I just got back from Alaska, and a tour with Larry on the Awesome Orca.
We did indeed see lots of whales -- humpback and Orcas.
But I must say this: We would not have seen the Orcas had Larry not seen another whale-watching ship -- the one the Princess uses -- in the area. He sat around in the water for quite awhile, commenting loudly under his breath: "I don't know what the h>>> they're doing there! I don't see anything going on! Why are they hanging around there??"
When someone on board suggested maybe he should go to the area to look, he did ..
to find a school of Orcas feeding on what was left of a seal (or something similar -- too far gone by that time for me to know with any certainty).
We wouldn't have seen the whales had he not been urged to go check out the area, as they finished feeding and left, shortly after.
The Awesome Orca is very small and cramped. There were 18 people aboard -- admittedly far fewer than on the larger cruise vessel -- but the Awesome Orca was filled with the 18 -- it could not have held any more! While you could go on the top of the Awesome Orca -- you could do that only if you were able (and willing) to climb a ladder. The larger vessel had an actual (indoor) staircase to the second open deck level. The lower level of the Orca was enclosed...with scratched glass that was hard to see through. On the day we had our trip, it was quite cold and windy, so it was uncomfortable to have the windows open.
I don't know if the lower level of the larger vessel had scratched glass or not. But it also had an outer deck that you could go out on, to see stuff. This was not true of the Orca.
I don't know what kinds of snacks were available on the larger vessel. Larry advertises snacks and beverages -- which consisted of bits of mild chedder cheese, Ritz crackers, and cubes of dried salmon. Beverages was coffee, and hot water. The woman with him announced that she had no tea or cocoa...but we could have hot water if we wanted, as she had a small microwave on board.
There was a bathroom on the Orca -- but I didn't use it. I use a wheelchair, and tried to check whether the Orca was accessible. I was told it was, -- but "accessible" meant that Larry and my husband had to lift me and my chair into the vessel, and there was only one place where I could sit -- blocking access to a large part of the kitchen, and restricting access to the bathroom. There was no way I could have gotten into the bathroom had I needed/wanted to use it. And I could not move around the boat, not in the lower level where I was "parked" for the 2-1/2 hours, and certainly had no access to the upper level.
My friends and husband who came with me liked the trip...and I did, too. But I'm pretty sure we all would have been more comfortable on the larger vessel -- who saw the same whales we did, the same sea lions, the same eagles -- as we were all in the same place. Larry's prices were the same as the prices of the tour on the larger vessel.
