Juneau, AK
In August 2019, my daughter Nina and I went on our first cruise on the Royal Princess. Here is what we did on our Juneau Alaska Excursions:
Dog sledding on The Mendenhall Glacier
The port of Juneau is nothing to write home about, but it was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky, when we arrived there. We were so excited about our first excursion of the day! The plan was to take a helicopter to the Mendenhall Glacier and go DOG SLEDDING!
We took a bus to the headquarters of Alaska Icefield Expedition where we locked all of our belongings away, and donned the fashionable overboots they provided. After a safety video, we hopped on the chopper and began our adventure.
The scenery was breathtaking!
Mendenhall Glacier is a mile and a half long and the ice can be up to 1,800 feet deep. During the summer, it is home to 280 Alaskan Huskies, and a team of trainers who keep them healthy and active throughout the long warm months.
Mushers arranged us tourists into groups of 4. Every group was then assigned a sled and team of dogs.
We each got a chance to try out all of the positions on the sled: help steer in the back, relax in the middle seats, and experience the thrill of riding in the front. It was awesome!
The Alaskan Huskies that we met have been born and bred for racing. They love to run and they love the cold weather. Temperatures on the glacier during the day were a bit too warm for them, so they needed regular breaks. Every 10 minutes or so, we stopped to give them a rest and a cuddle before we switched places on the sleigh.
Juneau Alaska Excursions
Finally, when our sled experience ended, we were all given a chance to snuggle some 4- month old puppies!
Downtown – Juneau Alaska
The capitol city of Alaska has a Main Street area crammed with shops and restaurants. It is home to about 32,000, but expands to accommodate 900,000 during tourist season. We did a little shopping there and ate at the Red Dog Saloon. It was fun looking at all of the decorations and listening to the entertainment. The food wasn’t good, but we weren’t expecting it to be…
Humpback Whale Watching – Juneau Alaska Excursions
After lunch, we went back to the ship to relax a bit before our evening adventure: hunting for whales in the Auke Bay.
We boarded a catamaran, were served dinner (including reindeer sausage which we didn’t try) and absorbed the amazing scenery that surrounded us.
We were lucky to see many whale spouts, humps and tails during our journey.
We all had a blast on our Juneau Alaska Excursions!
Read more about my adventures in Alaska:
- Anchorage Alaska With Kids
- Road Trips From Anchorage – Wasilla, Seward, Palmer and Denali
- First Day on Royal Princess Alaska – Recommendations for what to do when you first board a cruise ship
- Food Aboard The Royal Princess Alaska – My review of the food that we ate during my first cruise
- Onboard Cruise Activities – What I found to do on the ship
- Ketchikan Alaska Excursions – including The Alaska Raptor Center
- Skagway Alaska Excursions – including glass blowing and panning for gold