I went on the Akureyri Classic Whale Watching tour booked through Saga which was conducted on 3 September at 9:00.
From what I observed, this tour is not run very safely:
(1) safety instructions at the start are at best cursory and we are not even given lifevests.
(2) In a tour that takes probably 50 passengers, it seemed grossly unmanned with just the captain navigating and a British marine biologist (female in her 20s) who seemed more interested in taking her photos of the whales than the safety and well-being of passengers.
(3) Passengers were jostling each other and moving from one side of the boat to the other in very choppy waters, exacerbating a feeling that the boat would tip over - none of the crew were supervising this and so no one admonished the passengers.
(4) For a reason which was inexplicable, the boat sped through the water even as passengers on the deck were doused with waves. The marina biologist said briefly said something in a sing songy voice about the option of going indoors to get a free hot drink but considering that passengers and their gear could be easily injured and damaged respectively, the crew could have warned us a lot more emphatically/effectively. They could have also slowed down to give us time to safely get indoors. As far as I could observe, those of us on the deck were trapped as the water splashing on either side of the boat was even quite forceful.
I was soaked and although I turned my back to shield my camera and fished out a bag to protect my camera, which has endured rain and splashing in the past, was ruined. To illustrate how damaging the waves were, the marine biologist's microphone broke and so there was no means to communicating with the passengers for the last hour of the tour - a further safey hazard!
