Whales

[maryec]

Hi All.  We are cruising Boston to Quebec with Celebrity in August/September.  I'm desperate to see a whale.  Do I have any chance at all on this trip?  Many thanks

[ymncruise]

We did a NE/CA cruise last October 5th and saw 100s of whales on our way back to NJ. It was about 3 in the afternoon and they were near the ship for about an hour. I think it’s mostly luck. We only saw them the one afternoon. We were out on the deck a lot trying to spot them. 

[maryec]

Thank you x

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, maryec said:

We are cruising Boston to Quebec with Celebrity in August/September.  I'm desperate to see a whale.  Do I have any chance at all on this trip?

If you have part of a day in Boston the New England Aquarium runs a whale watching boat trip that time of year. I did it twice years ago and saw a few. 

 

If you really want to see whales go to Hawaii in the winter. I've always found New England/Canada to be hit or miss for whales. 

[maryec]

Many thanks 🐳 

[martincath]

Further to Princetons mention - the aquarium makes use of Boston Harbour Cruises Whalewatching vessels, so compare pricing direct (but if you already plan to visit the aquarium, a combo ticket through the aquarium might be cheaper).

 

Stellwagen Bank feeding grounds are reliable enough that you are guaranteed to see whales June through September (I believe that all the local companies are 'free trip' format rather than 'cashback' in the event you get unlucky). Big catamarans, even bigger than the ones Allen run in Alaska with IIRC up to 400pax, so rail space on deck can get tight up top - check the lower decks to see how busy they are too. Humpies are the bread & butter species but potentially several others - onboard naturalists should explain how to tell what's what from just 'backs & blows' and that's where to set your expectations

 

If this is one of the longer RT cruises up to Nova Scotia, PEI, and Quebec then Boston is almost certainly your best bet for an actual whalewatch trip: Halifax and Sydney are the wrong side of NS for good whalewatching and getting over to Cheticamp or the Bay of Fundy would be very challenging on a port stop; Charlottetown and Quebec don't really have such tours at all; although you might get lucky with Minkes and Pilots seen from the ship, which are around in large numbers compared to most bigger whales, and even the rather rare Belugas anywhere around the Saint Lawrence river and gulf.

[maryec]

My goodness what a fantastic post.  Thank you so much for taking the time to reply 🐳🐳

[TMLAalum]

We are on the same cruise as @maryec. Hope to see whales on the St. Lawrence. On a land trip a decade ago, we stopped at a provincial park just east of the Saguenay River. A naturalist onsite was pointing out various whales, e.g. minke, when she spied with her binoculars a pod of belugas. She predicted they'd be swimming by us in about 15 minutes and sure enough! 

[maryec]

I’m beyond excited now after these great replies🐳🐳