Alaska - Kenai Fords NP Tour

I will be spending a two days in Seward in late July, and it seems the major activity there is to take a 6+ hour boat tour.

Two years ago during a cruise in the southeast, I took a 6 hour boat tour to Tracy Arm (well, it ended up being Endicott Arm due to ice). We saw wildlife and spent time reasonably close to a glacier and saw/heard lots of glacier calving. We had a great time. Allen Marine ran the tour.

My question is, is there much point in spending the money doing a 6 hour boat tour in Kenai NP? My inclination is to not do this boat tour because it would seem to be very similar to my previous tour in Endicott Arm. I fully recognize that there is no such thing as "too much" wildlife viewing and glacier calving, but I'm trying to allocate my time and money wisely.

For anyone familiar with both areas, are there compelling reasons to do the Kenai NP boat tour?
Thanks.

Yes, a Kenai Fjords trip is well worth your time. I've been to Tracy Arm/Endicott and Kenai Fjords and you might call it an apples and oranges comparison. You should see much more wildlife on the 6 hours Kenai Fjords trip, particularly when you go to the Chiswell Islands.
You'll also visit either the Aialik or Holgate Glaciers and probably get much closer than you could at Tracy Arm.

While in Seward, don't miss a drive/trip to Exit Glacier as well as the Alaska Sealife Center.

Just did the Kenai Fjords 6-hour tour. Actually, it was only a 4 hour tour beacuse rough seas kept us away from the glaciers. They refunded $50 per purchased ticket for the shortened trip.

Very worthwhile, and I've done many other boat trips in Alaska. Excellent wildlife, including whales, goats, sea lions, sea otters, puffins, seals, bald eagles, etc. The trip felt like 2 hours max!

Get a copy of a toursaver book (perhaps used on ebay) and go 2 for 1. I agree it might not be worth it at full price.

I did the Kenai Fjords six-hour tour with Major Marine on the M/V Glacier Express this past weekend. I was a little disappointed in the wildlife that we saw, and especially that we did not encounter any orcas or bald eagles. We did see a school of porpoises, a humpback whale, some sea otters, a number of puffins, and a mountain goat. The only glacier we stopped at was the Aialik Glacier, although that was certainly worthwhile.

The boat was fine. We skipped the $19 prime rib/salmon buffet and grabbed some tasty sandwiches from the bakery next to Subway to bring on board, which I believe was a good decision. Next time, I think I will try cruising Prince William Sound instead.

I did the Kenai Fjords six-hour tour with Major Marine on the M/V Glacier Express this past weekend. I was a little disappointed in the wildlife that we saw, and especially that we did not encounter any orcas or bald eagles. We did see a school of porpoises, a humpback whale, some sea otters, a number of puffins, and a mountain goat. The only glacier we stopped at was the Aialik Glacier, although that was certainly worthwhile.

The boat was fine. We skipped the $19 prime rib/salmon buffet and grabbed some tasty sandwiches from the bakery next to Subway to bring on board, which I believe was a good decision. Next time, I think I will try cruising Prince William Sound instead.

I must be easy to please! Maybe it was a bad day! I thought our day was fantastic. We were on a much less crowded boat & enjoyed all close up observations as the boats shared their sightings. Free use of binoculars.We opted for good hot dogs rather than a big lunch

I just came back from a Tracy Arm and LeConte Glacier tours in SE Alaska and next month I am doing a 6 hour Kenai Fjords tour in Seward. As was stated, they really are different.

On the Kenai Fjords tours, you see whales about 50% of the time (usually humpbacks, occasionally orcas - last year we saw a breaching humpback!), a glacier (usually calving, spending about 1/2 hour at the glacier), and various types of marine wildlife (sea lions, sea otters, puffins and more). I find the KF tours excellent. I have taken them several times in the past and will do it whenever I am in Seward. The 2-for-1 coupons really make them affordable too.

I just came back from a Tracy Arm and LeConte Glacier tours in SE Alaska and next month I am doing a 6 hour Kenai Fjords tour in Seward. As was stated, they really are different.

On the Kenai Fjords tours, you see whales about 50% of the time (usually humpbacks, occasionally orcas - last year we saw a breaching humpback!), a glacier (usually calving, spending about 1/2 hour at the glacier), and various types of marine wildlife (sea lions, sea otters, puffins and more). I find the KF tours excellent. I have taken them several times in the past and will do it whenever I am in Seward. The 2-for-1 coupons really make them affordable too.

Yeah, we saw a humpback breach several times. Really extraordinary wildlife viewing on these trips. At 2 for 1, I'd go every time I was in Seward.

I know that I must really be easy to please - anytime that you see a whale in its natural environment is a truly amazing experience.

I've taken the Kenai Fjords National Park cruise every year for the past twelve years and have never been disappointed. I have seen humpbacks fifty percent of the time and orcas eighty percent of the time.

On our last KFNP cruise in June 2010, we saw two humpbacks swimming and two different pods of orcas. We purposely took the longer trip on the slower boat so that we would have more opportunities to see wildlife. It was amusing and a little sad that we spotted our second pod of orcas at the same time as the announcement was broadcast that dessert was being served - most of the people on board were more interested in eating than in seeing orcas. We enjoyed our up-close and uncrowded experience with the orcas and commiserated with the crew members who were also flabbergasted that people would select jello, brownies, and carrot cake over orcas.

I have yet to see a humpback breach in Alaska so those of you who were fortunate to see the acrobatics are extremely lucky. I have seen hundreds of humpback breaches in Maui including: 54 breaches in a row from a baby whale; 20 triple breaches from a mother, boyfriend, and baby; and adult breaches 10 feet from our 35 foot zodiac (yes we got wet). I have also been to the remote areas of Baja and touched gray whales - the mothers like to introduce their babies to people.

I have yet to see a humpback breach in Alaska so those of you who were fortunate to see the acrobatics are extremely lucky.

I have been extremely fortunate in seeing humpbacks breach in Alaska. Even saw a double breach in Juneau two years ago, just didn't catch it with my camera.

Three of my favorite whale photos:

Humpback breaching on a Kenai Fjords tour:
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnn.photos/AlaskaJune2009SewardDenaliFairbanksWrangellStElias NPValdezAndMore#5357672624497250818

Humpback breaching in Sitka:
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnn.photos/SitkaHainesNovember2008#5269404964744223634

Orca whales "spyhopping":
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnn.photos/AlaskaJuly2008#5223980916975318002

It was amusing and a little sad that we spotted our second pod of orcas at the same time as the announcement was broadcast that dessert was being served - most of the people on board were more interested in eating than in seeing orcas. We enjoyed our up-close and uncrowded experience with the orcas and commiserated with the crew members who were also flabbergasted that people would select jello, brownies, and carrot cake over orcas.

It is pretty amazing sometimes. That is why I never base my tours on what food is being served. Major Marine has their salmon/prime rib buffet. I would never pay for that, knowing I am more interested in what is in the water than the food. And I would not want to try to be thinking, "Am I getting my money's worth for what I paid for the food?" :)

Thank you for posting the whale photos! If I ever figure out how to post photos here, I will. The spyhopping orcas were incredible. I had one of my best orca viewings in Alaska a few years ago; even our Park Ranger naturalist stated that it was one of his best encounters. I was really pleased because it was on the trip where I took my father to Alaska and he was able to enjoy the orcas; he passed away a year after the trip. Now when I see the orca pods in the Kenai Fjords, I get a little emotional.

On one of our gray whale adventures, we had tons of them spyhopping all around us; they raise their heads and about 1/4 of their bodies out when they spyhop. One of the ladies in our group called it skyhopping and we agreed that term was descriptive.

I was so lucky this past April in Maui; I finally remembered to take my ten-year old disposable underwater camera with me to Maui; it had six photos left from a snorkle trip in Maui in 2000. We were in a 35-foot zodiac and a mother and baby swam over to us. I leaned over the boat and stuck my camera in the water, screamed "smile" and "work-it!" at the whales, and snapped away. I had the film developed two weeks ago and was totally shocked because of the four photos that I took, I had two almost perfectly-centered shots of the mother and the calf and two shots of the mother alone.

On any kind of ocean excursion, I spend all of my time on the deck no matter how bad the weather. I do not even take time out to use the facilities. I am just dumbfounded when I see people sleeping, reading, or just sitting inside the whole trip.