What‘s Included

What To Expect

Reviews

• Whale watching paradise!!

  carl gibbo1976,

  Nov 13, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  THE highlight of many during our cruise to Alaska. A lovely welcoming family, with a great knowledge and enthusiasm for the local wildlife, we were taken by small boat into the whales paradise of Hoonah. Saw so many humpbacks and Orcas. A mind blowing experience!. We also took a whale watching tour in Juneau on a larger boat, which was enjoyable but with so many people on board was difficult to get a good viewing position at times, but this tour was on a completely different level! If we make it back one day we won’t hesitate to book again, thank you so much Shawn and Family! 🤩

  

• Bucket list - big ticket!

  Venture550068,

  Oct 5, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Excellent trip. We were met at the cruise port and taken into Hoonah to pick up the boat. There were 14 passengers in total, so not cramped, we all had plenty of space to walk around the boat without getting in anyone’s way. We were first treated to the ‘Killer Queens’ a pair of female Orcas who stayed around the boat for a while. Here we saw sea otters absolutely oblivious to the killers below! Then after another few minutes we encountered Humpbacks where amazingly one breached in front of the boat - stuff of dreams! We saw more Orcas & Humpbacks during our trip out - simply amazing. The only thing wrong was it went too quickly! It’s a small family run business who deserve to be credited for the amazing trip they provided.

  

  

  

• Whale trip

  John Campbell726,

  Sep 28, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  I cannot recommend this excursion enough. Beautiful clean boat, with the nicest family from start to finish. They really care about their customers, to ensure a great time. Clean boat, snacks, bathroom.

  

• Excellent tour!

  TampaChristopher,

  Sep 23, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  This tour came highly recommended by some veteran cruise friends and it did not disappoint! The company is owned and operated by the nicest family you can imagine and they take great pride and care in delivering an excellent experience. The guides (sons in the family) were extremely knowledgeable and knew where exactly to go to assure we saw a good number of whales. As a bonus, we came across an Orca pod which was an unexpected treat. All around, an excellent choice for 1st time and returning Alaska visitors.

• The “Whale Whisperers”

  JenRN87,

  Sep 21, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Booked this tour during a stop in Icy Strait while cruising on Royal Caribbean. Wanted a more intimate experience, with higher chance of seeing whales. The online reviews steered me to Glacier Winds, and boy were they right! Family run business (mom picked us up at the ship, and the brothers took us out on the boat). The one brother has a masters in marine sciences, and we called him “the whale whisperer”, as he knew exactly where to go to locate them, knew so much about them, and so passionate about whales, wildlife and growing up in Hoonah. We saw sooo many…incredible experience! Only 13 people on our very safe, sturdy and smooth 2 level aluminum boat. Plenty of room for everyone to have excellent views! Family members who booked excursion through RC were very jealous, as they barely saw whales….can’t recommended this business enough, fantastic!!!

  

  

  

  

  

• An incredible whale watching trip!

  693neils,

  Sep 20, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  We had an incredible while watching trip with Sean and Kyle from Glacier Wind Charters in mid September. First we encountered 3 Orcas hunting near the shore line, got to watch them pretty close up, then Kyle took the boat across the bay to where humpback whales had been spotted. We watched several of these magnificent beats diving and saw the iconic view of their tails as they dove down. To finish, we crossed the bay again to follow 3 Orcas, who swam right up to and under the boat! A brilliant experience, never to be forgotten.

  

  

• Amazing tour and people

  ERIC W,

  Sep 17, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  This was our 4th excursion with the wonderful local family that owns and operates this company. They make everyone feel like family. Their love for the area is contagious. Small boat and we saw too many whales to count. We watch bubble net feeding over and over again. Always an amazing time!!

• Perfect you prefer a smaller size tour

  Climber67752131888,

  Sep 15, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Communication was great, the brothers on the boat were great, small size group, loved all of that. Only disappointment was they said they couldn't get within 100 yards of the whale, but other boats went closer. They're good people and loved supporting their family's business.

• An abundance of whales

  SCOTTSROSE,

  Sep 6, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Great company to deal with. Firstly, our cruise ship was arriving to port at 1:30pm. The tour was 2:30pm. I was concerned as we had to walk to the gondola, ride it to the other side, and then walk to the meeting area. With a lot of people trying to get off the ship at the first available moment I was concerned there would be a long line up for the gondola and we wouldn’t make the meeting location 10 minutes early as requested. Glacier Wind Charters assured me there would be ample time. The walk to the gondola is only about 5 minutes from the dock (Wilderness Landing), the gondola was only about 6 minutes, and the walk to the excursion hub pickup another 6minutes. They gave excellent directions and was there early. Now the real story. This is a family business. Teresa picked us up (5 in our group) in a large van and drove us to Hoonah’s fishing dock. Then we boarded the boat with Shawn as our guide. We went for a short cruise into a bay surrounded by mountains. It wasn’t long before we found a large pod of humpbacks going about their day. We watched them come up sometimes mouths open and swim showing off their tails. The only thing that didn’t happen on this day was a breach. For a full 3 hours we watched them come up for a few minutes, then go back under for about 5 minutes only to emerge somewhere else to do it all over again. We had fun spotting the next emergence from the water. It was a beautiful hot sunny day so no bear sightings on the shore as Shawn explained, they usually stay in the cover of the forest when it’s that hot out. We couldn’t have had a better tour guide experience. Very nice family. A truly amazing day.

• Amazing excursion

  sugardoc18,

  Sep 3, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  This is a family operation and a small boat for a very personalized experience. They are extremely knowledgeable and informative. They were able to get us close to the whales, but we’re very cognizant of the need to be considerate of the environment. They were very accessible on the phone and were able to coordinate with a different excursion so that we were able to make both happen. We had a great time. We would definitely do this again.

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