We had wanted to go see the Statue of Liberty but didn't realize that you often need to book months and weeks ahead of time to get onto the island with the statue. This was an amazing alternative!!! Quick one-hour cruise down to the statue with a tour guide to explain all the points of interest on the way down and back as well as a wealth of information about the actual statue. Our tour guide, Dave (special call-out to Dave on an amazing job!!) was very informative and had us laughing a few times with his delivery and comments, very entertaining!! Great views of the statue with amazing photo opportunities too. We booked the premier experience so got to skip the lines getting on the boat, had the top deck reserved to the Premier group (which gave us all great views), a private server to attend to our refreshment needs and a free "welcome on board" cookie too!! Well worth the added cost!! Do show up to the pier at least 30 minutes early to get your bearings and get first access to the boat. Our boat was quite large and comfortable, handled the water very well with very little rocking, water wasn't really choppy the day we went but definitely not smooth either. Definitely recommend this tour and would book with Circle Line again as they have a few other tours that looked really neat. We saw the "Beast" boat go out when we left and for the adventurous who don't mind getting a bit wet this looked really neat. The boat is a definite beast!!! Added thought for those with limited time, this tour took about 1 and a half hours total time (from showing up at the pier until leaving again) so fit very well into our busy sight-seeing plans we had for the day, an on-island tour can often be a day long affair so plan accordingly and enjoy the Statue of Liberty!!