Juneau - Blue Bus

[ABQrobin]

Do most people just pay for the Blue Bus when they get to Juneau at the booth there at port or do they book online with Viator?  

[harryfat1]

We were in Juneau couple of weeks ago.  Just walk down the pier toward Mt. Roberts tramway and there will be many vendor kiosks there.

 

We booked it after getting off the ship just in case the weather is really bad that day, then we could have back up plan.

 

 

The blue bus kiosk is the guy on the far right that has sign that says "Blue Bus - Every 30 minutes"

 

 

It runs at the top and bottom of every hour.  They will tell you when is the last bus for that day.

 

[JT1962]

The only real advantage to booking ahead of time is if there is a long line to purchase tickets once you arrive and there are sometimes discount code you can use on Viator to get 10 or 20% off. It may be best to wait until you get there and see what the weather is like. If it is pouring rain, you may decide you don’t want to go.

 

I believe you can purchase tickets the same day by using your cell phone on Viator, so you could always wait to see what the weather was like and if there was a long line, just use your phone to purchase the tickets and show the tickets on your phone to board the bus.

[Thunderbird19]

Earlier this month, we were in Juneau twice (north and south bound cruises) and on the day we decided to go to Mendenhall glacier we just got off the boat, walked to the booth that was selling the bus tickets, and walked right on one that was parked there and left 10 minutes after we boarded.  Preferred this over booking through cruise ship since we were able to spend as much time there as we wanted (did Nugget Falls and other short nearby walks).  Juneau can be quite rainy in August so weren’t sure if we’d go to Mendenhall, but it was only slightly rainy on northbound trip so we did it then.  Didn’t want to buy ahead of time with aviator and deal with refunding if we decided not to go.  

 

[Cbtours]

1 hour ago, Thunderbird19 said:

Earlier this month, we were in Juneau twice (north and south bound cruises) and on the day we decided to go to Mendenhall glacier we just got off the boat, walked to the booth that was selling the bus tickets, and walked right on one that was parked there and left 10 minutes after we boarded.  Preferred this over booking through cruise ship since we were able to spend as much time there as we wanted (did Nugget Falls and other short nearby walks).  Juneau can be quite rainy in August so weren’t sure if we’d go to Mendenhall, but it was only slightly rainy on northbound trip so we did it then.  Didn’t want to buy ahead of time with aviator and deal with refunding if we decided not to go.  

 

We are planning our first trip Alaska (we are from Australia). Currently researching everything. Currently wondering if it’s better to do the return trip from Vancouver rather than the cruise tour from princess, with the lamp portion after the cruise.

You obviously did return trip and wondering how much did you see off ship? Wildlife? Country etc on excursions?? Or the extra days in ports were better ? Thanks.