Mendenhall Glacier- Juneau

[zakdavid]

For Mendenhall Glacier I have a few questions. For those of you that did it through DCL which of the 10+ options did you pick for excursions and what did you think?

Also it seems like you could pretty easily take a cab to the national park yourself and go do hikes etc. Have any of you done it on your own? Any tips/tricks? Is it easy to get a ride back?

 

[lklgoodman]

We did our cruise in 2014, so not sure if the excursions are the same now(they don't seem to change them very often though). We did them through DCL. We went to Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Gardens, and a salmon hatchery. We loved the Mendenhall and the garden tours(very beautiful and informative). Didn't care for the hatchery, very boring and didn't see much, that part was a waste of time.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We did it on our own in 2018. We rented a car. So easy, beat the crowds and got to spend as much time there as we wanted. After hiking there, we took a drive to eagle beach. Stopped at a grocery store for more water for the cabin, had lunch in town and returned rental right a pier. It was a great day!

 

[Geomom]

In 2016, we did one of the glacier shuttles--Juneau tours. They have buses running every 1/2 hr--so you could hop on any of the buses to get back. The drivers did talk a little about town/native culture while driving.

 

[auntlynne]

I’ve done the Blue Bus Glacier Bus to Mendenhall. it’s now up to $45 pp RT, but that’s not too bad for an excursion in AK. You can walk right onto the trail to the Nugget Falls next to the glacier (same place you go on any excursion). You are free to catch the bus back at your leisure (runs ~ every 30 minutes).

My favorite Mendenhall excursion was the combo Photography-focused Whale Watch and Mendenhall Glacier.

 

[anricat]

We also rented a car and it was great because there is a car rental place right there at the dock where the Wonder pulls in. We got the car first thing and made it to the glacier right when they opened before anyone else was there. We practically had the place to ourselves! We got incredible pictures without any people and got to trek around on our own. By the time we were driving back, there were buses arriving disgorging large groups of people and things were really getting busy. Also, it saved us a lot of money. It was far cheaper to rent the car than to take the DCL sponsored bus or the shuttle bus that runs.

 

[MomOTwins]

I personally opted for the simple mendenhall and back excursion because it gave me the most time to explore on my own. Last time I went to mendenhall it was in a combo excursion with whale watching and lunch, and by the time we got to the glacier we were running late and basically only had time to snap a couple photos, walk around for 10 mins and then reboard the bus.

I would be nervous doing it on my own. I read a trip report of someone who used an uber, and the uber had to drop them off 1.5 miles from because rideshares weren’t allowed to go up to the site. They were walking along the road an a bear started following them, eek! So I don’t recommend rideshare. I understand this is not a problem for traditional taxis (it seems the reason has to do with certain permits or similar formalities), but taxis can get expensive and you may wait a while for a return pickup. For these reasons, I booked a bus round trip from the cruise line.

Agree rental is also an option but may not be cheaper than bus transfers depending on family size.

 

[Mom2MoonKnight]

We did this excursion in 2017. Expensive but once in a lifetime experience.https://alaskashoreexcursions.com/juneau/glacier-dogsled-tour-via-helicopter-tour

 

[Sakura1017]

We did this excursion in 2017. Expensive but once in a lifetime experience.https://alaskashoreexcursions.com/juneau/glacier-dogsled-tour-via-helicopter-tour

Did you have to share a ride in the sled with other members or just your party? Did they each take turns getting to direct the dogs or was everyone just riding in the sled?

 

[anricat]

Agree rental is also an option but may not be cheaper than bus transfers depending on family size.

Our rental was so cheap that pretty much anything more than 2 people will make the car rental cheaper.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

^^^ Same here

 

[Mom2MoonKnight]

Did you have to share a ride in the sled with other members or just your party? Did they each take turns getting to direct the dogs or was everyone just riding in the sled?

The sled was only for our party. The helicopter doesn’t hold many. We were a party of 4 and I think there were 2 other passengers and the pilot. I’m pretty sure you could take turns on the back. I’m not sure if they let kids go on the back though as they have to be standing at a high speed.

 

[MomOTwins]

Our rental was so cheap that pretty much anything more than 2 people will make the car rental cheaper.

^^^ Same here

I assume this was pre-pandemic? With supply/demand and inflation in 2022, that simply isn’t true. I priced a 4-hour rental in Juneau on my cruise date in early August and a couple others in July for comparison and the lowest price I saw was $254 for a basic car. Often quite a bit higher. A DCL transfer To Mendenhall and back for 2 adults 2 kids comes to $174. Even 4 adults is only$236 for DCL. You have to have 5 passengers, three of whom are disney adults before you come out ahead in a rental and that’s assuming the rental price is not higher on your cruise dates (some days were over $300)

 

[anricat]

I assume this was pre-pandemic? With supply/demand and inflation in 2022, that simply isn’t true. I priced a 4-hour rental in Juneau on my cruise date in early August and a couple others in July for comparison and the lowest price I saw was $254 for a basic car. Often quite a bit higher. A DCL transfer To Mendenhall and back for 2 adults 2 kids comes to $174. Even 4 adults is only$236 for DCL. You have to have 5 passengers, three of whom are disney adults before you come out ahead in a rental and that’s assuming the rental price is not higher on your cruise dates (some days were over $300)

Yes, it was 2016, however not sure where you're getting those prices because I just checked and it looks like the day rate with Juneau Rental Car is as follows:

Full Size $132.25
Mini-Van $149.50
8-Passenger Van $172.50
12-Passenger Van $212.75
15-Passenger Van $241.50

Which, yes, is quite a bit more than the $60 we paid in 2016, but still nowhere near the prices you are finding. It looks like they aren't operating out of the A dock anymore (where the Wonder docks) so definitely less convenient. They are running a shuttle. They likely had to pass some of that cost along to their customers, which is too bad but I would say most families fit in a full size car, and if you have a big group, I mean, 15 passenger van for $241 is still going to be so much cheaper than paying for DCL transfers.

 

[MomOTwins]

Yes, it was 2016, however not sure where you're getting those prices because I just checked and it looks like the day rate with Juneau Rental Car is as follows:

Full Size $132.25
Mini-Van $149.50
8-Passenger Van $172.50
12-Passenger Van $212.75
15-Passenger Van $241.50

Which, yes, is quite a bit more than the $60 we paid in 2016, but still nowhere near the prices you are finding. It looks like they aren't operating out of the A dock anymore (where the Wonder docks) so definitely less convenient. They are running a shuttle. They likely had to pass some of that cost along to their customers, which is too bad but I would say most families fit in a full size car, and if you have a big group, I mean, 15 passenger van for $241 is still going to be so much cheaper than paying for DCL transfers.

Looked at Avis, Hertz and Enterprise and prices were pretty consistent across those three. Had never heard of Juneau Rental Car but seems rather odd that they would list prices and then also say "contact us for a quote"--maybe those are starting prices and it goes higher in season?

Edited to add, I did some looking at the Yelp reviews and I think PP is right about the pricing--but it also looks like it is a super-low-cost option for a reason.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Juneau Car Rentals is who we used. The cars are older, no doubt. And the move from the pier certainly makes them less convienent. I forget exactly what we paid in 2018. We contacted for a quote. We didn't get a 60$ rate, but it was economical for a family of 4 adults and cheaper than the DCL excursion. They were easy to work with.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Going to echo what others have said - don't do the excursion. Rent a car or maybe call an Uber? It's not far and you should have plenty of time. We have friends on Douglas Island and went when we were not on a cruise. What we witnessed was we had plenty of time (had a toddler and a baby at the time). We walked to the glacier, had lunch and spent all the time we wanted - about 2 hours as I recall. Meanwhile, we saw the people on the cruise literally running from the visitors center just to make it to the glacier and back in time to catch the bus back to the ship. Hard pass from us. The river rafting also looked really short - would not do that either. We did the dogsled camp when we did the cruise years later. That was fun - would recommend.

 

[smartlabelprint]

My sis went on a glacier tour directly with the company.

 

[anricat]

Edited to add, I did some looking at the Yelp reviews and I think PP is right about the pricing--but it also looks like it is a super-low-cost option for a reason.

Oh yah, it was SUPER no frills, but the car worked fine and got us from point A to point B and my DD got to laugh about the manual hand-crank windows.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Oh yah, it was SUPER no frills, but the car worked fine and got us from point A to point B and my DD got to laugh about the manual hand-crank windows.

Our kids didn't even know what the hand cranks were for! LOL We still talk about that car, a really old PT Cruiser, to this day. It was a really fun adventure.