A Juneau Adventure Without English: Two Moms on an Alaska Cruise

Two non-English-speaking moms embarked on an Alaskan cruise adventure! We flew from Boston to Seattle and boarded the Royal Princess on August 9. Before setting sail, we relied on our daughter in Boston for translation help. Once on the ship, we didn’t purchase Wi-Fi, so we were completely offline. The second day was spent enjoying the ship’s lavish buffet – no language needed there! 🍽️😊 On the third day, we arrived in Juneau amid heavy rain 🌧️. Our phones only received repeated flood alerts ⚠️. We braved the rain and headed out, planning to take a public bus to Mendenhall Glacier. We expected to regain phone signal once ashore, but our temporary US SIM cards had no service in Alaska 😱. Without navigation or contact with our daughter, we tried asking a staff member for directions. He gestured enthusiastically 🗣️👐, but we couldn’t understand – finally, he pointed to a map 🗺️. Lost in the rain, we wandered for nearly an hour (should’ve been a 10-minute walk) before finding the bus stop. There, we met a friendly Chengdu woman working in L.A., traveling with her family of 8 👨👩👧👦💕. What a lifesaver! We all received notifications that Mendenhall Glacier was closed due to severe weather 🚫🏔️, but since we were already in Juneau, we decided to take the bus and explore the capital. We hopped on bus #3 together. Then, our new friend received an update – the glacier park had reopened! 🎉 So our group of 10 (eldest 78, youngest 10) got off at the glacier stop and trekked through wind and rain toward the glacier. Our shoes and pants were soaked 💦, but our spirits were high! The ancient forests and serene lakes kept us going 🌲🦌. After 30 minutes walking in the rain, we finally reached the viewing platform. And just then… the rain stopped, and the sun came out 🌦️☀️ – as if rewarding our perseverance! We witnessed the majestic beauty of Mendenhall Glacier ❄️🏞️. At the museum, we learned the glacier was originally called Auke Glacier and was renamed in 1892 after Thomas Corwin Mendenhall. Sadly, due to climate change, it continues to retreat. In August 2025, a glacial lake outburst caused floods – no wonder our phones blared “extreme danger” alerts 📵🌊. We took the bus both ways – total cost $4 🚌💵, while cruise shuttle tours charged $80 per person! What a difference! We returned close to departure time ⏰, so no king crab feast for us – we could only take photos of others lining up at Tracy’s King Crab Shack 🦀😅. #MendenhallGlacier #Alaska #CruiseLife #Juneau #GlacierPark #NoEnglishNoProblem 🌍❤️