Victoria Whale Watching Excursion Reviews

Another spectacular experience as we learned about the 3 resident pods. We came upon J Pod once we were near San Juan island (?). The oldest orca is over 100 years old and called Granny though she became a great grandmother the week before we arrived. Saw many many whales though likely the same ones over and over. Saw 2 breeches - they're impossible to capture on film but I got a splash and one in the air. Plenty of time to stay in town but we headed back to the ship and shopped dockside before getting back on.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

This excursion was both very good and a little disappointing. We did not get to see any whales which, of course, was the point of the trip. However, this is not the fault of the crew who did their best to find them out in the bay somewhere. The trip was a bit rough because of some cross-currents which made it harder to spot anything and a less comfortable trip. But, all of those things are out of the hands of the tour operators. It's just the luck of the draw sometimes.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

The tour company needs to re-name this tour to WHALE/MARINE LIFE VIEWING/CRUISE. We've been on several humpback whale viewings, and the name of this tour was Orca Whale-watching, & Wildlife Viewing. We were really thrilled at the thought of seeing Orcas up close/personal. We saw one humpback whale and got really close to it. It was feeding and an excellent viewing. Viewed it for an hour. Then we saw seals, sea-lions, and several elephant seals, but no Orcas. This was a three hr. tour, and WAY too crowded. We overheard that around 70 people were on the boat, and it had to be around that number. Now, the boat was nice and there was adequate seating, but not really adequate VIEWING. Whenever the captain ran the diesel engines, the fumes were unbearable. Everyone had to jockey around for space along the narrow viewing spaces, and there were some very rude children, constantly shoving by and not under their parents' supervision. As much as we did see, it was disappointing to us that: 1) They labelled the tour as though we'd have a HIGHER chance of seeing Orcas 2) The boat had such crowded, unpleasant viewing conditions.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

This was a fantastic tour on the fastest boats in Victoria. Eagle Wing whale watching is located on Fisherman's wharf on it is about a 10-15 minute walk from where the Jewel docked. However, we were slow in getting off the ship so Eagle Wing picked us up at the dock and drove us to Fishermans wharf. Having a fast boat is real advantage because they can cover more water in 2.5 hours than any one else. We saw harbor seals, california sea lions, elephant seals and observed a pod of killer whales for close to an hour. Great photo opportunities.

Provider: Independent Operator