Maui: Whale Watching from Ma'alaea Harbor

Great time. End if the season so we didn’t see any whales, but still fun.

AMAZING!!! From the staff, to the boat, to the fantastic whales (we saw dolphins too), to the photographer, my family and I had the best experience. The staff are all marine biologists, so super smart, funny, and knowledgeable. We got to listen to the whales sing to one another and we couldn't have been more pleased with our whale experience!

It was a wonderful trip. Great weather and the Pac Whale trips never disappoint! Since it is late in the season, I was prepared not to sight a whale. However, shortly after leaving the harbor, the naturalist on board spotted a calf on the surface, and Captain Doug immediately took us to the vicinity, and then, there was the mother whale with her calf on the surface. An overall great experience!

It was amazing! The staff were amazing and super knowledgeable! 10/10 would recommend!! We saw a mama with her baby and it was honestly magical. Thank you we had a wonderful time!!

Unforgettable! We lucked out by seeing 3 different babies breaching multiple times and coming close to the boat, w/their moms nearby. Even without this, we would have enjoyed the trip! The naturalist provided great info, the boat was comfortable, and the $$ supports the Pacific Whale Foundation. We were very happy to pay a little more knowing that the $$ supports PWF's work and that they are among the most responsible operators out there. Highly recommend!

Got to see whales, very knowledgeable staff.

We had an amazing trip yesterday. Saw multiple groups of whales, babies, moms and escorts. We were even lucky enough to see them breaching which was amazing. We also bought the professional photos which captured it better than we ever could.

Very knowledgeable and well organized. We saw many whales. The boat was clean. The crew took very good care of us.

We did have the opportunity to see a mother whale and her calf, which was special at first—but we spent about 45 minutes simply watching them float with very little activity. While the crew provided educational commentary, it felt like too much time was spent in one spot when we could have moved on to look for additional whales or more dynamic behavior. We later came across another mother and calf pair, along with an escort, but only spent about 20 minutes there before heading back to the harbor. The overall experience felt limited given the time and cost of the tour. Another frustration was the pricing for photos. Charging $40 for the group pictures and $50 to include whale photos felt excessive—especially after already paying a little over $300 for three people. At that price point, including at least one complimentary digital photo of the group would have gone a long way in improving the experience.

Did a tour on one of the bigger vessels, Ocean Guardian. If you have mobility issues, choose this one or Ocean Voyager. No issues with seasickness though it was a tad choppy. It was high whale watching season, and we saw several whales. A playful calf at the very beginning was the star. I was really happy with the seats we got, but I noticed some people parked their cameras in prime spots along the bow at the start and didn’t budge… some people were complaining. Beside the bow, the best views were on the starboard side. Service was fine, but it’s a huge group and not super personalized or luxurious, so I found the repeated announcements pushing for tips excessive. Once is fine, sure, but if it’s that critical to your livelihood consider raising rates and wages accordingly.