Whale watch in Alaska - worth it?

[jillhavens]

Hi.  I am going on an Alaska cruise on the Eurodam in June. I am contemplating a whale watch - probably in Icy Strait Point, but maybe in Juneau.  I want to know if anyone can compare it to whale watches elsewhere.  I live in New England and have been on a dozen whale watches out of Provincetown and Boston. They have all been wonderful and I've always seen whales - sometimes more whales than other times. And sometimes much closer than others times.  These tours, even at full summer prices, never top $75.  It's hard for me to picture how a whale watch in Alaska at 2.5 or 3 times that price is worth it - particularly if it's not much different.  Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the experience will be all that different than whale watching in New England?

Thanks!

[sciencewonk]

I can't answer your value question because I've never been whale watching in New England.  I have been whale and porpoise watching in San Diego and Nelson Bay (Australia) and it was similar to those (not better / not worse).  What was different was the type of whale.  We saw lots of orcas and a couple of humpbacks.  We also saw many sea lions and a bald eagle.  I hope this helps a little.

[CafeBruno]

I haven't gone in New England, but I've been whale watching many times in Southern California, Seattle, Cabo San Lucas, Hawaii, and Dominica, as well as in Juneau (twice plus a third one booked for next month). Of those, Cabo has been the most spectacular, with lots of breaching, tail and fin slapping, due to the fact that the males are apparently trying to impress the females at that time of year (winter months). But Juneau was also excellent, as we've always seen multiple humpbacks and orcas. My guess is that Juneau will be better than New England, as the Juneau and Alaska area is much less populated than Boston/New England. Plus, you have a good chance of seeing orcas in Juneau. If you don't regularly see those in New England, that alone might be enough reason to go in Juneau. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

I haven't done a whale watch in New England. I did one in Iceland, and Alaska was better than that.

Do some research about independent whale watches and check the descriptions to see if you can figure out who the vendor is (try googling the tour title). Ship's excursions are often large boats with a lot of people. I've gone on smaller boats in Juneau (Gastineau Guiding) and Icy Strait Point (Hoonah Adventures). Because I wasn't squished at the rail by other passengers, I was able to enjoy watching and photographing the whales.

 

As for price, Alaska is expensive and HAL has been marking up tours more than they used to. 

 

 

I've only seen orcas at ISP. Humpbacks, seals, eagles on both. 

[CNSJ]

Lived in New England for 25 years and we did whale watching up North from Maine south to Cape Cod.  The big difference is in the environment.  In New England, we were out in the open ocean.  In Alaska, when we took the excursion from Juneau, the boat was in very sheltered waters -at times like glass.  We left from Auke Bay and heading out into Favorite Channel basically circling Shelter and Lincoln island.  We saw many whales and many other sea wildlife, birds, and even some land creatures.  The boat was well set up for the excursion.  Recommend it. 

 

 

[loveapug]

Our best whale watching experience  was in Icy Strait Point 3 years ago. We saw the humpbacks bubble netting, at least 6-10 times. We have seen whales in many locales (I could watch them all day long) and had many great viewings last year in Antarctica, but the ISP experience still tops our list. I am longing to go back there again! I hope you have a great experience, whatever you choose. 

[rj59]

It's the huge demand and limited labor/boats. Alaska has huge cost of living, so attracting enough workers/boats during the summer season with possibly thousands of passengers visiting Juneau each day means having high prices, especially with a cruise line cut. I've gone whale watching in Puget Sound and out of Victoria, where prices are under $100. I've seen dozens of humpback whales for free on return trips, the day of a Victoria visit, since there are a lot of them near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As soon as you see Vancouver Island, look outside on a balcony or the promenade--I go back and forth to each side of the promenade, and on a Princess cruise a few years ago saw a dozen or so humpbacks right next to the ship, splashing and frolicking in the water, and then playing in the wake. In the winter, I get free whale watching sailing into Cabo. 

[Musigurl]

My experience with whale watching out of Boston is that we went straight out for 2 hours (I thought we were going to end up in Europe, lol). It was very choppy and many, many people spent the entire trip lying on benches. We saw a couple of tails, but that's about it.

 

Whereas in Juneau (I highly recommend Harv & Marv) you can see land the entire time, it's very calm and whales galore -- we even saw a pod bubble-net feeding, which was amazing.

[Iamthesea]

Ditto for Harv & Marv!!!

[Crew News]

Out of many whale watching excursions in Victoria, Dominica, Santa Barbara, Mexico, Sitka, Prince Rupert, Juneau, and Icy Strait Point, my experience is that Icy Strait Point is by far the most photographic with numerous bubble-feeding events just a short boat ride from the pier.

 

 

 

Edited April 24 by Crew News

[mowogo]

Juneau is remote and everything has to arrive via ship or plane.  Hoonah is a very small town that is in the process of transitioning from commercial fishing to tourism.  Last year I was able to get a discounted tour with Alaska Whale Tours for a small 22 person boat for $120.  And even was able to get a glimpse of Mendenhall Glacier when returning to the dock (Which is on the other side of Juneau from where the cruise ships dock)

[tunafish]

On 4/23/2024 at 5:49 PM, jillhavens said:

Hi.  I am going on an Alaska cruise on the Eurodam in June. I am contemplating a whale watch - probably in Icy Strait Point, but maybe in Juneau.  I want to know if anyone can compare it to whale watches elsewhere.  I live in New England and have been on a dozen whale watches out of Provincetown and Boston. They have all been wonderful and I've always seen whales - sometimes more whales than other times. And sometimes much closer than others times.  These tours, even at full summer prices, never top $75.  It's hard for me to picture how a whale watch in Alaska at 2.5 or 3 times that price is worth it - particularly if it's not much different.  Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the experience will be all that different than whale watching in New England?

Thanks!

in my experience there is nothing special in AK as far as whales in comparison to MA. My MA trip was more "productive"

[SetAnOpenCourse]

My only whale watching tour was with a HAL excursion, late May 2013, in Juneau.  We had a few sightings, but they weren’t much more than the whale breaking through the surface a bit, basically a lazy bobbing motion.  It was not worth it.  It was a fairly expensive excursion and thus an extremely poor value.  Of course some people talked as if it was wonderful.  It’s nice if they have no expectations, but I think some people would rather say their trip was awesome, amazing, etc. rather than share an honest evaluation.

[YourWorldWithBill]

On 4/24/2024 at 1:06 PM, Crew News said:

Out of many whale watching excursions in Victoria, Dominica, Santa Barbara, Mexico, Sitka, Prince Rupert, Juneau, and Icy Strait Point, my experience is that Icy Strait Point is by far the most photographic with numerous bubble-feeding events just a short boat ride from the pier.

What would you suggest as the best season for viewing? Our Alaska cruise was in September, as we went on to Fairbanks and were fortunate to see the Aurora, one of our goals. We knew it wasn't a great time for seeing whales. Our next cruise there we want to focus on whales and other wildlife.

 

I've seen different suggestions of times to go, depending on the type of whale, as they migrate at different times. What's your advice (or suggestion)?

[Crew News]

29 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

What would you suggest as the best season for viewing? Our Alaska cruise was in September, as we went on to Fairbanks and were fortunate to see the Aurora, one of our goals. We knew it wasn't a great time for seeing whales. Our next cruise there we want to focus on whales and other wildlife.

 

I've seen different suggestions of times to go, depending on the type of whale, as they migrate at different times. What's your advice (or suggestion)?

A review of my favorite whale photos and my experience shows that May is both the most whales spotted and the most active month for Alaska.  I think that since whales do not feed while away from Alaska, their first few months (April and May) back to their Alaska feeding grounds make them the most active.  That means more bubble feeding and more visible tails from their deep diving for food.

[YourWorldWithBill]

30 minutes ago, Crew News said:

A review of my favorite whale photos and my experience shows that May is both the most whales spotted and the most active month for Alaska.  I think that since whales do not feed while away from Alaska, their first few months (April and May) back to their Alaska feeding grounds make them the most active.  That means more bubble feeding and more visible tails from their deep diving for food.

Thanks for the answer. That's really interesting; I had figured that June might be the best, but I'll focus on May of next year!

[Crew News]

2 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Thanks for the answer. That's really interesting; I had figured that June might be the best, but I'll focus on May of next year!

I will be aboard the Koningsdam B2B the middle of May next year and again whale watching in Juneau the first week.  Perhaps our paths will cross.

[Gappleby]

I did Jayleen’s whale watch in Juneau last July. It was wonderful. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, Crew News said:

I will be aboard the Koningsdam B2B the middle of May next year and again whale watching in Juneau the first week.  Perhaps our paths will cross.

I'll let you know once we figure out when we can go.

 

2 hours ago, Gappleby said:

I did Jayleen’s whale watch in Juneau last July. It was wonderful. 

Good to know that June works, also.

[Kay S]

The whales have minds of their own.  I saw some magnificent ones in Icy Strait Point about 15 years ago.  Haven't seen anything that good since.  I did see some (two) in Mexico off Cabo last year, but I have given up on ship tour whale watching. 

[crystalspin]

3 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Good to know that June works, also.

June definitely still works. Two of our AK cruises were in early to mid-June. The earlier one we did not do whale-watching in Juneau, because I had booked it for Seward (we went on to do two weeks self-driving in Alaska). The whales around the Kenai peninsula were SO active -- happy to be back in plankton-rich waters of the north! 

 

The second we did a 7-day R/T Vancouver and did a three-part Mendenhall/whale/salmon dinner ship's excursion. Whales were also very active with many breaches.

 

FWIW -- the third cruise was mid-July and we did the ship's "scientific" whale watch which was interesting, but the whales were not as active nor did the boat try to get near them. However, on the otter-watching boat trip in Sitka, a whale surfaced VERY close to the boat and spouted!

[Tiger2112]

I've done two whale watches. One over thirty years ago out of Boston (mid-June), and one two years ago out of Juneau (first few days of June). As someone earlier posted, one major difference is that it takes an eternity to get to the viewing area from Boston, but does not take take long at all from Juneau.

 

Anecdotally, the Boston watch had far more whales. We were able to just sort of drift and see breaches, flukes, and even one swimming under the boat. In Juneau the different tours' boats were in communication and would converge on locations as whales were sighted. We saw four total (all humpbacks), but two were a mother and calf so that was cool.

 

Despite what I felt were lackluster results, the Juneau watch was still worth it. If nothing else we had a nice outing on Auke Bay with an informative guide, though I will say that we had fantastic weather that helps it be remembered more positively.

[mcrcruiser]

imo the best are the ones that get closest to the whales . In Cabo San Lucas you can ger as slpse as 50 yards from the whales .In Hawaii it is 100 yards by law . CaboSan Luca is a fish tan of many varities of whales ,sharks , other sea life  . My bet is on Cabo San Lucas Mexico 

[XBGuy]

I shake my head every time I see the question "Is <fill in the blank> worth it?"

 

The short answer is always, "Yes."  You will be able to experience something new.  That will benefit you.  One of the commonly stated benefits of travel is to learn from new experiences.  

 

To those who have offered that the whale watching excursion they took was not worth it because all they saw was whales swimming and blowing, but they did not see any whales breaching, I, again, shake my head.  By happy circumstance we humans do consider many natural habits of wildlife to be entertaining.  I will grant you that viewing a breaching whale is exciting.  However, keep in mind that whales breech when they want to.  They are not looking for a cue from the Acme Whale Watching boat that indicates that all the paying passengers have their cameras ready, and, so, now is the time.  In nature, the wildlife are doing their best to survive, not put on a show for tourists.  To those who are looking for a show, I would suggest that they visit Sea World.  You can see performing wildlife there. 

 

Also, as @mcrcruiser has indicated there are limits as to how close whale watching boats are not allowed to steer up to a whale.  If a whale surfaces next to a boat, that is fine.  It is also a fortunate happenstance.  You may make the argument that it is more likely that a whale will surface close to a small boat than a large boat.  That may or may not be valid.  However, my wife and I have see whales popping up right outside our cruise ship (a pretty big boat) balcony in Hawaii (a mother and a calf), Alaska and, most surprisingly, the Los Angeles Harbor.  Again, all fortunate incidents.

[PROCRUISE]

On 4/23/2024 at 6:27 PM, CafeBruno said:

I haven't gone in New England, but I've been whale watching many times in Southern California, Seattle, Cabo San Lucas, Hawaii, and Dominica, as well as in Juneau (twice plus a third one booked for next month). Of those, Cabo has been the most spectacular, with lots of breaching, tail and fin slapping, due to the fact that the males are apparently trying to impress the females at that time of year (winter months). But Juneau was also excellent, as we've always seen multiple humpbacks and orcas. My guess is that Juneau will be better than New England, as the Juneau and Alaska area is much less populated than Boston/New England. Plus, you have a good chance of seeing orcas in Juneau. If you don't regularly see those in New England, that alone might be enough reason to go in Juneau. 

Have to agree with this observation. While in Juneau we went on a whale watching tour. Basically we only saw several whale tails from a distance and I was disappointed. That all changed when an entire school of orcas went by directly next to our boat!! Even the ship captain got excited!

So, you just never know exactly what you will or will not see.