We participated in the 2 hour bus tour and 2 hour boat tour.
To see the most you definitely want to sit at the toplevel of the bus. The bus had been in the sun so when we went upstairs and sat down we burned our legs. It was very hot and the chairs had been baking. Since it is first come first serve on where to sit we were sitting in the blazing sun for 15 minutes without any breeze. I thought I was going to faint. Caps, Sunglasses, towel to sit on, water, sunscreen and potential an umbrella while the bus is sitting there are all very needed.
The bustour itself has very limited views of Miami. Mainly the tour goes to Little Havana where the tour guide leads you into a cigar shop, a mojito place and another trinket store. It would be more fun if you would get 30 minutes to walk around yourself, we were not interested in cigars, mojito or trinkets but we loved to soak up the atmosphere.
After the little stop in Little Havana we crossed the bridge to end up at Bayside Marketplace. It was a little bit unclear but also here we followed the guide to a place where we could have lunch. If we would have know at what time we had to be where to catch the boat tour we probably would have walked around a bit more and grabbed lunch somewhere else. It felt a bit pushy to sit us down in that restaurant.
After lunch we went on the boat tour. The breeze of the moving boat was very welcome (although when went back and the wind was from behind it was warm again, same applies for the boat as applied for the bus concerning hat, sunscreen, water, etc). The tour passing by the houses was fun and entertaining. We did note that many celebrities were not actually owning the houses anymore, but that did not diminish the grandeur of the houses.
What was a bit odd is that after 90 minutes we were back on land. We thought the boat tour was also taking us for 2 hours. ? Now we had little shy of an hour to kill at Bayside Marketplace before our bus came to take us back to Lincoln Mall. We felt we missed out on more boat time. I mean, Bayside Marketplace is easy to explore by car.
It was a long day, a hot day and we definitely saw some of Miami, we were in a bus and a boat and at Bayside Marketplace and Little Havana. You will definitely have to bring lots of water, sunscreen, hat, long sleeves, something to sit on to not burn your legs.
I would recommend this trip to people who visit Miami for the first time and have a day to kill. The boat tour is no 2 hours as promised therefor the waiting time at Bayside Marketplace is much longer, but if that is no issue: Go and enjoy.
The price-value ratio is fine. You get what you pay for. If you want a more extensive trip or more private you have to fish out more dollars.
Oh, note for bathroom semantics.. at the starting point make sure already visited a bathroom at Mac Donalds (one block away) or the Starbucks. The office does not have a bathroom and the bakery where they refer you too was 'out of service' (but is probably out of service every day of the week).