Crystal River Tour with Manatee Swim and Everglades Airboat Ride

This tour is definitely worth the money, the Bus is comfortable and it does have restroom if emergency nature calls,also usb charger outlet. The breakfast was Capri sun/water, banana,coffee cakes and granola bar. Manatee snorkeling first ask to go to Kings Bay with Dimitri/Matt. Then Lunch was turkey sub,chips,cookies and kool aid. It was good. Then Nature park then a awesome airboat ride. Sorry no ear protection bc of Covid. The. Comfortable ride home. We started out at815and back in Orlando around 8pm. Also the driver was extremely nice and funny

I had a great time and hope to do it again!! The tour guides were pleasant and it all ran very smoothly!

Awesome tour on my daughters 15th birthday! Our guide & captain at the Manatee swim were helpful, personable & knowledgeable. Also the airboat ride was fun at Wild Bill's. Having the bus shuttle everyone from place to place was great cuz we didn't figure how exhausted we would be! Shuttle driver did an awesome job. Bring some cash for tips is nice.

An ample sack Breakfast and Lunch were provided (thank you!). Our boat Captain was Alex, in-water guide was Tayla, both did a great job answering questions and keeping the group together. We enjoyed a cool day, 64 degrees and a water temperature of 72 was the perfect combination to see a large number of manatees. We were able to swim with the manatees and saw a mother and pup among the herd. Our airboat Captain Craig (I think) must have the very best job in the world, beautiful river and airboat. What more do you need?

Great fun. Everyone helpful and friendly. Nice sack breakfast and lunches. We did bring extra snack and water, since teens eat a lot. Thank you!!

Tyla was our snorkel guide and she was amazing. The airboat captain was amazing as well. The tour guide who drove the bus was nice, but you could tell he didn't want to be working. I understand why, being Christmas Eve and all, but it still was sad. He rushed us and made us feel bad if we werent on time. If time is such an issue, then they should make the tour have longer parameters. I still would do it again.

Great tour saw lots of manatees Maddy and Nicky great guide and driver Only disappointment was air boat ride being at slow speed due to flood area

My son and I loved the experiences on this trip but it could be more organized. The biggest frustration was the lack of information or itinerary, and the fact that many of the details are incorrect. Also, meals are provided but they are not great and food allergies are not well accommodated. That being said, my son and I would do it again in a heartbeat! First of all, hotel pickup is not provided. We walked twenty minutes to be picked up at Rosen Points Hotel. Our pickup time was 8:10, but we were picked up at 8:20 in a huge tour bus with a restroom and Wi-Fi . Unfortunately, we were then driven to Senior Frogs to get in a mini van. Breakfast was passed out (croissant, peach yogurt, Sunny D and a peanut butter granola bar) and we left at 8:40. As we were pulling out we learned that the wetsuits were mandatory and Cash Only. This was the first time I heard mandatory and cash only! We arrived in Crystal River at 10:30 after a restroom stop at 9:40. The boat ride and snorkeling was from 11:00-1:00. It was pretty incredible and we saw quite a few manatees. We changed and were able to purchase photographs and souvenirs. We left at 1:30 and lunch was eaten on the bus (Capri Sun, water, ham sandwich, BBQ chips, mandarin oranges and a bag of cookies). We arrived at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Springs Park at 2:00. We did not get to see any of it because we had to eat lunch at the park due to my son's peanut allergy. It looked pretty neat. At 3:00 we left for the airboat ride. That lasted from 4:00-4:45 and was very fun and beautiful! We arrived in Orlando at 6:00 but there were several different stops. We were dropped off across the street instead of Rosen Pointe by 6:30. My biggest suggestion would be to wear swim clothes under your clothes and take whatever you need to change afterwards. I would also bring extra food and cash. I had a large backpack that I left on the bus and a smaller bag for valuables that you can carry with you. I also wish I had brought a disposable waterproof camera for the manatees. My cell phone was perfect for everything else. Also, there was a lot of tipping involved. The dive shop and airbags ride allowed tipping on credit cards. The bus driver Nikky told everyone that he expected at least 15% of the tour price but it was hard to decide how much to tip everyone else since I had no idea of prices. With all this being said, my son and I loved the trip!

Though the trip with dolphin tours was fun, the booking agent, Viator, needs to get their act together. When I booked our manatee snorkel and airboat trip, I called Viator instead of booking on their website as I had questions. One question was, do they offer pick up at our hotel? Their website says “pick up at select hotels“ The lady on the phone said we were staying at a selected resort. I asked several times and she assured me we would be picked up at the hotel. Well, when I called to confirm pick up, Dolphin Tours told me they do not pick up at hotels and had to meet at a designated location. So, we had to hire a taxi to take us to the meeting point. A 15 minutes ride and an added expense we weren’t planning on. Also, I asked about the breakfast. The Viator website say, “all you can eat breakfast”. We thought that was a good deal as we were traveling with to teen age boys. We told the boys not to eat as we were headed to a breakfast buffet. Well, when we got on the bus, we were handed a sack filled with a cold (almost frozen) crescent roll, jelly, Capri sun, sunny d and yogurt. Not the best choice for 2 growing boys and a person with diabetes. I wish I could copy and paste the Viator ad where it clearly states hotel pick up and all you can eat breakfast. The breakfast, lunch and excursion that dolphin tours provided was good, but was not as advertised by Viator. Viator definitely needs to get their act together and update their ads.

The guide was not familiar with the excursion and mentioned this a number of times, there is no where to practically change at the Dive centre and things felt a little amateurish. That said we had a really enjoyable day overall. Saw Wild Dolphins as well as lots of Manatees and a calf.