Cruise Questions Answered

Six trips appear in the comparison, grouped into three types: two Cape Woolamai and Seal Rocks cruises, three whale, dolphin and sunset cruises, and one day trip from Melbourne with a cruise included. Five of the six sail with Wildlife Coast Cruises, while Local Way Tours runs the Melbourne day trip.

Three trips leave from San Remo: the 1-hour Cape Woolamai scenic cruise, the 3-hour dolphin and whale cruise, and the sunset cruise. Seal watching departs Cowes, whale watching with morning tea departs Rhyll, and the Melbourne day trip begins at Arts Centre Melbourne.

The Cape Woolamai cruise is the shorter and cheaper choice at one hour from San Remo, from $34, cruising toward the cape with granite cliffs and caves in view. Seal watching runs two hours from Cowes out to Seal Rocks, from $79, and carries a 4.9 rating across 236 reviews.

Yes, one. Local Way Tours runs a day of about 12 to 13 hours that starts at Arts Centre Melbourne, takes a maximum of 15 guests, and includes a two hour Wildlife Coast Cruise, with drop-offs at select Melbourne city hotels at the end.

Prices start at $34 per person for the Cape Woolamai scenic cruise and reach $235.03 for the Melbourne day trip. All figures are per person in US dollars, with the sunset cruise from $55.42, seal watching from $79, the dolphin and whale cruise from $93, and whale watching with morning tea from $122.77.

All six trips state free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure for a full refund. Some booking pages add that a weather cancellation brings a choice of another date or a full refund, and the Melbourne day trip carries a minimum traveller clause.

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Tea, coffee and cake come with the Cape Woolamai cruise, the seal watching cruise and the dolphin and whale cruise, the last of which also has a licensed bar where alcohol, soft drinks and snacks can be purchased. Whale watching with morning tea includes coffee, tea, a muffin and a pastry.

A platter of fresh fruit and nibbles is included, with live music on board. Drinks, prawn buckets and cheese platters are extra purchases.

Lunch and dinner are not included, with time in the day set aside for your own meals. Coffee at Protagonist Cafe forms part of the itinerary.

Whale season runs from late May to September, with June and July the peak months. Both whale trips are seasonal and sit inside that window, so the booking page shows which dates are available.

They are not. No trip promises whales, dolphins or seals.

The 3-hour dolphin and whale cruise from San Remo passes the sheer cliffs of Cape Woolamai. For the whale watching morning tea cruise from Rhyll, neither Cape Woolamai nor Seal Rocks is named on the booking page.

Hotel pickup and drop-off are excluded on two trips: whale watching with morning tea and the sunset cruise. Pickup is not stated on the other booking pages, though the Melbourne day trip finishes with drop-offs at select city hotels.

A minimum age is not stated on any booking page. On the Cape Woolamai cruise the front deck is limited to people over 1 metre tall.

Whale watching with morning tea spends four hours on the water, the longest of any cruise compared here. The Melbourne day trip lasts about 12 to 13 hours in total, but its time on the boat is a two hour cruise leg.