We looked into several swamp tours during our time in NOLA, and ultimately went with this one because a bus ride to and from the swamp was included in the price of the tour. This tour is at Honey Island Swamp, which is outside of Slidell.
Overall, we had a great time. I think we may have mixed up the pickup location because we ended up running to the bus after it drove past us, but I guess the driver saw us because he stopped at the next four-way to let us on. Besides the rocky start, which was our fault, it was great!
One thing I will say is that it seems like your experience depends on who you get as a bus driver and boat captain. Rather than everyone having the same tour script, they appear to really let their employees customize. Not necessarily a good or bad thing, just something to know. Our bus driver peppered the trip with occasional facts about New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain as we drove, which was nice. I'm a nerd so I would have loved an hour-long history lecture, but, in fairness, that's not what we signed up for.
As others have said, once you arrive, there is a bit of waiting (while they take tickets and give wristbands). But they have a gift shop and pavilion and a little boardwalk area where you can see some of the swamp, and all told, we probably only waited about half an hour. Plenty of that time was taken up by one of the employees letting people hold a baby gator and take pictures with it. Personally, I enjoyed the time to kind of wander around and get my bearings.
Our tour guide was Zander, and he was a true local guide. Apparently he lives on the swamp and is a commercial fisherman, but gives tours on his days off. He was therefore in a position to tell us about the people who lived in the handful of houses right on the water next to the tour boat dock, as well as how Katrina had impacted the area. He was so nice and full of information. He said his daughter is a teacher and she made him a book that identified all of the local wildlife, and I'm glad she did, because he was able to identify and give info about almost every animal we saw. I think he knew that many were hoping to see gators, because in some ways the tour felt like a gator-finding expedition first, and swamp tour second. Rather than following a set course, the tour boats were all exploring little inlets and the captains were shouting to each other whether they had found a gator or where to see one. They all helped each other out though, and I think each boat ended up seeing some! Regardless, it was a comprehensive swamp tour and even if we hadn't seen any gators, it was still a gorgeous experience.
Unfortunately for us, there was a cold snap the weekend that we visited, so Zander explained that the big gators were sleeping at the bottom of the river. However, we did see several baby alligators floating around and sunning themselves. He was also great at talking about the turtles, herons, egrets, and raccoons we saw, as well as even the different plants and fungi that grow in the swamp. The animals seem to know that the boats have food for them, especially the raccoons, who came running as soon as our boat pulled in to their little area.
If you go on a cold day, make sure to wear warm enough clothes. There are times when the boats go pretty fast to get from one part of the swamp to another and the wind was COLD! Zander actually pulled some blankets out of his car for us because he knew how cold it was gonna be. Just another example of how thoughtful he was about our experience!
After the tour was over, there was a ~20 min wait time as people have mentioned, but it was really just how long it took for the 50 or so of us on the bus to go to the bathroom and buy souvenirs. Luckily we had read the reviews, so we had bought some sandwiches and snacks the night before and used that time to eat. At this point, the entire experience had been about 4 hours, so I was definitely hungry! I would recommend bringing food to eat, since the gift shop only had like chips and souvenir foods. The drive home was pretty quiet, I think everyone was tired!
Another nice thing is that you can get off at any of the drop-off sites, so we just got off in the french quarter and spent the rest of the day wandering around.
All in all, we had a good time with Cajun Encounters. If you're interested in seeing a swamp, this tour was a great price for everything it included. Everyone was very nice and courteous. We had a great morning at Honey Island Swamp!