Whale watching on a cruise ship?

[Joebucks]

I'm going on a Carnival Mexican Riviera cruise in January. Seems to be whale season. The ports mention whale watching in these months. What is the likelihood I will see whales from the ship? Will the crew point it out? What else should I know?

[CruiserBruce]

Around Cabo and while anchored there? Quite good. Check the Mexican Rivera board. Discussed there frequently. 

[evandbob]

I usually bring small binoculars to scan the water's surface for animal life.  I know the OP is going to be on a Pacific Ocean sailing, but I just want to mention that I saw some (humpbacks?) whales from my balcony while docked at the pier in St Croix.

[momofmeg]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

I'm going on a Carnival Mexican Riviera cruise in January. Seems to be whale season. The ports mention whale watching in these months. What is the likelihood I will see whales from the ship? Will the crew point it out? What else should I know?

 There's always a chance but don't count on it as it is not very likely. If there is you will hear  the captain come over the intercom and tell everyone. We did see whales on ship In Alaska. They said it was very unusual. On a California coastal cruise we saw a school of dolphins.  So occasionally it happens but if you really want to see whales or other sea life you should book a tour. we have always seen stuff when we booked a tour.

 

[momofmeg]

Just now, momofmeg said:

 There's always a chance but don't count on it as it is not very likely. If there is you will hear  the captain come over the intercom and tell everyone. We did see whales on ship In Alaska. They said it was very unusual. On a California coastal cruise we saw a school of dolphins.  So occasionally it happens but if you really want to see whales or other sea life you should book a tour. we have always seen stuff when we booked a tour.

 

 Now, this may not interest you, but at Ensenada everyone's least favorite Mexican port. We saw a bunch of sea lions on the rocks by the ship's dock. I loved that better than any nature tour I have taken. but then I love sea lions.

[chengkp75]

Along the deep water migratory routes (where the cruise ship will be), the whales will tend to give any ship a wide berth, especially a cruise ship with all the screw and machinery noise they generate.  It is in the shallow feeding or mating grounds that small boat skippers can play the same game as the old time whalers, and project where the whales will be, and where they will surface.  On these small boat tours, I've had humpback mothers bring their young right under the boat (the skipper had stopped the prop) to introduce it to boats.  I've seen whales from my ships at times, but usually well off.

Edited November 2, 2021 by chengkp75

[Essiesmom]

4 hours ago, momofmeg said:

 There's always a chance but don't count on it as it is not very likely. If there is you will hear  the captain come over the intercom and tell everyone. We did see whales on ship In Alaska. They said it was very unusual. On a California coastal cruise we saw a school of dolphins.  So occasionally it happens but if you really want to see whales or other sea life you should book a tour. we have always seen stuff when we booked a tour.

 

We book a whale watching tour in Maui, saw nothing.  Got back on the ship and saw many close in from our balcony.  EM

[Nebr.cruiser]

We have often seen whales around Cabo and also Acapulco, though I don't know if any ships stop there now.  Of course, no guarantee and depends on the time of the year also.

 

I have seen whales in the Caribbean, but rarely.  And of course near Maui.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Nebr.cruiser

[navybankerteacher]

Whales tend to do what they want to do.   I recall our Hawaii cruise from San Diego:  while at anchor at Kauai we were sitting on our balcony watching whales regularly breaching about 75 yards off.  And at dinner that night our table-mates were complaining about having seen nothing on their $125 per head whale-watching tour.

 

 

[Pyrate13]

I don't know about your area but years ago we were on HAL in Dominica and as we cruised away from the island we saw many whales near the ship. Amazing sight!

[XBGuy]

OP, I, personally, have seen whales from the ship while on Mexico cruises.  As @chengkp75suggested, they were not particularly close to the ship.  When walking around the promenade section of the ship or while relaxing on a balcony scan the sea for whale "blows."  If you focus on that area for a while there is a good chance that you will see the whale (or multiple whales) come to the surface for subsequent blows.  After they grab a few breaths, you might get a good view of their fluke as they dive deep,

 

There have been multiple occasions while on the ship in anchorage off Cabo San Lucas I have seen "Flying Sting Rays."  I'm not sure they are actually sting rays, but I have seen them jumping out of the water.  On one occasion there must have been several dozen of them,

[cruisingguy007]

On 11/2/2021 at 7:24 AM, momofmeg said:

 Now, this may not interest you, but at Ensenada everyone's least favorite Mexican port. We saw a bunch of sea lions on the rocks by the ship's dock. I loved that better than any nature tour I have taken. but then I love sea lions.

If you ever come to Cali for a cruise, you'd love Año Nuevo State Park. Beautiful coast line and all the sea lions and elephant seals action you could want. 

[momofmeg]

On 11/2/2021 at 2:56 PM, Essiesmom said:

We book a whale watching tour in Maui, saw nothing.  Got back on the ship and saw many close in from our balcony.  EM

 True, there is always the chance, but you very well know if the whale watching company has a good reputation for knowing what they are doing, they will cancel a tour if they believe there will be no whales.   For example, in Newfoundland we had a tour canceled by the company when they believed we had little chance of seeing whales. They suspected the whales had already traveled south as it was September and they had not seen them in a couple of days. Of course, they had already told us that may happen and if it did, they would cancel our tour.

 

  The tour we took from Santa Barbara, called it a wild sea life tour and made no guarantees about whale but said we would see plenty of sea life and we did. we saw numerous dolphins, sea lions, seals and yes, we saw 2 whales too. So we lucked out.

 I only wanted the OP not disappointed if he saw none from ship. He does have a better chance if he books a tour, especially for a Caribbean cruise.

[lobsternight]

The trick is to look out and be patient.  We have taken numerous Alaska cruises and always see whales.  Usually far out but watch for the mist as they blow.  Have had Orcas right next to the ship while anchored at Icy Point, also many times on the last day at sea going through inside passage by Vancouver Island.  Our last trip was to Hawaii and the first day at sea I was doing a wine tasting, huge pod of dolphins were following the ship.  Of course my DW arrived late as usual with the camera.

[cruising cockroach]

Matter of luck.  The HAL Zaandam was following the humpbacks migrating southward so saw humpbacks breaching not too far off port.  Very close in fact.

 

On the Ponant Le Soleal, humpback mother and calf right within the breakwater limits of Hilo harbour.  Saw no whales heading to Honolulu from Hawaii but as the ship was passing south of Diamond head, multiple breachs far astern. 

[ldubs]

On 11/13/2021 at 1:48 PM, lobsternight said:

The trick is to look out and be patient.  We have taken numerous Alaska cruises and always see whales.  Usually far out but watch for the mist as they blow.  Have had Orcas right next to the ship while anchored at Icy Point, also many times on the last day at sea going through inside passage by Vancouver Island.  Our last trip was to Hawaii and the first day at sea I was doing a wine tasting, huge pod of dolphins were following the ship.  Of course my DW arrived late as usual with the camera.

 

We also encountered whales during out Alaska cruise.  The most memorable was actually on a Fall NE/Canada cruise.  Mom whale and her calf were both lobtailing as the ship passed by.   I've seen that before, but not from a cruise ship.

 

Not on a cruise ship but we have been fortunate to have seen a lot of whales from a small boat in Monterey Bay (CA).  In a few cases, they passed right under the boat. 

[Capt_BJ]

long line at the bar ......

 

walk near the rail and "honey, LOOK whales"

 

stand by for a RUSH to the side of the ship

 

jump to head of line at the bar .. .

 

p.s.

 

at dinner hear MANY comments: "did YOU see the whales today"

 

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Capt_BJ

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, Capt_BJ said:

long line at the bar ......

 

walk near the rail and "honey, LOOK whales"

 

stand by for a RUSH to the side of the ship

 

jump to head of line at the bar .. .

 

p.s.

 

at dinner hear MANY comments: "did YOU see the whales today"

 

 

 

Love it!!!  I have often thought of doing the same sort of thing at a scenic viewpoint in a national point.  Stand at a point where there is absolutely nothing to see and start looking through your binoculars commenting about how wonderful the thing that isn't there looks.  When people ask where it is mention some specific object that everyone can see and say that it is just next to the object.  Even better if you can do it w a spotting scope.  Then when you have a bunch of people looking at nothing and maybe even thinking that they are seeing it, comment that it is gone and drive away.
 

Sort of cruel and I have never done it but it would be sort of a hoot.

 

DON

[Capt_BJ]

I HAVE done it ... and at dinner that night heard ... "did you see the whales today"

[momofmeg]

On 11/4/2021 at 4:28 PM, cruisingguy007 said:

If you ever come to Cali for a cruise, you'd love Año Nuevo State Park. Beautiful coast line and all the sea lions and elephant seals action you could want. 

Lol! it was a California coastal cruise we did on Grand Princess back in October 2013. Roundtrip San Francisco. We stayed post cruise and went to Muir Woods and Armstrong Forest, plus toured several wineries. We do want to do it again, but this time focus on Baja Mexico. I don't know when. We had to cancel 3 cruises because of COVID. We are hopefully doing one to Scotland in July 2022. We were supposed to do that one in June 2021.

 Maybe we can do that Baja California one soon. I think I would prefer that to going back and doing one in Florida where we have been to all the ports so many times. Especially since we missed 3 cruises so far. We may as well do one that will cost us a little more.