Princess Monterey Whale Watching Cruises

We tore out of port to meet up with two boats tracking four Orca's. Shortly after we joined three other boats showed up--total six. We all six pursued the four Orcas for at least 30 minutes. We then tore back into port so that a new group could be boarded. The crew was fine. Jose was very attentive and helpful. The naturalist tried to make it interesting. But at the end of the day, it seems like that the plan is to tear after whoever has a whale or other marine mammal in sight, follow it for a while and tear back to port to reload. We will not do it again. Nor would I recommend it to anyone.

the trip was much rougher than we expected. the 1 1/2 hour trip out of port was very bumpy even though we expected relatively calm seas. It was a beautiful day and the view of the coast was great. We saw plenty of otters/seals as we cruised out of Monterey, but once out to see, we didn't see much at all. Finally at the 90 minute mark, we had our first sighting of whales. We saw about 10 whales in all. The naturalist said 2 were blue whales, but they were too far away to get a good look. We had one good look at a humpback, but that was it. We don't blame the operator, their boat and personnel were fine, we just weren't too lucky. The return trip was much calmer, but again, no sighting on the return

The waters were quite rough so it must have taken longer to get to the final destination in order to see the whales. Then it seemed like we were watching for about 10 minutes and we had to head back. The price of this excursion seems quite high for the about of whale watching we got to do.

This was the first time my husband and I have been on the ocean! I bought sea bands ahead of time just incase we couldn't handle the motion of the waves. I put my on an hour a head of time and had no problem with getting sick or felling quizzy. My husband put his on when we got on the boat...he felt a little quizzy on the way out...but nothing that he couldn't handle. If you do get sea sick they recommend sitting at the back of the boat because the weight of the engine helps to lesson the impact from the waves. But, if you don't mind jumping the waves then the front of the boat is the best place to sit if you want a good view...but be prepared to get wet from the waves and bring layered clothes just like they recommend. I wore a t-shirt which I needed when we were close to land it was really hot the day we went. As we traveled out to sea I needed my sweater and then when we got way out there, I actually needed my jacket! I was comfortable to the whole time due to my layers! If you would like to hear the lady speaking you really need to sit right under a speaker. I was not very far from a speaker but couldn't hear anything! The wind and waves and the boat make too much noise to be able to hear anything unless you are right under a speaker...but I was okay with that. We saw an Orca (only the people on our side of the boat saw this. The captin didn't notice it and by time the speaker heard about it we were already passed...hopefully my pictures will turn out!!! We also saw a blue whale and a few humback whales. The whales gave us a really good show and lifted their tales out of the water a few time too! Thankfully the whales swam on both sides of the boat...Or I wouldn't have been able to see them. People ran up from behind and made it virtually impossible to see over their tall heads! So, I stayed near the front, on my side, and Praise the Lord, the whales came over there too!!! I got many wonderful pictures :) I'm so happy that my husband and I decided to take this trip. We had to travel a really far distance out to find the whales so we couldn't stay and look at them for too long. On the way back the ride was much smoother because we were traveling with the waves instead of against them. We saw a huge sea turtle, tons of seals, sea lions, and otters. Overall, this was a great trip and I would recommend going! We went at 10:00 a.m. on a Sat. I'm sure the weekends are more crowded, but we still had a wonderful experience!

We embarked on our whale watching voyage with hopes of seeing lots of whales, dolphins, etc. No fault of the ship, but we only saw one whale for any significant period of time. It felt worse because it was seen at the point where the ship had to turn around and go back. We had great weather for our 9:00am start, and picked the right day because the next day was really foggy in the morning. The crew was fine. Not much interaction, which didn't bother me. The lady on the microphone could have been more clear, but it's probably the fault of the equipment. Overall, it was fine. I'm glad we chose this outfit out of the many available, because the size of the boat kept the movement down to a bearable level (well, for most of us!).

Our trip turned out to be a whale hunt instead of watching but the trip was fun and the crew were very considerate. Much to our surprise because the whales were not discovered we were given a rain check to try again free of charge another day. We will be back.

Well at least we had a beautiful day and a nice time at Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. The whale watching however, was a dud as we saw not a single whale, dolphin or much else for that matter. I am not unrealistic and realize that Princess cannot control the actions of wild animals in nature but there alot of disappointed faces onborad on the way back in, nonetheless. The staff was very friendly and we were all offered a rain check to come back for another cruise. My girlfriend and I were only able to be there that day so we had to take what we got. In spite of our lack of luck I would recommend this activity as I had alot of fun anyway (I love being out on boats since I grew up on boats).

We loved our boat ride to see the whales. The staff was very knowledgeable and spot on when it came to locating the whales.

It was amazing, we saw a whale jumping out of the water! Cruised in perfect conditions, perfect weather for a morning on the sea. Thank you very much for this wonderful moments. Best regards from germany Andreas

We took the 10 am tour on Thurs. Sept. 23. An excellent experience overall (of course the weather could not have been any nicer that day!) Worth commenting on this particular tour - the crew was pleasant and watchful without being distracting. The marine biologist/naturalist on board was very informative and kept up a perfect pace of providing a lot of description and information then then being silent, again not being intrusive during the awe of actually watching 3 humpbacks repeatedly surface over about an 80 min. period. She also came down on deck and made herself available to people for questions about 3/4 of the way through the tour. The captain did a good job of trying to steer the boat to where there would be prime viewing.

The boat ride was very relaxing, the crew was very nice and friendly. We had a beautiful weather, too. Although we had some trouble finding whales in the beginning, the crew manager to find them so we took a few pictures. They were a little far from the boat, but we still had a unique experience.

Took the first boat out for the day. Got a late start, about 15 minutes but the cruise lasted 3 hours. It took a long time to get to the whales, but it was exciting when we got to see them. Some of the whales were very close so we could get some good pictures. It was nice to see that they provided coats for people who did not dress properly. It gets a bit cold on the ocean. Sea sick pills were also available for a nominal fee and we got there 30 minutes early, so I could take a pill right away and there was another just in case. People were able to move about the boat to get a good view of the whales and everyone was very pleasant.

I thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride out. Riding the waves was awesome!! My husband not as much. He was a bit cold. Once we got to the whale siting area, we did see some humpbacks, but mostly just that the humpbacks. I know the boats need to be careful so as to not harm or scare the animals and it was an awesome site to see these creatures. I just wish the captain had gone a bit further out to see the breaching whale that was doing all the tricks. We also, only stayed like 10-15 minutes. It would have been nice to have stayed longer. The captain said lets go find our own whales, but headed back and we saw no others. I will take one more trip to see if I can see the spectacle of nature breaching the water or the big blue whales, orca's or even dolphins. I am not soured yet to the excursion.

everyone should do this. you will never see anything so beautiful in your life.

sept,19 , We saw three humpback whales and were able to watch and take photos for 20 minutes or so and we also saw a group of reese (spelling ?) dolphins . Would take the tour again . The crew and staff were very nice .