This review covers the Juneau Tours portion of our tour. They contract out the whale watching portion of the tour to Juneau Whale Watch, who I review elsewhere. This only covers the bus ride and the Mendenhall Glacier portion of the tour.
We met our tour company near the tramway office, and they took us to our bus, where we met Papa Bear, our driver. There was some initial confusion between him and another driver about which time each was covering, but that was quickly resolved. We then headed out to the whale watching portion of the tour.
On the way to the dock, Papa Bear gave us some local history, pointed out bald eagles, and talked about Juneau. He then dropped us off at the dock for the whale part of the tour. He explained that when we were done, there would be two buses waiting for us. One bus would be for those who were only doing the whale watching, while the other bus would take the rest to see the glacier.
When we returned from the the whale watching portion of the tour, there was only one bus there for the first group. My family of three and a couple were set for the glacier tour, but there was no bus there. After waiting about 10 minutes, the guy in the couple called Juneau Tours to find out where our bus was. Turns out that Papa Bear's clock on his phone was wrong, so he was an hour off. Realizing his mistake, he drove out from Juneau to come get us.
By the time he arrived, 40 minutes had passed from when we completed the whale tour. On the way to the glacier, we tried to figure out how to accommodate everyone's schedule for what they wanted to do in the park. Normally, the last shuttle back to town leaves at 5pm. It was already close to that. We eventually agreed upon meeting at the bus at 6:15. This would give us time to hike to Nugget Falls to see the falls and glacier up close. The others wanted to go to Photo Point, but also wanted time in downtown Juneau before their cruise ship departed.
We were able to get to the falls and back with time for photos, and time to spare. On the drive back, Papa Bear gave us more information about the area.
I appreciate that Papa Bear worked with us to ensure we had sufficient time at the glacier, but the bus delay affected our schedules (more so the other couple).