Gastineau Guuiding Whale/Glacier Photo Safari

[Alaskanb]

Here is a link to some of my DH's whale pictures:

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/judymnorth/WhaleTailsInAlaska#

 

You can see what a difference the long lens makes.

 

Wow!

[judynorth]

Wow!

 

That's exactly what I said when I saw his pictures the first time. We were there early in the season and the whales were rather placid - no breeching or bubble feeding. Just a few weeks later they were much more active as you can see in MJAS's pictures.

[Jen4398]

Bump...sure would like to hear about more experiences on this excursion. Thanks!

[cruiseluv]

Here is my review from the Cruise we just got off. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1443857

 

It's quite long, but look under the Juneau part for a review on this tour. All of my whale watching pictures are also from this trip.

 

The tour is Fantastic. Lots of Amazing picture opportunities and the Guides really know what they're talking about. My husband and both already said when we go back to Juneau we will rebook this tour!

 

Thank you so much for your feedback! We're booked on this tour in our cruise next week. Will post when we come back.

[World Gallery]

We just returned from our Alaskan cruise and did this excursion. The best way I can sum it up is this, "We had a great time in spite of our tour guide." The tour is booked through your ship but is with Gastineau Guiding. Since it was costly ($199 pp), I called them 2 times with specific questions, read their website, and other reviews. We had one of the worse guides we have ever had on any tour (and we travel a lot). I have a point and shoot camera and not one thing was said about how to use a point and shoot (but when I called, they said that they discuss all cameras). Actually, it was as though our guide, a young guy named Kenneth, was a participant on the tour, taking his own pictures most of the time, ignoring the people on the tour. When my first pictures were coming out blurry, I had to call him over to show my how to try and fix my issue. Not much help. Really, it was unbelievable how little information we received from him. Toward the middle of the tour, my husband and I stared asking questions so we could get some info out of him. We did not receive much info on whales, the area, the hiking portion, etc.

Now the positive (but all of the positives have nothing to do with the tour guide): great captain on our whale watching portion; great, small boat; beautiful weather, clear and sunny; saw lots of whales, one that came within about 4 feet of our boat and saw bubbling feeding; great views of the glacier because it was a clear, sunny day (my pictures are nice but nothing special that I couldn't have done on my own).

The whale watching part was great for all of the boats we saw that day in the area. All of the tour operators are in the same area and therefore, those people out there at the time were were out there on that day will probaby have great reviews. It was an active day for the whales!

 

I would not use Gastineau Guiding again unless they could assure me we would hot have Kenneth as a guide. Actually, I am not sure I would use them because it seems like there online marketing "write up" doesn't really describe the tour. It was as though the guide wasn't trained at all.

[PennyAgain]

Your guide may not have cared whether or not you had a good experience. Sad but it happens.

[jasminelee]

[\

 

I would not use Gastineau Guiding again unless they could assure me we would hot have Kenneth as a guide. Actually, I am not sure I would use them because it seems like there online marketing "write up" doesn't really describe the tour. It was as though the guide wasn't trained at all.

 

 

did you book thru Princess? I wonder if they have different guides thru different ships

[wolfie11]

As posted previously my experience was about the same as yours. Our guide was from a New York art school and was a photographer but knew nothing about Alaska. We were shown a film on the bus and she did help us on the hike so at least she was better than Kenneth, but I was underwhelmed. I learned more by talking to one of the ship's photographers. I had just bought a Nikon D200 and was trying to figure it out. I also felt sorry for the family that got stuck with this tour since they cancelled the Science Camp tour for lack of numbers. They had one point and shoot among the four of them! I guess it's hard to get guides that know about both photography and the local nature.....

 

This tour was booked thru Princess.

[World Gallery]

I guess what saddens me the most is that I called them directly twice and asked a ton of questions because I was trying to decide if I wanted to take the photo safari tour or their same tour without the "Photo aspect" part. It was basically the same tour (hiking by the glacier and whale watching but without the photographer part). They assured me that we would gain knowledge about Alaska on either tour but that the photo tour would just have lots of photo tips added to the knowledge about Alaska. Basically, almost everything they told me about the tour was not true other than the fact that we did see whales.

I am not wondering if all of the reviews on tripadvisor.com or written by people they know or if in fact those people lucked out and get a good guide.

 

jasminelee - No, they don't have different guides for specific ships. It is just the luck of the draw - who is scheduled for your particular time and day. I tried to ask them about who our guide would be before our cruise and they said that they don't have the schedule until the last minute.

[Jen4398]

...I would not use Gastineau Guiding again unless they could assure me we would hot have Kenneth as a guide. Actually, I am not sure I would use them because it seems like there online marketing "write up" doesn't really describe the tour. It was as though the guide wasn't trained at all.

 

How would you feel about giving this report directly to the owners of Gasteneau Guiding? I, for one, would really appreciate your time and effort if you would. This company is highly recommend by several travel groups and I would assume their reputation is valuable to them. I have to believe that the owners would be interested in knowing about your experience. After reading your review, I went to their website. On the website, they have a tab labeled "meet our guides". I didn't see Kenneth on the list.

 

I also carefully read the tour description to make sure my expectations are in line with what is offered. From what I read, I would expect the guide to be skilled in photography and be an experienced naturalist. I would expect to receive tips on composition and points of interest along the trail. I would also expect the guide to answer general photography questions. I do not expect the guide to make sure I get the shot. Maybe if I were paying for a private tour. And, I would not at all be happy if the guide's attention was placed on his own images and not on his tour participants.

 

IMHO, you did not receive what you paid for. If you do call, let us know.

[World Gallery]

Yes, I planned to call or email. I will post after I hear a reply. I was thinking that surely they would want to know this information. We are business owners and we would very much appreciate this kind of feedback. We definitely did not get what we paid for in regards to the description they have online.

[Jen4398]

Yes, I planned to call or email. I will post after I hear a reply. I was thinking that surely they would want to know this information. We are business owners and we would very much appreciate this kind of feedback. We definitely did not get what we paid for in regards to the description they have online.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. Hopefully, you will receive some satisfaction. It just really seems strange that Kenneth doesn't appear on their list of guides. Perhaps there was some scheduling issues that day?

 

Any rate, sorry for your trouble.

[Alaskanb]

How would you feel about giving this report directly to the owners of Gasteneau Guiding? I, for one, would really appreciate your time and effort if you would. This company is highly recommend by several travel groups and I would assume their reputation is valuable to them. I have to believe that the owners would be interested in knowing about your experience. After reading your review, I went to their website. On the website, they have a tab labeled "meet our guides". I didn't see Kenneth on the list.

 

I also carefully read the tour description to make sure my expectations are in line with what is offered. From what I read, I would expect the guide to be skilled in photography and be an experienced naturalist. I would expect to receive tips on composition and points of interest along the trail. I would also expect the guide to answer general photography questions. I do not expect the guide to make sure I get the shot. Maybe if I were paying for a private tour. And, I would not at all be happy if the guide's attention was placed on his own images and not on his tour participants.

 

IMHO, you did not receive what you paid for. If you do call, let us know.

 

This all makes me very sad --for you and us --as it is the trip we most wanted to do next May. Perhaps one solution for Gastineau is that their "guides" do not take their own cameras. Lots of explaining to do on their part:(

[jasminelee]

I have us signed up for this also in Sept. I may have to go back and cancel and rebook a different one. Like some of the other posters, I was most interested in the photo shoot help, too.

[MJAS]

That's really disappointing. I am wondering if you can ask for a guide, we had Adriane Honerbrink from California and she really was fantastic. She helped me a lot with my camera, and when we got on the boat for whale watching she asked who's camera she could show them some pointers on.

[judynorth]

That's really disappointing. I am wondering if you can ask for a guide, we had Adriane Honerbrink from California and she really was fantastic. She helped me a lot with my camera, and when we got on the boat for whale watching she asked who's camera she could show them some pointers on.

 

Our guide did the same thing. He helped several people find the correct settings for whale watching. I can't remember his name but he was young and quite knowledgable and helpful. At first he seemed quite shy but he warmed up quickly and did a good job.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I went on this tour through Carnival last year and it was one of the best tours I have ever done. The guide was wonderful. I do not remember his name, I'm sorry. He helped us all with our cameras. I do not have a DSLR, but a Sony Cyber-shot DSC H5. I love the way it works, kind of a "crossover". The guide gave me as much attention as anyone else with a fancier camera. There were only 8 of us. I had a "medium level" camera, a couple of people had DSLRs and a couple of others had simple pocket sized point and shoots. I would do the tour again if I had the opportunity to return to Juneau. Have fun all of you who are going!

 

Here are my pictures of that day.

[ruespal]

To all those who had a bad experience- I feel very badly for you. We went in May and had Brandon.He was kind of shy at first but then he relaxed and was great. Helped everyone with their cameras, was very knowledgable about the whales and all sealife,knew lots about the whole area. He went person to person to help with their cameras and had answers to everyones questions. I booked through Princess, but I don't think that matters. We were the first tour of the day. I would not hesitate to do this tour again. Had a great time and we both got great shots. Just wanted to add my view as well. There's good and bad guies wherever you go. Perhaps if you do contact Gastineau, they would do something about the poorer ones.

[World Gallery]

I had sent an email to Gastineau about our experience and received a very appropriate reply back from them. They took responsibility and have spoken with the guide. Here is a part of the email:

We have spoken with Kenneth to remind him about the importance of professionalism and the standards we have as a small local operator. Each guest's experience matters and it is the role of the guide to insure the client's satisfaction. Kenneth is under the microscope, and will be shadowed by our lead trainer on his next tour.

 

This is good news to us. I wouldn't want others to have the same experience in regards to the parts of this tour directly related to the quality of guide you are assigned.

 

Alaskanb - I do think that is would be a good idea if their guides didn't bring along their own camera. That way, the temptation is not there. Thinking back, I do not see any need for them to take their camera. He didn't use his camera to demonstrate anything. He was strictly used for his own purposes.

[Jen4398]

I am so glad to learn they responded quickly to your email. Thank you for following up with the guide company. I was just certain that they would take your complaint seriously. It sounds like they will be watching Kenneth closely for a while.

 

I am taking this tour at the end of August. I feel better knowing that they listened to you and have taken steps to remedy the situation.

 

Thanks again.

[Alaskanb]

Glad for the response. Now I feel better about booking the excursion next year but I probably will also send a little positive note about how much we are looking forward to the assistance with photography as well as seeing the wildlife. I have been debating between this trip and an Orca Enterprises excursion but don't have to make any decisions for a while.