Whale watching excursions

[halfmonkey]

Hi. We leave on our first RCL/Alaska cruise in a week and we're super excited. Trying to figure out some shore excursions and it seems that one of the repeat excursions that show up on the itineraries are whale watching tours. I know seeing a whale can be hit or miss and some tours actually guarantee you'll see a whale, otherwise you'll get some sort of refund.

I've spoken to a tour company in Juneau and they mentioned that Juneau is particularly a good spot for whale watching tours because the surrounding area is a frequent feeding ground for whales and such so it seems that we may have better luck if we book a tour in Juneau. We're also stopping in Skagway and Victoria. Has anybody had any experience with whale watching tours in these cities or know if one city is a "better" feeding ground than the others? It seems that there are more things to do in Juneau but it seems that our time in Juneau is the shortest compared to Skagway and Victoria so if I have a good chance of still seeing whales in Victoria or Skagway, I might do the whale watching tour in either of these two cities and save Juneau for the other stuff that we want to do.

 

[jenf22]

We did a whale watching tour in Juneau and saw whales. We also saw whales at least 3 times from our balcony on the ship. One morning we watched one breach over and over again. He was a little far out, but we could still see it. So incredible! The Juneau tour was Mendenhall Glacier, whale watching, and then a lunch at a lodge. I think we also had time to wander the city some. It was a DCL excursion - something like "Best of Juneau". RCL might have something similar. Those were humpback. We didn't see orcas on that tour. We did see a large pod swim by the ship one day though.

Skagway we used Chilcoot (sp?) Charters and did the train and then a dog cart ride in the Yukon territory. So awesome! I highly recommend that if you have enough time.

We did see orcas on a tour near Victoria once but it was a boat from the Seattle area to Victoria. We lived in Seattle for a couple of years. So I don't know about any ship excursions.

 

[SA mom]

We used Gastineau Guiding. We booked through the cruise line. It was an amazing trip.

 

[nancy drew]

We did a whale watching excursion in Juneau and saw plenty of whales. But we also saw plenty of whales from the cruise ship. The excursion boat was big, and if you didn't have a window seat you weren't able to see anything. So you had to stand outside, in the rain.

If we go back to Alaska on a cruise we will skip the whale watching excursion and do something else.

 

[SA mom]

Our Juneau whale watching excursion was with Gastineau Guiding. The boat was small and specially designed for whale watching. THere were only about 10-15 of us. The boats design put you at water level with huge windows that opened up so you had an unobstructed view. It was AMAZING. We were close enough to touch the whales, We didn't but we could have. Check out their website to see the boats.

 

[snoopy5386]

We did whale watching in Juneau (with Juneau Whale Watch) and it was AMAZING! Literally one of the greatest things I have ever done in my life. We saw tons of whales, we saw a full breach and bubble feeding. The whales were so so close to the boat. We also rented a car and drove to Mendenhall Glacier, which I highly recommend as well. Never saw a whale from the cruise ship.


Ketchikan we did the Deadliest Catch tour, also very awesome. Skagway we did a Yukon tour (disappointing due to the weather, but out of anyone's control) and did a Dog sledding camp which was a bucket list thing for me. Also amazing.


And yeah, it's Alaska, chances are it's going to rain. We saw the sun the day we departed Seattle and the day we returned, otherwise it was heavy fog (boat foghorn going off level fog), rain and mist every single day. On our Yukon tour, the guide pulls over at what apparently was a scenic overlook, but we couldn't see 10 feet in front of our faces, everyone in the van was so confused. On a glacier day, we saw a single seal, that was it. Even the naturalist commented about how it was so unusual to see such little wildlife, but even with the crummy weather we had an absolutely amazing time.