6 Hour Major Marine Kenai Fjords National Park Tour in Seward and Restaurant Recommendations

[tj_shopper]

We will be doing the 6 hour Major Marine Kenai Fjords National Park Tour in Seward on Thursday, May 23, 2024.  We will be coming right off of the Alaskan Railroad train from Anchorage and going directly to the tour.  We are also spending the night at the Harbor 360 Hotel that evening.  Couple of questions:

 

1.  Where would be a good place to have dinner that night in Seward that is close to the hotel?

2.  We are going to be going on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas on Friday, May 24, 2024.  Do you think we will be seeing any whales on the 6 hour Major Marine Kenai Fjords tour?  Should I book us on a whale tour in Juneau or Icy Straight Point - two of the stops on our cruise?  I don't want to be redundant but if anyone has done this tour before, would you suggest that we need to do another whale watching tour elsewhere?

 

Thank you.

[AKStafford]

4 hours ago, tj_shopper said:

Do you think we will be seeing any whales on the 6 hour Major Marine Kenai Fjords tour?  Should I book us on a whale tour in Juneau or Icy Straight Point

Whales are never guaranteed on the Kenai Fjord trips. They are guaranteed on the Icy Strait Point trips. I'd do whales there.

[KruisinKath]

We did this trip on Radiance in 2013. We did the 26 glacier tour in Whittier the day before, then the awesome train to Seward (gorgeous scenery) and 6 hr Kenai Fjords tour, specifically to supplement our glacier viewing because Royal Caribbean didn’t have permit to go into Glacier Bay.  We DID see Orcas in the bay before heading out to the glaciers in Seward, but that was early June. I think still possible, but not as likely to see them in later months.

 

We also did whale watches in both Icy Strait Point and Juneau because I wanted to double the whale opportunities!  We didn’t get crazy action like bubble-net feeding, but had gorgeous weather and some good sightings and “fin” action!

 

Sorry so long, but hope it was helpful!

[tj_shopper]

@AKStafford @KruisinKath - Thank you both for your replies.  That's what I was afraid of.  I was hoping that I could skip the whale watch and save some money for a different tour.  Now, to decide which one to do.  I heard that Icy Straight Point and Juneau are both great places to see whales.

[KruisinKath]

2 hours ago, tj_shopper said:

@AKStafford @KruisinKath - Thank you both for your replies.  That's what I was afraid of.  I was hoping that I could skip the whale watch and save some money for a different tour.  Now, to decide which one to do.  I heard that Icy Straight Point and Juneau are both great places to see whales.

You can’t go wrong with either. We used Glacier Wind in Icy Strait Point.  I forget who I used in Juneau.  I’m going with Jayleens in 2025, but there’s also Harv n Marv’s.  All vendors mentioned have smaller vessels (6 or 12 pp). The tours thru the cruises are usually larger (~50+).

[Coral]

I would do whale watching in Icy Strait with Glacier Wind.

[tj_shopper]

1 hour ago, KruisinKath said:

You can’t go wrong with either. We used Glacier Wind in Icy Strait Point.  I forget who I used in Juneau.  I’m going with Jayleens in 2025, but there’s also Harv n Marv’s.  All vendors mentioned have smaller vessels (6 or 12 pp). The tours thru the cruises are usually larger (~50+).

I'm leaning towards Harv n Marv's as they have boats a little bit bigger to accommodate our group.  Also, I am just a little bit afraid of being in a small boat.  Do they get close enough to possibly be in the way if a whale breaches?  Might be a stupid question, but I don't swim and this would be quite terrifying.

[KruisinKath]

1 hour ago, tj_shopper said:

I'm leaning towards Harv n Marv's as they have boats a little bit bigger to accommodate our group.  Also, I am just a little bit afraid of being in a small boat.  Do they get close enough to possibly be in the way if a whale breaches?  Might be a stupid question, but I don't swim and this would be quite terrifying.

All boats have to stay a certain distance from the whales. We had a few that surfaced right by the boat, then we maneuvered to be that required distance. I never felt in danger of being “upended.”

[tj_shopper]

20 minutes ago, KruisinKath said:

All boats have to stay a certain distance from the whales. We had a few that surfaced right by the boat, then we maneuvered to be that required distance. I never felt in danger of being “upended.”

Ok that is good to know.  I just googled this and some of the videos are quite scary!!!