Harv and Marv cancelled

Although it is a beautiful 79 deg plus day here in Juneau, H&M cancelled the highlight of our cruise supposedly it was too rough. I told some locals that. Taxi driver checked his radio and no reports of rough weather I ended up disappointing my entirt 16person family because I had so highly touted H&M Today I am EXTREMELY bummed. How do I make this up to 16 people. Checking on WW out of Ketchikan.

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Although it is a beautiful 79 deg plus day here in Juneau, H&M cancelled the highlight of our cruise supposedly it was too rough. I told some locals that. Taxi driver checked his radio and no reports of rough weather I ended up disappointing my entirt 16person family because I had so highly touted H&M Today I am EXTREMELY bummed. How do I make this up to 16 people. Checking on WW out of Ketchikan.

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I hate to hear that. Our trips with H&M have been top highlights of our trips to Alaska. My only thought for you is that you can have "good weather" and still have rough water. While the weather may have been beautiful in Juneau (even calm winds), it may have been very windy out in the viewing areas. I've seen weather function like that my whole life fishing with my Dad. Beautiful day, unload the boat, head out of the launch area/protected bay and find 6 foot rollers. Cancelling trips has to be the last thing they'd want to do, so as crushing as it would be to have the trip cancelled (I would TOTALLY feel the same way), having been out with them three times now, I'm sure they would only do so if the felt is was necessary.

L.J.

That is a bummer but I tend to agree with Walleye. I have been with Harv & Marvs at least three times myself. They don't cancel their tours at will. If it truly was rough on the water (I have to assume they are telling the truth - they always seem to have in the past), you probably would not have wanted to be out on the water.

I generally try to have a "plan B" ready for Alaska, as I have had excursions canceled at the last minute more than once for various reasons. So I at least have in the back of my mind what other options might be available in case something gets canceled.

Perhaps he was short of crew because of illness.

I'm sorry. That's a real heartbreak when you've been dreaming of this wonderful activity for your friends/relatives.

:(

Were you aware of any other boats going out that day?

I do hope they were being honest with you. They have earned a great reputation from the internet forums. You do want them to make safety number one. However, if the other vendors were going out, it would make me wonder. I am so sorry you were unable to take the whale watching you had hoped for.

You can probably book a whalewatching in Victoria?

You can probably book a whalewatching in Victoria?

Independent? No, not with most ships who arrive late. Only option is a ship tour, which is shorter than a regular tour. This means that the orcas have to be within closer range to see them. Lower sighting opportunity.

Not that it will make you feel better, but I did check the Marine Weather Forecast for Northern Lynn Canal yesterday afternoon and there were small craft advisories that night (I didn't check in time to catch the forecast during the day).

It indeed might have been a bit rough.

Independent? No, not with most ships who arrive late. Only option is a ship tour, which is shorter than a regular tour. This means that the orcas have to be within closer range to see them. Lower sighting opportunity.

Didn't think of that!!!! That might not be fun!!!!

Sorry to hear about your tour. If it makes you feel any better, I did a tour with Harv & Marv mid-May of this year. It was raining, and the seas were very rough - rougher the farther we got away from port. They combined two groups into their 12 passenger boat (which turned out to be a good thing because this boat is more comfortable in rough conditions). While we managed to find 3 whales, it was next to impossible to get good photos, and it was very uncomfortable outside on deck. I don't regret going, and will book with them again - they did a good job in difficult conditions. But, in retrospect, it might have been better if they had cancelled that day as well. My family would not have enjoyed it at all.

Just to give you an example - here's a photo I took from the boat (note - the seas were much rougher than it might appear in the photo)

I didn't tilt it for artistic effect ;)

It's funny: over on the River Cruise forum everybody is complaining that they didn't cancel when the Danube started to flood. ;)

Sorry that your excursion was cancelled.

Safety first -- specially when waters are rough.

Sorry it was cancelled but in the end your safety is much more important.

Keith

We, too, have experienced a very rough trip with Harv & Marv. End of May last year, the first of our B2B trips was fine but conditions changed abruptly during the second trip and the ride was bone-jarring to say the least. We were experiencing great sightings till then, and shot some great stills and video footage. With the rough water, though, it was impossible to get any good shots. That's the one advantage Allen Marine's larger boats (ship excursion) have over our beloved Harv & Marv--comfort on very rough seas!

Fortunately, you should still be able to spot whales while you're cruising, albeit usually at a greater distance. Just spend lots of time on the decks with your binoculars. It could be well worth the effort!

None of the nine whale watching trips we've booked out of Juneau has ever been cancelled--so chances of it happening to you again are probably quite slim! Don't hesitate to book it again when you return for your next Alaska cruise!

May the remainder of your cruise exceed your expectations! We're counting the days till we board the Island Princess on July 29.

This posted yesterday from someone following my trip review talking about their recent experience with H&M and bad weather...

Shazzah

Cool Cruiser

Join Date: Jul 2012

Location: Florida

Posts: 36

To your question about the weather on our trip - out of 30 days in Alaska, I think we had 6 days of rain, and 3 of those were in Juneau - so it certainly didn't have a negative impact on the trip. Except for my Harv & Marv tour. It may go down as one of their worst this year - through absolutely no fault of theirs. It was Raining, and the seas were rough. Even so, we saw three whales!

We were on a morning trip on a 6 passenger boat on June 18. Seas were 2-3 feet. Our captain was worried, as seas were bad the day before, and she was checking with the office to see how the seas would be for the return, which was 3-4 feet. We saw lots of whales but hard to take pictures. Our captain radioed she was not going back out for the afternoon. On the way back, we had to "off board" a euphemism for abandon ship, and it was not very well executed, but no one went overboard. All the other boats were getting back, but not ours. She indicated she was going to motor south, so if she was your captain, no way would she have been back, or in any shape to pilot. Sorry you missed your trip, but very scary abandoning a ship and boarding another in rough seas with a captain who was in panic mode.

We were on a morning trip on a 6 passenger boat on June 18. Seas were 2-3 feet. Our captain was worried, as seas were bad the day before, and she was checking with the office to see how the seas would be for the return, which was 3-4 feet. We saw lots of whales but hard to take pictures. Our captain radioed she was not going back out for the afternoon. On the way back, we had to "off board" a euphemism for abandon ship, and it was not very well executed, but no one went overboard. All the other boats were getting back, but not ours. She indicated she was going to motor south, so if she was your captain, no way would she have been back, or in any shape to pilot. Sorry you missed your trip, but very scary abandoning a ship and boarding another in rough seas with a captain who was in panic mode.

This doesn't sound good. Was this the same day this poster is complaining about being canceled? Sounds like the other operators went out?

There is a lot to be said for long time Alaska seasoned captains and pilots, which is my preference and important with my tour selections.

Yes, this was the same day. Tons of boats were out, and three came to rescue us. One larger one and two Harv and marv. Learned a lesson the hard way. I will make a real post about this incident, but my DH says I have to wait until we get home and unpacked

I can't help but wonder if something's up with H&M. The same thing as happened to the OP happened to a bunch of folks on our roll call for our sailing in late April, only H&M canceled the tour the day before, because of anticipated rough weather. That seemed kind of strange to me, since the weather reports I had read didn't call for high craft warnings. I was able to book a tour through Juneau Tours when we got off the ship in Juneau and had a great tour, and saw at least four other tour operators out at the same time. It was grey and dreary, but no rough water.

Reading through several recent CC reviews, I saw the same thing (canceled H&M trips) mentioned at least two times. This is not like them...

I was in Juneau on June 18th and used Orca Enterprises. Juneau had really bad weather the day before including thunder and lightning. They pulled all boats out of the water that day.

We were heading back in about noon when water really started kicking up so I wouldn't doubt that afternoon tours could have been cancelled.

We were on a morning trip on a 6 passenger boat on June 18. Seas were 2-3 feet. Our captain was worried, as seas were bad the day before, and she was checking with the office to see how the seas would be for the return, which was 3-4 feet. We saw lots of whales but hard to take pictures. Our captain radioed she was not going back out for the afternoon. On the way back, we had to "off board" a euphemism for abandon ship, and it was not very well executed, but no one went overboard. All the other boats were getting back, but not ours. She indicated she was going to motor south, so if she was your captain, no way would she have been back, or in any shape to pilot. Sorry you missed your trip, but very scary abandoning a ship and boarding another in rough seas with a captain who was in panic mode.

I was on that boat as well. Jayleen was the captain. It was too rough for the smaller boat. On the way back the bow was going underwater so we transferred to the larger boat. I agree, it was not handled well.

We were on the west side of Douglas Island and the whale watching was superb although as you mention, it was difficult to take photos.

I hate to hear that. Our trips with H&M have been top highlights of our trips to Alaska. My only thought for you is that you can have "good weather" and still have rough water. While the weather may have been beautiful in Juneau (even calm winds), it may have been very windy out in the viewing areas. I've seen weather function like that my whole life fishing with my Dad. Beautiful day, unload the boat, head out of the launch area/protected bay and find 6 foot rollers. Cancelling trips has to be the last thing they'd want to do, so as crushing as it would be to have the trip cancelled (I would TOTALLY feel the same way), having been out with them three times now, I'm sure they would only do so if the felt is was necessary.

 

L.J.

We went with them in may and it was truly the excursion highlight of our trip. I am sorry your trip was canceled. We found the company to have good service and two professionals (marine biologist and behaviorist) were a wonderful addtion to our trip. We saw Orcas! I am sure there is an explanition such as the one L.J. wrote above.

It is because it is no longer H&M thay were bought out by a different company if you dont belive this go to the State of Alaska buiness liscense page and that is is rthe reason for all the changes:)

Sorry to hear about that.

For better or for worse, cancellations are a part of traveling.

The way that we deal with it is to have a number of alternative plans, so that when something is closed due to weather/strike/flood/engine failure/government closure/reconstruction/etc. then we just go onto the next thing on our list. We’ve had many different kinds of cancellations, but never had a bad vacation.

It is because it is no longer H&M thay were bought out by a different company if you dont belive this go to the State of Alaska buiness (sic) liscense (sic) page and that is is rthe (sic) reason for all the changes:)

How does changing from individual owners to an LLC more than two years ago mean that is the reason for the incident last week? Now that makes no sense at all.

It is public information that the original owners partnered financially with other locals after the 2010 season. There have been glowing reports of all the captains for years, even more for those who were not the original owners. Even Orca, which has a great reputation, has received negative posts on the forum, especially in the winter months when their response to EMails is often poor to non-existent.

I would be more concerned if I read multiple reports about H&M (or any other operators) on a recurring basis, which happens with more than one operator on this forum (though not always in Juneau and no I am not referring to Orca by this comment). Plus, almost all of your recent (well, if recent means the past year or two since you haven't posted on the forum in a year) posts are about whale watching in Alaska, so I wonder if you have a vested interest in any company in Alaska (Juneau, Hoonah, elsewhere?).