whale watching

[gizmo]

Just returned from a Hal cruise and I was VERY disappointed. We booked the whale watch and snorkel excursion.

 

Got up at 6:30 in order to have breakfast and meet at the end of the pier at 8:15. When we arrived it was a zoo. The Hal rep told us to stand in a certain area. Another couple arrived and we found that it was NOT our tour but another that did not include the snorkel stop. After going from one Hal shore excursion person to another we found our excursion was cancelled. To say the least we were not happy. We did get refunded for this excursion. I talked to a couple later that night and they told me there were many others who who were booked on our excursion and took the NON SNORKEL TOUR and they were not happy. From my verandah I saw people returning to the ship with snorkel gear at 8:30 in the morning. My guess is these people also booked my excursion for the same reasons we did and asked for a refund.

 

When we asked what happened all we got was a shrug of the shoulders. Not very professional IMO. I realize it is not the cruise line's fault when a tour is cancelled but it is the responsiblility of the cruise line to use excursion companies that are realiable. This was not the only tour cancelled, I ran into a lady in the elevator that very disappointed that her tour was also cancelled.

 

My advice to those who really want to do a certain excursion is to book it through an independent.

[AlbertaCruisers]

I was on the October 24, 2008 sailing of the HAL Maasdam and did the HAL whale watch and snorkel and it is one of my highlights from the cruise. The boat we took was very nice and there were not that many people on the excursion. We had dolphins playing around the boat at the start which was fun and we saw two whales in the distance. But the people on the excursion were fun and the crew was great, so it didn't even matter we didn't see more.

 

The snorkeling at champagne reef was incredible. Lots of coral and colorful fish to see. I even saw a group of 5 squid. I will definitely be going back to champagne reef is we are back in Dominica as the snorkeling was amazing.

 

The tour was about 4 hours, about 3 of which were spent searching for whales. I would have liked to spend more time snorkeling. They did give us one free glass of some type of lime water (I can't remember). I don't know if there were any other drinks included.

 

All in all it was a great day.

[grape farmer]

Hi- I know there've been some questions about whale watching in the past; we just ret'd from the Caribbean Princess and booked their whale watching tour which was maybe 4 1/2-5 hrs. They used Anchorage boat tours and we did see several sperm whales including calves. We thought they did an excellent job. I believe they're available for tours separately from the cruise ships, don't know if they're available when the big ships are in separarately from the cruise lines though. We were on catamaran style boat; I'd been really nervous about being seasick, but was fine, whew!

 

They took us out a ways, talked about the whales, then they have some kind of a home made sonar device to try and pin point where the whales are, and it worked!

 

It was a beautiful day and very enjoyable. The whales are apparently there year round, but more in the winter months.

 

Have fun if you choose this tour and good luck on whale spotting:)

[xcell]

Were there a lot of kids on the boat? Meaning, do you think my DD5 would enjoy this or not fun at all for kids???

[63galaxie]

Were there a lot of kids on the boat? Meaning, do you think my DD5 would enjoy this or not fun at all for kids???

I think it would be perfect for children! Being on the ocean is a smaller boat is fun for kids. They usually let them "steer" the boat for a short distance. Take a pair of binoculars so they can look for the whales and dolphins. And a camera for them to take pictures when the whales appear.