Tracy Arm Fjord Glacier Explorer Excursion and Mendenhall Glacier Tour

[WeatherFun]

We have booked a HAL Alaska cruise for this coming July. We plan to first take the Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer shore excursion offered by the cruise in Tracy Arm and then do a Mendenhall Glacier Tour in Juneau later on our own by taking the blue shuttle bus. But not sure whether the schedule will work.

The cruise ship will be at Tracy Arm on 7/8 from 9am - 9:30am, then at Juneau from 1pm  - 10pm. The Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer takes 6 hours, which means we will be at Juneau around 3:30pm. So the earliest we could take the shuttle bus from the port is around 4pm. I believe the last shuttle bus from Mendenahall Glacier is around 7pm. Will that give us enough time to tour Mendenhall Glacier? I also thought about the 4 hour Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier tour since our kids (11 and 14 years old) are very interested in animals. But I guess 4pm may be too late for a whale watching tour. Also since they will have already stayed on a ship for 6 hours earlier, will 4 hours more on a small boat be too much for them in one day?  Thanks for your help.



 

Edited February 16, 2022 by WeatherFun

[Dancing Shoes]

We did the HAL Tracy Arm excursion and it was beautiful and sunny.  I don't know your kids, but they may want to explore on land.  You will definitely have enough time over at Mendenhall on your own.  

We are doing a Whale Watch/Glacier tour thru Celebrity.  If the tour last 4 hours, you may be out on the water 2.5 hours the most.  There is a trail map of Mendenhall available.  I think I saw it on a state park site.  

[don't-use-real-name]

This should give you everything you need to know about the trails in the Mendenhall area:

 

mendenhall trail map - Bing images

 

Click on the first image top left 

 

At the Mendenhall Visitor Center the Nugget Falls is the most common trail trip