Bering Sea Crab Tour in Ketchikan

[Watergal501]

We are definitely going to take the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour, but was wondering if there is any advantage to booking it directly with the company or through the ship. It is the same boat, tour and the same price, so I was wondering if anyone has experienced any advantage to one or the other? 

[rkacruiser]

I booked my tour online with my cruise line's shore excursion department.  I did so because I wanted to be sure that I could get that tour and not have it sold out once I got on-board.  If the tour is the same price bought either directly or through your ship, the choice of what to do would be yours.

[ParrotRob]

Just curious, why do they call it the "Bering Sea" crab tour?  I don't get it?

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, ParrotRob said:

Just curious, why do they call it the "Bering Sea" crab tour?  I don't get it?

 

The title reflects these facts:

 

The ship was featured on the second season of The Deadliest Catch with the same Captain who now is the owner of the boat and. I suspect, is always on board to help narrate the tour.  He was on my tour.

 

Some of the crew also worked on this boat.

 

These crew members, as well as the Captain, relate stories of what they experienced doing crab fishing in the Bering Sea.

 

These crew members demonstrate the boarding and emptying on the deck of the pots that they had set to catch sealife.  What did I witness?  More than one type of crab, an octopus, several different kinds of fish.  

 

This tour is an educational experience as well as one that ought to make ALL of us appreciate what these seamen do to harvest the bounty of our oceans in order to, of course, make a living for themselves, but also to satisfy our desire for seafood.  

 

 

[Glaciers]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I booked my tour online with my cruise line's shore excursion department.  I did so because I wanted to be sure that I could get that tour and not have it sold out once I got on-board.  If the tour is the same price bought either directly or through your ship, the choice of what to do would be yours.

 

I think it depends if you want the money you are paying for the tour to go all to the vendor by booking direct or some of it to be given to the cruise line as a commission for booking it for you with a bit less going to the vendor.  We book directly with vendors and tour operators when possible.

[Ashland]

For us (which was approx the same pricing) we opted to book directly. The reason, we got to the Aleutian Ballad (the ship used for this excursion) before the cruise ship booked excursions did and had the pick of seats...first deck middle about the 3rd/4th row up of seating. These ended up being great seats. Absolutely loved this excursion that we've done twice !!

[ParrotRob]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

The title reflects these facts:

 

The ship was featured on the second season of The Deadliest Catch with the same Captain who now is the owner of the boat and. I suspect, is always on board to help narrate the tour.  He was on my tour.

 

Some of the crew also worked on this boat.

 

These crew members, as well as the Captain, relate stories of what they experienced doing crab fishing in the Bering Sea.

 

These crew members demonstrate the boarding and emptying on the deck of the pots that they had set to catch sealife.  What did I witness?  More than one type of crab, an octopus, several different kinds of fish.  

 

This tour is an educational experience as well as one that ought to make ALL of us appreciate what these seamen do to harvest the bounty of our oceans in order to, of course, make a living for themselves, but also to satisfy our desire for seafood.  

 

 

 

Thanks.  I've never seen that show.

[Guindalf]

i watched the price and jumped on a deal from the ship's excursions in my cruise planner. The price was cheaper than booking direct and I ended up paying $151.20 each, a savings of almost $100!''We were there last Friday and had a great time! The crew are very entertaining and informative and there is a video of the boat when to capsized on the Deadliest Catch show (but luckily righted itself again).

 

I would thoroughly recommend this tour, in fact, I gave it five stars on Tripadvisor.

[Crew News]

Best photography seats for the excursion are on the second deck above the lifepreserver:

 

 

 

The highlight of the excursion is the stop to feed the eagles.  There will be about 20 minutes of amazing swooping eagles as they snatch fish from the water just off the side of the boat:

 

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Crew News

[Watergal501]

Thank you for all of the info! 

[leftygolfer]

We booked thru our ship, Seven Seas Mariner.  I looked online and it was slightly more expensive to book direct.  This excursion was the highlight of our trip.  Highly recommend !

[shadowmeboy]

Here is the picture video of this excursion when we took it last June! Highly Recommend it!

 

 

[gottagoacruzn]

Hi guys, am plannin to go to Alaska next yr an have been there several times, but haven't done this tour yet, so when the reservations are made, jest might make the tour reservations soon after that, with the Bearing sea tour at the top. As for the camera that I've got, its a Kodak pixpro FX151 digital an hope the pictures of the eagles turn out like the ones in the photo above. Would have to set the scene on sport so the pictures aren't blurry. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[shadowmeboy]

On 9/9/2019 at 4:44 PM, gottagoacruzn said:

Hi guys, am plannin to go to Alaska next yr an have been there several times, but haven't done this tour yet, so when the reservations are made, jest might make the tour reservations soon after that, with the Bearing sea tour at the top. As for the camera that I've got, its a Kodak pixpro FX151 digital an hope the pictures of the eagles turn out like the ones in the photo above. Would have to set the scene on sport so the pictures aren't blurry. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

I generally shoot in sports mode, especially for moving subjects. All of these were in sports mode.

 

 

 

 

 

[gottagoacruzn]

Hey thanks, it will help alot!! 

[Italy52]

On 9/9/2019 at 4:44 PM, gottagoacruzn said:

Hi guys, am plannin to go to Alaska next yr an have been there several times, but haven't done this tour yet, so when the reservations are made, jest might make the tour reservations soon after that, with the Bearing sea tour at the top. As for the camera that I've got, its a Kodak pixpro FX151 digital an hope the pictures of the eagles turn out like the ones in the photo above. Would have to set the scene on sport so the pictures aren't blurry. Any suggestions? Thanks.

We also set our Nikon cameras on sports mode.  The eagles were soaring so fast that we got some blurry as well as some great pictures.  Thank goodness for digital as we could delete the bad and keep the good pictures.

[gottagoacruzn]

Good to know I'm not the only one who has blurry pictures!!

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, Italy52 said:

We also set our Nikon cameras on sports mode

 

I have an almost new Canon that has modes that I have never tried to use; not even sure what they are.  Your post encourages me to dig out the manual and do some experimenting before my next trip.

[shadowmeboy]

On 9/12/2019 at 1:11 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I have an almost new Canon that has modes that I have never tried to use; not even sure what they are.  Your post encourages me to dig out the manual and do some experimenting before my next trip.

 

experiment some, and put it in manual mode for certain shots. I wouldn't suggest it for shots such as flying eagles, you want autofocus on sports setting.

[gottagoacruzn]

Hey shadowmeboy, not sure about autofocus on sports setting, how do I get that?

[ABQrobin]

If you have never seen the show...Deadliest Catch:

 

 

 

My family was addicted to this show for 5 years.  

 

[gottagoacruzn]

Think I've seen it once or twice.

[peety3]

On 9/17/2019 at 8:05 PM, gottagoacruzn said:

Hey shadowmeboy, not sure about autofocus on sports setting, how do I get that?

Very camera-dependent, but it boils down to a decision between "focus once and stop trying" (which people love for portraits) or "keep focusing as long as I've got the button half-pressed". There can be a lot more to it also, such as whether you or the camera picks the "focus point", whether the focus points will track the subject, perhaps how the focus logic decides whether to stick to the original subject or jump to a newer closer one, etc.

[kruzinkel]

one of the best excursions ever!  

[CRUISIN2X2]

On 10/9/2019 at 11:06 AM, ABQrobin said:

If you have never seen the show...Deadliest Catch:

On 9/11/2019 at 12:26 AM, shadowmeboy said:

 

I generally shoot in sports mode, especially for moving subjects. All of these were in sports mode.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My family was addicted to this show for 5 years.  

Beautiful pics! Where did you sit on the tour and would you sit in the same place? Thanks, hoping to take this tour too!