My visit was supose to finish by 17h30 but finally they told at the end was 19h-19h30 so as I had my flight back to Paris that evening, I couldnt enjoy the citytour +boat trip. I could only visit everglades.

The operators of this tour made me feel as though I was completely being manipulated. From the start, the guide had no interest in customer service what so ever. He was less than responsive to anyone’s questions or concerns. This was supposed to be a Guided Tour but the guide just continually repeated the same things saying things like “is everybody having a good time” over and over. When we stopped in little Havana we got off the bus and were taken to a variety of stores. By the second store it was very clear that we were being led only to where he wanted us to spend our money. I could understand a suggestion to go to certain stores and meet back at the bus at a certain time, but we were not given an option and were ushered in the out of his choice of stores even going so far as to have the group finish shopping and waiting on the street for our “guide” to finish up his personal conversation for over 10 minutes with one of the store attendants. The next stop was lunch which was at bayside. But before exiting the bus we were told a gratuity was expected. But not any amount, he informed us it was customary to tip 50% of the cost of the tour as this is what paid his salary as he stood at the exit of the bus with his tip “bucket” in our faces. The next stop was Bayside for lunch. To keep with the theme for the day, we were not given a choice on where we wanted to eat, even though there were plenty of restaurants to choose from. Instead, we were led to his “restaurant of choice” and told that was were lunch was. Lunch was not included in the price of the ticket and his “choice” was quite expensive. If we decided we didn’t want lunch we were directed to where we were to meet the boat and “handed over” to the boat guide. This leg of the trip was more of the same. The guide spoke so fast in various languages nobody had any idea what she was saying. By the time I figured out she was speaking my language, she was on to the next. Again, the same thing happened with the demand for a gratuity and just how much was acceptable as we exited the boat. The third leg was an airboat ride in the Everglades. The boat tour itself was nice, but I was less than thrilled when I sat down on the bus for the return trip and noticed the sign taped to the window of the bus that a “$5 minimum gratuity was expected for the driver. Finally, we were told there was no hotel pick up and we had to drive to the location in the morning, which we did and had to pay an additional $40 for parking for the day. (Which would not have been necessary had we been picked up at our hotel). On the way back from the excursion, the bus driver announced we would be making a few stops to drop passengers back off at their pick up locations before returning to the “office” (original starting point we had to drive to in the morning) Surprise! One of the stops was literally right in front of our hotel that we couldn’t get off of because our car was at the tour starting location. The whole excursion felt like a competition to see how much money each guide could get out of the customers and just how stupid we were. Doesn’t Viator vent these tour operators before recommending them and putting them on their website?

I enjoyed the everglades, and the city tour on the double decker, for the most part. However, when on foot, we did spend an awful lot of time in shops in little Havana which I did not really appreciate as I did not find it in any way knowledgeable or interesting. The boat ride around miami was alright, some interesting sights.

Every aspect of the tours were great. The tour guides were very lively and informative. They were also very nice. If you want a full day experience, I highly recommend the combo tours.

Being constantly reminded of giving/asking for tips The trips were good but free time wasn’t really an option