Good tour - We went through Viator and reserved throught Banana Bobs boat tours. We had Christian as a driver, very informative. Was 45 mins from Miami beach to the everglades park. Well oil machine. We started with the gators with a well informed guide, very funny in the pen with the gators! The jet boat tour was about 1 hour. Ours was a covered roof, not open but the sides were. Saw more birds than anything and I think our drive tossed stuff so they would go eat and be near the boat. Was good but no snakes or gators. Got to see the everglades, was canals and grass and lily pads. Wasn't too impressed. I think maybe a different location or area of the glades would see more. Glad I went but won't go back.

Be prepared to spend more than expected - Well run operation with an easy parking lot and ticket system. Only saw two alligators on our tour and a few birds. The bad part: the airboat operator and the alligator show staff rely solely on tips. So after paying $40 admission per person, you are shelling out significantly more if you want any of the people who are actually working to be paid! So depending on how generous you want to be, you might be looking at spending double what you were expecting. You do get a “free” photo of your group, which is nice.

Slow boat to no where - The airboat ride is disappointing. I could swim faster than the fastest moment. I don’t care what the Latin name for Lilly pads are- or the names of all the captains. Short- slow- boring

Three Layers of Peas for Tips Made Me Regret the Whole Trip - The constant bombardment of tip requests makes pricing misleading. This is not the national park, this is a tourist trap. The boat captain was far more interested in being a comedian and entertainer (he seemed to be channeling Howard Cosell of Wide World of Sports fame) than a guide. The speech pattern was incredibly annoying. Briefly saw one alligator barely peeping out of the water. Beyond that, a few birds. The alligator show was mildly interesting, mostly for the good look at the alligators. The host claimed to be a volunteer for liability reasons and therefore paid exclusively by tips. Again, the host was more interested in being an entertainer and comedian than in education. Even the shuttle driver had a sign with a short essay pleading for tips--indicating 15% of the total bill was customary. And he made mention of tipping on the microphone repeatedly as well. Three layers of tipping made this not nearly as affordable as the pricing suggested. The Everglades Holiday Park is not anywhere near Everglades National Park.

Have someone mow your lawn incessantly with the loudest mower imaginable and you'll know how the animals feel. - We signed up for an "Everglades Eco-Adventure with airport drop-off" as a end of cruise on-shore excursion. We spoke to others on our cruise that said it was a good experience but we obviously went to separate places. There is NOTHING “Eco” about this experience. It was extremely crowded, and there were 24 air boats going one after the other. A number we were told had basically doubled in recent years. It was extraordinarily loud. We read we would be given ear protection, we were not. We had to plug our own ears the entire time. The boats are so loud they scare the wildlife. We encountered a male and female bird with their baby. They were frantic at the noise, the baby running from the mama and I feared we might run over it. This is not “eco.” I skipped the “show” as it didn’t have an educational vibe to it and I knew it would just upset me more. The animals seemed to exist mainly as a photo op for people which is not “eco.” It was ridiculously expensive and we were out for 30 minutes mostly being told we should have “gotten the longer tour” so we could see more. There was no quiet time on the airboat to just stop and listen to the nature. The whole experience felt like cattle herding and felt exploitive in every way. The boats need to be electric and there should be about half of them. Full Stop. I really can’t believe this level of disruption to nature is allowed, but it is Florida after all so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

Awful - There was way too little information in the emails we received to know where to go. We repeatedly try to contact them to no avail. We ended up going directly to the park and booking a ticket for the airboat ride through them. Since we never attended the tour we are hoping to get our money back. Overall a very stressful and bad experience. When we finally got through to a live person 4 hours after it was supposed to start they gave us a location that we were supposed to meet at that we had never heard of.

HORRIBLE! 0/0 DO NOT RECOMMEND - Never met or spoke to such rude and unprofessional people in my entire life. Booked over the phone, was told the meeting time and address. I arrive 5 minutes early, called Miami best tours and was told the bus left already and was hung up. Absolutely disgusted in this company

A True Tourist Trap - I can't believe this place gets so much business and so many moderate to positive reviews. It's just simply a Tourist Trap. We had time to spare after a cruise ship completed so booked this tour through the ship as it included a transfer from Ft. Lauderdale to the Miami Airport. We stood in line, had our picture taken ( which they usually want $20 for but our tour guide got it included) then took not a '60 minute' airboat tour, but it was 15 to 20 minutes absolute maximum. The driver tried a few jokes and then changing his voice which was weird. The only birds he showed us - and truly over and over- were vultures. A couple of kinds of water plants and that's about it. We did see one alligator in the water briefly but he disappeared. Very poor narration and not informative. The driver encouraged tips saying that's how he gets paid. After that we stood in line for 1/2 hour to get to the alligator display and 'show'. The arrogant alligator guy tried being a comedian ( with flat results) and played the pity card that he works as a volunteer and, again, had his hand out. We were then walked through a couple of caged areas with alligators and exited ( but not before yet another off to get a copy of the picture for $5). I've always wanted to see the Everglades but certainly wouldn't chose this place to be enlightened.

Not worth the money sadly - We booked this tour based on proximity to our hotel and price. Well ,they say you pay for what you get. We got a boat ride in the Everglades!! If you are expecting to see any wildlife other than birds, forget it. Not an alligator in sight. Our ride was early in the AM and unfortunately our boat captain didn't think it necessary to clean/wipe the dew off the front windows. These boats are covered and therefore the windows were so covered we couldn't see anything. I had been wanting to do this for years, and I was very disappointed. I would for sure spend more money with a better tour operator.

Don’t do it!!! - I made a reservation with this company for an airboat tour. I was sent a message the night before telling us to go to Bayside market place and meet by main entrance where the flags are 10 minutes before 2pm. We arrived at the location at 12:35 I know because I have the parking receipt. We ate lunch near the flags stayed close the entire time. At 2:02 I sent a message that we were there. No answer. Called company, they couldn’t get them to answer at around 2::40 called company back. After waiting on the phone forever for them to get someone to answer they say we were a no show. I will never book with this company again. Oh and we don’t get a refund. What a joke!!!!