Juneau Port Excursions (Teen friendly - active)

[EliseinAustin]

I am making no headway in actually booked something...I've scoured the boards, read books... asking your opinion....

 

 

DS - 20 (Active)

DD - 18 (Semi-Active)

DS - 15 (Active)

Me -

 

Juneau

• Temsco Pilot's Choice - flying in a helicopter...walking on glacier
  
• North Star trekking - 2 hour; Flying around, trekking on glacier in 'shoes", but cool if we could do the 3-hour (not sure mom can keep up)
  
• Watch Whales - sit in a boat and watch some whales
  
• Mendendall Glacier - walk around on ice
  
• Taku Glacier Flightseeing Tour - flying
  
• Ziplining -fun (my side, you can do this anywhere)
  

Would love to have some last minute thoughts..The way I've described it above is how my kids describe it...

[world_traveler_et]

I am making no headway in actually booked something...I've scoured the boards, read books... asking your opinion....

 

 

DS - 20 (Active)

DD - 18 (Semi-Active)

DS - 15 (Active)

Me -

 

Juneau

• Temsco Pilot's Choice - flying in a helicopter...walking on glacier
  
• North Star trekking - 2 hour; Flying around, trekking on glacier in 'shoes", but cool if we could do the 3-hour (not sure mom can keep up)
  
• Watch Whales - sit in a boat and watch some whales
  
• Mendendall Glacier - walk around on ice
  
• Taku Glacier Flightseeing Tour - flying
  
• Ziplining -fun (my side, you can do this anywhere)
  

Would love to have some last minute thoughts..The way I've described it above is how my kids describe it...

 

I am not sure how much you want to spend on your excursions or how long you are in the port of Juneau. If money is not a problem the Pilot's choice Tour was nice. The helicopter held six passengers and one pilot. Our tour was not fully booked so we only had five passengers. We landed on Gilkey glacier and go to walk around and look at a crevasse and see a water stream running. We work boots over our shoes. We were there for about ten to fifteen minutes. We than boarded the helicopter and flew out to an area that was all snow & ice with mountain peaks. It looked like we were on the moon. I made a snow ball but I wished I dropped backwards in the snow and made a snow angel. The other person I was with was afraid of flying in a helicopter. This turned out to be one of their favorite excursions. Doing this excursion would leave plenty of time for you to go to the Mendenhall Glacier and walk to the falls or walk some other trail. Unless you are on some sort of organized excursion for treking you won't be able to access Mendanhall on foot.

 

I heard from people who did the whale watching and they also enjoyed their excursions.

 

I agree you can do ziplining any where.

[whale-watcher]

We combined whale watching (orca enterprises) with a shorter helicopter /glacier landing (coastal). The 2 companies coordinated times and transportation for a seamless and efficient excursion. The 5 teens/young adults in our group unanimously picked this as their favorite port (over the zip lining in Ketchikan, which was also a big hit)

[sherryf]

Juneau

• Temsco Pilot's Choice - flying in a helicopter...walking on glacier
  
• North Star trekking - 2 hour; Flying around, trekking on glacier in 'shoes", but cool if we could do the 3-hour (not sure mom can keep up)
  
• Watch Whales - sit in a boat and watch some whales
  
• Mendendall Glacier - walk around on ice
  
• Taku Glacier Flightseeing Tour - flying
  
• Ziplining -fun (my side, you can do this anywhere)
  

Would love to have some last minute thoughts..The way I've described it above is how my kids describe it...

 

It doesn't sound like the kids have really done much research on these and what they entail. I cannot comment on any of the flights since the expense has kept me from being able to do them... so far. Someday...

 

Whale watching - Your comment sounds like the kids think you will just sit in a chair as the whales swim by... and that they think it will be boring. If you want to get the most out of whale watching, you will be on your feet, out on deck, actively looking for whales. The anticipation and excitement of spotting them can be quite exhilarating! But if they think that is boring... :rolleyes:

 

Mendenhall Glacier - unless you plan to do a helicopter landing on the glacier, you won't be "walking around on ice". You will be looking at ice. From a distance. There are a lot of great hikes here, but maybe it's too boring if you can only look at ice. :rolleyes:

 

Ziplining - I agree, you can do it anywhere. I can never understand why people are so obsessed with ziplining in Alaska when their touring time is limited and there are so many better things to do. Then again, I'm afraid of heights and will probably never go ziplining.

[Budget Queen]

Are the kids, involved? At those ages, these kids need to choose. I would also, strongly suggest, they each do what they want. You are NOT going to find a common tour for all three. (I had no issue with my 14 year old nephew going on 2 tours last year without an adult).

 

Being that you list all these possible tours, it would be assumed any could be chosen. Every one of those are excellent choices. Go with the PERSONAL favorite, would be my choice.

[EliseinAustin]

In Juneau, I ended up doing 2 excurions.

1) Alaska Galore - We went Whale watching

2) Coastal Helicopters - WalkAbout on a Glacier

This was my most expensive day. We were in port from 2pm - 10 pm, so we definitely had plenty of time. I probably liked the Whale Watching the best - yes, I got to see some orcas (transient), which evidently doesn't happen very often. My teens enjoyed the Whale Watching -- they mostly like that we were w/ a smaller tour (8 people). I don't think they would have liked it as much if we had booked a larger touring boat. Here's my review

Immediately after whale watching, we went to the Airport for our glacier walkabout. We really like it. I can't imagine just seeing a glacier from afar- i think walking on it gave us a totally new perspective.

I think both tours were worth the money. Interestingly however, Juneau was NOT my kids favorite port - Skagway was. I have asked myself if it was because it was raining, and I do think that had something to do w/ it -- the views were good.. but not amazing.

If you've never been to AK before, I would definitely do both if you have the $$$!

[BlueEyesMI]

My 16 yr old DD only request was that we go zip lining! We don't travel much, so it's really not something we can do anywhere - and i certainly don't think I'll get the opportunity to zip line in alaska again. So we're doing a zip line and glacier tour, which should make both of us happy.... assuming I live through the zip line! lol

[moonlightshivers]

Taku Lodge was amazing and the highlight of our cruise. Absolutely breathtaking views of several glaciers, the experience of the floatplane and the amazing dinner at the lodge was phenomenal. I would definitely recommend it. Our 13 year old loved it.