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MaureenBell
We liked the size of the boat and we saw lots of whales so the trip was a success from that perspective. But it was disappointing in many aspects. There was no informational or educational component - we expected to hear something about the area and some information on whales - nothing at all! And there was nothing bilingual about this "guide" - we had visitors from Australia with us and were really relying on the bilingual part. The most disturbing however was their lack of respect for the whales. They rushed at them full speed, they crowded them and did not respect the rules about how close the boat should get. I had understood we had to stay about 100 meters away and we were often within 10-20 meters.
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eceax
23rd of July, we exactly had the same experience as Sylvie L had. It was the most unfortunate part of our vacation. By knowing that the water will be rough, they did the excursion. The entire trip we have seen nothing but people getting sick. More than half of the boat was sick and literally vomiting. It was supposed to end in 2hours and 30 minutes but we were back in 1 hour 50 minutes. We had the same surprise as the other customers had before. For them the trip was done and there was no reimbursement! They gave us a return ticket with our names on it and valid only for one year. We had guests coming from other countries who will never be back again to Saint-Simeon (why should they?). I absolutely do not recommend this company! We threw the money to the garbage and they knew it!
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BilingualQuebeker
We had a wonderful trip out with Croisières Charlevoix in a nice new Zodiac. The capitan really tried hard to find whales for us to see and was good at trying to manoeuvre so everyone can see them.Whales, at the end of the day, are wild animals and if they see a boat full of red people they'll do the logical thing and hide! The capitan was patient, and sure enough, some did some closer for us to see. We saw about five different pods of whales, Belugas and Rorquals.I'm happy we chose the Zodiac, the ride in the boat itself was great fun and the kids really enjoyed it, even when it bounced around a bit (the front is more fun)! The views of the North Shore were exquisite.The capitan did provide some commentary on the animals, but it wasn't very deep to be honest and we couldn't always hear. I'd recommend reading up a bit first.The waterproof clothes the company provided were great at keeping us warm, although it would have been better to have a cardigan and closed shoes rather than sandals.----A note on the other comments - I hadn't read them at the time of booking, and my experience has been very different from others: professional crew, left on time, the capitan did his very best to show us different whales.The one area where the comments might be justified - I don't think the crew have a lot of English fluency...
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scottbR1891OE
The day before my scheduled excursion, we received a call that our boat would be undergoing maintenance and the time we selected for a tour was not available. Given this was the only day that worked for us, we requested a refund of the purchase price. We were assured that it would be processed within the week. 2 months later and still no refund. NOT A COMPANY YOU WOULD WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH.
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melindad1953
We originally had booked a trip on the explorather to watch the whales but they notified us that the boat was out due to mechanical problems but offered us a trip on the 12 person zodiac instead. When we arrived I explained to the captain that my husband had recently had heart surgery and would need a seat on the boat. He was so kind and let us board first and seated us behind him where he could explain to us in English. The zodiac was very comfortable. We saw beluga almost as soon as we left the bay- A mother cow and her calf! We also saw Fin whales - very close to the boat. We were thankful for the wet suits - not that we got wet using the actual watch but we drove into a storm on our way back into dock and would have been soaked if not for the suits they had furnished us. I highly recommend this trip - only 12 people made the trip personal, the captain was knowledgeable and attentive, boarding at Saint-Simeon was much easier than in the Tadoussac area.
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sylvaing575
We were there on the 22 nd of june 2013. windy as hell, the big zodiac for the 13h00 ride cancelled, but our capt (Frank) said we will go, and we did. He knows how to take the waves and we surf on top of them until we reach our destination, it was hard to see the whales, thoses animals are unpredicteble, but we saw a few. Going there is always a guess, so stop complaining, if you want to make sure you see some animals, go to a zoo. You are on holidays, so relax.
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MacauFriend
After paying Can$67.00 for whale watching an additional Can$5.00 for car park, which the attendant said a Can$2.00 would be refund at the parking lot and if you spend Can$25.00 the remaining Can$3.00 will be discounted from the purchase at their gift shop. Well, never saw any attendant at the uphill parking lot. It is not for $2.00 that made any difference it is the unprofessional running of it. The whale watching boat was the size of a ferry and it carries around 200 hundred people which, when and if there is any whale to watch the people will congregate to the same spot making it impossible to watch for those that are short or in the 3rd line behind. All in all it was a disappointing experience. Comparing to the one at Digby Nova Scotia it is a total waste of time and money.
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GiftedSkier
This company's tour was not a good as ones we had in St John's NFL or in Maui. The captain prior to leaving the dock, offered some safety instructions in French and was reluctant about translating them into English for one gentleman from Vancouver. The captain, in French as much as said to him, "What is wrong with you? Are you not from Canada?" It seemed that the captain's hidden agenda was that since you were Canadian, you should know enough French and I should not have to translate! The washroom on the boat was not working and we were all advised to used the washrooms at the local ferry terminal which lacked soap. After the trip, my wife used the washrooms in this company's sale kiosk only to discover it had NO toilet paper. Luckily she had some other tissue with her. In short customer service is sadly lacking!
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leavethesnowbehind
The zodiac was fantastic. The captain (?) was extremely knowledgeable and friendly.
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sandman-rogue
After two whale tours in the Maritimes we made the unfortunate mistake of booking a third whale tour on our way home with this company. I apparently misread the website and thought they operated out of Riviere-du-loup only to discover that they are in Saint-Simeon and we needed to take a ferry across the river. Time was short and I called the company from the ferry dock to confirm that we would be ok in making the tour. The ferry was late and we arrived about half an hour late. The tour boat did not wait for us and we were told that they would not refund our money (we stupidly booked over the Internet) as the late ferry was not their fault. Well it wasn't our fault either and they didn't seem to care that I had called before hand to confirm the thin time margin. After a lot of arguing they offered us a credit good for 1 year or to take the first boat in the morning. That didn't really help either as we needed to be in Montreal the next day - we ended up staying the night and taking their first tour the next morning.The boat "The Explorathor" is not well designed for whale watching. One window opens at the bow of the boat and then a few along the sides (which the staff kept closing whenever the boat moved). This leaves an area of "dead" space where you can't see out of the boat. This is fine if there aren't many people on the boat but if the boat is full as it was when we did it, there were people who couldn't see anything.The boat stuck close to the shore and did not head out into areas where the larger species of whales lurk. They seemed to look for the closest whale(s) they could find quickly. Compared to the way we were treated on other whale tours this experience was appalling. We left with the clear impression that this operation is nothing more then a money grab.
