Mendenhall Glacier

So I am cruising June 15 and am going back and forth about the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. I currently have a whale watching / glacier excursion booked through the ship but am concerned I will not get enough time at the glacier. We are already doing whale watching at Icy Strait Point so we have that covered. I have a family of five (Daughter 20, twin boys 15) so want to keep the cost at this level or lower ($143 pp)

Has anyone done this excursion and does if give you enough time to really explore and hike a bit at the glacier?

Is there an option to explore on your own and not be time constrained at the glacier?

Any other recommendations for exploring the glacier?

Thanks for the help

The Mendenhall Glacier is located just 12 miles outside of Juneau and you can get there by taking a bus from downtown for $30 roundtrip. A taxi will cost you around $35 one-way.

So I am cruising June 15 and am going back and forth about the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. I currently have a whale watching / glacier excursion booked through the ship but am concerned I will not get enough time at the glacier. We are already doing whale watching at Icy Strait Point so we have that covered. I have a family of five (Daughter 20, twin boys 15) so want to keep the cost at this level or lower ($143 pp)

 

Has anyone done this excursion and does if give you enough time to really explore and hike a bit at the glacier?

 

Is there an option to explore on your own and not be time constrained at the glacier?

 

Any other recommendations for exploring the glacier?

 

We have done this tour ( May, 2015 via Princess) and we have also done just the Glacier and a Tram visit with transportation to and fro (May, 2017 via HAL). Second time around we had our 17 and 12 years old with us. We felt that we had enough time at the glacier the first time around as part of the Whale watching/ Glacier tour. We were able to hike to Nuggets Falls and spend about 30 min at the falls, then visit the info center with it's interesting exhibits. The only thing that we felt we had no time for but would have liked to do was watching a movie about the Glacier in the info center's theater. That said there are few other trails in the area which we would like to do. Hopefully, on the next trip back:) We have done whale watching in ISP last week. We have seen more whales when went out of Juneau in 2015 (of'course it means very little for your June, 2018th trip, but just saying).

The Mendenhall Glacier is located just 12 miles outside of Juneau and you can get there by taking a bus from downtown for $30 roundtrip. A taxi will cost you around $35 one-way.

Which bus is $30? I saw they were charging $45.

I am going to be there next week. I have rented a car for my family of three. We are going to drive to Mendenhall Glacier when we get there at 10am. We are going to spend as much time there as we like. We have to be back by the ship to meet our 4pm whale watch tour I booked with Jayleen's Alaska. When we are done at the glacier we will have the car to drive around town and see other sights. Even if we don't drive around town the rental car was cheaper than 3 tickets to the glacier.

kathy

We were just there this week. The whale watching and Mendenhall combo gives you enough time to see Mendenhall, but not get to Nugget Falls unless you walk super-duper fast.

If you want time for Nugget Falls, the Glacier Express Bus (both the white bus and the blue bus) leave from in front of the Mt. Roberts Tramway. It was $45 per person roundtrip. It left from both Juneau and the Glacier on the half hour so you could take as long as you'd like. The hike to Nugget Falls is totally worth it.

I did a blog post on it the other day right here, if you're interested.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I decided to cancel my excursion and rent a car. This will give me ample time at the Glacier to see the Falls. I am also planning to drive out to Eagle Beach and check that out.

We were just there this week. The whale watching and Mendenhall combo gives you enough time to see Mendenhall, but not get to Nugget Falls unless you walk super-duper fast.

 

If you want time for Nugget Falls, the Glacier Express Bus (both the white bus and the blue bus) leave from in front of the Mt. Roberts Tramway. It was $45 per person roundtrip. It left from both Juneau and the Glacier on the half hour so you could take as long as you'd like. The hike to Nugget Falls is totally worth it.

 

I did a blog post on it the other day right here, if you're interested.

Thanks for posting the link to your blog. It was a great read!

Thanks for posting the link to your blog. It was a great read!

Thanks!

If you really want glacier time head to the other side of the lake, GPS Skater Cabin and then drive down to the end and park, this is where the boats put in. Then hike out to the glacier and you can actually touch it.

If you really want glacier time head to the other side of the lake, GPS Skater Cabin and then drive down to the end and park, this is where the boats put in. Then hike out to the glacier and you can actually touch it.

Thank you. I will look into that.

So I am cruising June 15 and am going back and forth about the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. I currently have a whale watching / glacier excursion booked through the ship but am concerned I will not get enough time at the glacier. We are already doing whale watching at Icy Strait Point so we have that covered. I have a family of five (Daughter 20, twin boys 15) so want to keep the cost at this level or lower ($143 pp)

 

Has anyone done this excursion and does if give you enough time to really explore and hike a bit at the glacier?

 

Is there an option to explore on your own and not be time constrained at the glacier?

 

Any other recommendations for exploring the glacier?

 

 

Thanks for the help

We were at Mendenhall yesterday. We rented a car and were st the glacier for almost 3 hours. The people in the cabin next to us did the excursion you are talking about and only got 45 minutes at Mendenhall. The park service was limiting the time buses could stay because there were so many of them. They said the whale watch portion was great but were disappointed with the glacier part.

There is a Mendenhall fee for some of the trails, so support this treasure.

I'd also suggest, with a long port day, to add a whale watch, you can easily just drive to the slip. Every trip is different. I've never found too much going on at Eagle Beach. :)

Last Monday (5/21), we took a bus that was a Princess shore excursion ($44.95, so in ballpark with the buses at the pier); we left the ship about 11:45 (15 min. later than planned, but the rain was slowing down people was they disembarked), and we were back at the ship around 3. We had a dedicated bus and driver – same out and back. We had time to hike to Nugget Falls and to Photo Point, to tour the visitor's center and see the short film there, and to do a quick jaunt partway down a third trail (the name escapes me, but it was across the parking lot from the bus drop-off). Even though we had nearly 2-1/2 hours at Mendenhall, I'd have loved another 30 minutes. (But if we'd had that, I'm sure we'd have wanted still more.)

There is a Mendenhall fee for some of the trails, so support this treasure.

 

I'd also suggest, with a long port day, to add a whale watch, you can easily just drive to the slip. Every trip is different. I've never found too much going on at Eagle Beach. :)

Are you talking about just renting a car to see the Glacier and then just winging it to find a whale watching excurion from some company on the docks?

We are interested in a whale watching and glacier tour and was just wondering if it make sense just to pay for a combo trip or piece meal it together. I'm fine with renting a car if that makes sense.

Are you talking about just renting a car to see the Glacier and then just winging it to find a whale watching excurion from some company on the docks?

 

We are interested in a whale watching and glacier tour and was just wondering if it make sense just to pay for a combo trip or piece meal it together. I'm fine with renting a car if that makes sense.

Personally, I think whale watching in Alaska is WAY cooler than visiting Mendenhall. However, OP has whale watching covered at another location.

In terms of waterfalls, Nugget Falls is ok, but nothing I'd go out of my way for. Plenty of other places with more spectacular waterfalls.

Unless you can go hike on Mendenhall, viewing it from a distance (like the visitor's center) is pretty underwhelming.

I'd just explore on my own or do one of the more "special" excursions that take you hiking on Mendenhall. The "regular" excursions just take you there and give you a short amount of time to take pictures or a quick visit to the visitor's center. Not really worth it, unless already tacked onto a Juneau whale watching excursion and it's more of an add on to save time.

If you have the time, just do a whale watching tour by itself, then rent a car and explore by yourself. The combo tours are only good if you're pressed for time. My cruise is only there for about 5 hours so it makes more sense for people on my ship to do a combo one to make sure they can squeeze everything in and be back on board in time.

Are you talking about just renting a car to see the Glacier and then just winging it to find a whale watching excurion from some company on the docks?

 

We are interested in a whale watching and glacier tour and was just wondering if it make sense just to pay for a combo trip or piece meal it together. I'm fine with renting a car if that makes sense.

I'd have a reservation in place, with a long port day, you could arrange someone on the dock. Key with a car- is to just go to the whale watch yourself. Don't waste time back tracking. Combo trips are usually short on time and best, as mentioned above, for people with short port times.

I'd have a reservation in place, with a long port day, you could arrange someone on the dock. Key with a car- is to just go to the whale watch yourself. Don't waste time back tracking. Combo trips are usually short on time and best, as mentioned above, for people with short port times.

Our plan is to rent a car and go to Mendenhall Glacier. Now some of you are talking about whale watching on your own. Where is a good place to look for whales? Thank you in advance.

Are taxis readily available at the port to get to the glacier? There are 4 of us, so a taxi sounds more affordable than the excursion or other shuttles.

Our plan is to rent a car and go to Mendenhall Glacier. Now some of you are talking about whale watching on your own. Where is a good place to look for whales? Thank you in advance.

My reference is to book a whale watch tour. and drive yourself to the slip. It's not common to see humpbacks without a tour.

Binoculars are necessary, and just look. There isn't a lot of good viewing. Eagle Beach, St. Teresa's Shrine areas are the places to look.

Wedid the 14 day cruise on the HAL Amsterdam in 2017 and use local tours and onour own. We like to hike and there are some nice easy hikes in Juneau. Take theWhite bus (Juneau tours) to Mendenhall Glacier. The bus stop is right at thecruise ship terminal and leaves every 30 minutes, takes about 20 minutes. They returnto the ship every 30 minutes all day long. Cost was 30 RT and included entrancefees. We bought the tickets online, just google Juneau tours. Also you can seetheir reviews in Trip Advisor. No need to take the ships excursions. The hiketo nugget falls was nice about 45 minutes RT from the visitor’s center. The hike we like best was the trail of timefrom the visitors center, took about an hour. There were stop along the trailthat showed where the glacier was during the early 1900. Some very interestinginformation and hardly any other hikers on the tail. As far as whale watching, we really likes Icy Strait Points. TookGlacier Winds Charter. Small boat, only holds 6 persons. Real personal. Mostcruise lines use Allan Marine. They use large boats ( 50-75 persons) crowded, in personal. Check out the reviews on Trip Advisor. Glacierwinds fill fast, they only have one boat. Reserve on their website

We did the combo tour through RCL just two weeks ago. We definitely did not have enough time at Mendenhall. I think the driver gave us 25 minutes. I asked about the limited time and she upped it to 35. Ugh If you want to see Nugget Falls, it's possible, but you can't do anything else in that time frame. If you have whale watched in warmer climates, this whale watching was a little disappointing. We also saw several sprays and flukes while we were cruising on our ship, so I'm not sure I would say the paying extra for the whale watching was worth it. That's just my opinion though. There were several people on our excursion who had never been whale watching who found it amazing.

We did the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Watching Tour in Juneau. We were at the Glacier for about an hour. I was disappointed in the Glacier. My husband and I were there in 2011. I really enjoyed it that visit. The Glacier has receded so much, and the lake was so beautiful in 2011. There were so many large icebergs in the lake. This visit I saw much smaller icebergs. It was kind of depressing to me the way the area looked this time. I wished I had booked a whale watching tour without Mendenhall Glacier inlcuded, and went up Mt. Roberts Tram before or after the whale watching tour. It was a beautiful day in Juneau, and I think the scenery from the Tram would have been beautiful. We also got great views of glaciers on the whale watching trip and in Tracy Arm. We would have had glacier viewing without going to Mendenhall.

I don't think the lack of ice in the lake is a constant. I also saw almost no ice in the water (late May this year). I expect that means it hasn't been calving due to temporary conditions such as air temp & rain.

There was plenty of ice in the water last August.

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app