An Amazing Alaskan Whale Watching Cruise
An Alaskan whale watching cruise is a great way to experience the natural scenery of both the ocean and the landscape.
Not only will you see the vast and beautiful Alaskan coastline, you will be in areas that have a high concentration of whales which gives you the opportunity to see these magnificent creatures.
One of the most memorable life experiences I have ever had was while whale watching in Alaska; an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.
To even get up to Alaska, you either have to fly into the state or take a cruise up the Canadian coast.
The absolute best option is to take the cruise all the way up to the whale watching destination.
You will first have to plan which port you want to disembark from as there can be a few options depending on which cruise line you end up picking.
If you are looking for a longer cruise, then leaving from Seattle will be your best option as there a tons of different 14 day cruises that are available.
If a 7 day is more realistic, then leaving from Vancouver will most likely be your choice.
When I took my cruise, I flew up to Vancouver and then took the public trolley to the port that the cruise ship was leaving from.
From there we travelled 5 days up the coast to the city of Anchorage.
You will have many more options on which type of Alaska whale watching cruise you will want to take if you stop in Anchorage as opposed to other Alaskan cities.
This is because the population and tourism that comes through the city is much greater than any other Alaskan city; even the capital.
Once I was in Anchorage I had to walk around the local areas to find which of the available cruises were the best.
I had taken a few recommendations from the tourism guide that was on board the cruise line and decided to go with the top recommended one (which also happened to be the most expensive).
Because most of the reservations for the whale watching cruise were being taken by other people that came on the cruise ship with me it was pretty simple to get a spot.
I came on a weekday which provided much more space and time choices for the whale watching cruise.
I asked one of the workers when the best time to see whales was and he recommended the 1 PM time as this is generally a feeding time for the whales.
This would give us the greatest possibility to actual have a whale sighting (which apparently isn't as common as most companies seem to advertise).
I jumped on board and we departed right on time at 1 PM.
We had a short travel time of about 20 minutes to a location off the coast that was right on top of a daily travel path for the whales.
The crewmen threw a bunch of bait overboard to attract some fish and possibly other whales.
We waited about 45 minutes and still had no sign of any type of whale.
Many of the other customers were starting to become restless, but the captain assured us all that this was normal and many times it can take a couple hours.
Since the cruise was over in 15, I was hoping this wasn't the case.
Right when most of us had lost hope and just assumed we weren't going to be able to see anything spectacular, a sign of life came squirting out of the water as a whale exhaled a bunch of air out its blow hole.
All of the sudden we were surrounded by a family (or pod as they are correctly called) of 3 and everyone was snapping pictures as quickly as possible.
Even though the sighting only lasted about 2 minutes, it was completely worth the experience of seeing these magnificent creatures.
On the way back to port, the captain let us know how rare it was to see an entire pod this time of year.
Most females won't travel with their young around those waters generally due to the high amount of predators in the area.
I will never forget the experience of seeing the whales and highly recommend it to anyone who is on the fence of deciding whether or not to go.
An Alaskan whale watching cruise is a great way to experience wildlife and is a viable option for the entire family.
Not only will you see the vast and beautiful Alaskan coastline, you will be in areas that have a high concentration of whales which gives you the opportunity to see these magnificent creatures.
One of the most memorable life experiences I have ever had was while whale watching in Alaska; an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.
To even get up to Alaska, you either have to fly into the state or take a cruise up the Canadian coast.
The absolute best option is to take the cruise all the way up to the whale watching destination.
You will first have to plan which port you want to disembark from as there can be a few options depending on which cruise line you end up picking.
If you are looking for a longer cruise, then leaving from Seattle will be your best option as there a tons of different 14 day cruises that are available.
If a 7 day is more realistic, then leaving from Vancouver will most likely be your choice.
When I took my cruise, I flew up to Vancouver and then took the public trolley to the port that the cruise ship was leaving from.
From there we travelled 5 days up the coast to the city of Anchorage.
You will have many more options on which type of Alaska whale watching cruise you will want to take if you stop in Anchorage as opposed to other Alaskan cities.
This is because the population and tourism that comes through the city is much greater than any other Alaskan city; even the capital.
Once I was in Anchorage I had to walk around the local areas to find which of the available cruises were the best.
I had taken a few recommendations from the tourism guide that was on board the cruise line and decided to go with the top recommended one (which also happened to be the most expensive).
Because most of the reservations for the whale watching cruise were being taken by other people that came on the cruise ship with me it was pretty simple to get a spot.
I came on a weekday which provided much more space and time choices for the whale watching cruise.
I asked one of the workers when the best time to see whales was and he recommended the 1 PM time as this is generally a feeding time for the whales.
This would give us the greatest possibility to actual have a whale sighting (which apparently isn't as common as most companies seem to advertise).
I jumped on board and we departed right on time at 1 PM.
We had a short travel time of about 20 minutes to a location off the coast that was right on top of a daily travel path for the whales.
The crewmen threw a bunch of bait overboard to attract some fish and possibly other whales.
We waited about 45 minutes and still had no sign of any type of whale.
Many of the other customers were starting to become restless, but the captain assured us all that this was normal and many times it can take a couple hours.
Since the cruise was over in 15, I was hoping this wasn't the case.
Right when most of us had lost hope and just assumed we weren't going to be able to see anything spectacular, a sign of life came squirting out of the water as a whale exhaled a bunch of air out its blow hole.
All of the sudden we were surrounded by a family (or pod as they are correctly called) of 3 and everyone was snapping pictures as quickly as possible.
Even though the sighting only lasted about 2 minutes, it was completely worth the experience of seeing these magnificent creatures.
On the way back to port, the captain let us know how rare it was to see an entire pod this time of year.
Most females won't travel with their young around those waters generally due to the high amount of predators in the area.
I will never forget the experience of seeing the whales and highly recommend it to anyone who is on the fence of deciding whether or not to go.
An Alaskan whale watching cruise is a great way to experience wildlife and is a viable option for the entire family.
