Both the Oak Alley Plantation and Swamp were great places to visit with interesting stories and engaging tour guides.
Having said that we did experience a couple of hiccups. One of the issues we had was with the timing of the house tour of Oak Alley. The plantation not the tour company that was transporting us booked our tour group with another group later after we arrived. This effectively meant that the house tour took a lot longer than necessary as there were too many people in the group about 50. It also meant that we couldn't do the house tour first and then spend the remaining time in the gardens and looking at the slavery exhibit properly. It really restricted us and we would have liked further time at the plantation. We also experienced some transportation issues. Effectively we travelled on four different buses during the day as the company collects people and splits them depending on which tour you are doing. At one stage no one knew who was meant to be driving us back to New Orleans, which was very frustrating. The idea of collecting people from hotels in one area and then reshuffling them at a central location to get the right bus for their tour makes sense, but once you are on that bus you should not have to change again.
The combo tour for the airboat swamp tour and Oak Alley plantation did not disappoint. We were picked up at our hotel in the French quarter- on time, and proceeded to area to embark on a 16 person air boat. The guide, Kenny, couldn't be more enjoyable, funny, and knowledgeable. We didn't see many gators, but that was somewhat expected, as the weather was a bit cool and overcast, but Kenny did deliver, knowing where there would be one. Once in the swamp area, all of those that wanted to participate in holding a small gator could do so I did . All in all, and experience that should be had if visiting the NOLA area.
Once departed from the swamp area, we proceeded to Oak Alley plantation, another must see in the NOLA area. We again had a pleasant and knowledgeable guide, who provided a about 45 min. tour of the main house. After the tour, we had time to walk the grounds, and as the weather cooperated turning sunny and warm, made for a pleasant time. there is an opportunity to get food and drinks at this plantation.
After the plantation, we were delivered back to our hotel, at the time that was stated for the tours. Again, a well worth tour if in the NOLA area.