Our initial plan was to get to the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center and walk the trail to the glacier. While this is a very nice walk, you do not get near the glacier! You can see it, but you are still quite far away. So we looked at other options. Going through TripAdvisor reviews, we found this trip. Wow - totally worth it.
First off, we were nervous doing this outside of our cruise, but it turns out, there are no concerns. Our boat was in port from 7am-4:45pm. This tour was from 9:30am-3pm & we got back to the boat at 3pm.
They picked us near the boat, sped us 20 minutes away to the lake. We got outfitted, trained, and thrown into a canoe. The entire time, getting to know our fantastic guides and group. There were 11 of us, plus 2 guides. We used the largest canoe they had.
We paddled for an hour across to the glacier. It was sunny with some wind. Everyone had a ball paddling across, even though it was some work.
We pulled up to the glacier, pulled the canoe from the water, and put on our foot grippers for the ice, and headed up. We spent over an hour looking around the ice. The glacier looks big from the distance, but you cannot tell the size until you stand next to it. It is massive. We looked at several features, but no caves. In fact, i doubt you will see ice caves again for a long time, at the rate the ice is melting.
The guides were so accommodating to all and very informative. After an hour and some change, we headed back to the canoe. We launched and spent another hour paddling back to camp. We took it a little easier, as we were all tired. They told jokes and even played music to help pass the time. We reached the beach, docked, spent some time cleaning up and talking. They had snacks and water. Then there was the 20 minute ride back to the port.
We were amazed. We worked. We seriously enjoyed ourselves. And we checked off a bucket list item.
Hint, which you cannot really plan for: The ice is "bluer" on cloudy days.