Mendenhall Glacier after a helicopter tour

[GTmom2015]

We are doing an Alaska cruise later this summer. We already booked a helicopter glacier/dog sledding tour. I'm also thinking about doing a canoe type excursion at Mendenhall glacier. Is Mendenhall worth seeing if we have already done the helicopter glacier tour. Not sure if it is worth it or not. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[Alatraveler1]

Last week we used Coastal for a helo/glacier landing in Juneau that went to Herbert Glacier. Two copters traveled and landed/tookoff at the same times, giving us a quiet time on the glacier to walk around in ice boot coverings viewing the moraine and crevasses and drinking glacier water, very much worth the money. Our tour was a 815 pickup from across the street from the pier. Travel time to/from heliport was approx. 35 minutes each way. When we returned to ship, we met up with my parents and traveled on Evergreen/Taku taxi with a 1245 pickup to the Mendenhall Glacier. Taxi fares are approx. $35-$40 plus tip and is per vehicle as opposed to per person on the blue busses. We spent two hours there and had a scheduled pickup for a return to the ship. In that two hours it gave us a quick look at the visitors center and we hiked the two mile roundtrip to Nugget Falls, taking photos and enjoying the view. The view of the glacier was spectacular itself even though we had just landed on another glacier. The high rushing water of Nugget Falls and the spray and "wind" from the falls was a bonus worth the walk. If you have time we thought it was well worth the trip and time/money.

 

The glacier landing tour was great (didn't do dog sled) but at 30 minutes glacier time and 30 minutes flight time was a short stop. Most of the helicopter tours are about that length. The trip to Mendenhall was a different perspective than from atop the glacier. Put together, both experiences made the Hubbard Glacier visit later in the trip that much more meaningful. It didn't hurt that the glacier calved multiple times, we got EXTREMELY close to the face, and the "thunder" was awesome.

 

There are fees at Mendenhall in addition to the cab ride ($5 per adult and $2 child which will be collected by taxi and they will give you a ticket upon entering). As to a canoe/rafting excursion, my sister did a morning raft type excursion at the same time as our helicopter tour that went to the glacier and really enjoyed it. She could have returned with us back out there but would have basically had to join us for a return trip right back immediately upon return to the ship from that tour. However, our port time was from 7 am to 9:30 pm and even doing both activities back to back we had plenty of time for shopping and balcony time. If your times are similar you may even be able to space the activities out somewhat, making it easier logistically and with less glances at your watch. I would recommend if you have time and could schedule according to your port times.

[Budget Queen]

these are 2 completely different tours, with NO similarity. but, usually there are only a few option for "canoe" trips on Mendenhall, so I strongly suggest you find out if there is a tour that will fit in with your already scheduled flight. Not sure what you are considering? some do take most of the day with a landing. If you haven't figure out the basic first- can you do both???

[GTmom2015]

Thanks for the responses. The helicopter tour is at 11:00am and is three hours long and would be done by 2:00. The Mendenhall tour is at 4:00, so we should have time for both. Sounds like they are different enough that it is worth doing both. A few in our group aren't doing the helicopter tour so I'm sure they will really want to do Mendenhall glacier.