Jump to content

What do you think - whales from ship vs. whale watching excursion


zogrand
 Share

Recommended Posts

We're doing the Southbound cruise in July on the Star. Will we see enough whales from the ship to feel satisfied or should we take a whale watching excursion? There are so many wonderful things to do in Alaska, I don't want to duplicate our experiences if we don't need to.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Carol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If (and that's if) you see whales from your cruise ship, it'll be like watching a football game sitting at the top of the stadium.

A whale watching cruise in Juneau or Icy Straight point will be like watching the football game from the sidelines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do a tour and try to get one of the smaller boats. There is no comparison in seeing whales from the ship vs being in a small boat. We used Glacier Wind in Icy Strait Point and loved it. They only take 6 passengers per trip. Similar excursions are available in Juneau as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The captain’s main objective is to stay as far away from whales as possible. You might see some from the ship. If you’re lucky they might be close. But that requires spending all your free time outside looking for them. Whales may or may not be announced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do a tour and try to get one of the smaller boats. There is no comparison in seeing whales from the ship vs being in a small boat. We used Glacier Wind in Icy Strait Point and loved it. They only take 6 passengers per trip. Similar excursions are available in Juneau as well.

 

Glad to know you enjoyed, we are booked with them in May, and Major Marine on an 80 passenger in Seward as well.

 

On the small boat how was picture taking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone! Looks as if we’ll be searching for a good whale watch. We’ve been on whale watches before in Mexico, a larger boat and a small one and have been disappointed. We saw whales but not many, and from quite a ways. We saw more from our ship in Hawaii in February.

Carol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If (and that's if) you see whales from your cruise ship, it'll be like watching a football game sitting at the top of the stadium.

A whale watching cruise in Juneau or Icy Straight point will be like watching the football game from the sidelines.

 

 

great comparison

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If (and that's if) you see whales from your cruise ship, it'll be like watching a football game sitting at the top of the stadium.

A whale watching cruise in Juneau or Icy Straight point will be like watching the football game from the sidelines.

 

Watching for whales from a cruise ship is even more difficult that watching a football game sitting at the top of the stadium. During the game at least you know to focus your vision at the well defined field area. On the former those whales can be anywhere in your enormous field of vision and by the time an announcement is made that whale has been sighted the ship has moved on and/or the whale has submerged or moved further away and are difficult to find even with binoculars.

 

With a whale excursion (at least those I've done in Juneau, Santa Barbara and Maui) we've been lucky to have them come right up to the excursion boats. On Maui a humpback breached less than 100 feet in front of our boat. The captain yelled 'tell me someone got a photo!' No one had - we were all so shocked (and relieved that it fell away from the boat) - because it happens so quickly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do a tour and try to get one of the smaller boats. There is no comparison in seeing whales from the ship vs being in a small boat. We used Glacier Wind in Icy Strait Point and loved it. They only take 6 passengers per trip. Similar excursions are available in Juneau as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Agree with this 100%. I've gone twice with Glacier Wind in Icy Strait and had a great experience. Whale watching excursions sold by cruise ships are typically on bigger boats and you have to fight for photo positions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...