Prince William Sound vs Ressurection Bay for wildlife

For various reasons we will go directly to Anchorage after our cruise and then stay there for 2.5 more days. One of those days I’m thinking of doing a 3.5 hour cruise out of Whittier. Will the wildlife viewing (e.g otters, sea lions, puffins) be almost as good as Ressurection Bay in Seward?

Typically you see more wildlife on a Kenai Fjords cruise out of Seward and more glaciers on a Prince William Sound cruise out of Whittier.

I do a lot of fishing out of Seward and Res. Bay is my favorite area. Have seen plenty of wildlife such as whales,sea lions,sea otters,Puffins,etc. Have only left out of Whittier once on a ferry and if it wasn't as interesting. Also Seward has more things to do such as Sealife Musuem,shopping,restaurants,and the dock area watching the fishing charters clean and display their catch. Enjoy

Very difficult to compare the two. Prince William Sound is huge, it probably exceeds 7000 square miles, while Resurrection Bay is less than 100. The Sound has hundreds of fiords, bays, arms and inlets, it would take weeks on a boat to even get a cursory look at the Sound. For instance, it contains around 1000 salmon spawning streams. The Sound harbors all five species of Pacific Salmon, the only place on earth I know of that has. Years ago I used to fly State and Federal biologists on Sound stream surveys so they could get an estimate of escapements. There were over 200 streams on the list, if I recall correctly. Port Wells, in the northwest corner of the Sound, alone is around twice the size of Resurrection Bay. Valdez Arm, Port Fidalgo, Port Gravina, Port Nellie Juan, Port Bainbridge are just a few other examples of Bays inside the Sound larger than Resurrection Bay.

For a day trip though, Whittier versus Seward, Seward would probably be my choice, mainly because the run times are so much less and there is so much more to see and do in Seward if one wants to spend the night there, for instance, the Sea Life Center. But if you want glaciers in the mix, nothing is going to compare to the 26 Glacier Tour out of Whittier.