Yes those are survival suits in the pictures. More to keep you warm than because you may get thrown from the boat; our boat drivers hit some good speeds and made some good turns but if you stayed in your saddle (boat uses semi-stand saddles which are more comfy than they first appear) you would be fine.
The huge advantage of their boats is that they can get as close as they want, even bumping against rocks. No they won't get you close enough to pet the harbor seals, but anything else is fair game (and you do get close enough to take "sealfies", which are exactly what they sound like).
We didn't see any whales, but it isn't sold as a whale viewing trip and the waters you stay in probably don't see that many as the cruise ships transit them on the way to Skagway. What we did see was an eagle start to eat a salmon he caught, from about 30-40 yards away. Spent 12 days in Alaska and only saw that here.
If you want to photo those eagles in the trees bring at least a ~150mm zoom, although 300 is best if you want to fill the frame. Nice thing about this trip is that a good phone camera or point and shoot is more than enough for everything at waters edge due to how close you get.
Great tour without a doubt, but if you want whales I suggest booking a tour dedicated to that in another port. I'd still do this tour simply because the experience is so unique and I didn't see any boats like this anywhere else.