Princess Monterey Whale Watching Cruises

This was the second time we took a whale watching trip with this company. Last year, August 2010, proved to be exciting and filled with whales and plenty of dolphins. This time we brought another friend who had never been whale watching. And it was just a bad day for that. The weather was foggy, not uncommon for Monterey, but the fog never let up the entire time on the boat-at least not until we were nearly back in harbor. We were advised while waiting to board there were 10-ft groundswells and to be careful when we boarded because the boat would be more unstable due to that. Additionally, we were told that the other boats out there already had not seen any whales. After a little more than an hour, we arrived at the usual location for prime whale watching....but there were none around. No dolphins, no whales. The captain did stay in the area for a long time, and finally one of the other boats notified that they had spotted a whale. We went towards the other boat, and a single humpback whale finally made its presence known, by showing the hump. This happened two other times. I finally managed to see the 'hump' of that whale, on the other side of the boat, through the two windows of the cabin. One whale. It's perfectly understandable that these creatures do what they want, when they want and being on a whale watching excursion, we are told that we may or may not see whales. However-in this case, while ONE whale was indeed 'seen', it seems unfair that that one single whale fulfilled the obligation of the company to provide a true whale watching experience. With the extremely rough ocean, cold and foggy weather and no real whales (or dolphins) to be seen, I believe the company should have at least offered tickets to everyone who paid $35 for whale watching, to return another time. No questions asked, just a simple courtesy for a really bad day. So I have rated this trip/company as 'neutral' for this trip; not because it's a bad company to use (again-last year was great), but because they could have done better by all passengers by offering another trip out at another time.

Hey, The tour was a good experience, unfortunately we saw no whales, only dolphines. I'd never thought that the cruises makes me so sick! Unbelievable! Before I had never problems. So think about twice if you have problems like this. All in All without seeing whales it's too much money.

I know it's a crap shoot to find whales in the wide open Pacific but it seemed like from the comments of the biologist during the trip that it's pretty rare that they find them so I wouldn't call it a Whale Watching Trip. More like a possible dolphin hunt trip.

After hearing that humpback whales had been sighted for three days in a row prior to our visit, I was pretty excited that we would get to see some. There were no whales on our trip, however, just risso dolphins. I know that they are wild animals and don't always show up, but I was still pretty disappointed. So, buy tickets at your own risk, knowing that you may or may not see whales. It might just be an ocean boat ride.

We were unfortunate that we didn't see any whales however we did get to see wild dolphins, and the captain looked hard for whales but we were just unlucky. The boat was immaculately clean on deck and staff took good care of the couple of sea sick passengers. We had great fun and can definitely recommend Princess Monterey Whale Watching Cruises. Tips: take warm, layered clothing. Standing at the back of the boat was far less windy and was warmer too.

Very good coverage of the Monterey Bay. Although no whales, the ocean sunfish was a pleasant surprise, the rissos dolphins were fun and abundant to watch and some of the ocean waves were exhilarating.

The trip was very choppy with high swells. I would reccommend not eating a heavy meal before and take your anti motion sickness meds if you're at all prone to motion sickness. The dolphins were fun to watch and we did see a couple otters. We saw a humback whale but not very good views.

Although we did not see any whales, we did see plenty of Dolphin. The friendly staff is very knowledgeable, and happy to answer everyones questions. We had a fun time

very disappointing no whales

Great time, beautiful views. Don't read into what others are saying, it is nature and very unpredictable. The boat captain and staff makes every effort to make sure you see something. If you show up expecting to see the biggest whale, it's not going to happen. We showed up with minimal expectations and still had a blast. Saw humpback whales and dolphins. Beautiful day and the sights on the water were incredible. Dress warm with layers, it does get cold.

We had so much fun on this tour and learned SO much!

The trip was wonderful. Excitement for all ages. Princess cruise line for whale watching I would recommend anytime. The crew was great and narrator was so knowledgeable. Can't wait to go again.

Very friendly staff from the reservation with Zerve to the dockside staff to the boat crew. Great naturalist and exhilirating trip with great success seeing humpback whale and other wildlife, would recommend it to anyone.

Good informative shipcrew, talking and information about the area and the cruise. We saw humpbacks, dolphins and alot of sealions. Worth it

it was very good, good creww, good captain. please make sure you have taken motion sickness tablets if yo are in need of this. would go on again, fantastic experience