Short stay in Juneau in May- time to walk out to Nugget falls?

[Lulubelle45]

Our ship is only in Juneau 12-6pm. Want to go to Mendenhall glacier and walk out to Nugget falls, the tours only allow 90 min. Am I better to cab/Uber there and back or rely on the Blue bus? There are 7 in our group 

[ChanaC]

I just booked an independent tour/bus to Mendenhall with Juneau Whale Watch. What's nice about them is that they have buses leaving the glacier every 30 minutes, so you can stay for however long you want (within their hours, and I believe they keep buses going until 6:00 or 7:00 depending on the day). We did this because we didn't want to feel rushed or on a schedule, and we rather take our time since this is our main activity we're doing in Juneau. We actually booked a slightly more expensive bus with them, which includes a city tour and a designated pick up time from the terminal (vs the other option of getting off the ship and waiting in a line to get on one of their buses). Maybe consider booking with them, or another company that does open ended buses? You do have a short stay, but you could still stay at the glacier for a few hours if you wanted to. 

 

Also, from what I saw, only certain taxi companies have authorization to drive into the glacier's parking lot. Ubers have to drop people off by the main road, and it's about a mile walk just to get to the visitor center. While it was more money to book though JWW, we at least know we'll get a ride directly into the park.