Juneau Port Arrival 1 pm?

[Royally Ready to cruise]

Hi gang.  Excited to book excursions for our family cruise this summer. Juneau Port arrival time is 1 pm and departs 9 pm.  There is an excursion that does the 3, whale watching,, Mendenhall and salmon bake.  The first booking time is 1:30 pm.  Does anyone have advice as to A can we make that time . and is it possible to do all 3 and have an enjoyable time?   Ty!!!! 

[1025cruise]

Is it a ship's excursion? If so, no issue.

[BirdTravels]

13 minutes ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Hi gang.  Excited to book excursions for our family cruise this summer. Juneau Port arrival time is 1 pm and departs 9 pm.  There is an excursion that does the 3, whale watching,, Mendenhall and salmon bake.  The first booking time is 1:30 pm.  Does anyone have advice as to A can we make that time . and is it possible to do all 3 and have an enjoyable time?   Ty!!!! 

No problem. Enjoy your 3 activity excursion. (Just remember that you will be up around 5 am as you do the glacier viewing, so it is a long day).

Edited January 23, 2023 by BirdTravels

[Royally Ready to cruise]

yes thank you for the reply!

[Royally Ready to cruise]

Hi Bird! we were traveling with you on the NCL Great come back cruise! Loved Alaska so much we are trying it again with lots of kids this time.  Trying RCCL this time to save money on our group of 23.  We know it will be different on RCCL, but the ship activities for kids is what made the decision.  So from your response, I’m thinking all 3 is going to be a but much for kids age 3 to 15. 

[Royally Ready to cruise]

Trip advisor rates Alaska tour companies Juneau whale watch 5/5.  Thoughts anyone?

[moposh]

18 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

(Just remember that you will be up around 5 am as you do the glacier viewing, so it is a long day).

How?  Ship gets into port at 1300.

[time4u2go]

2 minutes ago, moposh said:

How?  Ship gets into port at 1300.

You view the glaciers from the ship, before it ports.

[moposh]

2 minutes ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Trip advisor rates Alaska tour companies Juneau whale watch 5/5.  Thoughts anyone?

Are you going to Icy Strait?  You can do whale watching there.  Obviously, you can only do Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.  I went to the Glacier and do recommend it.  We did it with also visiting Glacier Gardens.

[Kellie in Texas]

21 hours ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Hi gang.  Excited to book excursions for our family cruise this summer. Juneau Port arrival time is 1 pm and departs 9 pm.  There is an excursion that does the 3, whale watching,, Mendenhall and salmon bake.  The first booking time is 1:30 pm.  Does anyone have advice as to A can we make that time . and is it possible to do all 3 and have an enjoyable time?   Ty!!!! 

We tried to do this excursion (with the salmon bake) in June 2022 on Serenade but it was cancelled. I think maybe because the place where the salmon bake occurs wasn't fully staffed yet, but I don't know for sure. Whale watching in Juneau is great and the Mendenhall Glacier should definitely be part of your plans.  Another poster mentioned being up at 5 a.m. to "see the glacier" -- Mendenhall Glacier is in town in Juneau and you'll go on a bus to see it.  The "5 a.m. glacier" is when you are cruising past one of the other glaciers where you don't actually get off the ship, you just watch and take lots of pics. 

[Giantfan13]

I understand your desire to see and do as much as possible in Alaska, but sometimes less is more. Going to Mendenhall glacier is wonderful, but just seeing it and not taking the time to walk to the waterfall and just feel the spray of that water on you is more energizing than running around trying to do and see everything. Since you have a lot of daylight, I would do the whale watch and take the public bus to Mendenhall and spend some quality time there. forgo the salmon bake.

 

Cheers

Len

[Royally Ready to cruise]

The hike to the waterfall is my absolute favorite!  I’m really excited for the grandkids to do this and see the amazing Mendenhall Glacier.  The last time we took the paved path but I believe there is another trail farther up the hill. I’m wondering how strenuous it is ?

[LeeW]

As I recall the other trail just goes higher up the waterfall.  We weren't interested since it was raining.

 

Haven't figured out the glacier viewing Bird is talking about.  Didn't see any from Radiance that day or on other four trips to Juneau.  Did see a few in the distance from the whale watch tour.

 

Alaskashoretours runs a great whale watch tour that isn't crowded on the old Orca Enterprises jet boats and also does Mendenhall dropoffs.  Since the blue bus alone is $40pp, cheaper to do both with one vendor.  We swung by the glacier on the way back from the whale watch with the same driver we had gone up to Mendenhall a week earlier.

[Royally Ready to cruise]

Thank you LeeW!  did they give plenty of time at Mendenhall to hike to the waterfall?