Ft. Lauderdale Airboat Ride Excursion

[CruiseShelly]

Considering this excursion post cruise. Can anyone tell me if this excursion includes Shark Valley entrance to Everglades National Park?

 

We are birdwatchers and will eliminate this stop from our pre-cruise self tour if so. We don't need to duplicate our efforts.

[Surftamer]

Sorry can't tell you the name of the park in the Everglades. I don't believe that this is a great trip for bird watchers. The trip consists of: half hour bus ride to the Everglades; half hour air boat ride; hour spent on short sessions with guides showing local wildlife and rescue animals. Other than the brief ride in the air boat it was just a so0so experience.

 

 

 

Considering this excursion post cruise. Can anyone tell me if this excursion includes Shark Valley entrance to Everglades National Park?

 

We are birdwatchers and will eliminate this stop from our pre-cruise self tour if so. We don't need to duplicate our efforts.

[Langoustine]

I posted an answer to your question on the Florida board.

[starjumpr]

I can't comment on the Cruise's lines Air Boat ride but in Feb after we got off the Noordam in Ft Lauderdale we went to Everglades Holiday Park, home of the Gator boys! It was great!! We had an hour long air boat ride which included gators, plants and birds and I believe with the military discount it only cost $27 for two people. It also gave us access to the Gator Show afterwards. We very impressed with this conservation area and even more impressed when we found out that the majority of the employee's here at this park or Volunteers. The money they receive through air boat sales and donations goes back to park and rescuing gators. Highly recommend this little park! It was a great experience and well worth the trip!!

[SwissMyst]

Considering this excursion post cruise. Can anyone tell me if this excursion includes Shark Valley entrance to Everglades National Park?

 

We are birdwatchers and will eliminate this stop from our pre-cruise self tour if so. We don't need to duplicate our efforts.

 

The airboat ride excursion we took post cruise was the single most awful excursion we ever had on HAL. Partly a terrible guide that dunned us mercilessly for tips and a set up to fleece even more photos for money.

 

You will never get near the park itself because the airboats are so noisy and tear up the vegetation so badly that they are environmental hazards. This was basically a cheesy road side attraction and only was sympathetic because there was a zoo for abandoned large zoo animals and the crocodile show put on by at least a trained zoologist.

 

I swear even the one crocodile they "spotted" was probably a fake on on a motorized track that they could "discover" since the habitat they ran the airboats through was so thoroughly trashed out.

 

We have been virtually 100% happy with all other HAL excursions all over the world yet this one in their own backyard was just awful. The extended city tour of Fort Lauderdale was a lot more interesting as was the paddlewheel harbor tour. I would pass on the air boat if I were you and save your time to actually get into the national park itself and take one of the authorized ranger waterway tours. You will see more, learn more and have a far gentler impact on this unique wetlands resource.