I did this as I only had a morning to spend on the trip, and I was based at South Beach.
For a start, MiamiTours staff were pretty unfriendly. I panicked as I got at the office only five minutes early to find a huge 20 minute queue, where a guy shouted at me to get in line when I tried to check whether we’d still make it. No-one explained that it would be OK and the buses wouldn’t leave without us. This turned out to be the case, and the bus left half an hour later once everyone was on board. There was no commentary at all either way, but it was a chance to nap and the driver didn’t expect tips as a result.
For £29 ($40ish) via Tripadvisor and Half Price Tours, we got an air conditioned double-decker coach both ways from Lincoln Street, a 30min airboat ride, a 20min alligator show, and around 20 mins to browse the shop. I had a smoked alligator sausage from the kitchen for $11.
Now, don’t expect to be “at one with nature”, this is definitely nothing other than a canned tourist experience at a smallish private centre attached to the main national park. There are 5 rows of 6, 30 people on the airboat, and it rides on the same well-travelled course as every other boat every 10-15 mins. The gators can stay in the same place all day, and live to 70, so when the guide points one out, he’s probably done so to every other group in the same spot all day, every day, for years.
But - that’s probably partially true for the private tours too. As it was, we saw four of the five regular gators that the guide said they had names for, a juvenile or two, plus some birds and turtles. They slowly drift along for 10 mins pointing out the wildlife, then do a speed run which is pretty fun, then another 10 mins of slow drifting back to the dock.
The people at the park are pretty friendly and relaxed, and our guide Jay was practiced and funny. The wildlife show afterwards was again showing a few animals in a small covered arena, and Tom was almost inaudible with the PA system broken, but there were a few interesting facts, I’m sure kids will love it, and again - it’s just checking boxes as a tourist. “Seen scorpion - check. Eaten gator burger - check”. Seeing the 5-6 medium gators up close in the pen is definitely something.
From the way the gators have been trained scared of the stone carried by the keeper, it may not be the most humane centre, but then those gators are apparently all caged anyway as being dangerous to humans, and there’s a gator farm next door where they breed and kill them, so go figure.
I’m sure you would see a lot more of the land and more varied wildlife in the main national park and visitors centre, but for a quick rush visit, this is very efficient, and at the price I got it for, great value.