Spirit of the Swamp Airboat Tours

Choose the wrong airboat company and you’ll be standing in long lines at a tourist trap.  Finding the right airboat ride will give you the experience of a lifetime!  Here are some insider secrets on how to avoid some of the web site hype and downright mistruths that you might run into.

First of all, you don’t need to be affiliated with a store, bait shack or campground to have a fully licensed airboat ride company.   Stores don’t regulate airboats; the United States Coastguard regulates all vessels operating on the water, and that includes airboats. 

That’s right… the USCG sets the rules and issues Commercial Captain’s Licenses.  By the way, all of our Captains are USCG Master Captains, fully licensed, annually drug tested and have current First Aid and CPR Certification.

If an airboat ride company website has any of this nonsense on their website, or worst than that - flashing stars with coupons and deals - all I can say is - bingo!  You’ve found a tourist trap! 

On the other hand, our passengers tell us that they love the fact that we’re not over commercialized!  We also don’t mislead customers or need to offer cheesy deals and coupons to have earned our reputation as Florida’s number-one rated airboat company!

I bet you think that you’ll pick the best airboat ride in the Orlando and Kissimmee area by asking at the Guest Services desk at your hotel, resort, or timeshare… right?  Or by stopping at a Tourist Information Booth?  Well not exactly…

Many times these representatives are receiving a kickback for referring you to the airboat ride company.  A lot of times the information booth or guest services desk is actually there to convince you to go to a timeshare presentation, but we bet you’ve already figured that out!   What you probably didn’t know is that the timeshare also buys attraction tickets (like airboat rides) at a wholesale rate and then marks them up and sells them to you at retail.  The representative is going to steer you to the attraction that pays the highest commission – every single time – they are NOT being paid to recommend the best!

We know of one Airboat Company that has a very poor location, the ride is not scenic in any way.  Obviously they’re not going to get high ratings from their passengers, so you know what they did to get business?  They raised their rates by $10, so they could in turn kickback $10 to the guest services representative and/or information booth.   So for a family of four, that means you’re paying $40 more than you should so that the guest services representative can pocket $40.

At Spirit of the Swamp, we don’t play those games.  We the top rated airboat company in Florida for one reason – because our passengers think so!!  Make sure to check us out on Trip Advisor, and I hope you’ve learned just a few insider secrets that will help you get an airboat ride of a lifetime!

If you’re reading this blog, we hope you’re researching the right airboat ride company online.  This week there have been two local discount ticket attraction businesses that have had multiple employee arrests for selling fraudulent tickets to unsuspecting Central Florida vacationers.  Detectives advise that buyers should be wary of discounted tickets and they don’t recommend buying attractions tickets from anyone other than the vendor.  This is especially true of airboat companies!  So here are some more Florida vacation secrets:

Do make sure you can receive a refund! Don’t book with an airboat company who charges cancellations fees and doesn’t offer refunds.  This is especially true of weather related cancellations… Spirit of the Swamp never charges for a weather related cancellation!

Do make sure that the advertised name of the airboat company matches the web site. Don’t book with a company whose web address is different than the company name and make sure that the email address on the web site isn’t from a “free” email account. 

Big discounts can spell big trouble.  Many times they’re non-refundable and worse.  We know of one local airboat company that is charging a very high rate and then paying $10 per passenger to the local discount ticket sellers to recommend him!  Give us a call anytime to book direct, and we’ll be more than happy to make sure to answer all of your questions about our rates so that you can be sure to have the experience of a lifetime!