Whales, whales & more whales???

[PurrSusan]

We will be doing a land tour on our own followed by a SB cruise from Whittier to Vancouver in May 2012 (yes, I definitely plan ahead!). We want to take a wildlife & glacier tour out of Seward & hope to see some whales on that excursion. Should we also book a whale sighting excursion in Juneau or look at booking something else for Juneau since, hopefully, we'll see some in Seward? With so many things to see & do I don't want to "duplicate" too much :) Thanks for any info you have to share!

[Glaciers]

We will be doing a land tour on our own followed by a SB cruise from Whittier to Vancouver in May 2012 (yes, I definitely plan ahead!). We want to take a wildlife & glacier tour out of Seward & hope to see some whales on that excursion. Should we also book a whale sighting excursion in Juneau or look at booking something else for Juneau since, hopefully, we'll see some in Seward? With so many things to see & do I don't want to "duplicate" too much :) Thanks for any info you have to share!

 

If whales are your priority, Juneau is the place. You're pretty much assured of seeing them there but not out of Seward.

[5waldos]

Agreed- most Juneau excursions "guarantee" that you will see whales. Depending on the company they refund a significant % of your ticket if you don't see them. Most say that they have never had to refund any money.

[kruiser54]

We are sailing 6/4/11 and are booked on our own(not through the ship) with Weather Permitting Tours. It is a 6 person boat, very personal and he takes you to the glacier and other areas as part of the tour.

He also picks you up at the ship and drops you back off as part of it.

I will report back on how it was when we get back if you would like.

Just google Weather Permitting whale watching to see his website.

EB

[Budget Queen]

We will be doing a land tour on our own followed by a SB cruise from Whittier to Vancouver in May 2012 (yes, I definitely plan ahead!). We want to take a wildlife & glacier tour out of Seward & hope to see some whales on that excursion. Should we also book a whale sighting excursion in Juneau or look at booking something else for Juneau since, hopefully, we'll see some in Seward? With so many things to see & do I don't want to "duplicate" too much :) Thanks for any info you have to share!

 

Kenai Fjords boat tours are varied wildlife, not whale watches. My averages for seeing whales has been about 50%. And those sightings are "part" of the tour, with limited time viewing. Humpbacks are seen on 100% of the trips out of Juneau.

 

But, you do realize you are interior Alaska, too early for good access into Denali Park- unless you are cruising at the very end of May. And even then will only get to Toklat.

[PurrSusan]

Thanks for the replies & info---they really helped!!

 

Budget Queen: We are going the end of May & decided that going to Toklat was going to be ok for us but I appreciate the reminder (plus this may help others who weren't aware of the Denali schedule).

[zamgwar]

We will be doing a land tour on our own followed by a SB cruise from Whittier to Vancouver in May 2012 (yes, I definitely plan ahead!). We want to take a wildlife & glacier tour out of Seward & hope to see some whales on that excursion. Should we also book a whale sighting excursion in Juneau or look at booking something else for Juneau since, hopefully, we'll see some in Seward? With so many things to see & do I don't want to "duplicate" too much :) Thanks for any info you have to share!

 

Absolutely go whale watching in Juneau if that is a priority. We went on one of the small private six pack boats the earlier poster mentioned and it was fabulous. Here's a link to a video I posted a while back with a section on our six pack tour out of Juneau.

 

 

Enjoy

 

John

Office of Best Cruise So Far

The Zamgwar Institute

[cindy7371]

Do you ever see whales from the ship? We couldn't fit a whale watching excursion in in Juneau, but would LOVE to see a whale or two.

[mattR]

Do you ever see whales from the ship? We couldn't fit a whale watching excursion in in Juneau, but would LOVE to see a whale or two.

 

We seen some whales from our ship in Jun/98 on that cruise they made PA announcements when they spotted them so that was nice. We have not seen them on our last few cruises but they were in Sept so don't know if that made a difference? Has anyone else had the bridge annouce sightings in the last couple years?

[kruiser54]

We were on the Star 2 years ago and they announced whales from the bridge everyday.

EB

[Budget Queen]

Do you ever see whales from the ship? We couldn't fit a whale watching excursion in in Juneau, but would LOVE to see a whale or two.

 

You can not count on "announcements". IF you want to see whales, then it is going to be necessary you get yourself parked somewhere with forward viewing. A good pair of wide angle binoculars are necessary. Plan on spending hours out, for a couple minutes of view.

 

With Princess, they generally have good ship naturalists. Hook up with them early in your cruise. And find out where the hot spots for humpbacks have been.

 

Since you are going to Glacier bay, IF coming from Juneau, then be up and out, at least 1/2 hour PRIOR to the posted dawn time, and stay out all day. IF coming from Whittier- then stay out after leaving Glacier bay. You will be passing throught a noted, hotbed of humpbacks.

[vbmom87]

Do you ever see whales from the ship? We couldn't fit a whale watching excursion in in Juneau, but would LOVE to see a whale or two.

 

On our HAL cruise is 2008 we saw quite a few whales from the cruiseship. You just have to remember that they are not up close and personal. On our daily newsletter we were told what time we could expect to see wildlife. If they do this on your cruise, I suggest getting out a bit earlier than the suggested time. I have to say that on our cruise the newsletter was right on. Whenever it said we could expect to see whales, we did.

 

Good luck!!! I hope you see those whales.

[plenox]

You can not count on "announcements". IF you want to see whales, then it is going to be necessary you get yourself parked somewhere with forward viewing. A good pair of wide angle binoculars are necessary. Plan on spending hours out, for a couple minutes of view.

 

With Princess, they generally have good ship naturalists. Hook up with them early in your cruise. And find out where the hot spots for humpbacks have been.

 

Since you are going to Glacier bay, IF coming from Juneau, then be up and out, at least 1/2 hour PRIOR to the posted dawn time, and stay out all day. IF coming from Whittier- then stay out after leaving Glacier bay. You will be passing throught a noted, hotbed of humpbacks.

 

That's the advice we took when we went cruising. You have to be out there ready with your binoculars. When they make an announcement and by the time you got out there, the whales are gone or at great distant already.

[ljgljg]

For those of you who have done whale watching in Juneau, how would you rate the scenery on the whale watching tours (other than the whales)?

[Assateague Island Princes]

Spectacular!:D

[ljgljg]

Spectacular!:D

 

Thanks. I ask because I've done whale-watching before in other locales myself, but am planning to maybe do this for my niece. So I'll be doing as much scenery-watching as whale-watching.

 

Any other comments on the scenery would be great.

[odd man out]

For those of you who have done whale watching in Juneau, how would you rate the scenery on the whale watching tours (other than the whales)?

 

Here are a couple of my non-whale photos from our whale watching excursion in Juneau.

 

 

[Sandi3667]

For those of you who have done whale watching in Juneau, how would you rate the scenery on the whale watching tours (other than the whales)?

 

Absolutely Spectacular!!! Don't have any images on my work computer, but I'll put some up when I get home. Still wading through the thousands of images I took on our cruise last week.

[Sandi3667]

Finally home from work. I took these last Wednesday on our Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest from Juneau.

[believer33323]

Absolutely go whale watching in Juneau if that is a priority. We went on one of the small private six pack boats the earlier poster mentioned and it was fabulous. Here's a link to a video I posted a while back with a section on our six pack tour out of Juneau.

 

 

Nice video. Is someone Irish?????