Whale Watching Dilemma

[adverb]

Me and my BF are going to be in Juneau Sep 16 from 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM and we definitely want to go whale watching. First things first, Harv & Marv's is out because they stop on Sept 13. Bummer :(

 

So we have a couple of options:

 

1) We have a coupon with our Toursaver called "Alaska Whale Watching - Juneau" (yep, that's it). Their website is at akwhalewatching[dot]com. Does anyone know anything about them? Because we are using a coupon, they have to book us with a party who is already going, and as of right now, they don't have anyone definitely booked for Sep 16 (they had tentative bookings but no paying customers). They said it would be best to call closer to the date, but it's not that far out. What's the possibility that someone will book something at that time within a month?

 

 

2) We could do Orca Enterprises, which I have heard good things about. Since we're not using a coupon, we could go anytime. We were planning on going the earliest spot available, which I believe is 8:45. Unfortunately, they are a little pricier without a coupon.

 

 

Total cost for option #1: $151 for two people

Total cost for option #2: $119 each person.

 

We're also thinking about going to the glacier. If we did #1, we pay $5.50/pp to have them drive us to the glacier, $3 to go to the visitor's center, and then we'd have to find a shuttle back (which the lady quoted me at $10). If we did #2, it's all included for $20, and they would take us there, give us an hour at the glacier, and then drive us back without having to worry about taking a shuttle.

 

After we got back to the glacier, we were thinking of spending some time on the tram. Since we have a couple hours, and since the tram doesn't sound like it takes too long, it seems doable.

 

So, what should we do? Wait for #1, a company I haven't heard too much about but is cheaper, and hope they open a spot up? Or go with #2, a company people have recommended, but pay more? Or is there a third option for whale watching I'm not considering?

 

Thanks for the help :)

[PennyAgain]

Do not buy your tram tickets until you are ready to ride. The weather will literally vary wildly at that time of the year. If you can't see due to weather, fog, etc. it is not worth buying a ticket. There is no discount for buying early.

 

You will be in Juneau very, very late in the cruise season. The tour operators who are closed by that time do so for several reasons including lack of business, poor weather and being ready to quit for the year.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a tour operator in Juneau who has no paid bookings now.

[kathynorth]

We ran into the same situation last month. We had tried to book with Alaska Whale Watching to use a toursaver coupon, but they said the same thing you were told. We chose to instead book with Orca as we were afraid we wouldn't have a spot and be left with just the cruiseline option. Then Alaska Whale Watching started calling about 3 weeks prior to our trip asking if we were still interested. They called 3 times, but unfortunately Orca would have charged us $25/ person (there were 4 of us) to cancel our reservation. We had also booked a heli-glacier tour to dovetail with the Orca trip, so cancellation didn't make sense at that time. The Orca boat was full on our trip, so full that we had to take turns on the top deck of the boat to view the whales. The nature guide was interesting and staff were nice, but I'd choose a smaller 6 person boat if I could do it again. When we disembarked from the ship in Juneau there were many independent vendors advertising for on the spot whale watch tours. There is a whole line of stands just to the left of the tram station that advertize for all the local Juneau tours. Have you considered posting on your roll call? You could have the other party pay full fare and then split the savings from the toursaver. It won't be as much of a saving as booking on your own, but at least there's some savings.

[PennyAgain]

Due to the late season dates of travel, there are not going to be a line of venders hoping to sell whale watches waiting on the dock in Juneau. Many operators loose the summer help when they go back to school. Others shut down when business gets thin (and it does that late).

 

I often try to cruise on the last ship north of the season so I can spend time in Alaska without crowds. I know what Juneau looks like at that time of year.

[KAWS]

We had the same problem. Had the toursaver booked, AK booked but not confirmed and finally we didn't want to take a chance of no excursion so we cancelled with AK and went with Orca.

 

Now with that said, there was still plenty of room on the Orca boat for the excursion. And they have more than one boat too. And we saw people booking and paying that day so we didn't really have to book in advance.

 

So if I had it to do again I would wait till the last minute (like a few days before you leave) and then book with Orca if AK doesn't come through for you. With us, the day after we booked with Orca, we got an email from AK offering us the 2.5 hr. tour (we had upgraded to the 3 hr one). We didn't cancel because of the cancellation charge with Orca.

 

Now if you do wind up going with Orca, it's a good excursion. Captain Larry drives around after the whales instead of just sitting there in one spot so we saw tons of whales. The two other Captains that were onboard were a wealth of information and a lot of fun. We had a great day in the end.