American Princess Cruises

04/08/2025

TAILS UP TUESDAY photo.
Our New York Whale Watch season starts April 18th. Set sail with us aboard the American Princess for an unforgettable experience. For more info about New York Whale & Dolphin Watching Adventure Cruises visit our web page at https://americanprincesscruises.com/events/2025-whale-watching-dolphin-adventure-cruises/ and Let’s Go
americanprincesscruises.com

04/07/2025

Seal Watching Cruises make a great school trip. Teachers contact us for more info and let’s take students out on the water for a fun and educational field trip. These two and a half trips are perfect for a class trip. americanprincesscruises.com

04/04/2025

* Full sightings report* Last Saturdays extended hour trip on the water was an amazing day spent with local wildlife. The Northern Gannet shows were incredible. We watched a feeding frenzy of 4500-5000 Northern Gannets. Here is a species list and count of the marine wildlife and birds we saw. americanprincesscruises.com

2 Humpback Whales
20 Harbor Seals
100+ Bottlenose Dolphin
438 Brant
32 Canada Goose
17 Mute Swan
4 Wood Duck
1 Gadwall
18 Mallard
40 American Black Duck
5 Green-winged Teal
12 Lesser Scaup
231 Surf Scoter
10 White-winged Scoter
2488 Black Scoter
172 Long-tailed Duck
62 Bufflehead
1 Common Goldeneye
75 Red-breasted Merganser
35 Rock Pigeon
3 Mourning Dove
16 American Oystercatcher
2 Piping Plover
3 Greater Yellowlegs
650 Sanderling
110 Dunlin
2 Bonaparte's Gull
25 Laughing Gull
112 Ring-billed Gull
395 American Herring Gull
147 Great Black-backed Gull
1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
27 Horned Grebe
29 Red-throated Loon
43 Common Loon
6037 Northern Gannet
8 Great Cormorant
451 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Glossy Ibis
3 Snowy Egret
7 Great Egret
7 Great Blue Heron
2 Turkey Vulture
5 Osprey
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 Northern Harrier
1 Red-tailed Hawk
9 Northern Flicker
4 American Kestrel
1 Merlin
2 Peregrine Falcon
1 Eastern Phoebe
3 American Crow
11 Tree Swallow
1 Barn Swallow
17 European Starling
21 American Robin
8 House Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird
4 Common Grackle
10 Boat-tailed Grackle

04/02/2025

🐳The 2025 New York Whale & Dolphin Watching Adventure Cruise season calendar is available. 🐬 Book your trip and Let’s Go For more info, ticket purchase and bookings visit our website at

Whale Watching & Dolphin Adventure Cruises 2025 Adventure cruises run approximately 3.5 hours and depart from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Pier 8 (click here for directions) This will be our 16th successful year of running these awesome adventure cruises! So if you’re interested in setting sail in se...

04/01/2025

Saturdays extended inshore trip was an amazing day on the water with tons of sightings. Over 6000+ Northern Gannets seen throughout the day including a huge flock estimated at about 4000-5000. Here is a list and photos of species sightings from the trip. A full report and count to follow. It was a great day exploring our local NY/NJ waters for marine wildlife and birds.

Marine mammals:

Humpback Whales, Harbor Seals, Bottlenose Dolphin

Bird List (not all):

Northern gannets
Black scoters
Surf scoters
Red-breasted merganzers
Great egret
Great cormorant
Cormorant
Great Black-backed gull
Herring gull
Great blue heron
Laughing gull
Tree swallow
Long-tailed ducks
Common loons
American oystercatcher
Bufflehead ducks
Piping plover
Peregrine falcon
Northern Harrier
Common goldeneye

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04/01/2025

Saturdays extended inshore trip was an amazing day on the water with tons of sightings. Over 6000+ Northern Gannets seen throughout the day including a huge flock estimated at about 4000-5000. Here is a list and photos of species sightings from the trip. A full report and count to follow. It was a great day exploring our local NY/NJ waters for marine wildlife and birds.

Marine mammals:

Humpback Whales, Harbor Seals, Bottlenose Dolphin

Bird List (not all):

Northern gannets
Black scoters
Surf scoters
Red-breasted merganzers
Great egret
Great cormorant
Cormorant
Great Black-backed gull
Herring gull
Great blue heron
Laughing gull
Tree swallow
Long-tailed ducks
Common loons
American oystercatcher
Bufflehead ducks
Piping plover
Peregrine falcon
Northern Harrier
Common goldeneye

03/27/2025

Special trip this Saturday….. 6-hour SEAFARI exploring our local waters for Whales, Sea birds, Alcids, Dolphins, Seals, and more. Book your trip, the weather forecast looks great!! Let’s Go!! Reservations are required. For more info visit https://americanprincesscruises.com/events/2025-6-hour-pelagic-bird-and-marine-wildlife-trip-3-29-25/

03/27/2025

03/26/2025

Saturdays weather is looking beautiful!! Join us for a six hour SEAFARI exploring our waters for local marine wildlife and sea birds that winter/spring in the NY area. Reservations are required for this trip, for more info and to book visit https://americanprincesscruises.com/events/2025-6-hour-pelagic-bird-and-marine-wildlife-trip-3-29-25/

03/20/2025

*Special trip* Set sail with us for an extended day trip as we explore New York’s wildlife that lives here during the winter/spring. This is a six hour adventure cruise sailing on Saturday March 29th. For more info and to book your trip visit our website. Reservations are required. https://americanprincesscruises.com/events/2025-6-hour-pelagic-bird-and-marine-wildlife-trip-3-29-25/

03/17/2025

Special extended hours trip exploring NY’s wildside. Join us on this six hour marine wildlife & sea bird adventure cruise as we explore our local waters. For more info please visit our website page at:
https://americanprincesscruises.com/events/2025-6-hour-pelagic-bird-and-marine-wildlife-trip-3-29-25/

03/14/2025

*Special trip* Embark on a six-hour adventure cruise with us to explore our local waters for sealife and seabirds. For more info about this trip and to book a spot visit our website page. Reservations are required for this trip.

Searching for whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife but the focus is sea birds.

03/04/2025

Cast your vote by liking a photo 

03/02/2025

Here is the full report and species count from our amazing Winter Pelagic trip on Saturday 2/22. It was a beautiful winter day at sea exploring winter wildlife offshore of New York. We started our day inshore along the coast for a little while and found lots of bird life to start before venturing offshore for the day. Highlights of the trip were Atlantic Puffin, over 1700 Razorbill, Kittiwake, and Common Dolphin. Here is a full species list and count of our days sightings.

Species Observed:
2 Grey Seals
An unidentified whale spout, possible second but we didn’t see it again and couldn’t verify.
A few decent size pods of Common Dolphin
66 Brant
2 Canada Goose
6 Mute Swan
2 American Black Duck
25 Greater Scaup
79 Common Eider
140 Surf Scoter
93 White-winged Scoter
1047 Black Scoter
51 Long-tailed Duck
75 Bufflehead
178 Red-breasted Merganser
140 Sanderling
8 Atlantic Puffin
1743 Razorbill
478 Dovekie
10 Common Murre
1 Black-legged Kittiwake
26 Bonaparte’s Gull
1 Black-headed Gull
619 Ring-billed Gull
624 American Herring Gull
43 Great Black-backed Gull
7 Lesser Black-backed Gull
3 Iceland Gull
2 Horned Grebe
46 Red-throated Loon
9 Common Loon
1 Sooty Shearwater
16 Northern Gannet
65 Great Cormorant
1 Double-crested Cormorant

03/02/2025

Here is the full report and species count from our amazing Winter Pelagic trip on Saturday 2/22. It was a beautiful winter day at sea exploring winter wildlife offshore of New York. We started our day inshore along the coast for a little while and found lots of bird life to start before venturing offshore for the day. Highlights of the trip were Atlantic Puffin, over 1700 Razorbill, Kittiwake, and Common Dolphin. Here is a full species list and count of our days sightings.

Species Observed:
2 Grey Seals
An unidentified whale spout, possible second but we didn’t see it again and couldn’t verify.
A few decent size pods of Common Dolphin
66 Brant
2 Canada Goose
6 Mute Swan
2 American Black Duck
25 Greater Scaup
79 Common Eider
140 Surf Scoter
93 White-winged Scoter
1047 Black Scoter
51 Long-tailed Duck
75 Bufflehead
178 Red-breasted Merganser
140 Sanderling
8 Atlantic Puffin
1743 Razorbill
478 Dovekie
10 Common Murre
1 Black-legged Kittiwake
26 Bonaparte's Gull
1 Black-headed Gull
619 Ring-billed Gull
624 American Herring Gull
43 Great Black-backed Gull
7 Lesser Black-backed Gull
3 Iceland Gull
2 Horned Grebe
46 Red-throated Loon
9 Common Loon
1 Sooty Shearwater
16 Northern Gannet
65 Great Cormorant
1 Double-crested Cormorant

02/24/2025

We had an Amazing Winter Pelagic trip this past Saturday. It was a nice winter day at sea exploring the offshore waters of New York for pelagic birds and marine wildlife. There were lots of amazing sightings throughout the day, including over 1700 Razorbills. Here is a species list of what we observed. A full report and more photos to come. Species highlights (not full list) include a Sooty Shearwater, Razorbill, Common Murre, Dovekie, Kittiwake and Atlantic Puffin. Seven species of gull including Lesser Black-backed Gull, Iceland Gull, Bonaparte’s and an adult Black-headed Gull. Marine wildlife seen were grey seals, Common Dolphin pods (a few pods seen throughput day), and a couple unidentified whale spouts.

02/12/2025

February is Humpback Whale awareness month.

Here is another fun fact on this HumpBack Day, Whale Wednesday.

Did you know that Humpback Whales have very large (long) pectoral fins. Their pectoral fins can measure one-third of the length of their bodies, and are the longest of any whale species. These large fins make them very maneuverable. The pectoral fins leading edge has bumps or knobby tubercles on the leading edge that help direct water flow over the fin.

The scientific name for the humpback whale is Megaptera novaeangliae, and translates to big-winged New Englander.

americanprincesscruises.com

02/10/2025

The Whale SENSE photo contest has now started. So all of you marine wildlife photographers out there get those photos in.

We are jumping for joy today because it’s the opening day for our 8th Annual Whale SENSE Photo Contest! Photo by Janice Gorle.

This photo contest is for ANY whale watching enthusiast to share exciting moments they’ve captured!

Rules:
1. Photo must be taken by passengers or crew members aboard a boat that participates in the Whale SENSE program
2. Photos must be submitted by the Google Form which will be at the link in our bio when the contest opens to submissions!

Categories:
Mobile Phone Capture
Surface Active
Non Whale Marine Life
Scenic View
Tail Shot

Winning photos will be featured on our page, Instagram, and website!

Voting will take place on our page! You can learn more about the competition on our website.

https://whalesense.org/2025/02/04/8th-annual-whale-sense-photo-contest/