New England Aquarium Whale Watch Cruise from Boston, MA

Literally amazing!! We saw I think about twelve whales in total and at one point we were surrounded by 5 or 6. I got incredible pictures and we were so excited by the experience. Crew was great, informative, and very caring for the people who were seasick. For anyone reading this, take Dramamine. I don’t care if you never get seasick, take it. People watching for the 1 hour drive out to the sanctuary was almost as fun as watching the whales when we got there. People sweating bullets, stumbling to the back with dog bags, and vomiting. And this was on a really good sea day! Enjoyed so much thanks for the experience

My wife and I decided to go on this whale watch tour. It was great. We only saw one humpback whale but several times over about an hour. It was amazing. Well worth the trip. We also saw a sunfish (huge mula mula fish) sunny on the surface and some people saw a great white shark off the front of the boat. A couple of things to stress about the trip: 1) Dress warmly! I don't care how warm it is on land once you are moving at 35 knots over open water it is COLD! 2) Arrive early to get in line. Boarding is 15 minutes prior to departure. Be there an hour before if you want good seats on the top deck for the best views. A lot of fun and worth a half day of your trip to Boston.

We ended up seeing a young whale in the Boston harbor and never actually made it out to the site we were supposed to boat to that was an hour away. Seemed a little excessive to stay in the harbor for 2.5 hrs following the same poor whale around. Other cruises that departed after us looked at the whale then left. While it was exciting to see a whale, it was a major disappointment. Would have loved to see more. Would I go again? Idk.

This was a bucket list experience as well as an anniversary trip so expectations may have been a little high but here is a note to think about when booking this experience. After reading other reviews that discussed the best views (upper deck) for seeing the whales, my wife and I arrived an hour early to be one of the first in line. We were the second couple in line. As it drew closer to the boarding time the line was extensively long so we were very happy that we arrived early. Upon boarding, it was mentioned by a staff member that the ship was filled to capacity. We were happy that we were able to get a front row seat at the upper deck of the ship and was very excited that we were in a position to get some good views of any whales that we would see on this venture. You should be aware that there is a section of the upper deck that is roped off that you cannot access. We were unsure why this was until the ship's staff spotted whales. Immediately we realized that this section was roped off for the staff (four staff members on our trip) to point out where the whales are. As the whales are spotted, the ship turns to keep a good view for the staff members to see the whales. One staff member was providing education (which was appreciated) about the whales and two staff members where taking pictures of the whales while another staff member was tracking information about the whales on a clipboard. Because the ship was in a position at all times for the view of these staff members, it gave us very little opportunity to take our own pictures. We had more pictures and videos of the staff than we did the whales unfortunately. You should also note that once the ship spotted the whales (two - mom and calf), it did not go beyond this point. We watched the movements of these same two whales for about 30 minutes before going back to Boston Harbor. You should also note that there is a capacity limit to the upper deck portion of the ship and it should have been locked off or monitored in some manner for those who arrived early to obtain the upper level seats because once the whales were spotted, several people from the lower decks came up to the upper deck overcrowding the upper deck (far beyond capacity) and it led to people pushing their way to see the whales and parents pushing their kids in to see the whales and made it impossible to obtain pictures when kids and adults were pushing from behind. Overall, not the experience I was expecting. Very disappointing. Some other notes to think about - do wear a sweatshirt or light jacket if you are thinking about riding on the upper deck of the ship - the day was 88 degrees and as the ship was heading out to sea and back to the Harbor, the sea breeze was quite chilly. Also, not mentioned in any other review that I read, the crew does stand outside the ship with a bucket for tips upon your exit from the cruise. We do not carry cash so we were not in a position to give a tip to the crew. Had we known, we would have at least given something for the experience.

We loved this cruise! We weren't sure if we'd get to see any whales but when purchasing the tickets, they assured us that if we didn't see any whales then we could return the next day for free. Lucky for us, we saw approximately 12 humpback whales, which was a fantastic experience! It takes at least an hour to get to the whale sanctuary so if you're prone to motion sickness, be aware. There were quite a few people on the boat who got sick so take preventative medication BEFORE the boat heads out.