Best Juneau excursion with kids?

[BrandFam4]

Hi everyone!

 

What is the best shore excursion to do with kids in Juneau? They will be 10 and 12 when we go. I would like to see Mendenhall Glacier, but really do not know what else to see. This seems to be the toughest port to plan so far. We are moderate in activity, like animals and scenery, enjoy touristy stuff. But nothing is really jumping out at me (within our price range, no flightseeing and or helicopters).

 

Personal experience welcome! Any other suggestions?

 

You all are the best! :-)

Edited January 8, 2020 by BrandFam4

[BrandFam4]

I think part of my problem is we want to do a little bit of everything and can't narrow it down.

 

Thanks! 

32 minutes ago, BrandFam4 said:

Hi everyone!

 

What is the best shore excursion to do with kids in Juneau? They will be 10 and 12 when we go. I would like to see Mendenhall Glacier, but really do not know what else to see. This seems to be the toughest port to plan so far. We are moderate in activity, like animals and scenery, enjoy touristy stuff. But nothing is really jumping out at me (within our price range, no flightseeing and or helicopters).

 

Personal experience welcome! Any other suggestions?

 

You all are the best! :-)

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by BrandFam4

[mapleleaves]

 

Visiting Mendenhall and whale watching are the popular activities in Juneau, or with $$, heli dog sledding.

 

Since there are at least 3 of you, consider renting a car for the day.  You could go to Mendenhall first then drive to the coast ... visit the Shrine of St Therese, Eagle Beach, and spend some time on the shore watching for whales and other sealife.   If salmon are running, visit the Macauley Fish Hatchery.  Visit the  AJ Gold Mine.

 

Juneau is land locked so very little hwys. impossible to get lost. ie less than 20 miles to the coast.

The map in the Visitor Guide pg 26 provides approx distances.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/10785063#/10785063/26

 

Have you read thru past trip reports (posted above) to see what other families have done ?

 

 

[BrandFam4]

59 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

 

Visiting Mendenhall and whale watching are the popular activities in Juneau, or with $$, heli dog sledding.

 

Since there are at least 3 of you, consider renting a car for the day.  You could go to Mendenhall first then drive to the coast ... visit the Shrine of St Therese, Eagle Beach, and spend some time on the shore watching for whales and other sealife.   If salmon are running, visit the Macauley Fish Hatchery.  Visit the  AJ Gold Mine.

 

Juneau is land locked so very little hwys. impossible to get lost. ie less than 20 miles to the coast.

The map in the Visitor Guide pg 26 provides approx distances.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/10785063#/10785063/26

 

Have you read thru past trip reports (posted above) to see what other families have done ?

 

 

Thank you for the information. We are doing the DIY Jeep in Skagway so I wondered if renting a car in Juneau would be nice as well. I'll take a look into it. 

 

I did try looking through old reports, but found it hard pertaining to kids and in Juneau. 

[Northern Aurora]

I wonder if the kiddos would enjoy the Mt. Roberts Tramway?  Folks don't need to pre-book it so if it you are in Juneau on a clear day it is an easy add-on to other activities.

[SJSchell]

Do you enjoy hiking? We hiked up Mt. Roberts and then road the tram down. (For the cost of a souvenir at the gift shop)

 

Tram tickets are spendy to go up but the only request you make a purchase and you can ride back down for "free."

 

We saw a porcupine crossing the trail. We went early and still has time to see the glacier.

[BrandFam4]

13 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

I wonder if the kiddos would enjoy the Mt. Roberts Tramway?  Folks don't need to pre-book it so if it you are in Juneau on a clear day it is an easy add-on to other activities.

 

Thank you, I will look into it. I would like to fill the day with as much as possible. 

 

9 hours ago, SJSchell said:

Do you enjoy hiking? We hiked up Mt. Roberts and then road the tram down. (For the cost of a souvenir at the gift shop)

 

Tram tickets are spendy to go up but the only request you make a purchase and you can ride back down for "free."

 

We saw a porcupine crossing the trail. We went early and still has time to see the glacier.

 

We do like hiking, do you recall how intensive the hike up was?

[luvteaching]

The Alaska State Museum is a great way to spend an hour or so and very walkable from the cruise dock. If you are interested in salmon there is a fish hatchery with a tour that is often coupled with Mendenhall Glacier on the ship tours. Juneau is very walkable for the downtown area with quite a bit to see. I'd wait until arrival to decide on the Mount Roberts Tramway. If the weather isn't good you may not want to go up. 

Karen

[BrandFam4]

8 hours ago, luvteaching said:

The Alaska State Museum is a great way to spend an hour or so and very walkable from the cruise dock. If you are interested in salmon there is a fish hatchery with a tour that is often coupled with Mendenhall Glacier on the ship tours. Juneau is very walkable for the downtown area with quite a bit to see. I'd wait until arrival to decide on the Mount Roberts Tramway. If the weather isn't good you may not want to go up. 

Karen

Thank you! I was thinking about walking around after we did an 'excursion'.

[thegoaliegirl]

My kids are 6 and 8 and we did the Mount Roberts Tramway. It was interesting but would not be good on a cloudy day. Booked when we arrived, did it early in the morning. Later in the day the lines were much longer.

[BrandFam4]

On 1/11/2020 at 4:16 PM, thegoaliegirl said:

My kids are 6 and 8 and we did the Mount Roberts Tramway. It was interesting but would not be good on a cloudy day. Booked when we arrived, did it early in the morning. Later in the day the lines were much longer.

Thank you! Added to the list. 🙂

[Coral]

Whale watching.

[crystalspin]

Whale watching. I cannot imagine a kid not liking this. You can combine with Mendenhall Glacier, but I have to tell you -- it has retreated so it's a LONG way across the lake. If you step right out, you probably can take the longer walk to the waterfall, but I'm not sure if that gives you any better look at the ice.

 

We did walk to the nearer-to-visitor-center viewpoint in 2016. In 2018 we did not "visit" Mendenhall, but the driver to the whale watching port did stop at a pull-off for people to take photos.

 

The tram is quite steep and probably fun for kids. Your ship will be visible as you descend!

[BrandFam4]

14 hours ago, Coral said:

Whale watching.

 

13 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Whale watching. I cannot imagine a kid not liking this. You can combine with Mendenhall Glacier, but I have to tell you -- it has retreated so it's a LONG way across the lake. If you step right out, you probably can take the longer walk to the waterfall, but I'm not sure if that gives you any better look at the ice.

 

We did walk to the nearer-to-visitor-center viewpoint in 2016. In 2018 we did not "visit" Mendenhall, but the driver to the whale watching port did stop at a pull-off for people to take photos.

 

The tram is quite steep and probably fun for kids. Your ship will be visible as you descend!

Thank you so much. Great ideas and tips! :-)

[NewSalt]

We did a land/cruise package a couple of years ago, and the highlight of the whole trip for me was the whale-watching excursion. It was amazing, and the crew was so excited about the pods we saw that we all got carried away by their enthusiasm. 
 

[ABQrobin]

I know you don't want to hear this.... but bite the bullet.  Alaska is an adventure, and for some people it may be a Once in a Lifetime Adventure.  The helicopter tours are some of the most amazing things ever and you cannot imagine the memories you will make taking your kids on something like that.  It is worth every penny and you don't want to come home and say you regret not doing it.  

When we went on the Alaska cruise in 2016, we figured it was that one time trip, so go ahead and book whatever and don't consider the cost at all.... it was expensive but we are so glad we did.  And now, 4 yrs later, we are doing the cruise again so we can do even more. We didn't have time to go whale watching in Juneau last time, so we are going back.   It is sooooo worth it! 

 

And just to let you know... our ship had lots of kids onboard, and you could hear them talking about their excursions all the time, in the dining room, it the buffet area, kids talking about what they did that day.  Lots of happy kids on the ship.

 

 

[BrandFam4]

44 minutes ago, ABQrobin said:

I know you don't want to hear this.... but bite the bullet.  Alaska is an adventure, and for some people it may be a Once in a Lifetime Adventure.  The helicopter tours are some of the most amazing things ever and you cannot imagine the memories you will make taking your kids on something like that.  It is worth every penny and you don't want to come home and say you regret not doing it.  

When we went on the Alaska cruise in 2016, we figured it was that one time trip, so go ahead and book whatever and don't consider the cost at all.... it was expensive but we are so glad we did.  And now, 4 yrs later, we are doing the cruise again so we can do even more. We didn't have time to go whale watching in Juneau last time, so we are going back.   It is sooooo worth it! 

 

And just to let you know... our ship had lots of kids onboard, and you could hear them talking about their excursions all the time, in the dining room, it the buffet area, kids talking about what they did that day.  Lots of happy kids on the ship.

 

 

 

It's funny, i had that same thought when I asked CC, maybe we should just bite the bullet.... and when I asked my son (he's 10) about it he said he did NOT want to go in a helicopter. Not sure where the fear came from because we live in the land of roller coasters and those are his favorite thing. Anything thrill related, he loves. 

 

I decided as of right now, to rent a car in the morning and do Mendenhall glacier, explore as time allows, then at 3pm we have a dog sledding excursion, THEN if we have time allow head up on the tramway before we have to be back on the ship by 8:30. 

 

Hopefully, I made the right choices, I'm already wondering i did. Because there is just sooooooo much to chose from. 

[atobols]

We went last summer.  My boys were 11 and 13 at the time.  We did a whale watch/ Mendenhall glacier tour through Juneau Tours & Whale Watch.  It was the highlight of the trip for my 13 year old.  We whale watched first, and saw 5 or 6 Orcas.  We got to Mendenhall pretty late in the day.  We fast hiked down the trail to the glacier.  It took about 10 or 15 minutes.  We passed a porcupine sleeping in a tree.  It was close enough to touch and it couldn't have cared less about us staring and taking pictures.  Down at the glacier we were wearing Keen sandals do we walked right into the water.  It was cold, but beautiful and the waterfall was right next to us.  It was a long day but totally worth it.  

[SightCRR]

I vote for the helo. Search youtube for the latest tour videos from private people (skip the ads) to get more ideas of what the tours are like. Show your favs to the kids. 

[BrandFam4]

10 hours ago, atobols said:

We went last summer.  My boys were 11 and 13 at the time.  We did a whale watch/ Mendenhall glacier tour through Juneau Tours & Whale Watch.  It was the highlight of the trip for my 13 year old.  We whale watched first, and saw 5 or 6 Orcas.  We got to Mendenhall pretty late in the day.  We fast hiked down the trail to the glacier.  It took about 10 or 15 minutes.  We passed a porcupine sleeping in a tree.  It was close enough to touch and it couldn't have cared less about us staring and taking pictures.  Down at the glacier we were wearing Keen sandals do we walked right into the water.  It was cold, but beautiful and the waterfall was right next to us.  It was a long day but totally worth it.  

I was wondering if you could go in the water. We will make sure to bring sandals as well.