Compared
RIB, catamaran or hybrid: which whale boat to book in Tromso
Three hulls, one set of animals. A rigid inflatable puts you a metre above the water with a dozen people and no shelter. A high-speed catamaran gets you to the fish fastest, with a heated cabin and a hundred passengers. A hybrid-electric catamaran does the same and can arrive silently. Everything else on the listings is detail.
Quick answer
Book a catamaran if you want comfort and evidence, and a RIB if you want photographs. The hybrid-electric catamaran at $214 has a heated cabin, food and 6,651 reviews; the high-speed catamaran at $214 reaches the herring fastest; the RIB at Skjervøy at $245 has no cabin at all and puts you at eye level with a surfacing orca. The animals are identical from all three.
The three hulls, at a glance
- Hybrid catamaran
- $2149 hours, cabin, silent approach
- High-speed catamaran
- $2148 hours, cabin, fastest transit
- RIB
- $2453–12 hours, no cabin, eye level
- Passengers
- 100+ / 100+ / ~12in that order
- Toilet on board
- Yes / yes / no
- Suit
- Thermal / thermal / flotationall provided
- Best for photos
- RIBno glass, no railings, low angle
- Best for families
- Either catamaranRIBs set minimum ages
- Seasickness
- RIB often easierit rides rather than rolls
- Evidence base
- 6,651 / 3,772 / 136reviews behind each
What each hull actually gives you
Three different days on the same water
A cabin and evidence, or speed, or eye level. Pick the one you actually want.
The hybrid-electric catamaran. Nine hours, a heated cabin with windows, a hot meal, a toilet, and a top deck to stand on. It runs diesel for the transit and can switch to batteries near the animals, so the last approach is quiet. It is the most-booked safari in the niche by a wide margin, which is itself a reason to consider it.
The high-speed catamaran. Eight hours, the same comforts, and a faster hull. That matters more than it sounds: when the herring are three hours north, an hour saved in each direction is two more hours among the whales. 3,772 reviews at 4.6.
The rigid inflatable. A dozen people, a flotation suit, a seat you straddle and no shelter of any kind. It goes where the fish are, including twelve-hour days out of Skjervøy. You are a metre above the water: when an orca surfaces beside the boat, you are at its eye level rather than four metres above it. There is no toilet, no cabin, no coffee and nowhere to warm up.
People assume the RIB is the harder ride for a delicate stomach and it is usually the opposite: a light inflatable rides over a short swell rather than rolling through it, and you are outside in fresh air looking at the horizon.
Six questions that settle it
Answer honestly and the boat picks itself
None of this is about the operator.
- Is anybody under about twelve?
Then a catamaran. RIB operators set minimum ages and a twelve-hour open boat is not a family trip.
- Are you photographing seriously?
Then the RIB, and accept the cold. No amount of comfort replaces a low angle with no glass.
- Do you need a toilet within reach?
Then a catamaran. RIBs have nothing on board and the days are long.
- Does anybody get seasick?
The RIB is usually the gentler ride, counter-intuitively. Ask the operator.
- Is this your only chance at whales?
Then weight the evidence: 6,651 ratings is a very different bet from 136.
- Can you face twelve hours?
If not, take the eight or nine-hour catamarans from Tromsø rather than the Skjervøy day.
Whatever hull you choose, the season is the thing that decides whether there is anything to see at all.
Season and sightings→What a flotation suit does
The kit that makes an open boat possible in December
Windproof, buoyant, and open at exactly the three places that get cold.
Every RIB passenger here wears a one-piece flotation suit: insulated, windproof, largely waterproof, with buoyant foam built in. It goes over your own clothes at the quay and it is the reason a twelve-hour open-boat day in an Arctic winter is a normal thing to sell.
It blocks wind, which at twenty knots in December is the main enemy. It sheds spray. And if the worst happened it floats you and slows heat loss, which is why crews insist on the zip being all the way up even when you are warm on the pontoon.
What it does not cover is your head, your hands and your face. A fitted hat that will not blow off, gloves you can still work a camera in, and something over the lower face on a cold day are the difference between six good hours and two.
Getting into one takes a couple of minutes and looks ridiculous. Everybody looks the same, nobody photographs well, and it stops being funny about four minutes into the run north.
Six questions the listings do not answer
Ask before you choose a hull
Each of these has changed somebody’s booking.
- Is there a toilet?
On the catamarans, yes. On a RIB, no — and the day can be twelve hours.
- What is the minimum age?
RIB operators set one; the catamarans generally do not.
- Can I sit down inside?
Only on the catamarans. A RIB is a seat you straddle, outside, for the duration.
- How many passengers?
A dozen against a hundred or more. It decides how much of the guide you get.
- Where does spray reach?
Everywhere on a RIB. Cameras live under the suit between sightings.
- Does it go to Skjervøy?
Some do, and that changes a nine-hour day into a twelve-hour one.
Common questions
Which whale boat, answered
Is a RIB better than a big boat for whale watching?
For photography and for anyone prone to seasickness, usually yes. For comfort, families and a long day in December, the catamarans are better.
Do you get closer on a RIB?
You sit closer to the water, which changes the view completely. Approach distances to the animals are set by rules and by the whales, not by the boat.
Which boat is warmest?
The catamarans, which have heated cabins. On a RIB the flotation suit is the only shelter there is.
Which has the most reviews?
The hybrid-electric catamaran, with 6,651 ratings at 4.5.
Are children allowed on the RIB?
Operators set minimum ages; check the listing. The catamarans take all ages.
Does the boat change what I will see?
No. The animals are the same. What changes is your angle, your comfort and how long you can stay out.
Go deeper
More on Tromso whale watching
Whale watching from Tromso
What the season is, what you see and how the day runs.
The verdictWhich safari is best
Seven safaris ranked, and which suits which traveller.
SeasonSeason and sightings
November to January, and why the dates move with the fish.
OrcaOrca in Tromso
Family groups, herding herring, and where to see them.
SkjervoySkjervoy safaris
Why the boats sail three hours north, and what it buys.
SilentThe silent boat
What a hybrid-electric hull changes when you approach a whale.
