In the capital city of Alaska, we were fortunate enough to get thirteen hours in Juneau, which is more like 11 if you discount the time it takes to get off and back on the ship (and you obviously want to get back on before the rush too).
If you can swing an excursion or two, try to do so. Don’t sweat it if you can’t, there are plenty of things to do in the ports without taking excursions that won’t cost much or anything at all, but you need to do some research ahead of time to maximize what are fairly short port days. But the excursions offer you the opportunity to do things that are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, such as helicopter rides over (and landing on) glaciers.
We ate lunch at the Flight Deck (outdoor seafood bar), we ordered fish and chips all-round, and they were EXCELLENT!! Totally delicious! Nods and murmurs of approval from all 4.5 people around the table – go here for lunch!
What we did:
When you’re on board, there’s a few seminars and what not about things to do in Juneau, shopping in Juneau, gem stones, diamonds and tanzanite in Juneau…I guess the jewellery market is a booming economy in Alaska and the cruise ship staff seem to get a commission for us buying from the jewellery stores, as well as the jewellery stores paying a fee to get advertising on the ship too.
Most of the stores offer a ‘freebie’, one offered a free charm bracelet where you could collect different charms from different stores, on different cruises. Another chain offered a free necklace in each port (and you could buy $10 earrings to match). Tanzanite international was even offering a deal that if you buy anything in the store, you get a $250 necklace ‘free’.
Don’t bother with the charm bracelet, it’s a cheap piece of crap and the charm clasps don’t open big enough to go on the bracelet. The free necklaces aren’t bad, neither are the $10 earrings, pretty cheaply made, cute, but I wouldn’t put your entire day on hold to go and get them – not to mention that the staff give a pretty darn good attempt at hard-selling once you step through the door.
As soon as you disembark the ship, you’ll pretty much see this attraction. You can’t miss it – it’s right along the dockside.
Don’t buy tickets in advance though, because if the day is cloudy or misty, you don’t get your money back. The trams run continuously, so they don’t run out of tickets.
The trip up and down the mountain takes around only 5 minutes each way and once you’re at the top there’s a 20 minute video about Alaska, a small enclosure with a recovering eagle staying and depending on the time of year, a hiking path which leads, I’m told, to a viewing platform.
We didn’t think this attraction was worth the money at all, it was seriously steep for what we got, especially since the hiking path at the top, was closed. Our view was mostly obscured by the tram mechanism itself and the lady sitting at the eagle enclosure was chain smoking and unfriendly.
Maybe our opinion would have been different had we been able to walk on the path, but I doubt we’d pay the $31 next time we’re back, to see!
Ok, so Sam saw more whales out the window while he was on the treadmill in the ships gym than we did on this excursion, but I’d still recommend it to anyone going to Alaska. We did it while we were in Juneau, cause that’s where we had the most time to fill in, we loved it!
We opted for the 2hr tour (with a little ‘un it made more sense than taking the chance she’d behave for 3hours) which cost $110 per adult, Eve went free. They called us the morning of our visit to Juneau and asked us to be on-hand an hour earlier than planned, they said that due to how their tours worked out and the buses they were using, they could give us a free tour of the city while we were en route to our water tour.
They picked us up from just a little past the Mt Roberts Tramway and the bus tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly, all of the staff were in fact – I definitely recommend the Juneau whale watch tour company. They were great, and yes, we even saw some big ole whales! It was a great morning out on the water, weather was perfect, scenery was amazing and we got a free bottle of water and a cereal bar thrown in for good measure!
I would definitely encourage you to look at the independent tours as well. Much smaller boats with less people, and in my opinion, a much better experience.
Other things on offer (or things we would do if we were to go back to Juneau):
Summer Hours
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, beginning May 13 this year (2013) through mid-September.
Closed Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
Winter hours
10am to 4pm Tuesday through Saturday from September 27th to mid-May.
Open free the first Friday of every month from 4:30 until 7pm. Closed holidays.
Admission
Summer $7, Seniors (65+ years) $6
Winter $3.
Govenor’s mansion
Guided Capitol Building Tours
May 14-September 18th
Monday- Friday 8:30-5:00
Saturday & Sunday 9:30-4:00
Tours are complimentary and approximately 30 minutes in duration.
Mendenhall Glacier
I’m told that at the dock in town, book a Glacier Express Blue Bus ticket (maybe around $15?) for a round-trip to the Mendenhall Glacier. The Glacier is apparently well worth a trip and the buses run frequently to and from it. You can walk pretty close to the base of the Glacier as well as hike around in the area. Much cheaper (and gives you lots more flexibility) than an official excursion. It takes at least 3+ hours so it’s time consuming, but I’m told that it’s worth it!
Free samples!
Business hours:
8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday
Gift shop and tasting room hours:
Winter Hours: October – April: 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Tuesday – Saturday
CLOSED SUNDAYS AND MONDAYS
Summer Hours: May – September: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., 7 days a week
As soon as you disembark the ship, you’ll pretty much see this attraction. You can’t miss it – it’s right along the dockside.
Ok, so Sam saw more whales out the window while he was on the treadmill in the ships gym than we did on this excursion, but I’d still recommend it to anyone going to Alaska. We did it while we were in Juneau, cause that’s where we had the most time to fill in, we loved it!
I would definitely encourage you to look at the independent tours as well. Much smaller boats with less people, and in my opinion, a much better experience.
