7 Seas Whale Watch

The whales were out in feeding frenzies. Lots of mother/​calf pairs. Lots of surface activity. breaching, pec fin slapping, close to boat activity. Bubble feeding. The on-​board naturalist was very knowledgable and shared a ton of info. We saw several bird species as well. We saw tons of humpbacks, a few minke whales and 1 Finback whale. Overall a great experience. I would go back the next opportunity I have.

We had such a wonderful time with 7 Seas Whale Watch today! Unbelievable number of whales and they were all around us for so long! So exciting! Their crew and their naturalist were first rate! Educational but definitely not boring! We’re already looking forward to next time!

Ansolutely magical. This was a fantastic experience-​informative narration, numerous gee-​whiz facts, and of course outsanding viewing! Thank you!

I could talk about the whales, but that will vary from trip to trip. In our case, we saw at least 10 humpback whales, including a pod of 4 and one that repeatedly breached — at least 20 times — and waved with his fins. What won’t change is the professionalism and all around awesomeness of the crew. It was a rocky trip, with 10-​foot swells, resulting in my dramamine being completely ineffective. Crew Member Matt took special care to continuously check up on me, going insane measures above and beyond. I was as much in awe of his caring nature as I was of the whales. Both almost brought me to tears. The guide was informative and entertaining. He got just as excited as we did with the whales. It speaks volumes that as I am puking in a bag, I am still thinking I would recommend this trip and this crew to everyone.

Website says to call to book if you are trying to book with a Groupon, because you can’t book online. When you call, you get a machine… and then they never call you back. Less than impressed.

Did not disappoint! We saw many humpbacks, a minke, and other assorted marine life close up while out with 7 Seas.
We arrived with a party of 9 on a Sunday afternoon and found the dock area easily in downtown Gloucester. Ample parking right next to the boat and on Sundays the parking is free in metered lots. We had reserved our tickets earlier and getting boarding passes at the 7 Seas gift shop there was a breeze. Boarding started promptly half an hour prior to send off. Their ship is huge, called the Privateer IV, with 2 decks and plenty of warm inside table seating for the ride out to the viewing spot. The snack bar had everything, hot/​cold food and snacks, beer and other beverages.
Our hosts spent an adequate amount time on the way out to the viewing spot providing information on the types of whales and other wildlife we would see, history of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and the importance of the fisheries in the area for local fishermen and businesses. Upon approaching the viewing destination it was only a matter of minutes before we spotted our first spout and headed to within 100 feet of the whales, a pair of humpbacks. The whales demonstrated a number of tail breaches and rolls. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any full out of the water type breaches but they are somewhat rare. For the next hour or so we scouted the area to find numerous other humpbacks and even a minke whale.
My 4 year old and the rest in our party loved it! You can tell the knowledgeable folks at 7 Seas truly respect the creatures and areas they visit and based on information they provided on their website it is clear they are assisting in the preservation efforts associated with this fragile ecosystem and the species it supports. This was my own first time on a whale watching tour and also the first time for many in our party and no one walked away disappointed. I will definitely recommend 7 Seas to others!
Mike S. from Hamilton, MA

Personally I went in with pretty low expectation to begin with, however it turned out to be some good time! Everything about this enterprise is well thought trough, and on the level you would expect: the boat is fine, the crew is very professional, good looking, friendly and go out of their way to keep the people entertained on the ride. We did end up spending a lot of time and going far to find the whales to watch, so actual watching time was relatively brief in comparison to the ride out and back, however those things hard to predict, as the whales move up and down in search of food. And the actual instances when the captain manages to get you really close to these majestic animals for few brief moments you get to appreciate meeting them up close!
Grab a seat inside — best place to be once the winds starts blowing!

Would highly recommend. The boat is clean, well maintained and large enough to smooth out the swells somewhat. Our morning trip went about 15 miles out from Gloucester Harbor. We got to watch two humpback whales feed for nearly an hour. We also saw a finback whale a couple of times, although they’re fast and rather shy. The captain did a great job keeping us close to the action and the crew naturalist added so much information to the trip. Totally worth the money.

Not one whale seen today. Figured maybe we would get at least a little education about the marine life, but no such luck. Also people were smoking on the boat which I did not like. We did get a full refund, which is why I’m giving 3 stars instead of 1.

Plusses: Good service, big clean boat, easy to purchase tickets, knowledgeable crew.
Negatives: Well, sometime you want to see more than 1 whale on your trip and you don’t want to travel 30 miles (nearly 2 hours — each way! — to off Cape Cod) to see it. The crew did it’s job to find the whale but we had to go a long way without much to do on the trip or see too.
But nevertheless, we had an enjoyable time. Wish that we could’ve found a few more whales. They could’ve warned us that it might be a long trip.

Crew was very friendly and informative. The day we went they were having a hard time finding whales so we had to go all the way down to the Cape almost. I believe total round trip was 5 hours. Saw a few different groups of whales so at least the trip wasn’t a waste. Couple of points: trips are kid friendly and at times you have kids running around and well… being kids. Point 2 — No matter the temperature always bring a jacket. The day of our watch was 85 and clear skies and at times it was freezing when the boat was moving and/​or not in the sun. Seating is limited on the inside portion of the boat. Finally, this tour allows you to bring your own cooler of drinks and food. My party brought some things but not alot. They do offer food on board at very reasonable prices though (and alcohol).

Excellent tour. Guide was very knowledgeable and offered lots of interesting information about the area and marine life. Boat was in good shape and ride was great. Would go again and again! We saw many whales feeding and both the guide and the captain knew exactly how to maximize or viewing without disturbing the whales feeding.

The entire crew was amazing — taking care of the kids that were not used to the boat, explaining what we were seeing, and overall being as nice as possible. Went early in the season (late April), but still saw some great activity, bubble net feeding Humpbacks, dolphins, you name it. Can’t wait to go again!

Went on a whale watch on 7−11−14 and we couldn’t have had better weather. This was a first time experience for me and I have to say it was more than fabulous from start to finish.
It was great to be part of the first trip of the day which sailed at around 8:30am. The boat crew of the Privateer of the 7 Seas Whale Watch & Charter tours was as nice as they come, the biologist/​narrator was very informative about every whale we saw, her voice was super pleasant to listen to as well. She also showed and told us all about a whale tooth known as a Baleen, incredible!
We weren’t sailing out but an hour+ when we started to see whale activity. In fact we saw many, many whales, clusters of 3 and 4 Humpbacks at a time as they were feeding. There was little down time between sightings which made for a very exciting whale watch for a first-​timer like me. On the return trip we were fortunate enough to have 3 whales stay with the boat, they passed under it, stayed to the side of it and simply lingered as if they knew we were watching them (I think they did know).
What beautiful creatures these whales are, at about 30 tons or so they look and sound powerful yet they’re so graceful in movement. Now I know why they’re called «great whales»
If you’ve never been on a whale watch I highly recommend 7 Seas in Gloucester MA. They sure know how to do it right. It was a fabulous and fun experience that did not disappoint.

It was great! I had never been whale watching before and now I plan to go back in another month and do it again with this company.

Went for a whale watching trip and that’s what I got! I believe we saw three speices of whale while we were out. The crew was nice and informative. The boat was super clean, it was not crowded as I suspect it might have been. There was plenty of walking room on the ship for everyone.
Whale watching was on my bucket list, thanks 7 seas for coming through!

Es war meine erste Walsafari — und ein unvergessliches Erlebnis!
Das Boot war nicht überfüllt, wer wollte, konnte drinnen sitzen, bis wir die Walgründe erreichten — andere sonnten sich auf dem Oberdeck. Das Wetter war traumhaft und die See zum Glück nicht allzu rauh.
Innerhalb von 1,5 Stunden sahen wir mehrere Finnwale, eine riesige Delphinschule und (der Höhepunkt!) einen Buckelwal. Der Audiokommentar während der gesamten Fahrt war interessant, manchmal aber fast ein bisschen zu viel des Guten, ein paar Momente Stille um die beeindrucken Motive zu genießen, wären an einigen Stellen besser gewesen.
Aber das ist Kritik auf sehr hohem Niveau. Ich wünschte, ich wäre öfter in der Gegend und könnte mehrmals im Jahr eine solche Tour mitmachen…

[.. .. .] = **speechless**.
Awesome. On the recommendation of a friend who takes this whale watching cruise every year, I bought a ticket for an afternoon tour.
To me, it’s a sign of a good, well-​run tour, when the ticketing and boarding process is seamless, the tour leaves on time, the biologist tour guide doesn’t talk too much, and the tour employees are helpful and efficient in dealing with the seasick customers.
Even more than all of that, though, was the opportunity to get up close to these amazing animals. Like the tour biologist mentioned, this isn’t seaworld or the local aquarium, you’re in their environment and anything can happen. They don’t come when they’re called and don’t hang around just because you’re there.
It was about a 90 minute ride out and about an hour of boating from one location to another as all of us were trying to spot the blow signaling a whale nearby. We weren’t disappointed and it was both awe-​inspiring and humbling to see these animals surface, feed, and then dive. None of us wanted to leave, and many of us said we’d be back again.
This is definitely worth a morning, or afternoon. And even if you don’t see a whale, it’s a nice boat ride, especially on a bright day.

We got our tickets through Buywithme and I made the reservation the day before our tour. When we got to the booth, they had lost the reservation but gave us tickets anyways. Unfortunately, the morning trip had a belt break and took over an hour and a half extra to come in to dock.
Because the whales that they had seen earlier in the morning where far out, we had to chug out pretty close to Cape Cod to see them… but it was worth it. We saw about 30 different whales (20 humpbacks (3 calves), 10 minkes) and they were awesome. There were 6 breaching at the same time. The crew was great in telling us about the behaviors we were watching and the names of the whales that we were looking at.
The ride was very smooth and the staff good. Only a few people got seasick and they probably have problems with that on any type of vessel.

I’m pretty sure I was on the same whale watch as Todd. 8:30am on ⁸⁄₈. (yeah I was the one where my dress kept flying up and I was inadvertently giving my own thong watch. shoulda charged.
WOW. stands for a WHALE of a watch!
THE BEST whale watch I’ve ever been on. and the biologist/​narrator has such a soothing voice I could listen to her talk about anything.
We had motored out for at least 2HRS and we weren’t seeing anything. Didn’t surprise me since other whale watches I’ve been on you sometimes don’t see anything, but I enjoy just being out in the sun on a boat. But they pressed on until we found the WHALES!!!
I swear we must have seen over 15 different whales! the water was just teeming with them! and the baby calf was the size of the boat! CRAZY! These things are MASSiVE.
and the BEST part. the whales FLEW out of the water at least 6 times!!! I always wonder do they do it for fun? I imagine them saying «WeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeEEeeeee!» SPLASSSSSSSSSHhhhhuh
After seeing all of the marvelous creatures we drank all the way back to port. A toast: To all the creatures!
I swear the adults were squealing louder than the kids. It truly is an awesome site.
if you can haul yourself out of bed at 6am on a weekend morning, I highly suggest the early morning whale-​watches over the midday ones. always seem to have more guaranteed marine activity.
Oh, also I used my vouchers I got with
so I saw this for $ 25!

This is the first time I’ve gone on a whale watch with Seven Seas. Usually, I go with Cape Ann Whale Watch, and I think I’ll go back with them the next time.
My group set out on a beautiful day; the biologist speaking even told us that it was the «perfect» day to spot whales. It was perfect until we hit the fog. And the fog seemed to go on forever. Now, I know this isn’t the fault of Seven Seas– obviously they weren’t excited to be driving through dense fog in search of whales either. My issue is with how long they attempted to search, and why.
People on the ship were getting sick, we were about 3.5 hours into the trip (still searching for whales). It was choppy, cold, and foggy. Very foggy. I think there should be a reasonable limit on how long people are kept on these ships. A typical whale watch is about 4 hours. We were almost there and hadn’t spotted a whale. And, everyone on the vessel knew that they kept searching so they wouldn’t have to issue rain tickets to the passengers.
We finally found three other boats in the area, and they were spotting whales so we joined in, and grabbed some of their whale action. This was the best part of the trip, however, we spent less than half an hour watching the whales and left with them still in the area so we could get back at a reasonable time. Wow– rip off. The last trip I went on, it was raining, but we found whales relatively fast and watched two different groups for an hour.
The ride back just sucked. All of the kids were super hyper and all of the adults just wanted off of the boat. It felt like it took forever to get back to port. People were clearly sick, and several threw up. There was no room to sit inside so you had to stand and get jostled every time the boat rocked or you could sit outside and freeze. We didn’t get back til after 7 pm.
I think it’s going to be a long time before I go on another whale watch. If I had wanted an all day adventure, I would have driven to Boston, road the T for 3 hours, visited the aquarium for 15 minutes, then got back on the T for another 3 hours. That would have been essentially the same «adventure» that I had on the whale watch vessel. Stick to Cape Ann Whales if you’re going on a whale watch– I’ve only had good experiences with them.