Review: Swamp Tour

[cali-croozer]

My family and I (2 adults, 2 teen boys, ages 15 and 17) highly recommend Dr. Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours (www.HoneyIslandSwamp.com). We took this tour on July 28 and it exceeded our expectations. I called their office from our hotel (Drury Inn) on July 26 to make reservations. They reconfirmed our pick-up time with a call to our room on July 27. We were scheduled for the 9am tour and they picked us up from our hotel at 7:40am. There were 2 other couples on the bus. The ride took about 50 minutes and the driver explained the area sights and history along the way....very informative and interesting. Once we arrived and paid, the boat was ready to load (they didn't make us hang around until 9am); there were the 8 of us from the bus and maybe another 8-10 locals who had driven themselves. The tour took about 2 hours; we saw gators, birds, snakes, spiders (that guide had x-ray eyes!) and just beautiful scenery. The guide was very informative and knowledgeable. After our tour, we bought t-shirts, a gator dog, postcards and pralines in the gift shop then boarded the bus back to New Orleans. The bus driver had more stories for us on the way back. He offered to drop us off in the French Quarter if we wanted so we took him up on the offer and got dropped off on Bourbon, near the Red Fish Grill where we ate lunch (including a gator appetizer!):) . The tour, with transportation, is $45 per person, but I found a coupon for $5 off. If you don't find a coupon, they offer a $2 AAA discount.

[cali-croozer]

Sorry guys, I can't edit...........too late. I meant June, of course. :D

[Zeno]

Thx for all the reviews - we are considering a cruise out of NOLA - so this is all great info for us.

[cali-croozer]

You're welcome. Have fun planning your trip!

[Cruisin Rick]

We also did a swamp tour while in New Orleans. Got a few pics of it in the link below. It was a good excursion.

[cali-croozer]

bumping up for a recent poster...........I don't know how to link it

[cherun]

Thanks for the info, will definately look them up.

[luv2travel2beaches]

Question for all of you swamp tour people. DD & I will be meeting up with DSIL and my parents next week. DSIL is in NOLA until 8/18 when he is being deployed to Africa : ( We are checking out things to do and see while we are there. When you go on the swamp tour is it really really hot at this time of year? I'm concerned because DD is expecting. She is doing great but I don't want to overdo with the plans. Thanks for your info.

[steamboats]

It´ll be hot in August and humid!! We´ve been in NOLA in August (but 10 years ago). I remember we had 102°F and once I preferred to stay in my airconditioned hotel room while DH went out to the WTC. I refused to go our before 8 pm that day. We did a swamp tour then and I don´t remember feeling too uncomfortable. As we had a rental car we didn´t do a tour out of NOLA. Those tours include the bus ride to the place the tour starts. Doing our own transportation did save us some money.

 

Last year we went to Kramer, LA. As it was December the alligators were hibernating but anyway we saw a lot in the back yard zoo of the tour operator:

 

http://www.leobstours.com/swamp-tour.html

 

I can highly recommend this tour.

 

Another tour operator was

 

http://www.torresswamptours.com/

 

steamboats

[cali-croozer]

luv2travel..........when making reservations, make sure to ask if you will be in a covered boat; not all tour operators have them. It was very hot in New Orleans when we were there in June, so we booked an early morning swamp tour, made sure we had the covered boat (a big difference between being in the shade versus the sun for 2 hours!) and brought water to drink. The tour itself was comfortable because of the tips I followed above.