Princess Monterey Whale Watching Cruises

Whale watching is not for the weak at stomach especially following a large storm. The water was very choppy to say the least, but the day was beautiful none the less. The ship and crew were wonderful and very helpful to those in need. As for whales, the only thing to be found was a school of dolphins (cute), not from lack of trying to locate them though. No other boat in the area spotted any either. We did get a rain check for a future trip which was nice. All in all I think the trip was great! (I being the only one in my group not to get sick). I would come back again on a calmer day.

Don't get me wrong. We actually had quite a bit of fun. Our family doesn't get seasick, even with the rough water, so we loved the stomach-dropping bouncing through the waves. Some others didn't. It was really cold, we had strong winds, and there were no whales. The PA system didn't work well so we only heard half of what the tour guide was explaining about the sea life and the bay. If you really want to see whales, then you need to try a different time of the year...early April isn't it!

First, I want to say that I am writing this review 5 days after our trip (so I have had some time to recover). I have been whale watching twice before in my life (out of Long Beach on much larger boats). I have also been on a family ski boat many times (only in fresh water lakes). Never before, have I gotten sea sick. The waters were very rough the day we went out. WELL over half the people on the ship had some form of sea sickness because of the rough waters. At least 1/3 of the passengers were leaning over the rails vomiting - repeatedly. I asked one of the crew memebers if these waters were normal, and he said, "no." I understand they want to make money, but safety and well being of the passengers should come first. I would be very surprised to find anyone on that ship who would recommend it. It is made very clear, when you buy the tickets that the only way to get a refund or rescheduled trip is if the company cancels the trip. I can only say that they must really not care about repeat customers and would rather keep the money, than have to risk rescheduling or refunding customers. The only positive thing I can say about the trip is that the crew member I spoke with was very nice. He was constantly trying to help everyone on the ship get to as comfortable a spot as possible; unfortunately that is just not enough to make me ever want to go back. In addition, no one my group (2 families with teens) ever wants to go again. The teens, who had never been whale watching before have all said they will never go again. This was something that SHOULD have been a great memory for them.

Seas way to rough to enjoy anything. Never saw a whale because standing up was nearly impossible due to rough seas. My husband and I cruise all the time and have never gotten sick. We have been whale watching in Baja several times so we thought doing it in Monterey over Easter week would be fun. NOT!!!!!! Perhaps there is a better time of year to do this but doesn't really matter as we will never do it again in Monterey or advise others to do. The crewman who walked the boat and asked everyone how they were was nice but what a job!!!!

i hardly see whael even though they call whael watching ,waste of my money just pay for ride ,just see couple dolphine , ocean was exteremly wavy terrible ,i wish i could get at least some credit back ,

I took my 7 year old granddaughter to "see the whales". She loved it we were able to see both Grey whales and a pod of Orcas. They were beautiful. The only drawback was the temperature. When they say to dress in layers, do it!! It was quite chilly on the boat.

We didn't see any whales from close up. The entire time, we only saw some whales from extremely far distance. I was quite dissapointed because I was expecting more. The guide mentioned the best month for whale watching would be August. Perhaps those who wants to try should go only in late August. Else be prepared to be watching small tiny flaps from far far away...Don't think I'll go again..

We really enjoyed this trip, the seas were calm, the day was beautiful. The naturalist walked around the boat after the whale siting and answered questions. She was very informative. The only problem was the sound system on the boat could have been better, a couple speakers were not working and it was hard to hear at the begining of the trip and as we were coming upon the whales.

If you enjoy visiting an acuarium, this is much more exciting because you can observe animals in their natural habitat. We saw some sea lions, lots of ducks and also four or five wales. It was really exciting and we took a lot of pictures.

We really loved being out there and our guide was really great. She got the kids excited in seen some whales. Thanks for the great adventure Briscoe Group

Each member of my group said our trip whale watching was the best event we'd ever done together. We are excited to go again as soon as we can!

We had a wonderful time whale watching. It was a beautiful day that we will all remember. We were able to see numerous gray whales and got lots of great pictures. I do recommend taking some med's before hand, because quite a few people became ill and didn't look too happy. We came prepared and had saltines and ginger candies which really seemed to help. Also, try to stay outside in the fresh air. We had 3 children with us, ages 10, 7, and 6 they all had a wonderful time!

Had a great time!

i feel since we only saw 3 whales and they were so far away, that it wasn't worth the money we spent

Celebrating our daughter's birthday with our family, all adults. Had a wonderful time and couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. The trip was a blast!