Norwegian Pearl, or Jewel

I have a question and doing excursions in Juneau. I would like to do the Mount Roberts Tram / Mendenhall Glacier excursion. I would also like to do a Whale Watch excursion. Is there enough time to do all three ?

There is an Alaska sub forum here. It is full of great suggestions.

Does not matter if Jewel or Pearl as to ship - they are sisters.

I have a question and doing excursions in Juneau. I would like to do the Mount Roberts Tram / Mendenhall Glacier excursion. I would also like to do a Whale Watch excursion. Is there enough time to do all three ?

Yes - either ship. With the current schedules, both ships spend half the day there, one AM, one PM.

The whale watching and Mendenhall tour are offered both separately and combined. The tram just sits there -- right at the dock, basically -- and I don't recall it being combined with whale watching, but they might. The tours usually get you back to the ship with about 1-1/2 hour to spare, depending on the excursion schedule, which is plenty of time to ride the Tram up, check it out, and come back down.

Look for the Mendenhall/Whale Watch combo, then ride the tram when you get back.

Yes - either ship. With the current schedules, both ships spend half the day there, one AM, one PM.

 

The whale watching and Mendenhall tour are offered both separately and combined. The tram just sits there -- right at the dock, basically -- and I don't recall it being combined with whale watching, but they might. The tours usually get you back to the ship with about 1-1/2 hour to spare, depending on the excursion schedule, which is plenty of time to ride the Tram up, check it out, and come back down.

 

Look for the Mendenhall/Whale Watch combo, then ride the tram when you get back.

Thank you. We were wondering the same.

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Does not matter if Jewel or Pearl as to ship - they are sisters.

Well, it actually does. The Jewel/Bliss R/T Seattle itinerary has less time in port if the OP is trying to do a lot. But it is during the day (7:00-1:30) and tours don't always leave right at 7 am. The Pearl stops from 2 pm - 10 pm, so there is more usable time, but dinner will be a late night snack at O'Shehans.

For the tramway, you need to catch the shuttle bus from the dock to the tramway which kills 30 minutes coming and going. If the objective is just to ride the tramway up, take some photos, and come back down, then you can do that. If you do any walking/hiking to get the best views, that will take time.

We took the combined whale watch/glacier tour and got back to the ship with little time to spare. YMMV

Regarding ship, pick the itinerary instead. Most would say pick the ship that goes to Glacier Bay. If you pick the one that goes to the Sawyer glacier, take the small boat tour (I think it leaves from Juneau ?), otherwise you won't see much (or any) of the glacier.

And as others have said, browse through the Alaska forum. Follow this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

I booked the tram through NCL and then booked the Mendenhall Glacier through an independent company. I thought that was pushing the limit as far as getting those done in a comfortable time. It might me tight to do all three things.

We took the combined whale watch/glacier tour and got back to the ship with little time to spare. YMMV

 

Regarding ship, pick the itinerary instead. Most would say pick the ship that goes to Glacier Bay. If you pick the one that goes to the Sawyer glacier, take the small boat tour (I think it leaves from Juneau ?), otherwise you won't see much (or any) of the glacier.

 

And as others have said, browse through the Alaska forum. Follow this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

We got an awesome view of Dawes Glacier on the Jewel

We got an awesome view of Dawes Glacier on the Jewel

I agree. I think the trip up to Dawes and back down was great. And we've also been on the Pearl Alaska cruise. Either one is wonderful.