Thought I’d add another positive review to the ones posted here -- as well as a point or two that I didn’t see mentioned here. The biggest reason that I reserved space on board with this company in the first place (versus the other Cape Ann whale watch companies) is that even though they require a credit card to hold your reservation, they will not charge you if you don’t show up for the trip. (At least, that was their policy in 2008.) That was a huge plus for me, as we don’t have money to waste, and I hate having anything “written in stone.” Life is full of surprises, and not knowing if something (illness, injury, traffic, some family emergency -- who knows?) might prevent us from making it to our reserved watch whale, it was good to know that we wouldn’t be charged in that event. In both my phone conversations with company personnel and in talking with them in person at the dock, I found their customer service excellent, and their customer friendliness, very neighborly and wonderfully refreshing. There was no us-versus-you attitude conveyed, which one runs into all too many times these days when dealing with businesses. As to our first trip with them (in August), it was outstanding, much better than the one we’d taken out of Boston Harbor the previous year. No disappointment as far as whale sightings go, and we definitely saw a lot more than a few tails and humps of backs in the distance. The captain (apparently through both sonar and through radio communication with other boats) stayed apprised of where the whales were, and would take us to the most active areas. He would linger longer in one area if a whale was putting on a good show for us, and wait until the whale was done before leaving (which did happen with one flipper-slapping fellow, who came quite close to the boat and seemed to be enjoying the attention). When we revisited Cape Ann in October, we went on another whale watch with 7 Seas, and again had an amazing, wonderful outing -- AND, I won one free whale watch cruise admission! They give away one at the end of each cruise, good for one year, and I intend to collect on mine early next month. It was our experience that 7 Seas more often than not would be the first one to an active whale area (not the last, as one other reviewer mentioned). And their naturalist was great; we learned a lot of interesting facts about whales in general, as well as about some of the specific whales we saw. As to having to wait for tardy passengers: before one of the cruises there was a woman who’d forgotten something in her car that she’d meant to bring (a coat, I think), and they held the boat’s departure so that she could run back to the parking lot and fetch her missing item. Of course there were some aboard who didn’t appreciate the delay (don’t worry, Honey - I’m not naming any names here!), but I put myself in that woman’s shoes and thought how much I would have appreciated them doing the same thing for me if I’d needed it. You can’t put a price on things like patience, understanding, and compassion -- and what a wonderful world it would be if we all had more of that for each other! We have only ever gone out on their Privateer IV, so I can’t say what going out on their smaller boat is like ... and while I’ve never been out of Cape Ann on any other outfit’s whale watch cruise, my sister and her husband have, and had a bad experience. I will decline to name that company here, but if you’re curious, feel free to email me about it.

I took a 3.5 hour drive to take this whale watch. I did this on July 11. The whales were extremely active, tail lobbing, breaching and flipper slapping. It was tons of fun. Yea the seas were a little rough but its the ocean. I am riding again on September 5th.

Incredibly courteous, outstanding whale watch company. Yes, they are willing to wait for latecomers - as one of the staff patiently indicated to an indignant gentleman on our trip yesterday, "wouldn't you want us to wait for you?" There can be significant traffic in the summer approaching Gloucester and even those leaving plenty of extra time can be caught offguard. We only left 8 minutes late and one of the passengers was furious. But no one complained when we were out five hours, instead of the advertised 3 1/2 to 4! Saw tons of whates, breaking, tail flukes, all kinds of activity, feeding, and saw a huge pod of dolphins on our return. Ride was smooth, day was glorious. They do not overpack the boat. They take a max of 150, while one of the other companies I called had 250 on their boat. Go with Seven Seas!!

My second Whale watch, but first with this company. Every thing was perfect! The staff was very friendly and very knowledgable. I liked that the boat was not overcrowded. The Captain made sure both sides of the boat had a chance at prime viewing, but no matter what side the whales were on, everyone had a great view. I also like that the return time was somewhat open ended. We were allowed to stay alittle longer. We saw 6 Humpback whales-2 sets of mom and calf.
As for the smoking area that was complained about on a previous post, I have to say we sat toward the back, on the seats closest to the smoking area and could not smell any smoke at all. Traveling in a forward direction with the ocean breeze and the open air...not sure I would have been able to smell smoke if I were standing beside them! For the super-sensitive, there's always the front or the upper deck. Would not hesitate to go with them again!!!!!