Afternoon Tour of Niagara Falls USA with Maid Of Mist Boat Ride

I appreciated the tour because we got to see the highlights and were assured tickets to Maid of the Mist Cave of the Winds without having to get up early to make sure we got there before they sold out. Our tour guide Salaman was fantastic. He was full of enthusiasm for everything we did and have suggestions of other things to see in the area. He always volunteered to take photos at the scenic spots so my husband and I could both be in the pictures. Unfortunately we were there during Covid so Canada was closed, but I feel like we got to see everything important on the New York side.

From the description of this tour you THINK you are getting an evening illumination of the falls from a boat. However, that is not the case. You get a ride on Maid of the Mist which closes before sundown and there is NOT a good view of the falls illumination from the American side that we were able to determine. We went on this tour beginning at 5:00 in the evening. I would highly suggest that this tour which is a pick up from your hotel NOT be conducted on July 4th. The traffic is just too bad and the crowds are just too big to do the thing justice. I called the tour when we got to town to confim our hotel pick up. We waited outside our hotel as instructed. They went to the wrong hotel. So our 4:45 pick up became a 5:20 pick up. After a hair raising ride through traffic, hubby and I were about to say just forget it we would get out and walk. But we were rushed out of the car at the curb and met by another tour employee and we walked several blocks to avoid the grid locked traffic to the Maid of the Mist site. We spent probably and hour and a half at least, maybe two hours in line, getting tickets, and riding the boat, waiting for the elevator and such. By then Cave of the Winds was closed. Now I will say - it looks like Cave of the Winds has been taken OFF of this itinerary online, BUT my ticket I printed out said Cave of the Winds was INCLUDED in this tour. We walked several blocks and waited 20 minutes or more for drivers to arrive with vans to take us to Goat Island to complete the tour. We were whisked away and arrived at Goat Island in time for some sunset pictures. Then we needed to find a place to watch the fireworks already. Before the fireworks were over our two guides insisted we begin leaving and make our way to the car. I know this was to save time in traffic. BUT GEE - we missed the best part of the fireworks. My heart sank as I realized they would not take NO for an answer and we had to leave while the fireworks were still in progress..... We were whisked to our vans and got out really fast before the traffic got bad at all. We were back at hotel in record time since we missed the traffic. And it was over. It was a whirlwind. I realize the holiday crowd made part of the confusion. BUT it was a CRAZY evening to be sure. We had been joined by another family at the beginning of the tour and REALLY enjoyed getting to know them. By the end we were just laughing because it felt like we were in a Chevy Chase movie......

Jim our guide was a hometown guy full of information & little known facts told with a humorous twist! He's also got all the secrets necessary to make your visit smooth & easy.

Our guide Mo was very nice and informative. We had already done the day tour so Mo was at a disadvantage but we made the best of it. He took us to other places we would not have know about.. Sadly we did not see the illumination of the falls. Due to weather, rain and very cold. But enjoyed the tour anyway. Beautiful place.