Trip Report: May 21, 2018 7 Night Alaska Cruise – Day 5

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Day 5: Juneau

You can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here.

You can see this day’s Navigator by clicking here.

Today we were in Juneau and all ashore was 6:45 am.  The Navigator said that it was supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of 28 F, but my Weather Channel app had been telling me otherwise for several days and it ended up being correct.  It was drizzly/rainy all day and the high was in the 40s.

I woke up around 6:00 and this was the view from our verandah:

We went to Cabanas at 7:15 to eat breakfast.  We ended up sitting at a table next to Julia (from the Beverly Belles).  She was leaving the ship that day to fly home, so it was nice to be able to talk with her one last time.  She was anxious to get home and see her daughter.

We left the ship at 8:00 with all of our rain gear.  The ship was docked at dock A, the least desirable of the 5 cruise docks in Juneau.  It is the only one that requires a shuttle bus ride into town, whereas at the other docks you can just walk off the ship and be in town.

This free shuttle was taking cruisers into town:

Looking back towards the Wonder, you can see how close the shuttle stop is and that part of the walkway is covered.  FYI, Juneau gets an average of 62 inches of rain a year, and an average of 230 rain days per year.

Lito, our dining room server, was going into town at the same time so we sat with him on the bus.

The bus ride only takes about 5 minutes, and drops you off right at the base of the Mt. Roberts Tramway, which is where a lot of the tours meet.  We were supposed to meet a representative from Juneau Whale Watch here for our tour, and luckily there was a covered area where we took shelter from the rain.

We had booked the “Mendenhall Glacier and Juneau Whale Watching Combo Tour“.  We were supposed to meet our guide at 8:30 am and were a few minutes early.  There were some very clean public restrooms right here under this covered area so we all took advantage of that while we waited.

At 8:30 sharp, a guide in a blue hat showed up and told everyone on that tour to follow him.  He was quick, and we would have missed it if we weren’t paying close attention.  He led us to a nearby covered area where they had a large and a small bus waiting.  This is the area where the other cruise ship docks are and those cruisers can just walk off the ship directly into this area.

These cables are the Mt. Roberts Tramway going up the side of the mountain (more on that later):

I brought an umbrella for each of us, but this was the only time we tried to use them and we quickly gave up.  In hindsight I wouldn’t have brought them, as we found rain jackets to be much easier to handle.  Constantly opening & closing the umbrellas, and dealing with the wind and keeping up with them was too much of a hassle so from then on we just used raincoats.

This tour was extremely organized, which I loved.  One of my pet peeves is guided tours where no one really knows what to do and what is going on.  Our guide had a list of all of the parties and how many people were in each one, and directed each party to either the large or small bus.  We were directed to the small one and shared it with a family from Alabama.  They were a hoot.

The bus ride to the harbor took about 20 minutes.  The driver was a native of the area and pointed things out along the way.

We passed a field that must have had 10 bald eagles sitting in it.  Sorry for the bad photo, it was taken through the window of a moving bus.

We arrived at the harbor and met the boat crew.  They were friendly and knowledgable and were constantly telling us things about the area and the what we were seeing.

After everyone arrived, we walked down to the boat.

I didn’t count how many people there were in our group, but I would guess about 50.  There was indoor seating on the bottom level, as well as places to stand outside on both levels.  There was a bathroom but I didn’t use it so I can’t tell you what it was like.

As we pulled out, we saw this eagle sitting on a pole:

We were sailing through Auke Bay and searching for humpback whales.  During the ride, the naturalist told us what to look for and that if we saw something, to shout it out in terms of a clock (i.e. whale at 3:00, seal at 9:00).  He also talked a lot about humpback whales in general.

It wasn’t too long before we started seeing whales and everyone rushed outside.  It was very cold and windy, but the rain had subsided.

We saw lots of tails pop up out of the water, and one time a whale slapped its tail about 10 times before going back under.  The naturalist was going crazy and said he’s never seen this before, but I had to wonder if he says that every time……We also saw a whale breach a few times.

Here are some videos:

There was another Juneau Whale Watch boat nearby.

It was so cold outside!  The girls kept going in and out, but I stayed outside most of the time.  I was freezing, but I stuck it out.  The boat ride lasted about 2 hours and we pretty much saw whales the entire time.  At one point, they passed out bottled water and granola bars which was great because we were all hungry.  I regret not bringing snacks, because we ended up not eating lunch until about 2:00.

After whale watching, we got back on the bus and drove to Mendenhall Glacier, which was about another 15-20 minutes.  The bus dropped us off in the parking lot:

We first used the restrooms, where this sign was posted on the inside of the stall…….

Then we walked down by the lake, bypassing the Visitor’s Center for now.

This is Nugget Falls.  There is a path that takes you there – it takes about 45 minutes round trip, plus whatever time you spend at the falls.

Next we went inside the Visitor’s Center.  There are lots of displays and presentations about the glacier.  There are also great views as the building is up on a hill:

There is a map that shows just how big the Juneau Icefield is and how Mendenhall Glacier is just one tiny part of it.  Our location is marked with the yellow rectangle:

We only stayed in the Visitor’s Center for about 20 minutes and then decided to walk back outside and down to “photo point” for some more pictures.  There was a park ranger there who offered to take our picture.  I asked her if they ever see bears and she said it’s not uncommon for a bear to just walk across the area where we were standing.  But, we never saw one.  I think it was just too early in the season.

Right after this, we ran into Kenney and Bunny who had just returned from the hike to Nugget Falls.  They said it was great, and we debated for a few minutes about whether to go or not.  It was starting to rain and we were starving, so we decided not to go.  We only stayed at the glacier for about an hour.
I wish we would have stayed longer, but the weather and our hunger made us decide to leave.  In hindsight, I should have brought snacks for us to eat on the bus ride to the glacier.  FYI, no food or drinks other than water are allowed anywhere at the glacier due to the bear activity in the area.

We made the short walk back to the bus stop and just as we got to the bus stop, it started raining pretty hard.  Thank goodness the bus stop was covered.  This reaffirmed that our decision not to hike to Nugget Falls was a good one.  We had to wait quite a while for a bus (I think they’re supposed to come every 30 minutes).  The bus stop was empty when we arrived, so I think one had just left.  Finally a bus came, and this was the only time things were disorganized on the entire tour.  Because there are many different tour companies with buses picking people up, the bus driver wanted to see confirmation from everyone that they were on the right bus.  But, we had never been given any type of ticket or paper to show, so people were trying to either dig printed emails out of their bag (me) or pull up confirmation emails on their phones.  It was quite chaotic because one person would show a document, but it was for everyone in their group so the bus driver had to figure out who was with who.  I think he finally gave up.  This would have gone much smoother if we had each been given some sort of ticket at the beginning of the tour.

After a short drive back to the location where the tour began, we were on a mission to find lunch because we were starving.  We had eaten breakfast at 7:15, and it was now about 2:00.  My husband and I wanted to go to Tracy’s King Crab Shack, but the girls didn’t want that.  I had read online about the Alaskan Crepe Escape, so I looked on my phone and it was right up the street.  We found it easily and there was a crowd outside, which is always a good sign.  In fact, we saw 3 cast members that we knew:  Leo (Palo), his wife Alexandra (MDR server), and Simone (cruise staff).  They were all eating crepes and we talked with them for a while.

They have a pretty big menu of both savory and sweet crepes.  The girls wanted sweet.  I think two of them got Smores while one got strawberry & Nutella.

There is not really any seating (just a few tiny tables on the side of the building), so the girls ate their crepes as we walked back towards Tracy’s.  We ran into Pat and Rita on the street and talked to them for a minute.

After a short walk we arrived at Tracy’s King Crab Shack.

The inside was packed, but there were some tables available outside which was covered and had heaters.  So, the girls grabbed a table while the adults went inside to get in line and order.

Once inside, we ran into more people that we knew.  Wendy from San Fransisco, who we had met at the sled dog camp, was in front of us in line, and Pat & Rita (my mother-in-law and her sister) were at a table eating.

We ordered our food and it was brought to our table a short time later.

The crab legs and crab bisque were incredible!  They were so, so good.  The crab cakes were good, but nothing special.  I wish we had ordered more crab legs and bisque, but since we had early dining, dinner was less than 3 hours away so we showed some restraint.

After we ate, we still had some time before all aboard at 4:45 so we decided to do the Mt. Roberts Tramway, which was right across the plaza.  You can’t buy tickets in advance for this, you have to buy them at the ticket counter.  On the way, we ran into Harry and Meghan and talked about what we had done that day.  They had done the “Enchanted Taku Glacier Lodge Flight and 5-Glacier Seaplane Discovery (JU48)” and had a great time.

We purchased out tickets, got into a waiting car, and began our ascent up the mountain.

 I am usually afraid of heights, but for some reason riding the tramway didn’t bother me.  We saw another eagle:

The structure of the buildings on the side of the mountain was impressive:

At the top of the tramway, there is a gift shop/art gallery, restaurant, theater with a short movie about the area, nature center, and an outdoor viewing platform.

All we did was browse the gift shop and spend time in the outdoor area.

Outside, there is an enclosure which is home to Lady Baltimore, a rescue eagle.  She was shot and left to die, but found by some hunters who rescued her.  She can’t fly anymore due to her injury so she lives here.

This platform is literally hanging off the side of the mountain.  I don’t recommend it for people afraid of heights.

After awhile we were ready to go back to the ship so we went back down the tramway.  We had some great views of Juneau.

We took the shuttle bus back to the ship and boarded at about 4:00 (all aboard was 4:45).  We relaxed in our rooms until dinner.

Dinner tonight was the animation magic show in Animator’s Palate.  Because the timing of this dinner is so important, with the animation show at the end, in the past they have always had just one appetizer choice, one soup/salad choice, and then you get to choose from a selection of entrees like normal.  But, this time it was different and they had a selection of appetizers, soups and salads.  I forgot to photograph the menu, which I am mad about because 1) this is a brand new menu, and 2) because it is new, I can’t reference other online sources to figure out the names of the dishes.

There was a new appetizer which was delicious, if you like mushrooms.  I can’t remember the name of it, but they were almost identical to the black truffle purseittes, only with a mushroom twist.  I thought it was amazing:

This was the kids’ appetizer, which was a cute selection of fruits and vegetables.  I think I see a hidden Mickey in there somewhere:

This was a salad with potatoes, peas, and shrimp.  I know it sounds like an odd combination but it was really good:

The Grilled Garlic-Marinated Shrimp (very good):

The Chicken Schnitzel (didn’t taste):

The dessert menu:

While we waited for dessert, the animation show began and we saw our drawings come to life:

The Chocolate Decadence (excellent):

The Amaretto Cheesecake (didn’t taste):

The Orchard Peach Tart (didn’t taste):

The Celebration Cake (didn’t taste):

The Cappuccino Mousse (very good):

The show tonight was the premiere of Solo in the Walt Disney Theater.  My husband and the older two girls went to that, while the youngest and I went back to the room to watch tv and just relax.  We had just had 2 long days with 2 early mornings, and we were so tired.  I think I did a load of laundry and then fell asleep to Cinderella.

Up Next: Day 6 – Ketchikan

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Disclosure: I pay for all of my own Disney vacations, but occasionally I am sent on assignment for a family travel website, kidtripster.com.  In Juneau we were hosted by Juneau Whale Watch for the purpose of a review for kidtripster.com.