renting a car in Juneau?

[jlatels]

Has anyone rented a car in Juneau before? For the four of us the shuttle will cost more than the car rental! Is there an extra expense I'm not considering?

[etoilefj]

we rented a car through Avis in 2016 for about $80; easy, quick walk from the docks to the hotel where the Avis is located. Took a few minutes and our mini van full was off to Mendenhall Glacier with no issues. Was great, we got to spend the time we wanted and stopped at the actual Alaskan Brewery tasting room on the way back to town.

[Anita Latte]

The only extra expense would be the possible admission fee for Mendenhall, if that is what you are considering. The shuttle fee has the admission fee built into it. It is around $5 pp unless you have some sort of park pass. You'll need to look at the map of the Mendenhall Recreation Area to determine if you are interested in visiting a fee trail...some trails are "free", some aren't, the visitor center requires the admission fee. There is not a charge to park the car.

 

The only other expense to consider is fuel...as with any rental.

 

Also, depending on whether or not you want to walk to the rental car agency location...depending on where your ship docks...you may or may not end up paying for a taxi to pick up and drop off the rental. And that may involve some extra time as well. It can be over one mile to the "port" rental car locations from the furthest dock.

 

Generally, for a multi-person party, it is less expensive to rent a car than to take the shuttle, but the trade off is in logistics, but there is also the opportunity to go to other places of interest...there are pros and cons, as with anything.

[Glaciers]

A much better value to rent the car and allows for more exploring out the road. The Avis that was located in the hotel downtown moved to Mill St, about 1 mile away. Juneau Car rental is also out that way. Not a bad walk on a nice day. If there is a ship at the AJ dock there will be a shuttle that runs back and forth between there and the Tram parking area. It was $3 when we used it a few years ago.

[SuperCrewBear]

I've rented a car in Juneau for two cruises. Once from Avis and once from Juneau Car Rental. Parking at Mendenhall is free.  If someone in the group has an Access Pass they can bring up to three other people into the park for free.  What the rental car will do for you is give you more time at your actual destinations than a shuttle will.  Our first cruise we were going to take a Coastal Copters glacier flight that left from the Juneau airport. We also wanted to visit Mendenhall.  If we shuttled to both we would have been backtracking to the docks and wasting time because the airport is not too far from Mendenhall.  Driving in the Juneau area is not difficult at all.  Our last visit we went to Mendenhall again but also drove out to St. Therese and Eagle Beach plus stopped at the Gold Creek Salmon Bake for dinner.  We also side trip to Douglas Island.  The rental car means freedom to me.  Good luck!

[Alsmez]

I just tried to reserve a car through the Avis website at the Mill Street location and I keep getting an error message stating that the location is closed at the times I requested. I called and their business hours are 9am to 2pm - do they allow after-hours drop offs? It seems insane to only be able to rent for a few hours when we have all day in port. As an alternative, are there shuttles to the airport location (or is it easy enough to get a taxi)?

[Anita Latte]

1 hour ago, Alsmez said:

I just tried to reserve a car through the Avis website at the Mill Street location and I keep getting an error message stating that the location is closed at the times I requested. I called and their business hours are 9am to 2pm - do they allow after-hours drop offs? It seems insane to only be able to rent for a few hours when we have all day in port. As an alternative, are there shuttles to the airport location (or is it easy enough to get a taxi)?

 

I recall there being some sort of similar issue when I made our Avis reservations. We may have called in our reservation? Regardless, we were able to drop off after hours without any issue. 

[Glaciers]

Both Avis and Juneau Car Rental south of downtown close early. We’ve dropped at both after hours without any problem.  In May this year we used Avis on Mill St and dropped the car late afternoon after they had closed.  It may not have made any difference but I took photos of the gas/speedometer as well as around the car.  After noting the mileage you just drop the keys through the slot in the door.

 

You’d have to cab to the airport and then cab back. Might be a bus out that way but have to think it would be a pain in the rear both directions. Not usually worth the cost and loss of time.

[puppymama1]

19 hours ago, Glaciers said:

Both Avis and Juneau Car Rental south of downtown close early. We’ve dropped at both after hours without any problem.  In May this year we used Avis on Mill St and dropped the car late afternoon after they had closed.  It may not have made any difference but I took photos of the gas/speedometer as well as around the car.  After noting the mileage you just drop the keys through the slot in the door.

 

 

 

You’d have to cab to the airport and then cab back. Might be a bus out that way but have to think it would be a pain in the rear both directions. Not usually worth the cost and loss of time.

 

How early can you pick up a car at Avis?  I assume not until 9:00 if that's the time they open?  We were hoping to pick it up earlier and get to the glacier earlier so we could beat the cruise ship tours....

[Glaciers]

1 hour ago, puppymama1 said:

How early can you pick up a car at Avis?  I assume not until 9:00 if that's the time they open?  We were hoping to pick it up earlier and get to the glacier earlier so we could beat the cruise ship tours....

 

I think they would require you to pick up during business hours to sign the contract although  you could give them a call this summer before they close in the fall to find out.

[Genevivev]

Does anyone know how to work out which berth you will be at, to then work out which car rental company to use (i.e. which is closest). We are in Juneau 10 September on Golden Princess and wanting to book a car as well.

[mapleleaves]

55 minutes ago, Genevivev said:

Does anyone know how to work out which berth you will be at, to then work out which car rental company to use (i.e. which is closest). We are in Juneau 10 September on Golden Princess and wanting to book a car as well.

 

Look in the attached thread, under General Cruise Info for the CLA Alaska web site.  This has berth info.

 

[Glaciers]

I was just getting ready to post this when Maple provided the wonderful resource above.

 

This shows you at the Franklin St. dock.

http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Juneau-%E2%80%93-JNU-2019.pdf

 

Both Juneau Car Rental and Avis are about 1 mile from that area near the tram. Other options are available at the airport which is about 9 miles away.

 

If there is a ship in at the AJ Dock there will be a shuttle running back and forth all day between there and the tram.  Last time we used it, it was $3. Juneau Car rental is about 1 block from the AJ Dock and Avis is about 1/2 mile from there.

There’s a map of Juneau that includes the docks here on this page:

http://cruiseportwiki.com/Juneau

[flutprop]

We rented on August 7 from Avis. DH and I took an Uber from in front of Red Dog, picked up 2 cars and then drove back to the dock area to pick up the other 7 of our group. We drove out to Mendenhall, then to the Shrine of St. Therese and Eagle Beach. 

We returned the cars after hours and caught a Lyft back downtown. We had plenty of time to go up on the Tram and wander through some shops.

We paid $126 for each car, and spent $13 on gas for both upon return. For 9 of us, the shuttle would have been much more expensive. We had 3 park passes, so that part was free. Plus we got to explore some other areas.

[CruiseDigits]

23 hours ago, flutprop said:

We rented on August 7 from Avis. DH and I took an Uber from in front of Red Dog, picked up 2 cars and then drove back to the dock area to pick up the other 7 of our group. We drove out to Mendenhall, then to the Shrine of St. Therese and Eagle Beach. 

We returned the cars after hours and caught a Lyft back downtown. We had plenty of time to go up on the Tram and wander through some shops.

We paid $126 for each car, and spent $13 on gas for both upon return. For 9 of us, the shuttle would have been much more expensive. We had 3 park passes, so that part was free. Plus we got to explore some other areas.

+1, we had a very similar experience renting from Avis at the end of July except I just walked to and from the ship.  A few different details posted to this thread: 

 

[ParrotRob]

We just rented from Avis in Juneau.  It's not downtown, it's about a mile away.  The cab ride cost us a whipping $7.

 

There was no admission free at Mendenhall.  I have no idea where one would pay a fee.  We parked for free and just walked right in.

 

On returning the car, there is a sign on the Avis door with cab numbers.  It took less than 5 minutes for a cab to arrive and take us back downtown.

 

On a humorous now, there is a sign in the Avis office requesting you to please NOT return their car smelling of fish or containing "hair and blood".  I've never seen that sign before!

[Glaciers]

2 hours ago, ParrotRob said:

There was no admission free at Mendenhall.  I have no idea where one would pay a fee.  We parked for free and just walked right in.

You pay up at the Visitor Center although you could certainly get away without paying if you really wanted to. There are also trails like the Nugget Falls Trail that does not require the fee.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/about-forest/offices/?cid=fseprd502109

[ParrotRob]

Just now, Glaciers said:

You pay up at the Visitor Center although you could certainly get away without paying if you really wanted to. There are also trails like the Nugget Falls Trail that does not require the fee.

 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/about-forest/offices/?cid=fseprd502109

 

 

We went to the visitor center.  We walked right through the front door like everyone else.  Not only were we not charged a cent, no one else was either.  There was no person, machine, desk, kiosk or any other means to pay a fee.

 

[Glaciers]

12 hours ago, ParrotRob said:

 

We went to the visitor center.  We walked right through the front door like everyone else.  Not only were we not charged a cent, no one else was either.  There was no person, machine, desk, kiosk or any other means to pay a fee.

 

Most of the visitors to Mendenhall have already paid the fee if they took public transportation, probably 80% or so although that’s a guess. It’s primarily the people who drive themselves who would need to pay if they were going to use the areas that require it. A much smaller percentage, and of those some would have had annual park passes. Many do not even know there is a fee.

 

There is a desk as you walk into the Visitor Center. It may not have been staffed when you were there. It was when we were there in May although we weren’t required to pay as we had a senior pass.

 

Since most have paid prior through the transportation provider, the park service does not actively pursue collecting the fee and it’s just on the honor system to pay it, if you even know there is a fee.

[ParrotRob]

3 hours ago, Glaciers said:

Most of the visitors to Mendenhall have already paid the fee if they took public transportation, probably 80% or so although that’s a guess. It’s primarily the people who drive themselves who would need to pay if they were going to use the areas that require it. A much smaller percentage, and of those some would have had annual park passes. Many do not even know there is a fee.

 

 

There is a desk as you walk into the Visitor Center. It may not have been staffed when you were there. It was when we were there in May although we weren’t required to pay as we had a senior pass.

 

 

Since most have paid prior through the transportation provider, the park service does not actively pursue collecting the fee and it’s just on the honor system to pay it, if you even know there is a fee.

 

That's probably what happened.  We had a rental car and there were about stuff buses there.  Had I known it was a fee area I would have paid it.  It was not exactly obvious though.

[CruiseDigits]

The fee isn't required for all of the trails, only some, which adds to the confusion. There is an area to pay in the parking lot too.

[mawvkysc]

We will not be arriving in port until 1:00. Has anyone rented that late in the day? It would be cutting it close to get there if they close at 2:00 wouldn’t it?

[CruiseDigits]

14 hours ago, mawvkysc said:

We will not be arriving in port until 1:00. Has anyone rented that late in the day? It would be cutting it close to get there if they close at 2:00 wouldn’t it?

 

Have you confirmed the hours for the rental car agency you plan to use?  If I remember correctly then the Avis location we used closed at 4.  Double check with them directly as I do remember that the hours they are staffed did not match the hours they showed on the web site.