Dells Boat Tours Review

We took the Upper Dells boat tour towards the end of July. The boat was nice and the guides friendly, however I was a little underwhelmed by the actual tour. It was pretty of course as the Dells are, but not really worth $30 for a ticket. The natural formations were attractive but nothing really awe-inspiring or outstanding.

If you go, make sure you show up really early so you can sit on the upper decks. Inside the boat limited the field of view quite a bit to the point where taking pictures was difficult.

It's not a bad little float down the river, but you really need to get discount tickets because it's not worth 30 dollars.

Really scenic boat tour. The staff is really friendly.

Another great cruise. Tour guide was great
Loved every second of it

Informative and entertaining at the same time. A must activities for one year visiting the Dells

Alex and Kiahna took our school group on a wonderful boat tour this week. They were fun and informative. Alex was making a lot of jokes...some funny...some cheesy, but we loved it. We learned a lot about the history of the Wisconsin Dells and River and the geology of the area. We especially liked watching Rocky jump over Stand Rock! Merrimac Community Charter School gives it 5 stars!

If you re stopping by the Dells be sure not to miss this one! Lots of fun and our family learned a lot more about the history of the area. Huge shoutout to Kiana and Joe for the great time on board the General Bailey. Plenty of funny jokes and they were able to answer any questions we had. I recommend sitting on the top deck of the boat, but be sure to wear sunscreen!

Our tour guide was Brooke, he was funny, talked about the history behind Dells and his boating skills driving the boat made it super fun and thrilling will definitely be returning!

My new husband and I were married in the Dells this summer and we had the ceremony at Cold Water Canyon and the reception on the Clipper Winnebago, their dinner tour boat. Stephanie from the Dells Boat Tours was a dream to work with and helped us execute our special day with ease. We had so many guests talking about how unique our wedding was and spending the evening on the Wisconsin River was perfect. If you are looking to have your wedding in the Dells, call Stephanie. I can't thank the staff enough for making my big day so special. Thank you!!!

I wanted to take the upper boat tour for me and my wife's 2nd anniversary, but big problem: On this company's website, they expect their customers to pay for expensive tickets without knowing what date and time they are paying for a tour on/at. What kind of company would take your money without telling you exactly what you're getting for it? Compare this to buying movie tickets online, where you know exactly what date and time the movie is at, so you can--get this--actually show up in time to see it, and know that there will be a seat for you when you get there!

Another HUGE turn-off for me is the fact that this company, after providing NO INFORMATION on the dates and times of their tours in the website, is the fact that they tell you on the site to contact them for this information. HOW RIDICULOUS CAN YOU GET? And what TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. As a former customer service rep with over a decade of experience in that field, I can say that them making their customers contact them for this information defeats the purpose of the website to a very large extent. THIS ISN'T 1996; WEBSITES FOR SUPPOSEDLY LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES SHOULDN'T BE THIS USELESS.

Lastly, there is a website called VacationsMadeEasy that claims to be selling tickets for this company's tours and actually gives dates and times for said tours, yet wants to charge $10 or more extra per adult ticket than the company's own website does. I find this to be quite disturbing and if the rest of what I'd already described above hadn't been enough to ensure that I never do business with this company, then this situation surely would have been.

UPDATE: I have changed my review from 1 star to 2, because the company has emailed me and advised me that they are unable to provide times for their boat rides either on their website or their tickets because the times are subject to change often. The reason I only gave one extra star is because, as far as I am concerned, the company's explanation is not adequate, as they could easily update their website to state what they told me via email, which is that the company has multiple boats that go out every half hour or so once the first one leaves port.

If the site would have just said this, I wouldn't have needed to waste my time emailing the company or writing this review, and because my time is very valuable to me, they get 2 stars and none of my business. I will gladly spend my money elsewhere in the Dells due to this inconvenience alone. This company should know better, after being in business for so long, than to make its customers jump through so many hoops just to buy tickets, but being that they don't, it makes me wonder about how their customer service is terrible in other ways.

We were told they had to fill the boat so we had to stay in the bottom deck. When we told them we preferred to wait for the next boat so we can sit up top, we were told that we should volunteer to sit below " because not everyone gets what they want." This, after paying $145 for our tickets!

Went a couple months ago with my family. Tour guides were Ellie and Ben, I believe. (They were brother and sister) They both took turns narrating, both were enjoyable. Besides serious narrative, they both were pretty funny and loved the puns!! Great trip!

A very pleasant and informative boat ride through the Dells.

Very good family attraction, you get what you paid for.

Tim was an excellent captain. Everyone was very friendly. Really enjoyed the ride.
Didn't get wet at all. LOL

Love the boat trip. Wish the captain and young girl working with him wouldn't ask for money for themselves selling the books. It was embarrassing.

Amazing day and tour! Was enjoyed by everyone 2 to 85!

Great tour! Ben was an amazing tour guide Olivia and Trent were great Captains! They all made us feel welcome and were open to answer all and any questions. Highly recommend, Witches Gulch was amazing!

If you like cute girls with spunk and personality touching on normally boring topics such as history and geology. This is your tour.

The boat I was on was the red queen.

Great tour, but no such thing as social distancing here although on the website, it says there s crowd control and cleaning, etc. The boat was packed and we could literally touch the person in front of us with our elbows. No masks, no social distancing.

Great way to tour the WI river. 2hrs of info. sites and leisure. Upper tour is great.

Boat tour is fun, 2 stops to get off and explore, can t beat watching a dog jump between two big rocks

The girls who attend you are very friendly and helpful...we were undecided for a day or two but nevertheless they never pushed nothing give us our time and now we'll do it everytime we go there love the boat managers... thanks

These tours are great! They are very informative and you learn a lot about the history of the area while you are seeing the amazing scenery on the Wisconsin river. I also like that there are two stops during the two hour trip that allow you to stretch your legs and see more interesting features closer up. Overall they are a wonderful experience for the whole family.

BEST EXPERIENCE EVER! Beautiful views to take pictures and allows you to get down the boat to visit the Witches Gulch which is the most beautiful place I have seen in the Midwest.

I've been on these this many times and have enjoyed every tour!

My wife just took her mom and daughter, same great experience that we had.

The boat tour itself was great - the two sights on the upper dells tour (Witches Gulch and Stand Rock) are amazing (I admittedly only went on the tour because you can't access these places on foot (I tried... A lot...)).

The only problem was the fly-like jet-skiers zooming next to and behind the boat most of the time (sometimes 10-15 of them). They want to jump the wake of the tour boat, but they drive way too close (literally illegally close, and also annoyingly close) to the side of the boat in narrow channels when you're trying to enjoy the scenary, take photos/videos (from the tour you *paid for*), etc. The DNR could make a killing on a given day, but I'm sure this behavior is largely ignored because tourism wins out in this area. Would be SO much more peaceful if they regulated motorized boat traffic in the narrow dells region (before the river widens).

I also cringed on behalf of the wildlife, rock formations, etc. that have to endure constant noise and wave pounding action on the shores.

What could have been an amazingly peaceful nature experience was relatively mentally exhausting, and not that fun with crowds of other people. I doubt this will ever change in the WI Dells area, however.

I haven't been disappointed the couple times I've been on boat tours in the dells. The info they give on each is pretty much the same, but each is unique and entertaining.

Great way to relax and share stories with friends and family. Highly recommend it. Worth the money

Loved the boat tour, definitely do the Upper Dells and enjoy Witches Gulch to see the beautiful sights. It's worth the time and money

So much fun. Our guide was funny and informative. The stops to get out and walk were awesome!!!

A must do! Laugh for hours afterwards. Family fun on a hot WI summers day, be prepared to get wet!

A great investment! Great guides and lots to see you might normally miss.

Excellent trip for 2 hours exploring upriver. Great crew. Two easy walkable stops w bathrooms snack bar etc.

Went on upper boat tours and a great time. Myles was the captain and Abby was the tour guide. We stopped at the Witches gulch and stand rock to stretch our legs and to pick up souvenirs and snacks.

We loved our 2 college co-ed Captain and guides Abby and Abigail! The upper Dells boat ride was just perfect. Gorgeous scenery on a beautiful early evening and we learned a lot of history. Love the the stop where we walked the witches gulch. Don't miss this!!

Loved the ride.The person who was guiding us was very entertaining.

Very good tour with lots of information. Take the Upper Dells tour to see dramatic views of rocks and cliffs along the Wisconsin River.

In the summer, the Ghost ship is a total hoot - great fun to be had by all. The boat tours are great too, because of the very interesting landscape on the rivers. Very much worth the time for a relaxed afternoon or evening adventure

Great boat ride with a lot to see and hear about it Plus 2 cool off boat adventures

If you have mobility issues at all this is NOT the tour for you.
The ticket booth and parking lot are 2 blocks from the boat loading area. To get to the boats there are a LOT of stairs. I asked the ticket agent where the restrooms were before boarding. She explained to us to go down the flights of stairs to the landing then turn right and go down one more flight of stairs. Upon getting down the flights of stairs to the landing I asked a boat employee where the restrooms were only to be told restrooms were up top at street level and I could still board if I hustled back up the flights of stairs I had just struggle to climb down. I have 2 major joint replacements I m not hustling for anything!
Once pass that issue we depart. Our first landing was a lot more walking then was explained. The walk was beautiful. The mother behind us was struggling with 3 children scared to death with the narrow pathway through the bluffs.
The last stop was an extremely difficult walk. The ramps were steep and at time difficult.
The final docking of the boat and getting off was great but the walk up to street level was the worse challenge. Steep steep steep.
If you have any mobility issues research this trip throughly before going. I regret my choice to try it.

I am a native but I am always impressed by the beauty of my town and the river.

The wait is too long and couldn't see anything out of the bottom part of boat where I had to sit because top was full. The Chicagoan boat is not worth it. The two stops were suppose to be twenty minutes and they were a half hour each. Pushed the tour to over 2.5 hours on top of the over half hour wait to get onto boat. What a waste of money. I feel robbed. Should be able to buy tickets for certain times so there is no wait.

It was an amazing experience and fun for the family.

It was an awesome tour in river. We had upper river boat tour. Our tour guide and pilot were fantastic. Joe was our tour guide and he was amazing. He had lots of information about Wisconsin. He talked most history associated with river and city.
There are two stops on the way which is perfect for snapping pictures and walking around the edge of river. The river has tons of exquisite rocks with amazing shape and size. I have never seen many rocks in a one river.
The ticket price is only $30 bucks for 2 hour trip which I belive is price worthy. I enjoyed our tour and recommend for anyone visiting Wisconsin Dells.

Great scenery and guides have lots of history and cheesy jokes to pass out.

We had an all female crew. You could tell they really enjoyed their job and had fun with the tour lots of silly puns and good information. Witches Gulch is something everyone should see. So beautiful!

Miles and Luke were absolutely fabulous! We completely enjoyed our tour with them!

Love the boat tour.Made a stop to get off the boat and walk through the canyons.Great pictures.Dog jumped across the two famous rock formations.

Capitan and staff were funny and friendly and very informative. Well worth the money for 2 hour ride

Interesting history lesson of the dells while taking in the famous landmarks that started it all!

Fairly basic boat tour. Don't go on hot days or you'll fry. Bring sunscreen. Scenery is beautiful and the Corny jokes are abundant.

If you are staying in or passing through the Wisconsin Dells area you need to find some time to take this boat tour. 2 hour tour.
The Upper Dells tour takes you up the Wisconsin River and the crew narrating do a great job pointing out and providing all of the history along the journey.
Well worth the time and expense!!

There is a lot of history for Wisconsin Dells. Find out more by going on 1 of these boat tours.

Great views , a few stops to enjoy the scenery. What a Awesome town . I will definitely come back ..

Did the Upper Dell's Jet boat. Was an awesome ride. Sit in first 3 rows if you want to get super wet. The area that you get out and walk is a very nice addition to the tour. Even though our boat had some engine trouble and we were stalled for a bit, our driver made up for it, we loved the adventure.

Tour guides were kind and seemed to know a great deal about the river

Did the upper dells tour, it was very pretty. Gabe was our captain, and Elly our tour guide, both made it enjoyable.

I had a great time! The scenery was beautiful!!! We got some great pictures. Get there early so you can sit on the top of the boat.