First of all, this is NOT a tour of the National Park, or even really a tour at all. You're paying about a $24 per person premium for a van to take you to a tourist trap called the Everglades Holiday Park, which might technically be in the Everglades but is some way north of the National Park itself.
For all I know, $24 might be a reasonable price to pay for transportation from Miami Beach to this place, and in that case, fine. But the van itself was extremely cramped, with no legroom, everyone squished up against each other, and a barely-functioning AC system. You'd think that during COVID they'd book it to, say, 75% capacity in order to provide at least an impression of social distancing, but nope. Sardines. And expect to be on the road for around 1:15 each way.
The "Holiday Park" is what you'd expect - shabby, full of junk, with nasty bathrooms and overpriced fast food. The airboat tour was actually fine, mostly because my wife and I happened to have a gator come around 2 feet away from us. THAT was cool. As for the boat captain, I think it'd be better for them to just point things out and keep their mouths shut otherwise. He was clearly reading off of a script and constantly trying to fill silence with useless information and prewritten jokes. On top of that, his intonation was all in the wrong places, which made him sound like someone trying to play a bad actor in a movie.
I was actually thinking of giving this 2 stars just thanks to that closeup alligator encounter, but then the last part of the 'tour' happened. This would be the 'alligator show' in the description. What is the alligator show? 15 minutes of a hyperactive animal trapper abusing gators in a terrible little dirt pit. I'm hardly a PETA member, but it was extremely upsetting and I eventually just stopped watching and hoping one of the things would snap at him. It's somewhat telling that the guy has to literally say "this isn't abuse" three or four times during his spiel.
Then, it's a walk past a bunch of other depressed animals in tiny cages and a rush to the van to make sure you can actually sit next to the person you came with. What a day.
Одговор домаћина
Dec 2021
We are sorry to hear about your experience.
Let me clarify point by point.
We offer Courtesy pick ups from many hotels in Miami. In your case we conveniently picked you up at the doorsteps of your hotel.
We only had two pick ups after yours in the same small area of South Beach. This day the process of pick up was very quick and smooth.
The driving to the park was actually 45 minutes, not 1 hour 15 minutes.
We used a Luxury High Roof Mercedes Sprinter Van. The same exact Van all the Limo companies use. It is a comfortable 14 seat van with individual seats. The Air conditioning was working perfectly. The driver made sure everybody was comfortable with the temperature. On top of that we offered courtesy water bottles to our guests.
In Florida there are not restrictions on vehicle capacity, like the airline industry.
And yes, the $24 ride premium is indeed a very good deal considering the quality of service and vehicle.
As for the park itself, we offer a fun and relaxing experience. It is not an adventurous or ecological tour.
We are deeply sorry if you expected something different. But we don’t advertise anything like that.