Juneau excursions - help! Too many choices and having trouble deciding.

Hi everyone - we are booked on the Eurodam to Alaska on 6/24/17 and can't wait! I am a bit overwhelmed about excursion choices in Juneau and am wondering if there are recommendations you might have. Can you tell me which ones you've done and whether you would recommend it? I think I need to narrow it down to glaciers vs whale watching vs wildlife (eagles, bears, etc.) because I'm not sure there's one excursion that does it all. I think glaciers are the top of my list but it might be that I get my fill of them on the Glacier Bay day and I should do whale watching (or something else) while in Juneau.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!!

I've done most of them over the years, so have some frame of reference.

I agree with your thought that you will get more, and better, views of glaciers in Glacier Bay than you will in Juneau. Mendenhall is fairly small, and has receded a great deal over the years. Unless you want to get a feel for where it is, so you can make a comparison when you come back next time, this one can be skipped.

One fabulous way to see glaciers there, however, is the flight to Taku Glacier Lodge for a salmon bake. The flight is in a small plane---everyone gets a window seat---flying fairly low to the ground, water, and ice.

There are HAL and private whale watching excursions, pretty much guaranteed to find whales for you. At least one excursion includes both the boat trip and a stop at Mendenhall.

Depending on time in port you can also get a small boat excursion up Tracy Arm, which will bring you very close (and close to the water) to at least one of the glaciers there. It's a totally different perspective than a cruise ship allows.

If there's time, and the weather is decent enough to see well, you can take the tram up Mt. Roberts; you'll probably see eagles up there.

Hope this helps some.

There are excursions that do both whale watching and Mendenhall glacier, so you could do both. I'll be doing that in a few days and will report back.

Having been to Juneau many times, we like whale watching there. We have done the ship's excursion and Orca Enterprises.

If you have a clear day and extra time you might want to do Mt Roberts Tram.

We have also taken the Blue Bus out to Mendenhal Glacier. Watch your time as they don;t run in the evening.

I second doing Taku lodge. It was an incredible experience. I still have a picture of the bear eating off the grill after everyone was inside the lodge.

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We've done the Photo Safari (Celebrity), and Gold Creek Salmon Bake (x2). But I wouldn't suggest the salmon bake if you have only a few hours before the ship leaves. We did it that way once, and felt rushed.

We did the Mt. Roberts Tram, and I'd suggest waiting until you arrive before buying tickets due to weather.

We also did the hop on hop off once.

Depending on where you dock, you may need cash for the shuttle into town.

We did the Taku Glacier Lodge with the Salmon bake last year. It was a floatplane experience, nature walk, glacier view, good food, and a surprise bear encounter which frequently happens, I understand. Loved it!

Of all the places I've visited, Juneau was my least favorite for whale watching. It was a long way out to the whale viewing area.

The Eurodam goes to Sitka - which in my opinion, has better whale watching. The Sea Otter & Wildlife Quest was phenomenal. I don't know what you have planned in Sitka but I highly recommend the Otter Quest.

For those going to Icy Strait Point, that was another whale watching spot that I loved.

We took a FABULOUS on-the-glacier tour in Juneau. Helicopter to landing on the Mendenhall Glacier for a guided walk.. It was expensive, I admit, but incredible. Seeing glaciers from the "outside" is different than walking on them. But we did it through Holland America. There are probably cheaper options.

We took a FABULOUS on-the-glacier tour in Juneau. Helicopter to landing on the Mendenhall Glacier for a guided walk.. It was expensive, I admit, but incredible. Seeing glaciers from the "outside" is different than walking on them. But we did it through Holland America. There are probably cheaper options.

I wish I wasn't TERRIFIED of the helicopters and small planes. But, I am...so I'm not going to put myself or my flight mates through my attempting to do this. :( I bet it IS fabulous though. :)

We tried to do too much in Juneau last year; don't do that.

I'm used to Massachusetts whale watching, so I thought the experience out of Juneau was hella-overpriced and not that exciting. If you've never been whale watching, YMMV, but I'd try from a different port.

Agree with comments about Mt. Roberts tram--wait until you get there to book to see what the weather is like. We had good weather so no problem there. Nice views and some trails up there if you have the time.

Unless you're going to do one of the helicopter excursions, I'd skip Mendenhall glacier. It was the most disappointing glacier of our cruise (we did not go to Glacier Bay). Again there's some hiking available there, but we didn't have enough time to do that.

We had a great time doing the sled dogs on wheels excursion. It is a tad expensive but it was a lot of fun and you'll learn a lot about sled dog racing. Plus puppies! I thought that excursion was well worth the money.

I have always said that if you are going to do only one excursion while in Alaska, do the Helicopter landing on a glacier. Awesome!

I have taken Coastal Helicopters three times and highly recommend them. They do not fly to Mendenhall and instead go to other glaciers like Herbert. This is a superior option because it doesn't fly to a "base camp" like the other helicopters that land and take off like a shuttle. Instead , Coastal lands on any interesting, suitable for landing, section making for a more pristine walk. You may be the only ones there!

We've never been to Alaska but we're doing the gold panning & salmon bake in Juneau; dog sled in Skagway; flight & crab feast in Ketchikan. As mentioned I'm sure we'll see lots of glaciers in Glacier Bay. I was a bit of trying to do too much in to short of time. Hopefully this is a bit of balance.

Allan

One vote more for the Taku Lodge. We loved our day there!

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Can mobility impaired passengers board a float plane?

We considered one for Sydney, AU, and I got the impression the assistance would be minimal. The thought of transferring from a moving plane, to a moving dock seems scary, without someone to make sure I don't slip and fall.

No one's mentioned Skagway.

I suggest anything with the White Pass Railroad. On our very first Alaska cruise, that White Pass was our "expensive" excursion, and we went cheap on everything else but Butchart Gardens.

I'll second any flight over the glaciers. Mendenhall was not much IMHO and that was a few years ago.

We loved the photo safari in Juneau we took in July 2007 through the ship. At that time it was a very small group (about 10 people). We went to Mendenhall glacier and hiked some of the back trails. Saw bears there too. Then the next part of the safari was whale watching via a zodiac. Very up close with the whales. Of all our cruises with private and ship excursions I think this was my favorite.

Can mobility impaired passengers board a float plane?

 

We considered one for Sydney, AU, and I got the impression the assistance would be minimal. The thought of transferring from a moving plane, to a moving dock seems scary, without someone to make sure I don't slip and fall.

I can't answer your question directly. But, here is the link to the Juneau harbor webcam that is at the Hangar on the Wharf. You can watch the float planes being loaded/unloaded. There always seems to be at least 2 people assisting people on/off the planes. Again, not a Yes or No...but at least you can see what the process is like.

Here's the link: http://www.juneauharborwebcam.com/

btw - the Eurodam is in port right now (7:17 EST, Monday). I like to keep the VHF sound on so I can listen to the Harbor Master communicating with the ships.