The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist! updated 12/13/2015 - Page 22 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Our excursion today was a visit to Mendenhall Glacier and then whale watching…with a 100% guarantee of a whale sighting or you would receive $100 back. I believe it was stated that they have never had to give out the $100, so that was a good sign that we would be seeing a whale today!
When looking over excursions, Juneau actually had several that I wanted to do, but when it came down to it both whale watching and the glacier were 2 things I REALLY wanted to do. I debated it a bit over another one that really caught my fancy, which left at 1:30 and would take you out to Tracey Arm on a small boat and then you later meet up with the Jewel and get back on. I had read reviews of it and it sounds amazing. It was a bit more costly and I even looked if I could do both, but the timing wasn’t going to work. In the end I went with my gut feeling and went with my first choice. I then had a few people tell me I shouldn’t have wasted my money on a whale excursion because I would see plenty from the ship. Now I had thought, well that might be true, but I bet it would be better on a boat that would stop near the whales and linger…..and thank goodness I didn’t listen to those people as we all know how many whales I have seen at this point….Last official count…a big fat ZERO!
Our tickets said to meet in the theatre at 7:30 AM. Now I had assumed this would be like DCL and you would all meet here and taken off the ship together as a group and then off to your excursion. Well that was a big mistake.
Most excursions were meeting here and they would just call off the names of each at a certain time and tell you to get off the ship and find the person with the sign for your excursion. Had I known it worked this way I would’ve just gotten off the ship with Florentina.
So we waited a short time in the Stardust Theatre and they rattled off excursion names and we left with a larger group of people….and didn’t make it too far and were at a standstill. They couldn’t get the people off fast enough and we were stuck on the staircase for quite some time. Skip grumbled that if we had left out the other exit we could’ve walked right off and he was right…but we didn’t know that earlier. The line was so slow and once we got to the correct deck we then had to weave down a narrow hallway before getting to the gangway.
It was funny as there was a family group there and were obviously separated and they were hollering back and forth…carrying on a conversation. Skip was laughing and I swear he was about to join in.
“Uncle Mike! Freddy is with Uncle David already and they are off the ship”…”Great, can you call them and tell them we are on our way”. …”Sure thing, What did you have for breakfast today, we just went to the buffet”. …”We went to Moderno and it was really nice, they sure do take care of you there”.
We were just totally cracking up. Half the ship was filled in on what the family had been doing for the past 24 hours.
Finally we made it off the ship. You can see the 2nd gangway off in the distance in this next picture and as you can see no one is on it.
We now knew that if any other excursion called for us to meet anywhere on the ship we were just going to get off on our own instead. It just wasn’t run very well in my opinion. I must say I like the way Disney does it better. They walk you right through till you are safely in the hands of the tour operator.
We were at the furthest pier in Juneau and unlike Ketchikan there really isn’t anything very close to the dock. Yes you can walk to things but it is a little ways away. I have been told there is even a shuttle bus running back and forth, though we never had a chance to use it today.
We were directed to our bus and found some seats. I don’t remember out bus drivers name, but he was really a nice young guy…and pretty cute too. He said he would be taking us to each of our destinations today and he also liked to give info on Juneau as he drove along.
I've had friends who have cruised tell me we are spoiled on DCL with the way excursions are handled. Sorry you were stuff getting off the ship, but sounds like a good start with your bus trip.
Not the greatest way to get people off the ship! We did the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching on our first Alaskan cruise for exactly that reason too - I couldn't decide between the two!
Not a very good start to your tour for sure. I see the Celebrity Millineum was in port that day. We sailed on her on our 2013 Alaskan visit. Can't wait to hear about your whale watch. We always do that in Juneau, and our last one was amazing! (Our first, not so much. But, we all know it's the luck of the draw.) We have never sighted a whale from the ship.
Loving the TR . You, two had a great time! Brings back lots of memories of my first Alaska inside passage many moons ago on Royal Caribbean, and my recent (July) voyage of the Glaciers
Also enjoying it for the excellent review/photos of the Jewel. Will be boarding her on Sunday for a Mexican Riviera cruise.
Sounds like a bit of a mess with the excursions. I'd think most would want to do it like DCL - makes it less likely that you lose people.
Definitely not nearly as smooth as the way DCL handles it.
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Originally Posted by Cam22
I've had friends who have cruised tell me we are spoiled on DCL with the way excursions are handled. Sorry you were stuff getting off the ship, but sounds like a good start with your bus trip.
It's true. DCL just does some things so much better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Not the greatest way to get people off the ship! We did the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching on our first Alaskan cruise for exactly that reason too - I couldn't decide between the two!
There are so many neat and interesting options and excursions for Juneau. I had a hard time with Skagway too but that was because a lot just didn't appeal to me so much...or seemed as exciting. But I am glad of the one we picked there too.
This tour was really the best of both worlds for that day and it was a lovely tour.
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great pictures from Juneau so far!
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
Not a very good start to your tour for sure. I see the Celebrity Millineum was in port that day. We sailed on her on our 2013 Alaskan visit. Can't wait to hear about your whale watch. We always do that in Juneau, and our last one was amazing! (Our first, not so much. But, we all know it's the luck of the draw.) We have never sighted a whale from the ship.
How was that ship? It looked kind of dated on the outside, but I know that means nothing about the inside. I hear a lot of good things about Celebrity too and they are on my bucket list.
Whale watching really can be the luck of the draw. Spoiler...we drew the long straw this day!
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Originally Posted by jimmymac
Breathtaking doesn't accurately describe it. Fabulous pix again
You are so right. It is just some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life.
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Originally Posted by duck addict
Loving the TR . You, two had a great time! Brings back lots of memories of my first Alaska inside passage many moons ago on Royal Caribbean, and my recent (July) voyage of the Glaciers
Also enjoying it for the excellent review/photos of the Jewel. Will be boarding her on Sunday for a Mexican Riviera cruise.
I would love to do the Glaciers in the future. When it comes down to it, when we go back I will probably let Skip pick but push him one way over another. LOL. Just so we can see a little bit of different stuff. He has stated he would like to add a land tour as well.
Have fun on the Jewel. I wish I was going on a cruise this week too.
As we drove along our driver talked about the area and how he liked his job (I think this was his first season doing this if I remember right) and he was really interested in the history and the area and knew the names of different mountains and told us stories about the areas we passed.
Skip asked if we wanted to walk to the waterfall, but we only had about 45 minutes left and I knew our walk would be slow because of his bad hips…and I didn’t want to be the one blamed when he was hurting later, so I told him we better pass on it.
We got to the lookout area and just enjoyed the scenery. We were all wowed! A family was trying to get a picture and I asked if they wanted me to take it so they all could be in and they were thankful. They then took a picture of us too.
We headed up inside the visitor’s center taking the elevator up. Claire questioned why till I gave her the choice of all the stairs. LOL.
The views were fantastic in here too.
I’ve always been one who thought some of the most beautiful places in the world are where the palm trees, blue oceans and sandy beaches are….This ranks right up there. I could spend hours just enjoying the scenery and taking pictures.
Wow! You had a gorgeous day to see Mendenhall!! It was raining when we were there. Maybe next time.
It is so sad about the receding glacier. Our guide said it was past the waterfall in the early 80's, if I recall
I'll echo what Colleen just said - you had a perfect day to see the glacier. It is definitely receding - we were absolutely shocked at how much it had gone back in the four years that had elapsed in between our visits there.
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We did the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching on our first Alaskan cruise for exactly that reason too - I couldn't decide between the two! 
It is definitely receding - we were absolutely shocked at how much it had gone back in the four years that had elapsed in between our visits there. 
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