Day #3 - Having a Whale of a Time in Juneau
We docked in Juneau, AK at 2:00pm. Most of the guests on NCL were disembarking at the same time for various excursions. For whatever reason, there appeared to be a lot of confusion on the part of the crew as to who was supposed to head to the disembarkation area. Otherwise, it was fairly straightforward to find our touring company.
Docked in Juneau, AK
Although you may be purchasing these excursions through the cruise line's site, the excursions are operated locally. There is such a wide variety of excursions to choose from as well: from going on a tour of the local highlights, to doing something more physically demanding like hiking. We had chosen the excursion entitled "Whales & Mendenhall Glacier Rainforest Trails."
When choosing your excursion, you should take a look at review sites (like TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc) to see if the touring company and the particular excursion you are interested in will fit what you want out of your day ashore. The NCL website itself will also list a fitness level to indicate how physically demanding the excursion may be. Our chosen excursion, operated by Gastineau Guiding, was a level 2.
Once we met our tour operator at the pier, we were taken by shuttle to the harbor to board the small vessel that was chartered to take us into Auke Bay. There were two reasons we booked this tour: the first is we liked the mixture of land and sea tours it offered us. The second was that it was a relatively small group tour (19 people). This led to a lot of personal contact with our guides over the course of this 5.5 hour excursion.
We boarded the Mariner and met Captain Brock who took us on a leisurely ride to the middle of the bay. I can't compliment both Captain Brock and our guide Kate enough as they were both enthusiastic, educational, and strove to provide an excellent experience. The touring company does guarantee that you will see a whale or they will refund $100 to you.
Captain Brock
Not only did we see whales, we saw quite a few of them. The main whale was saw was the humpback whale, but we also saw three Orcas as well (which, evidently, is a rare sighting). We also saw bald eagles from the ship.
Whale tail sighting
After approximately 2 hours out in the bay, we were brought ashore where we met our second guide, Annie, and were again shuttled to a trailhead where our journey to Mendenhall Glacier would begin. Annie and Kate did provide us all with snacks prior to our short hike.
Our tour guide prepping us for the hike
At most, the hike was approximately 1.5-2 miles and was relatively easy. The trail is smooth, but we would recommend sturdy boots with ankle support and a walking stick (which they will provide). We were split into two groups for the hike, giving us even more personal attention.
The rainforest was quite beautiful, but the "money shot" - as Annie referred to it - was the spectacular view of Mendenhall Glacier. Once we arrived, we spent at least 20-30 minutes there taking pictures of the glacier and area, and listening to Annie and Kate regale us with information about the glaciers. While we were there, we noticed another touring group had also entered the area. Unfortunately for them, they were not on the beach area directly across from the glacier, but on a beach to the side which would not have given the best views.
Upon conclusion of the tour we were taken back to our ship by shuttle. Everyone on the shuttle clearly had a fantastic experience. Based on this experience, we cannot recommend Gastineau Guiding enough. It was a great land and sea combination tour that provided us with awe inspiring sights.
Once we are back in our home state, we will be updating this review with more photos, and some video we took of our trip. Stay tuned...