Jan 18, 2025
Once in a lifetime experience! - We were very lucky and saw many orca's and some hump back whale. It was magnificent. Our skipper Honza was super enthusiastic and had a lot of knowledge about the animals. Loved the experience. The self drive from Tromsø to Skervoy was great. It was nice to stop when we wanted and see the scenic Lyngen Alps in full glory.
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Nov 30, 2024
Breathtaking Moments with Majestic Whales - Amazing Experience
I took this whale tour with my two daughters, and it was unforgettable! Surrounded by stunning scenery and majestic whales, we captured amazing photos and enjoyed thrilling moments on the waves. Truly a breathtaking experience – highly recommend!
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Nov 17, 2024
Very special, and unforgettable. Great guide. - In January ‘24 we had planned a whalewatching trip through Arctic Explorers, but a few days before the planned date the orca’s had moved. We cancelled, and Øyvind gave the tip to try it again in the month of November. So… we came back, 2100 km one way, and brought our grown up kids with us. And there they were: orca’s in abundance, humpback whales, swimming in formation right next to the RBB… we all fell silent! The sun was out, as good as it gets in November, the sea was like a lake without waves. A beautiful day! Organisation was perfect, communication very clear, our guide Hansu, if we got the name right, was as enthousiastic as we were. It was worth travelling all these kilometers, and we were happy we chose Arctic Explorers.
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Nov 17, 2024
Orcas,Humpbacks and Fin Whales oh my - Really enjoyed this tour.It was a rough ride out and the next day was cancelled because of rough seas.But our captain was knowledgeable and gave us a smooth ride in spite of weather.Great thermal suits.So awesome to see so many whales in a relatively small area. Fin whales Orcas about 25 orcas and countless humpbacks.Definitely the most whales I have seen on a tour and I have been on a lot around the world
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Nov 11, 2024
Had excellent time - Taken so many photo but there was one couple in front I couldn’t take decent photo. Were provided all gear and food. Very enjoyable tour. Would recommend to my family and friends
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Nov 5, 2024
Fantastic - Fantastic trip - best description would be orca soup - must have been close to 100 of them in the tour area and half a dozen humpbacks too. Highligh of our Scandinavian trip
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Nov 8, 2024
Good Whale watching trip with a very knowledgeable guide. - Good Whale watching trip with a very knowledgeable guide/skipper (Katie) and other staff being helpful and friendly. Got lucky and saw plenty (20+) of Orcas and a Humpback Whale. Managed to get relatively close (without being in excess) for photo opportunities. Goggles were not supplied and on days where there is potential for sleet/hail or rainfall would be necessary to make the experience pleasurable. Alongside this, the suits that were provided are not necessarily all completely waterproof, a change of clothes would be recommended, especially for those who are taking the bus transfer to avoid being wet and cold for the return journey. Overall, thoroughly enjoyable and would do another in the future.
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Jan 7, 2024
Wonderful, rustic Norwegian experience - Amazing experience seeing the whales - so many Orcas, along with a humpback and 2 sperm whales. Just wonderful with a great captain who shared a lot of information with us. That said, their system was down the morning we arrived and there was some chaos waiting outside under the falling snow to confirm our reservations and then prepare everyone in the special clothing in their very small changing area. Overall, really caring people who wanted to share their love of nature and to view the whales in a caring way. Would strongly recommend the experience. One thing... if I could do it all over again, I would have taken the bus. It is a long day to drive there and back.
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Dec 27, 2023
Great trip with some downsides - The boat trip was great. The guide was knowledgeable and the gear provided did its job very well. We saw Orca’s and humpback whales Only the arrival was not great at all. After 4 hours driving not even the opportunity to buy a coffee. Only a few dirty portable toilets and a cramped changing room with the excuse that it is temporary business ( going into year 7)! That is totally off par with the price you pay and a pity as it pulls down the whole experience.
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Jan 4, 2024
Missed excursion based on erroneous information. Dreadful follow up customer service - I rate this as 1 Star / Terrible as sadly, it did not happen for me and another 2 customers booked on this excursion.
Sadly due to very confusing and erroneous details on both my confirmation and reminder email from Arctic Explorers, which all clearly stated right at the top of the page that meeting time of 5:30 outside the Ishav Hotel, both myself and 2 other girls missed this trip.
Apparently, the correct information about the meeting time were to be found somewhere at the bottom of the page of some other confirmation, not the one where it mentioned the meeting time of 5:20. So why mention a total at least 3 times at the top of Confirmation and Reminder email, that meeting time was 5:30?
The 2 other girls and myself thought the trip had been cancelled and checked our messages for notification. But no, apparently, the trip left at 5:20 on the dot, No guide or anyone to bother contacting the paying customers that may not have been present to find out where they were etc.... (they were guides with lists of attendees for all the other excursions I did, and was contacted by message and then phone call by the guides of the Northern Light trip, also booked through Arctic Explorers, when they wanted to start off earlier than planned. So shame that for the RIB whale trip, there were no guides who cared enough to contact missing guests to find out where they were and able to wait a few minutes to get everyone on board.
This was a great disappointment to miss this Whale watching excursions I had been looking forward to for many years due to conflicting information on the confirmation and reminder.
To add to the disappointment, when I contacted Arctic Explorer to ask if the trip had been cancelled, I got a response from the rudest, most disagreeable person called Oystein, who would not admit that the information give at the top the booking confirmation page was inaccurate and misleading but instead pretty much said that 90 people had managed to make the coach on time / ie read the bottom of the page where it apparently said the meeting was at 5:20 and not the top of the page where it said at least 3 times in 2 different documents meeting was at 5:30 and that therefore myself and the other 2 girls must have been stupid.
Anyway, I cannot express how rude the man's tone was and just on that basis, I could never recommend this Tour company to anyone, not when Tour companies offering the same excursions as Arctic Explorers, would gladly have your customs and possibly be organised in a way that care that all customers are accounted for for any excursions and are at least polite in their exchange with customers. I have to add that after missing out on this excursion, I returned to my AirBnB and showed my confirmation to the owners who agreed the information at the top of the confirmation page was confusing if what was given as meeting place and time turned out not to be the correct time and the correct time was given at the bottom of another page. They themselves also said on that basis, they would themselves not recommend Arctic Explorers to other guests staying with them.
I will likely visit Norway / Tromso for a 3rd time in the future and book another whale watching excursion as this, for now, remains a dream, but I will make sure not to book anything with Arctic Explorers again. There are too many other tour companies to choose from and who give much better customer care and service.
I would like to add, to end this review, that I was refunded the cost of this excursion, by Arctic Explorers. I could have put this fairly important piece of information, which can help people make a more informed decision when choosing to book with Arctic Explorers or not, based on their 'fairness', at the top of my review but thought it best to make it visible to only those reading all the way to the bottom of the page.
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