Mendenhall Glacier: Taxi, rental car, shuttle

thompj7188

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
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My husband and I will be cruising to Alaska in May and have no plans to book an excursion for Juneau. We would like to visit Mendenhall glacier on our own and are trying to decide the best way to do that. I have read that renting a car will allow us to get to the glacier before all of the shuttles and would let us tour with fewer crowds which we would enjoy. However we are concerned about how difficult it would be to do that and how difficult the drive would be. I am wondering if it would be easier to just take a taxi and if taxis even pick up at the port. Or if either of those options don't even really make much of a difference. Just looking for anyone who has experience or advice with any of these scenarios.

Thanks!
 
Last August, we did the Glacier Shuttle through JuneauTours, it was $30/person roundtrip which includes the $5 entrance fee to Mendenhall Glacier. They had 2 shuttles running, picking up every 1/2 hour--so you could go on any of their shuttles back. We had a different driver each way, and both talked about the area--so it actually was a tour in a way. It's about 1/2 hour drive from port to Mendenhall glacier. (In Juneau the Wonder is docked farther from town, but they offer a free shuttle to the start of town--which is where all the tours you book on your own would start from.)

I know other people have rented cars--we didn't want to deal with that--or have to figure out where to drive to.
 
Mendenhall is so big.... I didn't mind the crowds. Then again the visitor washrooms can get busy.
 

It was a very, very easy drive to the Glacier.

The worst part, for us, was getting the car rental. We had to walk outside of the port area and arrange a spot for pick up. Then someone had to come and pick one of us up, take that person back to the rental lot, then the driver had to come back into Juneau and pick up the rest of our group. Then at the end of the day, we had to repeat that process.

If it's just your husband and you, this might be an easier process.

Then, maybe procedures may have improved since I was there. It's been 5 years.
 
Definitely recommend just waiting until you get there and walking over to the kiosk selling transfers. Was cheaper than any ship excursion and we got a deal (I think they charged us a kid rate instead of 3 adults or something) by waiting until we got there.
 
We took a taxi, which was readily available in 2012. We got the driver's card and called when we wanted to be picked up. I think the RT fee was around $30.
 
We rented a car and it was very quick and easy. There are two car rental companies in Juneau. There's an Avis downtown and the Juneau Car Rental Company has a little office (sort of a shack really) right at the AJ dock where the Wonder docks. If you choose Avis, you have to take a shuttle to downtown to get the car. Also, it was twice as expensive as Juneau Car Rental.

We had a reservation in advance (they do get booked up so make sure you get on) got off the ship at 8, walked literally up the gangplank and across the parking lot and had the car by 8:10. The drive to the glacier was super easy. It's about 20 minutes and involved, I think two roads. They gave us a little map and directions and pointed out some other sights we might want to see, but our phones worked and we just used Google maps to navigate. We were there by 8:30 and had the place to ourselves. It was phenomenal and we got some great photos with no other people in them. Parking was free and I think it was around $5 per adult to visit (kids were free). The car was $60 for the whole day. Parking downtown was paid (we stopped on the way back and did some shopping) but it wasn't a huge deal. If I had it to do over again, I would 100% rent the car. It was so easy and there are many places you can explore on your own. We returned the car at lunch because we had an afternoon whale watching trip.

Here's a link to the Juneau section of my trip report if you want to see our photos: http://www.disboards.com/threads/wo...fun-in-vancouver.3537617/page-2#post-56343773
 
We took the shuttle bus. $30/pp round trip and includes admission to Glacier. It was very convenient. There are vendors all over the dock. We paid for the blue bus, but the white bus driver offered to take us back when we were leaving because it was raining for no extra charge. I'd do it this was again in the future. You also get a narration of the area while riding in the bus.
 
There were 7 of us so we reserved a minivan in advance from Avis. I took a very short taxi ride into town to the Avis office to pick it up because I didn't know where I was going. I walked back to the ship easily after dropping off the car that afternoon.

I highly recommend renting a car and doing the glacier on your own. It was very easy to get there, and we loved having the flexibility to take our time. We walked the short and easy hike to Nugget Falls. I cannot recommend this highly enough. It was one of the highlights of the trip. There was a beach-like area (looked like sand but was actually glacial silt), and my daughters were able to play in the "sand" for a long time. We have so many great photos. Much of the time, we were the only ones there - during prime tourist season in early August. I doubt we would have had that experience if we had to worry about transportation schedules or a tour group.

When we finished at the glacier, we drove back into town and had lunch at Tracy's Crab Shack. It was amazing. My sister and I would go back to Alaska just to have another bowl of the crab bisque!
 
Thanks for all of the responses! They have been a big help. We are so excited for the trip and know it will be wonderful no matter which option we choose!
 

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