VIP Whale Watching In Tadoussac Is Better Than The Regular Version

YOLO so treat yourself before you can't

Allow me to start this one off saying I’m aware that I’m privileged enough to afford things like VIP tickets for whale watching and others cannot. 

I’ll remind you I work about 60 hours a week, all the time, so I can afford a more VIP experience in life. At the age of 36 I did not procreate and honestly with mild budgeting you can afford fancy things if you grind hard and save and have no offspring. I promise if you’re willing to hustle two jobs and sacrifice a lot, you’ll get some nicer things.

Parents chose to take on the joy of parenting. They get to relive legos and stuff with their kids. I get to blow money on fun things like VIP whale watching. 

All that being said, if you can afford to spend more on the special version, it’s probably going to be worth it.

There are several tiers of whale watching options out there

The cheapest options are the Zodiac boats, which are inflatable boats made of durable stuff. 

Now this option looks really fun, and is your best chance  to get close to a whale because you're in a small boat at the water level. I want to try it next time. You are also decked out in water resistant gear and it is going to be a wet and wild ride.

Now we went with a proper boat that had several decks and could handle a few hundred people. It was the big AML boat and they had three ticket options available. One option was access to the boat, the second gave you access to the VIP deck and the third one, that we got, gave access to the VIP lounge.

With our black bracelets we could go anywhere on the ship. 

The VIP lounge was limited to 20 people and they had 30 more people that could access the VIP deck. 

While everyone else was crowded together trying to get a cool view, we had personal space. 

The VIP deck alone gave you a nearly full 360 view of the water

The whale watching people have scout boats that track the whales. 

Your boat is going to head to where they think a whale will be. The biologists know whale behaviour, how long it takes for them to resurface to breathe, whether it looks like they are eating or chilling, that kind of thing. This helps them guide you where to look.

Then the people on the boat are working as a team to point towards where the whale sightings are. The guide will tell you the whale was seen at 11 oclock, and then we all look there. If you’re posted on the wrong part of the ship, you may just miss the whale.

The VIP deck had this strip on top of the boat that gave a pristine view. All of us were able to easily see the whales, without piling on top of each other. When we circled the regular access part of the boat, it made me appreciate how good the VIP areas were.

Now when we talk about value, we really should be speaking of the amenities.

The VIP lounge was cozy and came with unlimited drinks and bougie snacks

The lounge faces the front of the boat, with huge windows facing the right and left sides. This lets you see pretty much anything happening on the water, unless the whale was at 6 o'clock or something (but then you got the deck).

It also had comfy couches to lounge on. 

To be honest I did not remember that we got free stuff. Then the lady gave a speech and said that all the drinks were free. This included the coffee, alcohol and soda I indulged in.

Now like many unlimited drinks situations, they were not strong, but they were plentiful. I drank quite a few mimosas as we cruised around the St Lawrence river. Because I was VIP, I could just carry my booze cup around the ship as I pleased and was told to flash my bracelet and security would let me be.

We also got fancy snack boxes. They had a wonderful sausage pate, some charcuterie, some cheeses and a smoked salmon tartare that I just didn’t bother to finish (I tried it though). It was a pleasant way to end the trip after seeing a humpback flop around.

I promise you the VIP lounge made my experience a 10/10 whereas being on the regular part would have been more of a 7/10.

When you see the option to try some luxury, it may just be worth it

Now obviously you need to run some math and decide if the value is there. 

Sometimes people charge more for nothing. What was appealing to me was that the VIP lounge was capped at 20 people. We all had plenty of space and had a more intimate experience. We were able to bond with our fellow VIP folk.

We also had priority boarding. Considering we pulled up about 10 minutes after the scheduled boarding start time, this was awesome. I love being allowed to cut a line and will happily pay to do so more in the future. 

Now all in our experience cost about twice the price you would have to get the regular package. The value we got out of that was incredible. We had an amazing time and while I was drinking my 6th tiny mimosa I really was grateful we splurged.

In Puerto Rico we spent more for an amazing Airbnb and I was left with a similar feeling of satisfaction with this whale watching.

I’ve had many times where being cheap left me disappointed but I can’t recall a time when balling out (with foreplanning) left me feeling sad after.

Money well spent.

Live Long and Prosper Everyone