Joleen's Whale Watching Reviews?

[tennislove]

I've seen a few mentions of Joleen's whale watching trips in Juneau but struggling to find much in terms of reviews.  Does anyone have personal experience you can share?  Looking to book a whale watching trip for 5 in July (ages 10-75).

[realnice46]

7 minutes ago, tennislove said:

I've seen a few mentions of Joleen's whale watching trips in Juneau but struggling to find much in terms of reviews.  Does anyone have personal experience you can share?  Looking to book a whale watching trip for 5 in July (ages 10-75).

Do not have personal experience with them but there are reviews on www.tripadvisor.com

i thought the reviews were mixed.

[Italy52]

2 hours ago, tennislove said:

I've seen a few mentions of Joleen's whale watching trips in Juneau but struggling to find much in terms of reviews.  Does anyone have personal experience you can share?  Looking to book a whale watching trip for 5 in July (ages 10-75).

 

Do you mean Jayleen's Alaska?????  If so, I can tell you that we have gone with her 4 times now (2 trips in 2017 and 2 trips in 2018) and will be going again with her in June for another 2 trips.  Jayleen has always provided us with an excellent experience.  I posted my reviews on TripAdvisor.  Jayleen has received lots of positive comments on TripAdvisor.  Check out her website (shown below) if you have not already done so.

 

https://jayleensalaska.com/

 

[floater]

2 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

 

Do you mean Jayleen's Alaska?????  If so, I can tell you that we have gone with her 4 times now (2 trips in 2017 and 2 trips in 2018) and will be going again with her in June for another 2 trips.  Jayleen has always provided us with an excellent experience.  I posted my reviews on TripAdvisor.  Jayleen has received lots of positive comments on TripAdvisor.  Check out her website (shown below) if you have not already done so.

 

https://jayleensalaska.com/

 

I have booked with her largely because of your post on Trip Advisor. I love the small boats, limited passengers, and the fact that she is a small business. First trip to Alaska, we will be going in late May.

 

[floater]

I just finally figured out how to access your photos, they are striking. I would like to ask a few questions about your whale shots, if I may. It looks like you sometimes shoot in either burst mode or maybe some are captures from a video, yes? What type of camera and what lens(s) did you use? Can you give me any advise for camera settings, shutter speed, ASA, etc. Thanks for any advise.

[Italy52]

55 minutes ago, floater said:

I have booked with her largely because of your post on Trip Advisor. I love the small boats, limited passengers, and the fact that she is a small business. First trip to Alaska, we will be going in late May.

 

Thank you.  I hope you have a memorable experience with Jayleen and during your trip to Alaska.  Tell Jayleen Claudio and Karen say "HI."  Even though we have been to Alaska many times, we always enjoy coming back to its beauty and adventures.

[Italy52]

30 minutes ago, floater said:

I just finally figured out how to access your photos, they are striking. I would like to ask a few questions about your whale shots, if I may. It looks like you sometimes shoot in either burst mode or maybe some are captures from a video, yes? What type of camera and what lens(s) did you use? Can you give me any advise for camera settings, shutter speed, ASA, etc. Thanks for any advise.

Thank you, I appreciate your comments about the photos.  My husband and I both used Nikon cameras:  His is Nikon 7200 and mine is Nikon 5100.  Lenses for both cameras were 18-300 zoom.  All the whale pictures are taken in burst action mode; no video. Jayleen has taken some beautiful photographs and, if you ask, I am sure she will be able to provide you with some tips about taking pictures of the whales.

[Gobigorange12345]

We have booked with her for mid may.  We were most interested in a more personal, less crowded experience, and were pleasantly surprised that we will also getting a discount due to the fact that with a party of 6 we are booking the whole boat.  Excellent communications so far. great reviews.    Will update you afterwards, but am feeling very positive!

[Gimpy McFarlan]

Just sent Jayleen an email about availability for our trip to Juneau. Thank you for the recommendation!

[Italy52]

47 minutes ago, Gimpy McFarlan said:

Just sent Jayleen an email about availability for our trip to Juneau. Thank you for the recommendation!

 

Hope you have a memorable experience.

[Italy52]

2 hours ago, Gobigorange12345 said:

We have booked with her for mid may.  We were most interested in a more personal, less crowded experience, and were pleasantly surprised that we will also getting a discount due to the fact that with a party of 6 we are booking the whole boat.  Excellent communications so far. great reviews.    Will update you afterwards, but am feeling very positive!

 

Glad to hear that you were able to book your entire party with Jayleen.  Have a wonderful time.

[coops]

On 4/16/2019 at 1:29 PM, Italy52 said:

 

Glad to hear that you were able to book your entire party with Jayleen.  Have a wonderful time.

What is appropriate tip to give her ?

[Italy52]

19 minutes ago, coops said:

What is appropriate tip to give her ?

 

Appropriate tip?  That's hard to say.  Tipping is a personal choice based on experience.  I have seen posts where people give $10-$20 p/p for some of their excursions.  We have always had an excellent experience with Jayleen -- she goes the extra mile to ensure we get the best possible whale watching experience.  With that being said, we usually give a little more than what I have mentioned -- that is our choice and not necessarily what I am telling you to do.  Hopefully, my comment makes sense to you and I have not confused you.

[coops]

4 hours ago, Italy52 said:

 

Appropriate tip?  That's hard to say.  Tipping is a personal choice based on experience.  I have seen posts where people give $10-$20 p/p for some of their excursions.  We have always had an excellent experience with Jayleen -- she goes the extra mile to ensure we get the best possible whale watching experience.  With that being said, we usually give a little more than what I have mentioned -- that is our choice and not necessarily what I am telling you to do.  Hopefully, my comment makes sense to you and I have not confused you.

Thank you makes perfect sense

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We've whale watched with Jayleen twice; 1st time she was a skipper for Harv & Marv, 2nd time she had her own boat, both great experiences. We are planning on going with her again next year.  She has gone out of her way to get to see whales, even chasing after orcas. 

[Mountaineer0313]

We went with Jayleen last August and are booked with her again August 2020. She has a small, 6 person boat, she was born and raised in Juneau, and we had a fantastic time. We were on the very first tour the morning we got into Juneau and ended up being her only two people on that tour. So we had complete one on one attention for 4 hours. We will definitely book with Jayleen every time we go to Alaska.

[ute_fan]

44 minutes ago, Mountaineer0313 said:

We went with Jayleen last August and are booked with her again August 2020. She has a small, 6 person boat, she was born and raised in Juneau, and we had a fantastic time. We were on the very first tour the morning we got into Juneau and ended up being her only two people on that tour. So we had complete one on one attention for 4 hours. We will definitely book with Jayleen every time we go to Alaska.

Thanks for your review!  We're currently booked with her in June, and as of when we booked were her only 2 passengers.  Gladto hear she didn't cancel your excursion because of that.

 

[Mountaineer0313]

26 minutes ago, ute_fan said:

Thanks for your review!  We're currently booked with her in June, and as of when we booked were her only 2 passengers.  Gladto hear she didn't cancel your excursion because of that.

 

 I think Jayleen would go out whale watching alone if she had to, so only two passengers is no bother to her. You’ll love it. 

[Italy52]

1 hour ago, ute_fan said:

Thanks for your review!  We're currently booked with her in June, and as of when we booked were her only 2 passengers.  Gladto hear she didn't cancel your excursion because of that.

 

 

 

The same thing happened to us once --- another group cancelled so DH and I were the only two on the excursion.  I was very impressed that Jayleen did not cancel us but rather told us that the tour was ours and asked what we wanted to see.

[ute_fan]

Thanks for those comments!  We went out with Jayleen's Dad on our first whale watching trip, and it got us hooked.  After I heard that Harv & Marv's had been sold and that Jayleen had started her own company, I knew I had to try her.

 

[tjcletzgo]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:27 AM, CHEZMARYLOU said:

We've whale watched with Jayleen twice; 1st time she was a skipper for Harv & Marv, 2nd time she had her own boat, both great experiences. We are planning on going with her again next year.  She has gone out of her way to get to see whales, even chasing after orcas. 

Jayleen is the daughter of one of the original Harv and Marv tours.  She grew up sailing with them and is very experienced with the whales.  The original Harv and Marv fellows retired and sold the business.  

[CHEZMARYLOU]

35 minutes ago, tjcletzgo said:

Jayleen is the daughter of one of the original Harv and Marv tours.  She grew up sailing with them and is very experienced with the whales.  The original Harv and Marv fellows retired and sold the business.  

Yes, that's how we first sailed with her.

[angelhelly]

I contacted her and sadly, for our dates, she is all booked up. Any recommendations for something similar?

[Italy52]

26 minutes ago, angelhelly said:

I contacted her and sadly, for our dates, she is all booked up. Any recommendations for something similar?

 

Did Jayleen have any recommendations for you?  If not, Harv and Marv might have some openings.  Whale watching is very popular in Juneau and small boat vendors tend to get booked quickly to ensure a seat on the boat.  Besides Jayleen, I have also gone with Harv and Marv and they are good.  Allen Marine offers excursions through some of the cruise lines.  However, their boats are larger.  We have gone with Allen Marine but prefer the smaller boat experience.  There are other vendors out there but I can't recommend them as I have no experience using their company.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Italy52

[ute_fan]

29 minutes ago, angelhelly said:

I contacted her and sadly, for our dates, she is all booked up. Any recommendations for something similar?

I haven't personally used this vendor, but there's another former captain for Harv & Marv's who has started his own business.  His website is https://www.alaskahumpbackadventures.com/.  Looking at his pictures, I think he was the captain of our boat the last time we went with Harv & Marv in 2015, but I'm not positive.