Juneau: Blue or White buses with a small scooter?

[mlbcruiser]

We will be in the port of Juneau, Alaska in July. Although my husband can’t walk, he can’t walk for a long period of time and his balance isn’t the greatest. Therefore he has a small folding travel scooter. It weighs 50 pounds and when folded it is about the size of a medium suitcase. 
 

We’d like to visit Mendenhall Glacier. (I understand there are paved areas to get to the visitor center and an entryway for mobility impaired people.) An easy and popular way to get there from the cruise port is to use either the Blue Bus or the White Bus.  Has anyone used either of these buses who has brought along a rather compact travel scooter? 
if you have,  I’d love to hear of your experience. i’ve heard that older one of these companies allows folding wheelchairs, but not travel scooters. I don’t know if they would exclude one this small.
 

It would be very simple to get the scooter into the trunk of a taxi or regular car. However, I have read that taxis are very hard to get on cruise ship days and you need to reserve in advance. (There will be five ships in port at the same time that day as well.) Also I’m not sure how it would work to set up a return to the port or how much time we would need at the glacier area in order to do that.

 

Hoping for some helpful information from anybody who has used one of these bus companies (these buses are not the regular public buses that makes stops) or even anyone who has used a taxi or Uber to get to Mendenhall Glacier and their experience.

Thanks for any helpful, suggestions or information.

[Essiesmom]

You might also ask on the Alaska board.  EM

[1025cruise]

I believe both buses are converted school buses.

[Essiesmom]

55 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

I believe both buses are converted school buses.

That is what I remembered, but my last Alaska cruise was 10 years ago.  EM

[mlbcruiser]

Thanks for the replies. I called Gino tours today which operates the white buses. They take absolutely no motorized scooters at all of any size. I did ask the question on another website’s Juneau boards. Was told to check up taxis or accessible luxury tours (I’m sure luxury tours are not cheap!). Someone posted on the other board that detects she’s are usually about $35 each way and they charge $17 for entry to the Mendenhall location when the actual charge is only $5. 🙄 I’m just adding that information on here in case others reading this or curious about this topic. No one seem to know anything about how you work it out with a taxi to get back to the port. Guess I’ll have to contact an actual taxi company and find out. Or maybe skip it. We have seen glaciers before at least.

[sanders]

I believe that the city bus stops a mile away if you don’t mind walking and husband scooting that is accessible … it’s been talked about in the Alaska boards…. I considered it but ran out of time,.

[mlbcruiser]

Yes, I think I saw that post,  ut I should probably revisit it. I don’t recall if the far side of that parking lot is where all buses (blue, white, public) and taxis have to drop people off or not. I’m supposed to have an ankle replacement soon. Still. I can walk on any kind of terraine, syeps, hills, etc.   it is just that I know I’ll be walking a lot on the ship and off the ship a lot and if , we can get closer to the visitor center, I’d prefer it. Thanks for the information though. . Nice of you to take the time to post.

[sanders]

Good luck with that replacement…. Sounds like a lot of fun… not!

[mlbcruiser]

Thanks, sanders. The recovery is pretty long and it’s supposed to be worse than a knee replacement, which I’ve had before. Think I want to put it off as long as I can. Ankle replacements only last 10 years, 

Edited June 1, 2023 by mlbcruiser