Is there a "best" time of the year for whale watching?

[wales4ever]

We are on the NCL Sun on their October 3 cruise. Is this too late in the year for whale watching. May be a bit cold for use, but I don't think the whales will mind.....

[Glaciers]

Humpbacks will have started their migration south but there will still be whales to see. Some winter in Alaska so there are always some around.  Sightings may not be as good June-August. If your ship has a naturalist they will know the areas for increased chances of seeing them.

[Guindalf]

Iechyd Da

 

It's always a matter of luck as to when you'll see whales. We sailed in May 11 years ago and again last August and saw them both times. However this last trip, we were lucky enough to see a momma and calf both breaching, a family of Orca and a pod of  six or seven humpbacks bubble feeding.

 

Hope you have good luck  with the whales. We've sailed on the Sun twice previously and love it.

 

(BTW. I'm not Welsh, I'm English but live in the US)

[crystalspin]

The humpback whales are more "energetic" in June than August, presume May would be good as well -- they are so happy to be back to food-rich northern waters from Hawaii where they give birth. The babies are fun, too! (August in Sitka was also fine, but less breaching, more just surfacing and spouting.)

 

juneauwhalewatch.com says "Juneau, Alaska is renowned for seeing whales. And sometimes orcas (killer whales) as well. Although the best time to see the whales is during the months of May right through to the end of September." With warmer waters in general, you may get lucky the first week of October. Happy sailing!

[martincath]

I agree that numbers will be down some, as the southern migration will be underway, but since your Sun cruise starts in Vancouver and has a full day in Victoria I suggest you do a local whalewatch here before embarking. Whale guarantee applies April-Oct in Vancouver, and if you get unlucky and don't see any you could take your free trip for your Victoria port day to get rapid use out of your guarantee (just book a company that operates in both cities, like Prince of Whales).

 

No harm in also going on another whale watch in Juneau or ISP - it'll still be Humpbacks that they're targeting, whereas the bread & butter 'whale' locally is the Orca. Of course as humpies and Grays will be on their way south, late Sep/Oct can be the best time locally to spot those as well...

 

[kcdd]

Do you have to go on a whale watching excursion or can you sometimes see them from the cruise ship?

[crystalspin]

While marine mammals can be sighted from the ship, there is no guarantee (excursions in Juneau guarantee, and some other places it's a virtual guarantee). But most of all -- it is a monumentally different experience! When a 33 ton humpback surfaces or breaches near a boat or catamaran, it is amazing!

 

I almost didn't book the Kenai whale watching after our first 7-day northbound AK cruise, solely because we had just spend a week on the water... but I did and it was the best excursion of that cruise! 

[dfilpus]

17 minutes ago, kcdd said:

Do you have to go on a whale watching excursion or can you sometimes see them from the cruise ship?

You can see whales from the ship, but it is up to luck and patience. An excursion will take you closer to whales. The excursion boats are normally in communication with each other about where the whales are.

We went to the wildlife viewing sessions with the ship's Nature Director and learned how to spot whales from the ship. We saw multiple pods of orcas and humpbacks in the Inside Passage.

We also did the Kenai Fjords excursion and had orcas on one side and humpbacks on the other at the same time.

[martincath]

21 hours ago, kcdd said:

Do you have to go on a whale watching excursion or can you sometimes see them from the cruise ship?

Agree with both above posts that yes, of course you can see whales - and sometimes you even get really lucky and a whale with surface really close to your cruise vessel. But the odds of you seeing anything well from umpteen feet above the ocean, let alone managing to get a photo of it from a moving ship, are slim - whereas small boat tours reliably get close to the whales, and always stop when they are near them giving you much better photo and viewing potential.

[gatorchinsky]

Is it better doing an early morning tour or afternoon tour to see the whales?  I didn’t know if they are more active or around more during certain times of the day.

[martincath]

Doesn't matter - it's blind chance whether you get a good show or just 'backs & blows' at any given time of day. Technically whales don't even sleep - they just turn off half their brain at a time and chillax a bit while still moving around (pods of Orcas 'porpoising' through the water are often only half-awake) or lying a round for a short time ('logging' - humpbacks tend to take short rests at the surface throughout the day). If you want to maximise the chance of seeing something more exciting, an orca-focused watch down here (or precruise in May/early June when they're most common up at the AK end) means you're looking for inherently-more-active animals (Orcas are actually dolphins, not whales, so are fast and playful).