Juneau whale watch and Mendenhall glacier combo tour

[kkmcan]

Has anyone taken the Premier Whale Watch & Mendenhall Glacier combo on Viator.com? Is viator a reputable site for excursions? This is exactly the tour we are looking for but I get nervous booking with tours that are not thru our cruise ship (Royal Caribbean Quantum).  We want to do the whale watch first and then have enough time to do the hike to Nugget falls at Mendenhall. Our port time is 1-9, tour is 2:30 and is 5 hours long.  Seems good but you know... just looking for some reviews on this or recommendations on excursions you guys have done that fit the bill.  Thanks!

[Glaciers]

Although I haven’t been looking, I’ve not read any negatives about Viator. They are a consolidator and don’t actually operate tours. I believe the tour you are looking at is through Juneau Whale Watch who is the actual vendor. We book direct with them and they are our preferred whale watch tour operator. 

https://www.juneauwhalewatch.com/

 

We don’t do the combo tour although there are positive reviews that indicate you can stay at Mendenhall longer than other tours as they have multiple buses throughout the day. With your late port time you should check on that though.

[atobols]

We did the combo tour with Juneau Whale Watch in 2019.  We did the 2:30 tour and the timing was a little tight.  We did whale watching first and then hopped on the bus to go over to Mendenhall.  I'm not sure of the exact time, but it was close to their closing time.  I was scared we wouldn't be able to see everything because we only had about an hour there.  It was plenty of time.  We quickly walked up to the visitor center so that our kids could get their junior ranger badges.  We walked out to the glacier, keeping an eye on the time, and were able to walk all the way down to the end and even wade out into the water a bit.  It was a great trip.  We're doing an Alaskan cruise in June 2023 and we've already booked the tour again.  We're taking Grandma with us this time and she's going to love it!

[CCJack]

We have not done the specific tour through Viator, but I think it sounds like a good combo.  I would definitely do whale first.  In that way you are not far from the ship (Mendenhall is not far from Juneau) late in the afternoon.   So if there were ever a problem with a vehicle or something, they (or you) could arrange another ride back.   Out at sea and a problem with the whale boat 1.5 hours before the ship leaves is a different story and would make me nervous.   Other replies are correct, you don't need a lot of time for Mendenhall.

 

 

[ChanaC]

We also booked with Juneau Whale Watch this May and I would recommend them. We went back and forth on timing because we were getting inconsistent info about when a previous excursion (the Dawes Glacier up close boat tour) would end. We originally booked a combo whale watch and Mendenhall glacier tour, but when we found out the previous tour would end later than expected I emailed Juneau Whale Watch and asked if we could move our whale watch back and hour and cancel the glacier part, and they were super quick to respond and accommodate us, and almost immediately I got an updated receipt with the updated price. They also responded to one of my previous emails quickly, and all in all they seemed to have great customer service. What I liked about their tour options is that they did the whale watch first, then Mendenhall, but they had buses leaving Mendenhall every half an hour so you could theoretically stay for 30 minutes or 4 hours, just depending on your schedule. I liked the idea of not having a set time to get back on a bus so you can explore on your own pace.

 

Our whale watch was okay, but there were a few things out of their control, mostly the whales who didn't feel like cooperating. We saw three from a distance but they all dived when we got close and didn't really make much of an appearance, but hey, that's nature. We also got dropped off at the dock by the bus drivers (who were great btw about pointing out things on our drive and talking about living in Juneau) but the previous boats came in a little late, so we were left standing around waiting for a bit, and I think our tour was a little shorter because of that. All that being said, we are going back to Juneau next year and I'm planning on booking with them again, and hopefully doing both the whale watch and Mendenhall this year.

[kkmcan]

Thanks everyone! I'm thinking of just going ahead and doing this tour. If we don't have time for the hike at Mendenhall thats ok. A quick look will do and then we'll hop on the bus back to the port. We've done the hike at Mendenhall before but the others in our group haven't.