Booking whale watching and other excursions last minute based on weather? Help

[TNCruzer56]

OK-I`ve read that many wait until a day or two before booking excursions, waiting to see what the weather is going to be. We`re sailing the Pearl on Sept 2.

 

Am I gonna get burned doing this?

[peety3]

Depends on your expectations. We like the best, so we always use Gastineau Guiding. On our last cruise, I contacted them two months in advance to arrange a "doubleheader": bus transfer to dock, whale watch 1, whale watch 2, bus transfer back. I was told to call them at 11:00am "day of" to remind them of what we wanted, then to speak to the dock rep to get further updates, and then to wait for final updates via our captain/guide. Luckily, they did have two seats available with only a 15-minute wait between tours, but it was not something they could confirm until we were out on the water heading back in. That was across every boat they had in Juneau for every tour "product" they offered, and it was the only two seats they had open for the remainder of the day.

[AKStafford]

As an Alaskan, I would say to not let weather decide what you will or won't do. If the weather is bad enough to be a safety concern, then the tour vendor will cancel. Otherwise, go. If you wait for the perfect weather, you'll miss out on a lot here in Alaska.

My mantra when it comes to Alaskan weather: hope for the best, be prepared for the worse, but get out and have fun no matter what.

[donaldsc]

OK-I`ve read that many wait until a day or two before booking excursions, waiting to see what the weather is going to be. We`re sailing the Pearl on Sept 2.

 

Am I gonna get burned doing this?

 

Maybe. Nobody knows. Depends upon how many ships are in port.

 

DON

[Debbdo]

My mantra when it comes to Alaskan weather: hope for the best, be prepared for the worse, but get out and have fun no matter what.

 

 

Our 2nd Alaskan cruise is next month. When we went before, the weather was warm (not at all what we were anticipating) but we enjoyed everything about it! My intention is the same for this trip...I am prepared for rain, snow, wind, sun..whatever mother nature throws at me. Thanks for your confirmation of having fun regardless of the weather.

[Budget Queen]

OK-I`ve read that many wait until a day or two before booking excursions, waiting to see what the weather is going to be. We`re sailing the Pearl on Sept 2.

 

Am I gonna get burned doing this?

 

 

I don't think the "many" care if they end up doing nothing? because - many with priority ideas, absolutely have all those plans in place before they get there.

 

What tours are you looking for? I'll also caution with the thinking that even the day of, weather can drastically change, there is little predictably , usually a waste of time. :) If you have no vendor preference, whale watching isn't usually difficult to find walk up. But, I'd only recommend you do this at the beginning of your port day. schedule and confirm a reservation.

I

[bancytu]

We had sun for the entire 2 weeks we were in Alaska. We were to,d this never happens. Most tours we took said they are actually better in the rain because the wildlife likes the cool weather and waterfalls are plentiful so it is even more beautiful. Good luck and just do things when in port! You can’t see Alaska too well from the commercialized ports. It’s so beautiful no matter what you’ll do you are going to love it!

[#1survivorfan]

Every whale watching trip is different. We were in Juneau last week and booked two whale watching trips. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Saw lots of bubblenet feeding with humpback whales in the morning and an amazing Orca trip in the afternoon

We prefer small boats for a better experience. In my opinion...don’t wait to book.

Check out

http://www.jayleensalaska.com

She is fantastic!

[savannah2117]

Here's a name of a phenomenal tour, Alaska Humpback whales. (found him on Trip Advisor) The owner Steve was a captain with Harv and Marv for many years and started his own tour company. His boat is really nice, I believe he has room for up to 6. He took my husband and I last week, we were the only two on the boat, we saw 16 whales, he said his record was about 22. He actually knew the name of 2 of the whales we saw, one was Sasha, the other was Flame. I just couldn't get over that is the Pacific ocean he could know them by name!! I spoke with another passenger on our cruise and their captain saw Flame that day as well, apparently Flame is well known in Juneau. Isn't that absolutely amazing?

[Hoyaheel]

Scientists (and enthusiasts) can track humpbacks by their tails - they're unique.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventure-blog/2016/05/04/whos-that-whale-your-photo-could-help-i-d-a-humpback/

[Herfnerd]

We had our whale watching excursion booked way in advance for our last September cruise, knowing full well that chances for rain are high. And it did. We did bring rain pants in addition to our rain jacket and waterproofed shoes and were one of the few that stayed out on deck the whole time. We got awesome views of the whales including some double peduncles. Whales don't care that its raining and Auke Bay is pretty well protected so I wouldn't worry too much about rough water.