Juneau, need advice on order of excursions

[Dev'sMom]

Greetings! I know seas are unpredictable, but is there any rule-of-thumb with respect to best time for whale watching vs choppy seas? I read somewhere on the internet (grain of salt taken) that seas are less likely to be choppy in the morning, making for a smoother whale watching excursion.

In Juneau, we'd like to whale-watch (Gastineau Guiding via HAL), go up and down the tram (on our own, 8yo son's request :) ), and visit Mendenhall particularly for the Nugget Falls trail (on our own).

On our day in port late June, 1 ship is in around the same time as us, and by lunch time 2 more ships will be in. So I'm trying to figure out, to avoid crowds, should we tram and Mendenhall in the morning, then whale watch in the afternoon?

Or to avoid choppy seas, should we whale watch in the morning, then deal with crowd delays at the tram and Mendenhall after lunch?

Thank you for your seasoned advice!

[cvpends]

If it were me, I would take an early morning whale watching excursion (in my experience seas are best in the morrning), then go to Mendenhall, then to Mount Roberts Tramway last, since it is open late.

[SightCRR]

The whale watch is likely to leave from marina. Both the glacier and marina are about 30-45 min out of town in the same direction. Tram real close to ship. Big waste of time to back track to downtown. It looks like the boats are good size and may ride ok. My guess would be take HAL on whale watch 1st then cab to glacier, then bus back to ship, then tram. Downside is figuring out lunch, pm whale watches have had all day to know where the whales are, glacier bus stops at 6 pm. If you can't see the top tram stop because of fog skip it. Ask boat crew if you can visit pilots chair sometime when they are not to busy.

[Dev'sMom]

Thank you, sounds like morning whale watch is our best bet, followed by Mendenhall and then back to the dock for the tram.

SightCRR: Very useful info you provided on location of the marina and Mendenhall vs. tram/ship! That info will save us lots of time, avoiding back and forth for no reason.

I wish Gastineau Guiding's Whales & Rainforest Trails excursion actually included the Nugget Falls trail but apparently it doesn't, so we'll have to just tell them we're going to head to Mendenhall on our own once we're back at the marina instead of heading back to port--hope we can get a taxi there. For lunch, maybe we can brown bag from the Noordam buffet.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Dev'sMom
lunch

[totheworld]

We are doing something similar - whale watch tour at 1:45, cab to glacier from marina, then cab back to ship. I don't think we'll be able to fit in the tram, unfortunately. I've heard that you cannot take unpackaged food off the ship, though - packaged only. Just something to research...

[SightCRR]

If you are not fixed (like you got a really, really good rate) on that tour look for a HAL whale watch tour with a size boat you like that includes glacier after whale watch and skip rainforest trail. You can see where Rainforest trail is with google map. That way HAL will cover lunch and better use of time. If cab is in the plans make sure you have good phone numbers and to call 30 min ahead of when you need it. I also would advise against taking non packaged food off the ship.

[Dev'sMom]

I saw on a youtube vlog (Scott Singer Cruises) showing on the Noordam that they had packaged sandwiches at the buffet last summer. Hopefully that still holds true and hopefully we can take that off the ship. I'm trying to find a way to contact Gastineau Guiding to see if they go to the glacier after the whale watch.

In another thread, a reply mentioned using Juneau Whale Watch, independent of the cruise excursions, and that they went whale watching first, then Mendenhall, with return to port at leisure (as long as it was before the last bus).