Whale Watching Excursions: Juneau or Icy Strait Point?

Before I jump to book a whale watching excursion, I'd like to know whether I should choose Juneau over Icy Point Strait. Any recommendations from those that have done this before? Should I just go with the NCL excursion options or find a private tour group?

BOTH, areas have 100% sightings of humpbacks on their whale watches. What I instead suggest, is YOU determine, your ENTIRE port schedule and your activities of interest, then fit in the whale watch where it fits your time best.

It's also again, up to you, if you wish to go independent or with the ship tour. You will be on a large boat, multi level with the ship tour. It is contracted by Allen Marine. I always go with Orca Enterprises, who is my preference.

The tie breaker for my husband and I was that there were more things we wanted to do in Juneau than Icy Strait Point. I checked both here and tripadvisor for reviews on tour operators in ISP and found several that operated six guest max boat tours with excellent reviews. Many of the reviewers mentioned seeing the ship sponsored tours and thought the smaller boats offered a better experience seeing the whales. I won't have the personal experience you asked about until the end of May, though:)