Blue Bus Question

[nanrandy]

My wife and I are taking the Jewel on Sept 15. We will be in Juneau on Sept 18, 2-10 p.m.

 

We really want to see Mendenhall Glacier. We are planning on taking to "Blue Bus", but have one concern. I think there will be either 3 or 4 ships in Juneau when we are there. Is there any problem actually getting on a bus? Sounds like an awful lot of people, and I'm not sure how many busses there are. We don't want to spend all of our time waiting for the "next bus", instead of seeing the area.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

Thanks for the help.

[alabama ghost]

We were in Juneau a few weeks ago (Aug. 13 or 15, I think) and used the blue bus to get to Mendenhall. We only had to wait a few minutes in either direction. There were multiple ships in port when we were there, probably at least 3, but no problem getting the bus.

 

Be sure and check out the "bear trail" at the back of the parking area where the shuttles pick you up in Mendenhall. We saw a bear and babies back there (from protected walkway).

[Seminolevet]

We used the bus to come back from Mendenhall when we visited Juneau, and had no trouble. They run every half hour if I remember correctly, and we were able to board the first bus that came along no problem. We did not take the bus out to Mendenhall from the docks, though so I can't comment on if there was a rush getting out there. We took a taxi out since our ship arrived before the buses started running.

 

Make sure you double check the last bus departure time though, since it looks like your port time is pretty late in the day.

 

I too recommend checking out the "bear trail". Not sure if the salmon will still be running when you're there (which is the primary reason the bears are out there) but we got to see the start of the run while there at the end of July. Also make sure to check out Nugget Falls. Easy hike with some pretty scenery along the way. Enjoy your time in Juneau!

[Budget Queen]

Certainly, you can have crowds trying to get on a bus. The only option you have is to be ready to go as soon as the ship clears. You will have to take a shuttle bus to the parking lot next to the tram where the Mendenhall buses leave from, so move when you are able to get off the ship. Shuttle buses load on the left. Go direct to the booth, purchase your ticket and get in line. ALL you can do.

[firstalaskatrip]

Not sure how typical lines are, but we did not have a problem getting a shuttle despite multiple other ships being in port. We did have a morning port time and got off right away though. One suggestion I would make is that if you see a bus in the parking lot, just head for it - no need to buy a ticket at the kiosks as you can buy it on the bus. Also- someone had made the suggestion before we traveled to not buy a roundtrip ticket. This was great advice! The roundtrip tickets are not any cheaper and would restrict you to returning on the same line. On our way back, there were a lot of people standing at the bus stop, so we assumed we would have to wait for a later shuttle, but on questioning, they all had return tickets on different lines and were waiting for those lines to arrive. We were able to just hop on the shuttle that was there and buy tickets since we had not bought return tickets.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I see that you are on NCL which means that you will have to take a shuttle from your dock to the area where the Mt Roberts Tram is. I think NCL charges for $3 for the shuttle per person each way.

Once you get there -- check with the person selling tickets in the booth as to what time the last Blue Bus will be leaving Mendenhal Glacier.

I noticed that you said that you are arriving in Juneau at 2 PM. Many times we have seen the NCL ships arriving near that time but could not always dock right away as there was another NCL ship waiting for the last of the ship's tours to return and that early NCL ship did not leave on time. And once you do get to dock, the lines are all tied off, you have to wait until the ship clears.