Ketchikan - Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour & Whale Watching

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I'm hoping someone that has done both of these adventures can give me their honest opinion - or if you've done the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour that's what I'm really looking for!

We are sailing in August and this is our 2nd cruise to Alaska. We didn't get the chance to do a whale watching on the first sailing so we are definitely doing a private tour with another family on our cruise with Rum Runners which is already booked in Juneau.

I also booked the Bering Sea Tour in Ketchikan directly with them as it was cheaper since my DS is a "child" in their pricing and it saved a decent chunk to do so but with that said the total for us was $447.00.

Even back in 2014 people raved about the Bering Sea Tour and still today they get 5 stars on Trip Advisor and they are the #1 rated adventure/tour. With that being said - did any of you feel that because you did the private whale watching elsewhere the Bering Sea was on the cheesy side and made you feel like you didn't need to spend the money? If people genuinely love it I don't want to regret not doing it as I'm not sure if/when we will return to Alaska but the ones who loved it perhaps they didn't do a private whale watching as well, not sure.

I'm debating on canceling the Bering Sea Tour to save some money and I can get a full refund back to my c/c. I need to be sure of it (so I'm in no rush) since our date 8/13/16 is already sold out with them.

Thanks for any *honest* advice

Heather

 

[anricat]

Oh man, I feel like I recently read a trip report where the people did this. I'm going to dig around and see if I can find it. I've been obsessively reading trip reports lately.

 

[anricat]

The last post in this thread, the poster did both: http://www.disboards.com/threads/wh...-sea-crab-in-ketchikan.3441303/#post-54299593

It doesn't look like they have a trip report so that isn't who I was thinking of. I feel like the poster of the trip report did both though. I'll keep digging.

 

[anricat]

I wish there were a way JUST to search the trip report forum. It seems that I can only limit my search to the DCL specific forum, but not the trip report forum. Grrr.

(Off topic, but probably why I can't find this person's TR.)

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

The last post in this thread, the poster did both: http://www.disboards.com/threads/wh...-sea-crab-in-ketchikan.3441303/#post-54299593

It doesn't look like they have a trip report so that isn't who I was thinking of. I feel like the poster of the trip report did both though. I'll keep digging.

That's exactly my plan so that was perfect and the person who did both clearly felt they were different experiences and that's my thought too. I lean more to keeping both (which really means Bering Sea Tour). I know what you mean about the trip reports

Thank you!
Heather

 

[quickcat]

We just did both, with Rum Runners and the Bering Sea Crab, this past June. I have to say, honest opinion, both were great. The Bering Sea was better than expected. It is heated which is very nice. They do a great job with their presentation and their stories are interesting.
Rum Runners was top notch. He does have a dog, so if you are not a dog person, just let him know before. But my kids LOVED the dog, she was highlight for my two of my three kids Brandi is his dogs name, my kids still talk about her!
His boat is heated which again, is very nice. We got very close to a whale...right by the boat and we watched a whale with her calf too. The eagles he takes you to are also really neat, we have some incredible pictures. I did like that he also told us some very interesting things about whales that we didn't know- I wasn't expecting to learn much but really I did
But if we had to pick one, my family would pick Rum Runners.

I did get a tip from the boards a while back that said to do your shopping in Ketchikan, that is was the least expensive for sweatshirts, etc and we definitely found that to be true. I am glad I did my souvenir shopping in Ketchikan because it was definitely cheaper.
Have a great trip!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

We just did both, with Rum Runners and the Bering Sea Crab, this past June. I have to say, honest opinion, both were great. The Bering Sea was better than expected. It is heated which is very nice. They do a great job with their presentation and their stories are interesting.
Rum Runners was top notch. He does have a dog, so if you are not a dog person, just let him know before. But my kids LOVED the dog, she was highlight for my two of my three kids Brandi is his dogs name, my kids still talk about her!
His boat is heated which again, is very nice. We got very close to a whale...right by the boat and we watched a whale with her calf too. The eagles he takes you to are also really neat, we have some incredible pictures. I did like that he also told us some very interesting things about whales that we didn't know- I wasn't expecting to learn much but really I did
But if we had to pick one, my family would pick Rum Runners.

I did get a tip from the boards a while back that said to do your shopping in Ketchikan, that is was the least expensive for sweatshirts, etc and we definitely found that to be true. I am glad I did my souvenir shopping in Ketchikan because it was definitely cheaper.
Have a great trip!

Thank you! This seems very consistent what others have stated and the continually high marks for both experiences So glad you enjoyed both of them and we are excited indeed. I agree with you on the shopping in Ketchikan and the Christmas store at the pier was pretty cool!

Thanks again - I really appreciate it!
Heather

 

[quickcat]

We took my mother-in-law with us and she was certain she wasn't do the Bering Sea Crab tour. She said she never really watched the show and what she seen, she didn't like it I lied....I told her we couldn't get our money back so she'll have to just come along.
I had to laugh because she loved it! She said thanks for making her go. I think its one of those tours where you go in thinking it might be kind of cheesy, and you don't have too much of an expectation and then you're pleasantly surprised. They do a great job with their stories and really go out of their way to make sure people are having a good time. We did not do the dinner with the crew...we just did the tour so I cannot comment on that part if you have that added on.
Anyway, have a great time- you are lucky you are going again- hopefully we'll make it up that way again someday

 

[bksaffle]

We went on the Bering Sea Crab tour (booked it directly with them), and my kids (both 11 at the time) loved it. The crew does a great job explaining everything and allowing people to hold and touch the different creatures (our favorite was the octopus). They also had jackets, but we ended up having nice weather so the heaters onboard were enough. We went to "Eagle Island" and it was amazing to see so many bald eagles flying around us. It was a great time and we were glad we did this excursion.

 

[clten]

We've done both the whale watching and the Bering Sea tour and they are very different experiences. The Bering Sea tour is more about the story-telling, which they do a great job of, it just happens to take place out on the water. The wildlife (crabs) you see are there just to enhance the story-telling. The whale watching is about being out on the water and seeing the wildlife.

When we did the Bering Sea tour we went back and forth beforehand about whether it would be worth the money or not (several of our group were not Deadliest Catch fans and several were first time cruisers that thought they could do something more "Alaska-y" instead). Once the experience was over, no one questioned the time or money spent because everyone enjoyed it immensely!