Hi Karens, sorry I didn't see your post sooner, we were out of town. The brothel tour is definitely worth it, it runs like every 60-90 mins so there's no need to book through the cruise line. You visit the Red Onion Saloon/former brothel that is just a short walk away into town from the boat dock.

Here's a few saloon photos:

http://ghostscreams.com/photo_player_flash9.html

Anyhoo you walk upstairs to the brothel section and hear the ghost stories, employees own encounters and antique bedding and dresses from the saloon's history. It was a very nice thing to do and again the visit will fit into almost any time schedule.

Regarding Mendenhall, it is definitely worth it, it's massive. But the best part is that you may end up within a few feet of bear salmon spawning. We didn't walk on the glacier, just visited it combined with another tour.

Regarding NCL, I think those are the better ships in their fleet that cruise Alaska.

We just returned from a 7 day HAL Alaska cruise. I agree that Harv and Marv's whale watching out of Juneau is the best.