Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure — Attraction in Juneau

My wife and I did this tour today as part of a package purchased through Princess Cruises called “Mendenhall Glacier and Glacier Gardens Adventure.” I am only reviewing the Glacier Gardens Adventure experience.

The experience is a brief walk to a location at which you board a tour vehicle (approx 18 capacity). The guide during the walk tells you about the owner, Steven Bowhay, and his transformation of the property following a mud slide. She explains the “upside down” trees that were re-purposed after being uprooted and transformed into unique planters throughout the property. Aboard the vehicle, you slowly climb the winding roadway up to an elevation of approximately 600 feet. During the climb, your driver points out some interesting plants and the two primary types of trees (spruce and hemlock). At the top, you have a few minutes to take in the panoramic views before boarding the vehicle for the ride back down. At the bottom there is a greenhouse with hanging plants, a snack bar and small gift shop. This is an easy tour - the vehicle does all of the work - so it is good for those with limited mobility so long as you can walk the short distance to the vehicle and transfer into the vehicle (about like the transfer into a minivan). If you are a serious botanist, this may not be the tour for you. The plants are mundane and uninteresting although the plantings are nice (thing typical city arboretum). There are some blueberries and other local berry varieties growing on the property. The guide hinted that deer and bears are sometimes seen but later said that he has only seen one bear his entire time working there. The guide did try to make the subject interesting as possible. However there is simply little drama or interest that anyone could have added. My personal expectations were not high. My wife enjoyed it - she loves flowering plants and said this was a nice easy tour to following the tour to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Hope...

If it were possible to offer no stars I would have. My nephew and his wife, my niece-in-law (active military couple) were aboard our sailboat as we visited Southeast Alaska including Juneau. My niece-in-law, a scientist, was enthusiastic about visiting the Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure. When we arrived, we were startled at the price of $28+ per person. We arrived one hour before closing. I declined since that was too expensive. My niece-in-law and her husband continued since they were offered a slight discount. Once they were through the door of the front entrance, they were informed they could go no further. Yet, they hadn't seen any of the gardens. The cashier explained that the $19.00 per person would only get them through the door. Fortunately, they got their money back. In addition to behaving fraudulently by charging a fee and not offering a service, my nephew and his wife were verbally harassed for requesting their refund. Fortunately, they were credited. It is evident that this organization is solely focused on cruise ship clientele and overlooks individuals. Considering we'll be returning to Juneau - we'll be sure to avoid this organization. Very unprofessional and...

I hate to give this place such a low rating, but this was supposed to be one of the highlights of my trip, and I was disappointed that 90% the park's main highlight, the upside-down trees, we completely void of any life. It turns out the owner was just starting to plant them, and the gardens in general had very few flowers blooming. But we had already made the effort to get out there, and it was a gorgeous day, so we decided to take the golf cart tour. I agree with what others have said, that the pricing is too high. I thought there would be more stops then just the one viewpoint. The driver stopped and talked at the uninteresting places, but flew past the few spots in the rainforest that were actually worth photographing. So we basically just paid to drive past a bunch of trees. This was the most disappointing stop on our trip. I don't wanna trash this place, because it seems absolutely spectacular, when everything is in boom, but had I known the gardens weren't ready yet, I probably would've skipped them. It was interesting to hear the story of the garden's origins, but that's about it. I really don't think they should be charging full price, if the place isn't...