After spending our first day cruising and enjoying various activities on the ship, we woke up to Juneau on the morning of June 24th. The ship docked around 11:00 am so there was plenty of time to get ready. In Juneau our ship was "tendered", which means it dropped anchor instead of being docked.
Disembarking in Juneau, Alaska
From what I could tell there were other ships docked so maybe there wasn't any room for ours. Anyway it was kind of a pain getting off the ship; you had to sign up for the small boats that were leaving in order to go ashore. We were prepared and ended up getting off the ship on the second small boat off the ship. The last boat returned to the ship at 9:00 PM.
Juneau Shore Tours and Excursions
There were a few shore excursion options that you could purchase for Juneau, the main tour was the Mendenhall Glacier. The tours started at $46 for the Glacier and Salmon Hatchery and moved up to over $300 for the helicopter tour. There were also options to go on a Dogsled, Fly Fishing, Kayaking and Whale Watching. I recommend against paying for a whale watching tour because during the cruise you will have plenty of opportunity to see wildlife such as whales, seals and bald eagles.
Mendenhall Glacier
We opted to rent our own car and drive to the Mendenhall Glacier, do some hiking and then return to town for a little souvenir shopping later. The Glacier looks a little different than the advertisements I have seen, but still it was an impressive site. After the Glacier, we took the time to stop at the Brewery in Juneau where they make "Alaskan Ale the host gave us a very informative presentation.
Downtown Juneau, Alaska
After visiting the Mendenhall Glacier and the Alaskan Ale Brewery, we decided to go into town and look around, in Downtown Juneau you will see the usual tourist attractions, history and plenty of souvenir shops, and we bought our share of trinkets, sampled the salmon and had a nice time walking around bumping into the other tourists in Juneau.
After a busy day in Juneau we got back aboard the Vision of the Seas around 8:00 PM, just enough time to shower, get dressed and arrive at our dining lounge in the Aquarius dining room. All the meals were fantastic, and the service was excellent as well.
