Juneau is the capital of Alaska. It is unusual among U.S. capitals in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of Alaska or to the rest of North America making it a de facto island city in terms of transportation. All goods coming in and out must go by plane or boat, in spite of the city being on the Alaskan mainland.
Our ship was docked at around 11am . The sight docking into Juneau is beautiful. Houses perched up high in the mountains surrounded by wilderness.
Our ship was docked at around 11am . The sight docking into Juneau is beautiful. Houses perched up high in the mountains surrounded by wilderness.
We had booked the Juneau City And Mendenhall Glacier Tour through Juneau Tours departing at 13:15. Our group decided to have a heavy breakfast/brunch before disembarking, so we could get to the tour on time and skip any lunch stops.
Norwegian Jewel docks at the fartherest berth in Juneau. So they offer shuttle services from the berth to the bus depot (at the base of the Mount Roberts Tramway), which is where all the tours depart from. Note that the shuttle buses don't have a common name or sign since they are subcontracted by cruise lines , one could be a large bus and other a small one, doesn't matter, they all go from Berth to Bus Depot and back.
It was easy to fin the Juneau Tour guide at the base of Mount Roberts Tramway.We checked with her and then waited until our bus arrived.
Our tour guide was Vince who was an ex-Long Island,NY native. Vince drove us around Juneau stopping along the way at a couple of scenic spots. Being a transplant from the east coast and now being a long time resident Alaskan, the personal stories he shared resonated with us. His bear stories were very entertaining. The town tour lasted about 45 mins. On getting off at Mendenhall Glacier, you had the choice to return back on the same bus ( Goat Stop) at the designated time (and seats would be guaranteed) OR alternatively you could return back to town on their Glacier Shuttle bus which runs every 30 mins.
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center has a a handful of trails. more info at https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd604841.pdf
The Photo Point Trail is a short 15 min trail where you can get some great shots of the glacier.
The Nugget Falls Trail is a 2 mile trail which though the park listed it as a 40 min round trip trail took our group took 40-45 mins just on way. At the end of the trail you are more closer to the glacier than at Photo Point. There is a water body that separates you from the glacier but that does not take away from its majestic sight. On one side you have the glacier, on the other you have the Nugget falls- both seamlessly merging into the giant water body.
The last Juneau Tours bus was around 5pm, so we had to sprint back which didn't leave us much time to visit the acclaimed Visitor Center. When we got to the trail head a couple of members of our group who stayed back told us about their bear sighting which causes the Photo Point Trail to be shut down for the next few hours.
When we got to the GOAT stop there were not too many people in sight. A call to the Juneau Tours office and we found that the shuttle that returns to town leaves from BEAR stop , a stop few feet away from the Goat stop(where we were dropped off). When we got to the stop we noticed long line of people just like us who had stayed back longer and didn't take their assigned bus back. Turned out this wasn't as big a problem as it appeared,since Juneau Tours had multiple shuttles running pickups.
Back in town we ate some ice cream at a local shop and did some souvenir shopping. DD scored her free pendant,ofcourse!
Shuttles back to the ship run from the bus depot (at base of Mt.Roberts Tramway) .We made it back to the ship, tired and hungry , around 6:30 pm.
That night the jewel show was "Rock You Tonight" with songs from Queen, Journey and bunch of other music icons. Our group was pretty tired and we skipped the show and headed straight to Chin-Chin - the Asian restaurant. DD bought sushi, which was delicious but bit pricey at $11 a roll. Others ordered off the menu. The appetizers - spring rolls and potstickers were both delicious. The entrees were mediocre. Lets just say I have had better Kung Pao chicken.
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