcas, along with several fantastic showings of bubble-net feedings by humpbacks. Our other tours were almost exclusively humpback if not only humpback whales.

 

Harv & Marv seems to have a lot of market share for their 6-person boats. Allen Marine does some good tours on 150-person catamarans. We've tried a few vendors, and we're dead-set on always using Gastineau Guiding; we find their boats to be the most ideal for whale watching: small-boat feel with big boat stability and the best windows of anything on Auke Bay for whale viewing and photography.

 

Thanks for the info. I will look up information on Gastineau Guiding. I don't know what companies the cruise ship uses, so will try and compare boat sizes and price. Reading your post gets me excited and is making us lean towards going ahead and doing it!

[Cruzingal#9]

What are your expectations? On my trip....

• most of the time you are looking at the back end of the animal out of the water (tail fluke). I assume they are diving.
  
• there was probably a dozen or more whales when we were out in the water.
  
• you might get lucky if a whale chooses to swim by the boat.
  
• did not get to see any leaps out of the water.
  
• there was a finale where the boat circled a buoy where the sea lions were resting between meals. Or just avoiding the nearby whales.
  
• to see a large humpback.... yes it was worth it for me.
  

 

If your cruise includes Vancouver...

• consider also checking out the Aquarium for Beluga whales.
  
• Orca whales can often be seen on Vancouver/Victoria whale watches.
  

 

Where you expecting a Sea World experience? I hear Sea World whale performances are ending this year.

 

I would love to see their tail flukes! We will be in Victoria in the evening so plan on going whale watching in Juneau. Thanks for your input.

[PandasRUs]

Thank you mapleleaves.

I think I found a map that will be helpful.

 

And yes, each of the prices I quoted, I figured in all of the entrance prices.

 

We are looking forward to our relaxed tour of Juneau.

[peety3]

For the sake of mention, we've also done two evening whale watches out of Victoria, and those are fair at best. No sightings were guaranteed, the boats weren't nearly as ideal (particularly for photos), and day of the year is a big factor in what you can/can't see. We did it once in late July, saw lots, but often had to contend with the sunset for whale photos. We did it again in mid-August, and sunset came way too early to make the tour worthwhile, and I think we got cheated out of 30 minutes of tour time though there was no light to make it worthwhile anyway.

 

On the one we did in July, I did actually catch several shots of a breach, but even with a monster camera (Canon 1Dx, 200-400/4 lens) it was way in the distance and hazy. I don't think I realized I got it until I went through the shots at home and cropped way in. Not nearly good enough to print/frame anything bigger than wallet size or MAYBE 3x5.