Juneau early May whale watching.

[DShier1a]

Booked to Alaska in early May. I booked whale watching in Juneau. A small boat with max 20/people. I knew it was early in the season but there was a guarantee to see whales or you get some cash back. I received an email today from the cruiseline that the operator no longer guarantees whale sightings in May or Sept. Thinking I should cancel, but wondering what others would do. 

Thank you.

[Cbtours]

6 minutes ago, DShier1a said:

Booked to Alaska in early May. I booked whale watching in Juneau. A small boat with max 20/people. I knew it was early in the season but there was a guarantee to see whales or you get some cash back. I received an email today from the cruiseline that the operator no longer guarantees whale sightings in May or Sept. Thinking I should cancel, but wondering what others would do. 

Thank you.

We went last May and booked through cruise line and chose the Allen Family cruise mainly cos they said cash back if no sighting, and they’d not given refund in 15 years.

wasn’t disappointed, saw plenty of whales, not any doing massive breaches but enough to be very satisfied. Plus they took us to the seals with hundreds of them on the rocks, jumping in and out of the water.

highly recommend as it was a beautiful trip out.

[karatemom2]

Is a whale watching trip an important aspect of your trip? You will have a much better chance of seeing them on a whale watching trip then from the cruise ship, although we have never done a AK cruise where we didn't at least spot them a couple of times from the cruise ship, even in May.

 

Your odds of seeing whales in Juneau is very high, even in May, but because it is very early in the season, it sounds like the vendor is just covering their bases in the event that you don't see whales. 

 

Personally, if it was important to me I would take the chance knowing that the opportunity to see whales is pretty high, but I would go in being ok with it on the off chance it didn't happen. It is more likely you will have success, so it depends on if you are willing to take the gamble of perhaps not being successful. You will see a lot of pretty scenery no matter what!

[donaldsc]

Suppose it is true that you will not get a refund if no whales are seen.  This leaves you w 2 choices. 

 

 

1) Cancel.  Then you will have a 100% certainty that you will NOT see whales.

 

2) Take the tour.  You will probably see whales but even if you don't you will have had an enjoyable scenic cruise in the harbor and you might see other stuff.

 

The right choice seems obvious to me.

 

DON

Edited April 15 by donaldsc

[wolfie11]

So realistically this means you still have an 85-90% chance of seeing whales.  Juneau has resident whales that are there year round.

[martincath]

From your other posts @DShier1a you're on Noordam out of Vancouver? If so, you could whalewatch here before boarding - for less money AND a guarantee (local vendors remain May-Sep in this neck of the woods, although it is in the form of 'free rides for life until you see one' rather than 'here's a crisp hundo, never darken our gangplank again'!)

 

Not sure what the issue is with the Juneau trips, as already mentioned they have resident whales, I know for a fact the Gray migration looks to be already long underway as usual (there's an active whale count along coastal oregon sites at Xmas and easter for south and northbound respectively) and the Mexican humpies tend to head up about the same time as the Grays. Unless someone's heard about issues with the Hawaiian population not leaving until later, I can't imagine May not already having ample whales to go look at...

[DShier1a]

In think we will still go, I was just a bit shocked at the email yesterday. It will be a nice day seeing beautiful scenery if nothing else. We see whales most years in Mexico....but we had a excursion credit to use and I thought this would be good. Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts.

[wolfie11]

7 hours ago, martincath said:

From your other posts @DShier1a you're on Noordam out of Vancouver? If so, you could whalewatch here before boarding - for less money AND a guarantee (local vendors remain May-Sep in this neck of the woods, although it is in the form of 'free rides for life until you see one' rather than 'here's a crisp hundo, never darken our gangplank again'!)

 

Not sure what the issue is with the Juneau trips, as already mentioned they have resident whales, I know for a fact the Gray migration looks to be already long underway as usual (there's an active whale count along coastal oregon sites at Xmas and easter for south and northbound respectively) and the Mexican humpies tend to head up about the same time as the Grays. Unless someone's heard about issues with the Hawaiian population not leaving until later, I can't imagine May not already having ample whales to go look at...

Gray whales migrate along the outer coast on their way further north.  They are almost never seen in SE Alaska.

[Coral]

I went whale watching 2x for a May 12th cruise last year. I saw more activity in ICP than Juneau but we did see a several whales in Juneau. They just were boring and not doing anything fun.

[martincath]

6 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Gray whales migrate along the outer coast on their way further north.  They are almost never seen in SE Alaska.

In the context of a Juneau whalewatch it probably was a bit silly of me to mention Grays given how few of them would be near that port, with just a handful of sightings over the years, but they're a lot more common in SE Alaskan waters - especially April/May - than you seem to think. As soon as they hit the tip of Vancouver Island it's back in toward the mainland, all the info on Grays out of Haida Gwaii I've seen has them being consistently east of the islands there, and Chatham Sound is a major feeding ground for them with their preferred shallow, muddy bottomed terrain. Prince Rupert based tours see Grays regularly, and it's hard to head north from Prince Rupert without crossing into SE Alaskan waters; the AMHS isn't visiting this year for some sort of issue related to a lack of internationally-licensed crew, but whales don't need to worry about legislation! 😉

 

Even if we're talking US ports regularly visited by cruise ships, rather than just general SE Alaskan water, Sitka has seen their Gray numbers spike massively in the last 7 or 8 years - a mainstream news article last year indicated 700 Grays hanging out in Sitka Sound last May, not just feeding but even breeding - up from the typically-still-over-a-hundred of the prior few years.

 

Mostly I'm familiar with the Coastal Pacific Feeding Group though, rather than the ones which continue to follow the full migration up to Bering/Chukchi Seas - and they've been moving both further into Inside waters over the years. Most of these 'summer residents' still hang around on the outside of Vancouver Island, 200+ have been tracked around Pacific Rim park waters between Tofino and Sooke, but right in this neck of the woods Howe Sound is also a regular summer haunt for a small group of them: some of those guys visit Stanley Park - every two or three years since I've been living here, one even made it right up False Creek just after the 2010 Olympics.

 

Other pockets up the BC Inside Passage are also known, all the way to Chatham Sound - indeed, there are even a very small number of year-round sightings out of Prince Rupert now although that's anecdotal, I haven't seen any formal research or long-term 'citizen science' pics to confirm the same whale(s) are remaining consistently local.

[martincath]

22 minutes ago, Coral said:

... They just were boring and not doing anything fun.

Elon Musk has extended his project to Alaska and hired whales now...!? 😉 

[Coral]

5 hours ago, martincath said:

Elon Musk has extended his project to Alaska and hired whales now...!? 😉 

I had never heard of Boring Company - too funny! Yea, my last Juneau whale watching was uneventful. No bubble feeding, no breaching - just fins and tales.

[Crew News]

May was the only month that I have seen frisky calves in my many whale watching excursions in Juneau.

 

 

[Coral]

8 hours ago, Crew News said:

May was the only month that I have seen frisky calves in my many whale watching excursions in Juneau.

 

I actually have also in the past, just not last year (which was the earliest I have gone in May). I just have to say last year in Juneau was my worst whale watching ever. Maybe it was the day I went.

 

I prefer to travel in May and have always had great luck. Last year ICP was much better than Juneau for me and Juneau was lackluster.

[Chemist1900]

Went in early May a few year back and saw plenty.  It was probably the highlight of my cruise

[Crew News]

5 hours ago, Chemist1900 said:

Went in early May a few year back and saw plenty.  It was probably the highlight of my cruise

 

6 hours ago, Coral said:

I prefer to travel in May and have always had great luck. Last year ISP was much better than Juneau for me and Juneau was lackluster.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Successful whale watching in Juneau is a collective effort of the excursion boat operators who alert other boats when whales are spotted.  Early in the Alaska season, their are fewer boats to spot whales and alert others.

 

I agree with Coral that Icy Strait Point (ISP) whales are the most actively feeding that I have ever experienced.  ISP is a small port so few Alaska visitors have the opportunity to experience the frantic bubble feeding.