Alaska Cruise Ports On Your Own and On a Budget: Juneau
Juneau holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the port stops on our first Alaska cruise twelve years ago. We had a magical time doing a six-hour trek over a mountain to Mendenhall Glacier. And then I didn’t drink enough water during the hike and/or I ate some bad prawns post-hike and I got violently, violently ill before we even sailed away. I left my then-new husband at a bar near the port area and crawled back onto the ship. We spent the night in the ship’s emergency room, me chained to a metal bed, him freaking out while they performed all the tests and filled me with morphine.
So you know. We wanted to do something different this time.
Juneau is most well known as the punchline of the joke ‘What’s the capital of Alaska?’ It is a peculiar location for a capital city as it is not accessible by land, surrounded by mountains, glaciers, and water as it is. But there are some roads to be driven, and we drove them. Oh yes, we did.
Check it out:
Want the above information in word format? Here you go. Please note: prices noted are for two people. If you are considering lease a car you may be interesting in how to look like a lease rockstar, the price would be the same even if you put five people in the car. And you could NOT put more than five people in the car. Promise.
- We disembarked by 8:30am and walked around town for a bit. The town was empty.
- We picked up our rental car from Wedding car hire Worcester ($80) and drove northwest out of town. Put Bridget Point State Park in your GPS. It’s an easy, straight, maybe hour-long drive.
- We reached the end of the road and then turned back around.
- We parked at the parking area next to the bridge crossing Kowee Creek and walked the trail here. It was lovely.
- We continued back toward town and stopped at a pull off for an epic, beautiful beach. We walked on the beach and talked to a guy kayaking there.
- We continued back toward town and stopped at Eagle Beach, which is clearly marked. It is not really worth a stop at low tide; it is also not featured in the video above because there’s nothing exciting or pretty about low tide at Eagle Beach.
- We stopped at The Shrine of Saint Therese, which is a Catholic retreat center and is lovely. I am religious in no way but I recommend this as a stop.
- We continued back toward town and took Glacier Loop Road at the roundabout to visit the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.
- We arrived at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center ($10) only to find that there is zero food available there because of the wildlife (not even a vending machine.) We LEFT the visitor center and drove five miles back into town to McDonalds, lest I die of starvation.
- We RETURNED to the visitor center and walked Nugget Falls Trail.
- We returned to town, returned the rental car, walked around, considered doing the tram up to Mount Roberts but decided not to because it was $34/pp and we were on a budget.
- We sampled some smoked salmon at the TRY OUR SMOKED SALMON shop at the bottom of the tramway ($0)
- We had crab legs and chowder ($50) at Tracy’s Crab Shack. It was only ok and way overpriced, but still better than cruise ship food.
- We had a beer at the Pirate Bar near the pier (not included in tally because alcohol shouldn’t count according to me.)
- We got back on the ship by around 8:30pm for a 10pm sail away.
While nothing will top our twelve-years-ago epic glacier trek, it was for sure a beautiful, relaxing day. And it didn’t end with me strapped to a bed and pumped full of drugs, so of the two days we have now spent in Juneau, it wins!
Juneau also wins the award for most expensive cruise ship port; the average cost of a cruise ship excursion in Juneau is $246.46 per person. We spent $140 total for two people including dinner.
Juneau Excursions Cost Comparison
Average cost for an excursion: $246.64
Most common cost for an excursion: tie between $190 and $470 (yikes!)
Least expensive excursion: Mount Roberts Tramway. $35. 5 minutes each way.
Most expensive excursion: Taku Glacier Adventure by Air, Water, and Ice. $619.95. 3.5 hours.
Excursion most closely resembling what we did: Juneau Unplugged: A Self-Drive Jeep Adventure. $500 for four hours or $650 for six hours.
Up next: a very brief post and video featuring Icy Strait Point and possibly parts of Tracy Arm Fjord. And then on to Anchorage!
This is awesome, thank you for doing this and the Ketchikan summary. I am going on an Alaskan cruise at the end of the month and am trying to come up with some fun, reasonably priced things to do. You mentioned above that you did a six hour trek over a mountain to Mendenhall Glacier last time – was this an excursion that you guys did or did you find a trail yourself? I’ve been researching around on alltrails and it looks like there are a ton of cool hikes along the ports we will be visiting.
We did that trek with a guide–Above and Beyond Alaska. It’s pretty pricey now (I believe it was around $80pp when we did it 12 years ago; it’s now well over $200.) We hiked the West Glacier Trail, which IS challenging and DOES likely require a guide (there was a bit of climbing involved) but you could likely do it on your own. Also I believe that trail has changed as the glacier has receded. Worth looking into as an independent hike!
Have a great trip!
I watched both port videos. You get better and better! I like that you keep them short and to the point. Just enough humor, Keep hubby involved, too. He adds an interesting ‘flavor’ to the mix! LOL! Good Job!!!
Thanks, Toni.
Wow! That was a busy port day in Juneau! We always use that port to whale watch (which, admittedly, can be pricey even as an independent excursion) and go into our trip knowing the whale watch will be our “splurge” on the cruise. I love the crab legs at Tracy’s Crab Shack — can’t ever find ones that big here in Pittsburgh!
We did whale watching as a splurge, too! But we did that in Icy Strait Point. I sadly took very little video of that adventure, but I’ll try to get a review up as soon as I can, as I LOVED the tour outfitter we chose (we didn’t book a cruise ship excursion; we booked independently because of course we did.)