What is the Juneau Alaska helicopter glacier trek like? — featuring Funnel Heads (Carnival Cruise Line)
In this video: Helicopter Flight Seeing and Glacier Trek! Juneau, Alaska. Carnival Shore Excursion.
Funnel Heads · 3 years ago
Is this tour actually difficult, or safe for average fitness levels?
The video confirms Carnival rates it as "difficult," but the creator found the hike manageable for anyone in good health without knee, leg, or back problems. There are uneven sections, brief climbs, and slippery ice, but nothing extreme.
What this video answers
Is this tour actually difficult, or safe for average fitness levels?
Why does this tour cancel so often?
How much time will I actually spend on the glacier?
Can I drink the glacier water, and is it safe?
What's included in the $549.99 price, and why is it so expensive?
Overview of the Helicopter Flight and Glacier Trek in Juneau
This helicopter shore excursion combines a scenic flight over Alaska's wilderness with a guided hike on the Mendenhall Glacier. Offered through Carnival Cruise Line for passengers docking in Juneau, the experience spans approximately four and a half hours and costs $549.99 per person. You'll depart from the ship, travel to a nearby airfield, board a helicopter for a 20-minute scenic flight, land directly on the glacier, spend two hours hiking and exploring on the ice, and return by air to the port.
This tour suits adventurous travelers aged 12 and older who want a once-in-a-lifetime experience and don't mind paying a premium for it. The video reveals that while Carnival labels it "difficult," the hike itself isn't strenuous unless you have existing knee, leg, or back issues. It's ideal for anyone keen to see Juneau from above, walk on ancient ice, and capture extraordinary photos—but you'll need flexibility in your schedule, since weather in Juneau cancels flights frequently.
Key Moments
Highlights of This Mendenhall Glacier Aerial Tour
Scenic helicopter ride en route to the glacier, deliberately routed to showcase the landscape from above on the way in (the return flight is more direct)
Landing and stepping directly onto the Mendenhall Glacier—a rare privilege few visitors ever experience
Guided two-hour glacier hike using provided ice boots, crampons, harness, and ice pick, with instruction from experienced guides
Opportunity to scoop and drink fresh glacier water straight from the ice during the trek
Professional photography opportunities of towering ice formations, crevasses, and surrounding Alaskan peaks from vantage points accessible only on foot
Return helicopter flight over the same stunning terrain with different perspectives and lighting
Essential Details Before Booking Your Glacier Tour
Age and weight restrictions: Minimum age 12 years; maximum weight 250 pounds (including clothes and gear). Passengers over 250 pounds pay a $145 surcharge for an additional helicopter seat.
Duration: Approximately 4.5 hours total, including 20 minutes each way by air and about two hours on the glacier (with time spent on instruction and equipment check).
Price and savings: $549.99 per person; book within two days of cruise purchase or use a Carnival MasterCard to save 10% back.
What the operator provides: Waterproof jacket and trousers, gaiters, gloves, helmet, ice-climbing boots, harness, ice pick, snack, and water bottle—no need to buy or rent gear separately.
What to wear underneath: Comfortable long-sleeved shirt and long pants (thermal or athletic wear recommended); bring nothing extra under the gear.
What to bring: Camera, phone, or GoPro for photos and video; small amount of cash or credit card for the souvenir shop; binoculars are optional (the video shows guides were too busy for them to be practical).
Weather risk: This expedition cancels frequently due to fog or poor visibility in Juneau—have a backup activity in mind. Carnival automatically refunds cancellations.
Timing: Excursions begin around 10:15–10:30 AM; confirm exact departure time when booking.
Frequently Asked Questions About Juneau's Helicopter and Glacier Experience
Is this tour actually difficult, or safe for average fitness levels?
The video confirms Carnival rates it as "difficult," but the creator found the hike manageable for anyone in good health without knee, leg, or back problems. There are uneven sections, brief climbs, and slippery ice, but nothing extreme. Guides provide instruction and support throughout, making it accessible to most active travelers.
Why does this tour cancel so often?
Juneau's weather changes rapidly and unpredictably. If fog rolls in or visibility drops, the helicopter cannot safely land on the glacier. The video notes that even within the same day, one time slot may operate while the next is cancelled due to weather shifts. Always book a backup shore activity for that port day.
How much time will I actually spend on the glacier?
You'll be on the ice for roughly two hours, but part of that includes tutorial sessions on equipment use and safety. Actual free hiking and exploration time is less—the video doesn't specify an exact breakdown, but guides structure the time carefully for safety reasons.
Can I drink the glacier water, and is it safe?
Yes, the video confirms you can scoop and drink glacier water directly during the hike. Guides offer it as part of the experience, and the creators drank it without issue. Bring the provided water bottle to collect some.
What's included in the $549.99 price, and why is it so expensive?
All safety gear (waterproof clothing, boots, harness, helmet, ice pick), the helicopter round trip, guide services, and a snack are included. The video notes that the helicopter ride alone makes up a large portion of the cost—flying to and from a remote glacier is inherently expensive. The creators felt it was worth the price as a once-in-a-lifetime bucket-list item.
This video is invaluable if you're considering a cruise to Juneau and want to know exactly what a high-priced shore excursion delivers. The creator gives you an honest breakdown of logistics, hidden time drains (waivers and instruction), and real conditions on the glacier—not just hype. They show footage of the actual hike, the helicopter interior, and the views, so you're not going in blind.
What stands out most is the transparency about weather cancellations and the reminder to have a backup plan. The creators also captured the charm of drinking glacier water, a small detail that makes the experience feel authentic and special. If you're fit, flexible with your Juneau schedule, and willing to invest in an unforgettable adventure, this shore excursion absolutely merits your booking.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
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Video transcript for “Helicopter Flight Seeing and Glacier Trek! Juneau, Alaska. Carnival Shore Excursion.” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
hello hello welcome back to funnel heads today we're going to be discussing a Carnival Cruise Line Shore Excursion that you can take in Juneau Alaska the name of this Shore Excursion is helicopter flight scene and Glacier track now we're gonna go through all of the details of this Shore Excursion
including what to wear what to bring and then we're gonna use our personal videos and photos to show you what you can expect if you book this excursion also stay tuned for the end of the video because we will have our personal rating on this Shore Excursion so don't miss out on that now real quick if this is
your first time visiting the channel or returning and you haven't subscribed yet please consider doing so becoming part of our funnel head family we'd absolutely love to have you we do regular Cruise content here whether it's Cruise news informational videos like this Vlogs lives with other creators and
so much more like comment and share share with your family and friends it really helps the channel grow and we appreciate it tremendously it gets our videos out of course to a wider audience so that way we can help more and more people but let's get right into today's video all right now let's start off with
some of the basics for this Shore Excursion starting off with the minimum age you have to be at least 12 years or older to go on the shore Excursion now there is a weight restriction in place and that's mainly due to the helicopter ride uh into the glacier you have to weigh 250 pounds at a maximum including
your clothes shoes and anything on you um if you are over that you do have to pay an extra seat which there is a hundred and forty five dollar surcharge to now as far as the difficulty level they do have this labeled as a difficult Excursion we'll get into more of that in a little bit the approximate time for
this Shore Excursion is going to be about four and a half hours and the price per person is 549.99 now you can save a little bit on this price if you book it within two days of booking your cruise or if you have a carnival MasterCard you can get 10 back uh if you use that card to
purchase uh of course this excursion now let's discuss what to bring on this Shore Excursion and it's not going to be a whole lot but we do recommend that you bring either a camera a phone or a GoPro or a combination of the three with you you're definitely going to want to take video and pictures uh not only you know
on the helicopter but also once you land on the glacier and start hiking now you're also going to want to bring some form of money whether it's a small amount of cash or credit card with you they do have a small souvenir store at the end of the tour if you want to purchase you know something to remember
the name of the company or your time on the glacier the last thing that I can think of of that you might want to bring is binoculars we personally did as well however we didn't use them once during the entire Shore Excursion uh so this is going to be if you think you're going to use it then maybe bring them but uh we
didn't even have enough time to pull it out between you know trying to get photos and videos and everything else so that's kind of a personal choice if you want to bring them or not now let's discuss what to wear on this Shore Excursion and this is going to be really simple because the company that does the
shore Excursion provides a ton of gear for you to wear we'll get into that in just a sec but as far as what to wear under that gear for me I just wore like hockey pants and a long sleeve shirt Michelle I believe wore um just you know gym clothes that were long sleeve long pants uh just something comfortable and
that'll keep you warm underneath everything else now what the company actually provides for you is going to be a waterproof jacket waterproof trousers Gators to go over the boots gloves the harness ice pick boots helmet and then they also give you snack and a water bottle now you're definitely going to
want to bring this water bottle with you because during the tour uh they give you the opportunity to actually scoop up some of the glacier water and drink it uh we did as you'll see in the videos and it was definitely a cool experience highly recommend at least taking a sip of it I mean when else you know in your
life are you going to be able to drink from an actual Glacier now let's discuss what to expect on this Shore Excursion so you're going to start off with a short drive to the airport which is approximately about 20 minutes away uh there you will start to sign waivers of course if anything happens they're not
responsible type waivers lots of initials lots of signatures then you're gonna listen to uh your guides while you gear up they're gonna give you you know kind of a little bit of a tutorial before you get onto the actual Glacier as well as you know how to get to the helicopter adopter board and all that
good stuff now once all this is finished you're going to start loading up the helicopter and once you get up in the air it's about a 20 minute ride to land on the glacier now one thing to note the ride in uh to the glacier is going to be longer than the ride out uh they do typically go a more scenic route on the
way in so definitely enjoy take some photos or videos on your way in because you're not going to get the same scene on the way out they basically just you know straight line it to the airport on the you know the way back now once the helicopter reaches the glacier and lands on it you're gonna have about two hours
to spend on the glacier some of this is going to be kind of tutorial how to use your equipment what to look out for how to walk on the ice of course and then the other is going to be the actual hiking portion now in the beginning of the video I stated that Carnival has this Shore Excursion labeled as
different difficult but we didn't really see that unless you had maybe an injury like you know your knee leg back something like that I mean don't get us wrong there's definitely moments where you know it's uneven it's slippery uh you're climbing up uh for a small portion but nothing too difficult that
should deter you if you're healthy now after your hike of course the helicopter is going to pick you right back up where you began and you're going to take the quick route back to the airport load into the vehicle that you came in and get back on your ship and that is going to be the end of the Tour all right so
now let's go over the pros and cons before we give our personal rating starting off with the cons first and that is this Shore Excursion in particular cancels a lot and not by you know the company's fault or anything like that but uh if you don't happen to know the weather in Alaska in Juneau is
very temperamental and can change why wildly so it can look like a beautiful sunny day and then the next minute it is raining and completely foggy and unfortunately if it's foggy or the weather conditions aren't right they can't land on the glacier of course uh so we did hear that this tour canceled
very frequently in fact the cruise that we were on when we did this tour uh we got to go of course and then the shore the next time slot for this same Shore Excursion had to cancel because the weather changed that drastically that quickly there's a saying in Alaska if you don't like the weather you know
right now wait 10 minutes because it'll change that much that quickly now in saying that we highly recommend that you have a backup option in place at Juno if this does get canceled uh there's so many activities and things to do in Juno you know it would definitely be a bummer to miss this short Excursion but you
don't want it to ruin your day day or not have a plan in place just in case now the next con that I wanted to mention is that the instructional portion and the waiver portion takes a little bit too much time and I know you know all that is super important you know of course it's a dangerous sure
Excursion and everybody needs to be safe but at the same point it took up a large amount of the shore Excursion so I wish you know all of that was in place however the Excursion itself was a bit longer that way you could have a little bit more time on the glacier speaking of the glacier I did wish that we could
kind of explore a little bit more not on our own but a little bit more freely it was a little bit structured for our taste but again I understand that there's safety issues now the last con that I wanted to go over is the price of course the 549 dollar price tag is definitely expensive to do but it is a
bucket list item it was definitely worth it in our opinion for that price and I would imagine a large portion of that is the helicopter ride in so I definitely understand it uh but the price was a little Hefty to look at now that the cons are all done let's discuss all of the pros and the first one is being
again this is a once in a lifetime opportunity a bucket list item I mean there's not many people that can say that not only did they see the Mendenhall Glacier uh they got to see it from above they got to land on it and they got to hike on it uh absolutely amazing experience to do so the next Pro
that I wanted to discuss was the incredible views not only from the helicopter ride in from above but also of course on the glacier you know the pictures and videos that we are showing you do not do this Justice at all it was a complete series real experience it felt like we were in a place or on top
of a place that we shouldn't be uh that should be like banned or not allowed so it was definitely a unique experience to do so now we didn't even have to take the photos and videos that we did during this short Excursion because we have you know this amazing Place imprinted in our
memory for the rest of our lives but having these amazing mesmerizing photos and videos you know just is the cherry on top for the entire short Excursion now the last Pro and I mentioned this in the beginning of the video was definitely getting to taste the glacier water I never realized how much I wanted
to drink glacier water before this Shore Excursion and when they said we could drink it I kind of looked around like are they messing with us but no I mean they literally just scooped an entire bottle of of it like uh they were having you know a water bottle at the gym or what not and we're chugging it because
of course you know they were tired from hiking around all day this was probably their you know third Excursion for the day because I believe we left around 10 15 10 30 in the mornings now lastly let's discuss our personal rating for this Carnival Shore Excursion and it is going to be a 9 out of 10. we highly
recommend doing this Shore Excursion but also having a backup just in case the weather is no good and it cancels of course Carnival will refund you that amount automatically so you don't have to worry about that but it does again cancel quite frequently with the weather in Alaska highly recommend you try doing
it though now hopefully this video helps you out one way or the other whether or not to book this in particular Shore Excursion let me know if you're going to Alaska as well as any specific questions in regards to this tour or anything Cruise Alaska related I want to read it I'd love to answer or any and all
questions as always thank you so much for watching your continued support means everything to us hopefully we'll see you right back here in the next video or on a cruise ship one day catch you later
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