Duck Tours South Beach

Just got back from a tour and it was absolutely amazing!!! Our driver Sharkey kept us safe on the crazy streets of Miami as well as afloat in the water. Our tour guide Richie was phenomenal!!! His knowledge of Miami along with his larger than life personality really made the tour. I was so impressed that he remembered peoples name!!! If you want to laugh and have a great time spend minutes with this guy! It will be money well spent!!!

I located Duck Tours South Beach via Groupon. The tour was well narrated, and our tour guide was very knowledgeable. Several tips: arrive early! I would even recommend you arrive 75 minutes early. Parking, and traffic around the area can be a nightmare. If you are able to, park in the garage down the road, instead of a metered lot. You will be able to find your car easier especially if you are in a rush! Opt for the earliest tour, as it was really hot, even in December! The tour itself lasted 90 minutes. I went during the Xmas holiday for the 11am tour, and the tour was sold out! We spent about 40 minutes in the water, which was the highlight of the trip. Be prepared to do a little quacking! I have been to Miami a handful of times, and this tour really provided some interesting city history. Check it out!
Cheers!

I bought the groupon for a two person tour and a photo. you must call and make a reservation and show up 30 minutes early or they will give your seat away! You need to check in to the office to get the paper tickets. Once you have the tickets you go and stand in line where the duck boat is located. about 2 blocks from the office. There is a nearby parking garage for less than $ 2/​hour.
the guide was funny and knowledgeable. the tour takes about 1:15. you travel around South Beach to a bay entrance. You are on the water about 30 minutes. You exit and then travel back on 395 to Ocean Drive and 5^th Street. You travel up Ocean Drive and are allowed to stand up to have a great view of the sites. You end at Lincoln Road where you started.
This is a great activity for tourist and locals. It’s always nice to learn more about the city I live by.

Bungalow lol was an amazing tour guide. Super funny. Tour was great. Loved the boat views! Would recommend!

2.5 stars rounded down to 2 stars.
I was in a group of 7 and we all agreed that the tour was not worth it. We did the 90 minute Duck Tour with Richie and paid around $ 34 per person. Our tour guide Richie was pushy, condescending, and boring. The way he relayed «fun/​historical facts» to us was so off putting, it reminded me of a history teacher I had in high school who seemed to hate his job and hate students. Nonetheless, we got to see some pretty nice views of the bay and learn about the mansions set by the water.
I really do think our negative experience was because of Richie and not the Duck Tour itself. One of the people in our group had done this same exact Duck Tour a few years ago with a different guide and loved it. Looks like everyone here recommends Ms. Deedee Duckworth, so it may be worth asking to be in her group if you are planning on taking a tour.

The tour was good, maybe our crowd wasn’t the best haha, is a good experience to get to know more about the South Beach Area, getting the groupon deal is Te best way to get in, the boat is in perfect shape and feels really safe, is really worth it!

I went on a Duck Tour just hours after I’d checked into my hotel on Thursday, 11/​12/​2015. Whenever I’m in an unfamiliar city one thing I like to do is find a place that does some kind of tour so I can at least get a feel of what the city is like. Since it was the early afternoon, I was in a hurry to find something on short notice. I had a list of Miami tour places but I chose this one because it wasn’t far from my hotel, it had good reviews and after I called them I found out that they had a space available that day for a 3pm tour. Also, I was intrigued by the fact that it’s a bus that turns into a boat once it gets into the water. That’s some James Bond –it!
The people at the front desk were super friendly, especially the Latin girl who answered the phone and gave me pedestrian directions on how to get there from my hotel. The cost for a 90 minute South Beach tour was $ 32. After I paid, they let me wait there until the bus/​boat arrived about a block from their office. During my wait I watched a video of how their tours are rated the best in Miami. Just a few hours ago, I was on a plane not knowing what I was going to do on my first day in the Magic City. Now here I was about to go on Miami’s best tour. The video said it so it must be true. I was hyped!
It was time to board the vessel. There was a driver/​captain and a host who greeted you just before walking up the steps to get on. Also, the nice girl who’d been at the front desk took individual photos of each one of us before we boarded so they could sell them to us after the tour if we wished to purchase them.
I forgot the name of the host but he was a white, balding transplanted New Yorker who now lives in Miami. Enthusiasm galore and also a thorough knowledge of the city. Think of a late 40-​ish Dick Vitale in South Beach. He knew everything about the Art Décor style of buildings in SoBe and showed us all the happening spots as we passed them, including the place where they filmed the chainsaw scene in the movie «Scarface» (which is now a restaurant). We also rode past the Holocaust Memorial. He even told us how you can live rent-​free in Miami Beach by living in your boat.
My favorite part of the tour was when the boat went down the ramp and into the water. It was a seamless transition; there was no big splash or anything. It was funny when the host shouted, «Wow, it worked,» as we went in. The host was especially at his best then. He knew who lived in every mansion we passed in Star Island. From Sean Combs to Shaquille O’Neal; from Julio Iglesias to Bruce Willis to Gloria Estefan. He told us about Monument Island, which has a structure that looks similar to the Washington Monument.
So why am I rating this only 3 stars? Because for all of the appreciated wealth of information, I didn’t really care much for some of the interactive portions. As we rode the streets of SoBe, the host kept asking us to yell «quack, quack» as loud as we could to passersby. Sometimes he’d try to get couples who were walking past us to kiss as they looked at us dumbfounded. I was mainly there to see the sights and take photos but at times he seemed just a little annoyed at those who weren’t giving him their undivided attention. It was a very nice gesture of him to take photos of us with our own cameras (free of charge) but I could’ve done without being loudly told to take my shades off first. I was going for that «looking cool in the Florida sun» pose and ended up having that «feeling some kinda way» look instead.
Dont’ get me wrong, he is excellent at his job and the tour wasn’t bad. It depends on if you like your proverbial tourism sandwich extra touristy & cheesy. But your kids will eat it up though and ask for seconds. Overall, it’s a good introductory novelty tour but hopefully not the only one you take if you really want to see more of what Miami has to offer.
Just one more thing: «Quack, effin’ quack!»

So fun, so worth the price. They could use some fans on the vessel — and maybe one bathroom break, but overall totally fun!
Quack, Quack!

Great time with Boogaloo onboard Watson Willy! Really enjoyed the trivia, dancing, music and experience. Fun for students and chaperones, will absolutely bring future international exchange groups back!

We arrived for our check in only to find they wouldn’t accept my Unilocal discount coupon but offered me a bottle of water. We had to wait 20 minutes in the sun on a street at their bus stop, even though we arrived when told. The guide Bart was energetic and enthusiastic but the format was excruciatingly boring, tedious and exhaustingly long. People were asked to quack like ducks repeatedly and when rich and famous homes were described as a particular star or celebrity he would then say, after a prolonged anticipation for the next fact, «it really isn’t Dr. Phils house or Ricky Martins». This repeated request of duck quacking was followed by loud music and constant talking by people while the guide was talking. It was agonizingly painful experience! We couldn’t wait to get off this excruciatingly embarrassing experience! Don’t waste your money ducklings!

We did the 90 min tour with a Ms. «Deedee Duckworth» — and it was great! We traveled down to Miami from the Palm Beach area to see the sights and get a taste for a city we hadn’t been to yet, and this tour did just that.
Price: Moderately priced. About $ 100 for 2 adults, 1 senior and 1 toddler. If you check in for the first time you can get a 20% deal — I was distracted at the time when my husband was purchasing and forgot to mention this prior to finishing the transaction. The girl at the counter offered to refund the money and re-​process with the deal but I declined, feeling it wasn’t worth the trouble.
Experience: FUN! Cheesy and a bit hoaky, with a lot of «quack — quacking». It’s an interactive tour where the tour guide tells a lot of jokes and interacts with people around the city. We felt it went a bit fast, but was right on time at the promised 90 minutes. I guess we were just enjoying ourselves, we didn’t notice the time pass.
Tour Guide: Funny and very nice. Informative regarding the Miami area and answered questions. Her «show» and «character» was very cute. Upbeat and brings you in to the tour without feeling like a pushy tour guide.
Kids: My 2 yr old had a blast on this unique mode of transportation… loved riding around the city and seeing the cars and buildings and was amazed when we dropped into water. The tour around the bay was about 30 – 40 minutes. We were lucky it wasn’t super busy and the bus wasn’t packed full, which allowed us to switch seats and move around at will to see the sights (and deal with a restless toddler).
Would enjoy a longer tour with additional stops at points of interest, like South Beach — but I recognize this may not be possible due to the special nature of this vehicle — loading and unloading may be delegated to only the one area on Lincoln St.
My only other suggestion would be for the office to offer a restroom for their paying customers… after traveling to get to Miami, you may need to go before you embark on a 90 min tour and there was limited time as we bought our tickets moments before we left for the tour.

Did the Ducktour people at the ticket window were friendly when I got to the boat/​vehicle everybody seemed friendly the sightseeing was good the information was good it was informative. The host name was Boogaloo his voice was awesome his presentation was good he kept getting his left and right mixed up he didn’t realize it until the tour was almost over that was no big deal. Then he made a joke about tipping (the guide and the driver if everyone had a good time) and said if anyone had any questions after the tour was over to see them on the way out, well on the way out we tipped 10 bucks (probably more than most gave) & we had some questions for him, I was SHOCKED, HE WAS VERY SHORT AND DISINTERESTED IN TALKING WITH US, kinda like I dick, especially to my 18 year old son, i probably should have asked for my $ 10 tip back!!!

Went on the Miami City tour for land and sea. I would say its a very affordable tour for a 4 trip by riding a bus and boat. Covered many places and saw the good places in Miami City. However i am giving them 3 stars because the tour guide Manny spoke mostly in Spanish than English. According to their receptionist, the tour is going to be in english and it makes me upset that the tour guide was making a lot of side comments in Spanish. Heck i do not understand what he was saying. All the Spanish speaking people were laughing and myself with some other non Spanish speaking folks were all wondering what he was saying. Oh well! Maybe you get what you pay for!

Very cool tour, I got to learn about Miami and explore the waters. Our guide was a cool funny lady. I think this tour is lots of fun for a group of funny outgoing people !! The more interactive the crowd the better it is. Worth the money is a 90 minute tour by bus/​boat !

Very fun tour. Our guide was entertaining and seemed knowledgable about Art Decco and the area. This is a good way to get a quick orientation of Miami Beach.

Our tour guy was Rich and he had us in stitches. I recommend this tour and I’ve been to Miami so many times and enjoyed this so much… a must do and love Rich’s YMCA rendition in Spanish :)

We started off sunny and then it started to rain. It was worth it. Richie was great and made everything tolerable.
Midway through we were able to switch seats and take some pictures.

We are currently stuck in the middle of Biscayne Bay on this Duck Tour boat that sounded horrible from the second we touched water. This boat has not been maintained, and is struggling. I am a boater and mentioned the issue to staff as soon as we hit water, and they insisted on proceeding – now, we are stuck with no assistance. The idea of driving into the water doesn’t seem so great anymore. Unacceptable. There are many other great water tours in the South Beach area.

Nice, inexpensive way to spend a Sunday afternoon, especially if you have an out of town guest. The «amphibian» vehicle is very cheesy looking, but the tour itself is good. It takes you around a small portion of South Beach and on the water via Biscayne Bay.
Make sure to give yourself an extra half hour of travel time, since there is always something going on at South Beach, so traffic was terrible. Then, to find a place to park was another challenge. The best place to park is in the garage, which is on the back side of CVS pharmacy, I think it’s 16^th street or ave. The CVS is near the Duck Tours office, where you pick up your tickets. If there is another tour scheduled after yours, and you are running late, you can call the company and ask to be place on the next tour. That’s what happened to me and they were able to accommodate us! The tour guide was funny and energetic.
At the end, a tip was expected, which I found to be a little annoying. I’m fine with leaving a tip box at the door and if folks want to tip, then they do, but the guide made an announcement about tips then held the tip container as you passed by, which to me, was just to pressure folks to tip. The tour is inexpensive enough, so if they just added an extra $ 5 per person to every ticket, then they wouldn’t have to ask for a tip.
Even if you aren’t a tourist and live in South Florida, it’s a good tour to take and I highly recommend you try it, at least once.

The tour was ok, I like the fact that the car itself is used as a boat!
The only thing that I really just hated is the way they insisted we must take photos before getting on the Duck, where they sell them at the end of the tour for $ 10. I asked the guy if the photo was optional, but he said «you don’t have to buy it, but we keep a record of who used our services»!
He said that in a angry tone!
So my only option was to buy my photo because I don’t know what was going to happen with it. So I wish if they let anyone who doesn’t want to take a photo to just get in without their silly pushy sales strategy!