Whale tour opinion request

[minnie2023]

Hi! I'm going on an Alaskan cruise may 27th! There are so many whale tour options in Juneau, what are your opinions of the different companies?

I think I have it narrowed down to 2 options:

Whale watching and wildlife quest

Or

Juneau whale watching tour.

 

I'm looking for safest and most reliable.

Also, anyone there now? Are the orcas there yet?

Thanks in advance!

 

Edited May 6 by minnie2023

[karatemom2]

9 hours ago, minnie2023 said:

Hi! I'm going on an Alaskan cruise may 27th! There are so many whale tour options in Juneau, what are your opinions of the different companies?

I think I have it narrowed down to 2 options:

Whale watching and wildlife quest

Or

Juneau whale watching tour.

 

I'm looking for safest and most reliable.

Also, anyone there now? Are the orcas there yet?

Thanks in advance!

 

Pretty much any whale watching tour in Juneau will guarantee you see whales - humpback whales. Orcas are a very rare sight, much more prevalent in the Victoria and Vancouver BC areas.
 

Safest and reliable is probably most likely guaranteed on one of the larger Allen Marine vessels that you book through the cruise line tours. Smaller private vessels like Harv and Mary offer a great personalized experience, but smaller vessels, while very safe, may not feel as comfortable for everyone. 

[martincath]

Concur, this really comes down to 'which boat do you want to be on?' rather than 'is any company better than another at finding whales?'

 

As to Orcas, unlike the visiting baleen whales our Resident pods are struggling to maintain population - so between that and more humpies and grays deciding to hang out locally all summer, our local operators now also primarily visit the latter groups and leave the Orcas alone unless they just happen to be passing (there's also a legal issue of giving Orcas significantly more space than other species - folks onboard have anecdotally been complaining that at 400metres they can 'hardly see' the Orcas... while they can still approach to within 100m of other species - 200m if they have calves, or for Sustainable whalewatch certified companies once they confirm Orcas are Biggs' or Northern Residents rather than the Southern pods. Happy pax tip more, so the closer the experience the more cash the folks aboard make...)

Edited May 6 by martincath

[NWA395]

We used Harv and Marv's last year.  There were only 6 or 8 of us on a 15 pax boat.  I would not hesitate to use them again.