DCL Alaska - glacier related excursions (Glacier Explorer vs. Mendenhall Lake Canoe)

[jtinternet]

Hi everyone!
We booked our very first Disney Cruise (Disney Wonder) to Alaska for mid July this year. Parties going are my wife and I, 2 daughters (ages 7 and 9), and mother-in-law.

We were abundantly disappointed when the Glacier Explorer to Stikine Icecap (DG01), day 3) was sold out. So instead we booked the Mendenhall Lake Canoe Adventure in Juneau (JU56). A few days later when I checked again, DG01 opened up again so we signed up for that one as well. But we are now wondering if the experiences are drastically different (other than the method of transportation of expedition boat vs. canoe) to justify the high cost on both?
We will also be doing the Dog Sledding and Glacier Flight Seeing in Skagway - which I believe / hope would be the highlight of the trip.
Too many glacier related stuff? Or do they warrant unique experiences?

Many thanks for your feedback!

 

[auntlynne]

Too much glacier? Is that a possibility?

First thought - they are all different.

Then, tours involving flying are subject to be grounded by weather.

The canoe is a canoe (Albeit a big one). You are right there at the water line. But you probably won’t have the same height straight-up vertically at Mendenall. The glacier does keep going up the mountain, but it could be different from what you see in the other location.

The Glacier explorer should be definitely faster than the canoe. A lot more people. A place to go inside and escape the outside (and possible tedium) of several hours of looking at glaciers.

You can’t be sure - any given day, any given person on an excursion.

Being on a boat at the base of a glacier us probably impressive (or overwhelming). I think we have gotten within a 1/2 mile of some, while on a cruise ship. I don’t feel I have missed anything - other than the risk of calving and the subsequent wave - by not getting closer.

I remember nothing from age 7. Just an overall happy childhood. I would consider how well they will do in the canoe if they get tired of it. So, I’d probably go with the Glacier Explorer; even if eating snacks inside the boat us more fun than seeing the glacier. And probably do the dog excursion, too.

 

[CamillaF]

I think it really depends on your $ and your goals. We did a Canoe to a glacier. It was amazing. One of my twins (8 at the time) says this was the best of our adventures. The other says it was renting a car and going to a beach that no one was on and learning how to skip rocks (I don't know why but every rock was flat and skipped well).

The excursions that we did not do, that we were told were amazing, was 1. Dog sledding on the glacier and 2. Whale watching. There is so much to do you will not be able to do everything. What ever you pick will be an experience well worth doing.

To answer you question. There is never enough glacier and all unique.

 

[gatorlisa]

We did the Glacier Explorer last week. We didn't canoe Mendenhall, but we did go to Mendenhall and hiked down to Nugget Falls. Based on my experience with the Glacier Explorer and what I saw of the general area around Mendenhall and also having done a couple of tidewater glacier cruises in other parts of Alaska, the two will be very different experiences. On the Glacier Explorer we went down Tracy Arm to the South Sawyer Glacier where there were dozens of seals hanging out on the ice floating in front of the glacier. There were also 3 or 4 calvings of decent size chunks of the ice while we were observing this glacier. We spent a chunk of time there, then cruised over to the North Sawyer Glacier, which was smaller, but still interesting. I can't remember if it was at the north or south glacier, but we also saw several mountain goats up on a hillside. We then cruised out and came upon a pod of orca whales and got to observe them for a good amount of time. We debated whether to do the Glacier Explorer, since we had done glacier day cruises before, and I'm so glad we did and would absolutely do it again on a future cruise. The area around Mendenhall is different. Mendenhall is not a tidewater glacier, so wildlife is less prevalent. We didn't see anything of interest over by the glacier wildlife wise. We also didn't notice any calving while we were at Mendenhall. I would say which you do, or whether you do both, depends on what you are hoping to see. If wildlife and glacier calving are tops on your priorty list, the Glacier Explorer is your best bet. If you want a more personal and active experience, the canoe trip would probably be better. If both wildlife and a more intimate up close glacier encounter sound awesome to you and you can swing both, then both would probably be great for you.

 

[MICKEEP]

Having experienced Alaska last September. Our biggest regret by far was not taking the excursion to get up close to the glacier.

 

[jimmymc]

Yes they are drastically different and IMO both worth doing. The Mendenhall Canoe is a really cook way to get closer to the glacier and get a better scale of hoe massive it is, but it's also physical work. The explorer still isn't super close to the glacier, but it's a massively improved glacier viewing day than what you get on the ship. If you can afford both, I think it's worth doing both.

 

[auntlynne]

You all tell it so well, I am ready to go back and do the Explorer.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

The explorer was amazing. A bunch of $$ but worth every penny, to me

 

[jtinternet]

Thank you all for the insights!!! Your feedbacks are so helpful and we will definitely keep both excursions. Also great point on possible cancellation. My sister and her family are actually on a different cruise (not Disney) at Alaska right now. Their seaplane excursion to Taku lodge was cancelled due to weather.

Now I am going to spend some time researching motion sickness remedies for helicopter and the smaller glacier explorer boat

 

[PlutoDisney]

Thank you all for the insights!!! Your feedbacks are so helpful and we will definitely keep both excursions. Also great point on possible cancellation. My sister and her family are actually on a different cruise (not Disney) at Alaska right now. Their seaplane excursion to Taku lodge was cancelled due to weather.

Now I am going to spend some time researching motion sickness remedies for helicopter and the smaller glacier explorer boat

I can't comment on the Mendenhall excursion but having recently disembarked the Wonder from Alaska cruise I can say the Glacier Explorer is well worth doing. Due to the amount of ice the Wonder was not able to get very far in and see the full extent of the glacier even from a distance so getting up close and personal with the glacier on a small boat was amazing. We saw many seals and even some mountain goats. One member of our group was getting a little affected by motion on board the Wonder at times but actually didn't have any issues on the explorer boat, was either going too fast or too slow to be bothered by the motion. Hopefully your family gets to do and see everything you want to.

I also agree excursions can be cancelled. We managed to get our seaplane flight to Taku Lodge but they cancelled all further flights that day and came to get us about 15minutes early as weather in town was deteriorating. We considered ourselves very lucky.