USA Side Maid of the Mist Boat and Cave of the Winds combo tour

We were headed to the visitor center to book our maid of the mist and cave of the winds tours. We let ourselves be talk toat a kiosk on the street and got talked into going on a tour with them. When we ask how long the tour would be theysaid three hours and that they would give us a discount because we were a large group. After paying for the whole thing and reviewing the receipt, I see that they have tacked on a fee that put about 2/3 of the discount back on the cost. I went all the way up to a manager to argue about this and was told that it is a mandatory fee that has to do with tourism. I looked it up on Google; it is not mandatory. So pricing is not transparent, and the discount is not much of a discount. Nevertheless, we decided to do it anyway thinking that our tourwould include a tour guide who gave us lots of valuable information. This was so not the case. After assembling a group of about 60 with one tour guide, we proceeded to follow him to places we could have found our own way too. Signage is very clear up there. The guide said absolutely nothing and lightning just instructions on how and where to lineup. The door ended up taking most of our day five hours because what wasn’t told us at the time was that the tickets for cave of the wind we’re not until 5 o’clock. Honestly, we seriously overpaid for nothing. Learn from us and just don’t. Get there early, though, because these tour operators also snap up a lot of the tickets first thing in the morning.

The mist boat tour was great. Unfortunately, one of the elevators was broken and the 3 hour tour was already more than 4 hours and we never made it to the cave that we paid for. Eventually we just got out of line, as it was barely moving. It would have been nice to have more benches for seating too. You must be able to walk a substantial distance to enjoy this tour.

Jim was an excellent guide, very knowledgeable and personable. Would highly recommend

Good tour and tour guide he was very friendly and knowledgeable. Enjoyed seeing all of the American Falls with the guide giving us all the history and info of the falls and park.

The actual experiences were great but our guide was basically a line leader. He was not engaging and left us at Cave of the Winds after he just reached out his hands and said “you can’t keep the badge.” I was obviously not planning on keeping it but he left us on Goat Island, I didn’t think it was over until we got BACK to the meeting spot. It was great that he stopped for a 20 minute lunch for a 2-6 tour, I didn’t hear anyone say they were hungry. There were no fun facts and I would NEVER recommend a tour to anyone, especially with him! The Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds was epic! Sir needs another job, this is not for him.

The main reason we booked this tour and paid extra was because we were told that booking a guided tour would allow us to skip the lines and make the experience faster and more organized. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Our tour was scheduled to start at 4:00 PM, but it didn’t begin until 5:15 PM. We spent over an hour standing and waiting, which was exhausting, wasted our time, and took away from the overall experience. After the Maid of the Mist boat ride, the coordination for Cave of the Winds was even worse. Despite having reservations, there was no proper organization. The tour had already been delayed by 1 hour and 15 minutes, and on top of that, the tour guide didn’t even have our tickets. We waited another 30 minutes for him to get them, and when he finally distributed the tickets, they were timed for 8:24 PM, which meant we had to wait yet another hour. We didn’t finish the tour until 10:00 PM. It was an exhausting experience, and we never got the chance to fully enjoy the attractions. To make matters worse, the tour guide even said that he didn’t work for the tour company, which left us wondering why he was leading our group in the first place. The entire experience consisted of standing around and waiting. We paid significantly more, expecting a smoother, more efficient experience, but received no added value whatsoever. Had we known this was how the tour would be managed, we would have visited the attractions on our own instead. This was a very disappointing and frustrating experience, and I expect a full refund as soon as possible.

Our tour started at 4. We went on maid of the mist and when we got off we were informed that our cave of the winds tickets weren’t valid until 8:30. This was a major inconvenience because it was only 5:30 at this point. What were we supposed to do until 8:30? The tour guide would leave people who weren’t moving fast enough. Then at the end he actually said to us, “typically at the end I get a gratuity” we felt it made the situation very awkward. Save yourself the money and just go to the 2 places yourself.

The boat tour is absolutely amazing however when I went to do the cave of the winds the whole thing was practically barricaded off I was completely pissed. Why did I get charged for a full experience when I couldn’t even get the experience? They weren’t even planning on opening it fully until Memorial Day weekend. What a waste of money and rushing to get to the last “tour” I couldn’t go up the stairs I couldn’t go down the stairs and didn’t even need the poncho because I didn’t even get wet! I would’ve been better off just getting the boat tour and not wasting my hard earned money

Absolutely amazing seeing and experiencing Niagara Falls up close. Both the Cave of the Winds and Maid of the Mist experiences were unforgettable and totally worth it. Highly recommend doing both if you’re visiting

It was a wonderful trip. The guide was really helpful. It saved us lot of walking.