Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co — Attraction in Bar Harbor

We couldn’t be happier with our whale watching tour! They provide plenty of info ahead of time and make the boarding process easy. Yes, if you plan on being outside the cabin, you need multiple layers even in sunny July. Our trip started out slow - we couldn’t find anywhere to sit (people were ‘holding’ seats with their bags, umbrellas, etc). Eventually we found a spot at the front of the boat where we could stand outside. We saw a harbor porpoise, seals from afar, some pelagic birds, puffins, and TWO humpback whales. At first it was kind of lackluster, we wasted a lot of time following a shy juvenile which just seemed to want to get away from the boat. Honestly, I think the boat may have been stressing it out - which I do not like. However later, we came across the adult male Patches who put on an absolute show! He rolled around, flapped his fins, and whacked his tail. He seemed to enjoy our presence, enjoy showing off, and seemed to know we were no threat. Although the boat cannot ‘chase’ the whales, the whales can come up to the boat - and this one did! I had no idea that whales were so charismatic. Since we got home we have been reading all about them. The price for this tour was steep. At $90 a person, you’re paying a premium with the promise it’s a once in a lifetime experience. I think they delivered, and I appreciated having the researchers and naturalists on board who gave great commentary. We learned a lot. My only note would be that for $90, people expect to be able to find a seat, and the sold-out tour made that extremely difficult, especially with people sprawling out to lay across multiple seats or saving seats for others. Furthermore, the team was not able to give us info about Patches despite being able to identify him because their iPad went down. Despite reaching out for the info after the tour, I never heard back. It’s a shame because my friends and family who see our photos are curious to know...

Good customer service and recommended by the national Park service. We originally scheduled a puffin and lighthouse tour for 9:30 AM on a foggy day and it was canceled. The company said they would email if a cancellation occurred within 30-60 minutes and they did so at the one hour mark. They also made abundantly clear that my refund would be automatic and is something I don't have to worry about calling them to get, which is great. We chose to book a different tour at 10:30 AM Tour for watching them pull some lobster traps and learning a little more about crab and lobster and then boating over to egg rock to see the Egg Rock lighthouse as well as hundreds of gray and brown seals on the island.

When I checked in for my new tour, I inquired about puffin tours, even though I knew from looking online, there was none available for my last day here in Maine. But between the time I checked, and the time I checked in with the front desk they had open the puffin and lighthouse tour up to a larger boat and had seats available so I was able to book my puffin tour for the following day.

This was a quick and fun trip and I would recommend this for those who may not want to be on a boat for more than a few hours. We went on a day when the seas were very calm, but the fog was very heavy so the photos are foggy and or grainy. Our naturalist Samantha did an excellent job as well as Captain Scott. We learned a lot about lobster traps, birds, seals and so on. We went on to Egg Rock Island and saw the light house. This tour was fun and educational. we also got to pass around and hold a lobster with his claws rubber banded.

They have a gift/merch shop and so hand warmers, hoodies, Dramamine, which is handy if you're not prepared. The restrooms were also very clean, and the place was organized and...

My family (husband and 8 year old) had a wonderful time on this cruise. There was fairly heavy fog in the morning, I called ahead and they said so far they were planning on going out.

When we arrived, the fog on shore had burned off - but they announced over the loudspeakers MANY times that conditions off shore were going to be at least patchy fog, if not worse. They also offered MANY times that if anyone wanted to reschedule for another time, to please speak to them.

My family chose to go as scheduled and had a wonderful time. It was almost completely foggy, but we still got to see the lighthouses, seals, puffins, razorbills, and muirs (we are birders) once up close, and felt the fog kind of added to the New England vibes.

We had given my daughter dramamine before the trip, to help ward off motion sickness. While we were sailing, she fell sound asleep on my lap for a bit. At one point an employee came over, smiling, and said "just checking to make sure she's not seasick and doesn't need any crackers or ginger ale". We assured her she was just napping, but really appreciated the care/concern.

Our naturalist who was the narrator for the trip was VERY friendly and passionate her job.

I will say the people on the top deck were very cold, wet, and facing high winds in the fog - but we had opted for a cozy booth inside the cabin and would make that choice again in...