Whale Watching Excursion in Juneau: cruise ship excursion vs independent

Wondering what people's opinions and experiences have been regarding booking a whale watching tour through the cruise line (HAL Eurodam) vs booking and independent vendor. I was leaning towards booking independently, but my mother (former travel again so she thinks she knows everything :) ) thinks I should only book directly with the cruise line. I'm going by myself. The rest of my group has other plans in Juneau.

Wondering what people's opinions and experiences have been regarding booking a whale watching tour through the cruise line (HAL Eurodam) vs booking and independent vendor. I was leaning towards booking independently, but my mother (former travel again so she thinks she knows everything :) ) thinks I should only book directly with the cruise line. I'm going by myself. The rest of my group has other plans in Juneau.

Nearly all of the whale watching tours go to the same place to spot whales. Some on larger boats and some on smaller boats. Most HAL excursions are on the larger boats with food, bathrooms, heat, soft seats, etc. Many of the private tours are on smaller boats. There are a number of choices indeed.

Note that excursions booked through HAL earn Mariner points and could help you get to the next Mariner level that brings on-board discounts.

I would go with an independent, small boat operator. I've done both the large boat through the cruise line and the small boats through Harv and Marv. If you are hoping to get pictures, the crowds on the large boats may preclude you from doing so unless you happen to be in the right spot. In my opinion, they put too many people on the large boats for a good experience.

With not more than 6 people on Harv and Marv's small but fully accessible boats, you have a lot better chance of getting good pictures, including the coveted but harder to photograph full breach.

We've taken three whale watches on Gastineau Guiding's fantastic whale watch vessels, and one on a mid-size 40-passenger boat. Although we've never done a whale watch on one of the large 150-passenger catamarans (Allen Marine, etc.), we've done an assortment of other excursions (and ferry rides) on them. We've also never done a whale watch on a Harv&Marv boat.

My opinion is simple: tour operators can say their boat is custom, but that can mean just about anything. Gastineau Guiding's boats are purpose-built for an excellent whale watching experience: fully enclosed passenger space, but simple flat windows that swing up/overhead and pin out of the way, leaving 100% of the window space open for viewing and photography (that mid-size boat had sliding windows, so at most 45% of the window could be open). Huge pontoons that make the boat far wider than the passenger area, so there's less tipping because the passengers moved to one side or the other (that mid-size boat had quite the lean when everyone went to one side of the boat, and I have to imagine that the V-shaped hull of a Harv&Marv boat is going to do the same thing). Much lower passenger to square footage ratio than other boats (14 passengers on the boats assigned to the photo safaris, 20 pax on the other boats with both front and rear viewing platforms for when the boat is stopped). I feel comfortable enough on a Gastineau Guiding boat to use a large telephoto lens on a monopod; the only other boats where I'll do that are the 150-passenger catamarans.

We're doing another Alaska cruise in September, and we're definitely doing another Gastineau Guiding whale watch. It's my understanding that they won't do direct bookings for cruise ship passengers, so I simply accept that and book through the cruise line - getting that experience trumps any reasonable price or markup premium I may incur.

Years ago we went out with Orca Adventures. Since then we have been out with Harv and Marv. I much prefer the small ship experience. Harv and Marv picked us up at the cruise dock and dropped us off at mendenhall glacier after. It was a great experience

We've taken three whale watches on Gastineau Guiding's fantastic whale watch vessels, and one on a mid-size 40-passenger boat. Although we've never done a whale watch on one of the large 150-passenger catamarans (Allen Marine, etc.), we've done an assortment of other excursions (and ferry rides) on them. We've also never done a whale watch on a Harv&Marv boat.

 

My opinion is simple: tour operators can say their boat is custom, but that can mean just about anything. Gastineau Guiding's boats are purpose-built for an excellent whale watching experience: fully enclosed passenger space, but simple flat windows that swing up/overhead and pin out of the way, leaving 100% of the window space open for viewing and photography (that mid-size boat had sliding windows, so at most 45% of the window could be open). Huge pontoons that make the boat far wider than the passenger area, so there's less tipping because the passengers moved to one side or the other (that mid-size boat had quite the lean when everyone went to one side of the boat, and I have to imagine that the V-shaped hull of a Harv&Marv boat is going to do the same thing). Much lower passenger to square footage ratio than other boats (14 passengers on the boats assigned to the photo safaris, 20 pax on the other boats with both front and rear viewing platforms for when the boat is stopped). I feel comfortable enough on a Gastineau Guiding boat to use a large telephoto lens on a monopod; the only other boats where I'll do that are the 150-passenger catamarans.

 

We're doing another Alaska cruise in September, and we're definitely doing another Gastineau Guiding whale watch. It's my understanding that they won't do direct bookings for cruise ship passengers, so I simply accept that and book through the cruise line - getting that experience trumps any reasonable price or markup premium I may incur.

Do you book directly with Gastineau or through the cruise ship? I looked at their website, but was a bit confused.

My research led me to Harv and Marv's 14 passenger boat, which I am looking forward to on Aug 5.

I would go with an independent, small boat operator. I've done both the large boat through the cruise line and the small boats through Harv and Marv. If you are hoping to get pictures, the crowds on the large boats may preclude you from doing so unless you happen to be in the right spot. In my opinion, they put too many people on the large boats for a good experience.

 

With not more than 6 people on Harv and Marv's small but fully accessible boats, you have a lot better chance of getting good pictures, including the coveted but harder to photograph full breach.

I second Harv and Marv we had a wonderful experience 5 people on our boat

We went with Captain Harry( Weather Permitting) last week- holds only 12 and you get a great history lesson!! He got 10 stars from our group of 12

We did Harv and Marv in 2015 and loved the experience. We are going on another Alaska cruise att the end of the month and we are doing Harv and Marv again. Highly recommend.

We did cruise ship tour in 2009 and Harv and Marv twice once in 2013 and again in 2016. We are planning another Alaska next year and will go with Harv and Marv again. Both times we only had six people, including the captain. This is one of our favorite tours. With the smaller boats you are not fighting for space at the rail.

We just did Harv and Marv six passenger whale watching tour and I can't imagine going on a larger vessel. It was fabulous, great captain, lots of individual commentary and great access to watching whales. We looked in pity at the large boats and what they were missing ! Absolutely book a small boat cruise

Wondering what people's opinions and experiences have been regarding booking a whale watching tour through the cruise line (HAL Eurodam) vs booking and independent vendor. I was leaning towards booking independently, but my mother (former travel again so she thinks she knows everything :) ) thinks I should only book directly with the cruise line. I'm going by myself. The rest of my group has other plans in Juneau.

What your know-it-all mother does not know is that all tours (cruise lines and so called independent) are independent tours. The cruise lines do not run any tours themselves. They contract with independent tour operators in the different ports to do tours for them. This is exactly the same as you do when you contact a tour operator and book your own tour except that you will get a much better tour at much less cost than the ship tour.

The only possible advantage is that if the ship tour is delayed, the ship will do its best to wait for the tour to get back. If you get back late on an independent tour, the ship leaves without you. However, the independent operators know that they will get very bad reviews if they cause passengers to miss the ship so they will be very careful not to do it. Most reputable tour operators in Alaska guarantee that in the extremely unlikely chance that for some reason you miss the ship, they will get you to the next port at no cost and distances and times in Alaska between ports are short.

One other thing. The main thing that can cause a tour to be late are unforeseen problems on land such as a traffic accident. This will impact ship tours as well as independent tours so both of you will be late and you will not miss the ship

We almost never take ship tours.

DON