Mendenhall Glacier Waterfall and Whale Watching Tour
Recommended by 96% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Juneau, USA
+2
- 5 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- SnacksWe include a generous snack bag, along with hot chocolate and coffee.
- Binoculars are provided
- English Guide
- Audio and written guides are not included. Just in person!
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Goldbelt Tram490 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801, USA
Please meet us outside the Goldbelt Tram building, on the street side. Look for a Dolphin representative with a blue sign with yellow letters.
End point
- Goldbelt Tram490 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801, USA
We are happy to drop you off back at the meeting point, or we can take you directly to your ship.
Itinerary
1
Juneau
1 hour 20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Nugget Falls
40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
4
Juneau
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Great day at the glacier and salmon area. Doug bless his heart, likes to talk! Remind him to take a breath from time to time. Whale watching was a success, it would be nicer to be closer to the whales. Nia and captain were great guides on the boat.
Reviews
4.8
based on 242 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
We were first time cruisers and worried how the timing would work but timing worked out perfectly with our early disembarking at 9am, a free shuttle from the dock to downtown and meeting 5-10 min early for our 10:15 excursion. We even had time to explore downtown briefly before meeting up! Everything ran PERFECTLY on time by the excursion company, and our driver Jerry was a treat! What an authentic person. Our captain was calm cool and collected and we saw whales and a baby! Then they treated us to some sea lions as well! The glacier was fogged in, but nothing you can do about that! The walk to Nugget Falls is worth it!
The boat part definitely like excitement. We didnt really have any good whale. They parked way too far. The whales were very far away and hard to see. The tour guides were friendly but was disappointed with views
Whale watching and glacier were awesome. Great ship and crew were knowledgeable. Bus transportation was not expected, so many people. I did not realize how this would be handled. The transportation back from the glacier was confusing, Not sure if we had to take a certain bus, or could take any bus. Details could have been presented in a clearer fashion.
We had a great tour starting with an informative bus trip to the marina. Our boat ride was great. we saw 6 whales and our naturalist was very knowledgeable about whales. The snack sack and hot chocolate was perfect during the trip. Despite the rainy weather, the trip to Nugget falls and the glacier was beautiful.
This was a great experience. Very comfortable transportation, extremely knowledgeable team at the various stops, and we luckily got to see 6 whales. 10/10 recommend this tour to anyone visiting and wishing to see whales plus the glacier.
The marine naturalist on our whale watching tour was awesome. She was knowledgeable and awesome. I forgot her name but she's originally from Alabama I believe.
Here is why I didn't give 5 starts. When I booked it explicitly said on the listing that the waterfall tour is first and then the whale watching tour. I booked 3.15 pm tour on September 1st. When I met with the person at the by the Goldbelt tram he informed me that the whale watching is first followed by the waterfall. I wanted to do the whale watching closer to sunset and I showed him how it was advertised on the viator app. He asked me if a later time at 3.45pm is okay but that meant we only had one hour at the Mendenhall glacier. Picking the 3.45pm tour time allowed us to go to whale watching second and Mendenhall glacier first but that meant we had less time at the glacier. So we literally had to walk really fast the whole way to Nugget falls and rush back to the bus. I'm 5 months pregnant too.
The original way I had it booked we had close to 1 hour and 40 minutes to explore Nugget falls and visitor center. But because of the inaccurate advertising, we didn't even get to go to the Mendenhall visitor center.
I'm mad this happened after spending close to $400 for 2 tickets. False advertising. Do not recommend if you are certain that you want to do a certain activity first.
What a great day we had in Juneau. I’m so thankful that we were able to do both Mendenhall Glacier and the whale watching tour for one price. The process was smooth and the guides were knowledgeable and friendly. We were able to hike to Nugget Falls without worrying about time because there were 2 options to choose from. We also saw orcas and humpback whales! Couldn’t ask for a better experience.
Drivers Jerry and Jake were super pleasant, fun and entertaining.
Captain Jay and Savanah were amazing too. We saw many, many whales. Also Our boat was pleasured with a school of porpoises racing in front of the bow to what must have been 10 minutes.
The waterfall was huge and thundering down the mountain side adjacent to the glacier viewing point.
Really awesome experience.
An unforgettable whale-watching experience with my family! We had an amazing time and loved every moment. 🐋❤️
Whale watching was an exceptional experience. Captain was skillful and got us close to the whales, but not interfering with them, where they were feeding. We were able to watch 20 - 30 whales bubble netting for about 2 hours. Boat was clean and large enough to accommodate 15 people with plenty of areas for viewing. Very informative. Glacier experience was pretty much on your own once you were dropped off by the bus. Bus driver was ok but not really informative except for his love of pizza and the best place to get it. It was a bit difficult to find the group prior to boarding the bus to go on the excursion. We were told to look for a yellow sign but there was none to be found until about 15 minutes before boarding time. If the driver and group coordinator don't want to wait outside they should at least put the sign out so you know you're in the correct place, multiple people we spoke with had wandered for a half hour or more getting anxious that they had missed the bus because they couldn't find the sign. otherwise it was a great experience.
Savanna was an excellent guide. She knew a lot about the Humpback Whales and the area. Capt. Jay was a very skilled boat captain. The two knew where to take us to find lots of whales to watch. It was a wonderful tour!
This was one of the best excursions we have been on. Not only did we see whales we got a full description of the whales and how they behave. Then the trip to Mendenhall Glacier was excellent. If I could rate higher than a 5 I would.
We both enjoyed the trip, your guides were very knowledgeable, seen lots of whales! Bus driver (Jake, on the special bus) was very entertaining and informative.
The whale watching was awesome! Also saw a sea otter & sea lions. Snacks were generous. Tour guide was very good! We would definitely recommend this excursion.
Everything was amazing. We were picked up at port and went to another harbor about 15 minutes away. Awesome crew Jade and Captain Jay. Great comfortable jet boat. We saw lots of whales. Excellent video opportunities from the front or back decks or inside opened windows. They served hot cocoa and coffee and gave us a really good snack bag for the second half of the excursion to Mendenhall Glacier. On the bus from the glacier to port we saw bears in a neighborhood near the street and our driver Jake used the roundabout to make another pass by the bears. Super nice staff at every stop. We would definitely do this excursion again.
Great tour, perfect weather and nice, friendly crew. We saw many whales and even had porpoises follow our boat which was very cool
We had a wonderful time with Dolphin whale watching. It was an extremely easy experience and we got to see quite a few whales! Our naturalist on board was really knowledgeable and gave us the names of the whales we spotted based on their tail patterns and shapes. We also really enjoyed visiting Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. We saw a lot of bald eagles there. This tour was also nice because you’re not in a large group.
This was a fun filled adventure of which I would highly recommend! The Naturalist was very knowledgeable, extremely informative, very thoughtful! She served hot chocolate, water and snacks. She made sure we knew where the bathroom was and when to go outdoors to whale watch! The captain was amazing at finding whales and was an expert at navigating over waves for smooth sailing. The mendenhall Glacier part of the excursion was a lot of fun and a very easy 2 mile round trip hike. Nuggett Falls of beautiful!
Captain Jay and Savannah were excellent guides. Savannah’s witty commentary was informative and entertaining. They found whale for us to view and we even got to watch them bubble feeding. That sight was amazing. I was sorry the whale watching segment was over!
Our driver Jacob did a great job. Mendenhall Glacier was beautiful and walking to the waterfall is a must do. Another fantastic excursion on a great trip to Alaska.
This was a great whale watching outing. The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly! Highly recommended. Also the waterfall was gorgeous!
Whale watching experience was spectacular!!
Despite a heavy rain downpour it was still an amazing experience and saw majestic humpback whale feeding is once in a life time experience for sure.
However the other part of the tour with the Mendelian glacier was subpar in that it was self guided and wasn’t provide too much information when we were dropped off leading to the fact that the visitor center was closed shortly after we arrived. This should be communicated up front to help prioritize trial walking to nugget falls etc vs visitor center.
Overall a good tour, just need some more attention for the glacier portion of the tour and bus arrangement for people who wants to leave the glacier part earlier. That was slightly chaotic.
Whale watching was phenomenal. Our captain navigated the boat quickly to see the breaching whales. So incredibly cool. Saw a large pod.
Mendenhall glacier should have some trams to take to nugget falls for viewing otherwise quite a bit of a walk. All was great
Fabulous in every way! I felt like we experienced Juneau perfectly! Every staff member from dolphin jet boat tours was kind, engaging and informational. The whales put on a wonderful show! We’d recommend this 100%!
Great experience. We saw many whales and had a great time learning about them. The glacier and waterfall were both beautiful. Very well run excursion.
The process to register was simple and fast. Everything went according to plan and had awesome time whale watching and viewing the glacier.
Rained all day but whale watching was great. We saw large number of humpbacks bubble net feeding 6 times. Mendenhall glacier was interesting but we got miserably wet on walk to nugget falls. Staff were fantastic.
It was a great day with good weather seeing the whales and glacier. The small boat was great with great commentary from the driver and nature advisor.
The only drawback was nit knowing the company we were booked through so had to ask a fewcplaces
fantastic whale watch and mendenhall glacier package. first was whale watch with Libby and captain jay jay. saw up to 10 whales and baby goose whale was playing and breaching out of water. great bus drivers. fun and informative. had enough time to really enjoy the glacier and nugget falls
I highly recommend this excursion. We chose the earliest time and it definitely made for a less crowded boat. It’s still small and more intimate anyway, but choose the early option! Love supporting a family run small business. They rely on word of mouth rather than marketing or the annoying folks at the port trying to get business. So choose them for an all around great experience!
Excellent people to work with
Super nice and very knowledgeable especially Savannah and the captain
They work very hard to spot and take us closer to the whale
Member Pricing
From
$189.05
per personWas $199.00(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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