Key Largo Princess Glass Bottom Boat

$ 25 per person — what a deal for going out on a 2 hour boat tour! Also, most local and free coupon books with offer you a coupon for this tour.
Spacious boat where you can spend your time above with the sun and wind or below with seating and a glass bottom.
Food and drink available.
Take a motion sickness pill one hour before the tour so you don’t get queasy. Once you get queasy — the pill won’t help at that point, but the staff will give you a glass of ice to help calm you.

The boat itself is fine, the service is fine. They crammed a large amount of people in a very tiny room. Everyone was so bunched up, they asked people to sit in front of other people on the very nasty dirty carpet with there legs hanging in people’s view.

It’s a 45 minute ride out to the reef, 45 minute ride back to the mooring, and we had about 20 minutes on the reef with commentary by one of the crew at the mike.
My one star rating of this experience on the water is due to the homophobic «joke», told by the crewman at the mike, concerning some of the residents of Key West. Seeing as how he seemed not to care if the captain or the woman selling snacks and drinks on board heard him, sorta makes me feel that we weren’t the only batch of customers that he shared his little funny with.
EDIT: in response to James H’s comment here, I have added a couple stars.

Nice to go for the 4 pm time to see the sunset. The service and staff was very nice. The view of the coral reefs is worth it, especially if you don’t want to snorkel and get in the water. You can see a lot… we saw lots of fish, a turtle and beautiful reefs. I’d say it’s worth the price.

12 08 2015. Just returned from a trip on The Key Largo Princess. We had 120 people on our tour and not everyone could sit down! There were not enough seats and our group was a senior group. Most who found a seat stayed and some of us never sat the whole time. With a big group it was suggested to us that some sit on the floor to see the glass bottom when we arrived at the reef and the second layer of people stand behind. This was the time I got to sit so took advantage of that. It worked okay. Can’t bring any food or beverage on the trip but they sale food upstairs. It was a little tiring standing the whole way but maybe it was motion sickness pill I had. You can buy the pills in the hotel near by for $ 1 for a dosage. Not sure if I would recommend it.

Had a great time. Friendly staff. Saw sharks, turtles all kinds of sea life. Some people reviewing on here are not reviewing the business but complaining about sea sickness. DUH you’re on a boat idiots, it’s not the businesses fault you get sea sick. Great Margaritas too!

Whatever you do, don’t be late. I mean, not even 3 minutes… because it will turn into a whole thing… with the crazy office lady running after the boat and such. Also, be sure and load up on Dramamine because they are counting on your getting sick. I did not succumb to sickness only from sheer will to not give them the satisfaction. If you have a questionable tummy, don’t even sit inside. Stay on the top deck and sit down. And don’t eat or drink any of their offerings. Actually, this excursion is probably best left to boat people. Did I mention the 2 gals who run things have an attitude? The younger one especially… right up until she asked for tips. Here’s a tip: save your money. Or at the very least, use a groupon.

They say the key to happiness is low expectations so maybe that’s why I’m not happy with the experience. Let’s get into what can be improved of this entire situation…
I purchased a livingsocial deal that saves you close to 50%, if you have an even numbered party, if you have an odd number (like we did) you don’t save too much. It was impossible for me to translate the livingsocial code to an online purchase with Key Largo GBB myself so I had to call Key Largo Princess to schedule. Whoever picked up the phone was rude and unhelpful.
We arrived a half hour early, as advised and there was no sign or clarification of where to report. We waited by the marina (?) and were told 5 minutes prior to boarding that we needed to go to the gift shop to get our tickets, even though we had been scheduled a week ahead of time…
PLEASE NOTE *** You will need to medicate yourself before taking this tour. The boat was incredibly unsteady and it really robbed from the experience. In order to see the fish, you need to look down but looking down made many people nauseous.
The trip is mostly traveling to a designated area where you see corals and fish. We paid for a 2 hour trip and saw fish for 15 minutes. I found the glass/​water to be quite murky and I couldn’t appreciate the fish as much as I’d want to. It seemed like they were very far away.
I appreciated the scenery from atop the boat but as far as the fish were concerned, I was disappointed. I have seen fish snorkeling as the beach (not the ocean) and it was absolutely free. I wouldn’t waste my money.

Awesome trip! We had a Groupon, but would have paid full price otherwise. It was amazing to be out on a boat on a beautiful day, and they serve pretty decent cocktails. We chose the 4:00 tour, which I would recommend– we were able to watch a beautiful sunset over the ocean on our way back in! The boat was nice, and the glass bottom views were clear and gorgeous. We saw a shark, lots of barracuda, a sea turtle, colorful fish, and beautiful coral reef. My husband goes diving on a fairly regular basis so I was thinking that he might not be that impressed viewing the reef from a window, but he enjoyed the trip as much as I did. Definitely a great experience. We were skeptical at first, because the lady at the ticket desk was not the nicest. But the crew on the boat was wonderful.

The trip is nice but would have been so much better if we didn’t have to deal with Captain John (not a candidate for the Customer Service Award of the year). Although we made our reservations two months prior and purchased tickets for four, a senior citizens group filled every seat on the boat for the 2PM trip. Although the Captain saw our plight, he ignored us. When we calmly asked him for some direction, he stated «Not my problem, so don’t yell at me!», and walked away. Thankfully Cindy the Hostess agreed that we could catch the 4PM trip, so we disembarked and returned two hours later.
The cruise was nice, and we saw lots of marine life while Stacey the Tour Guide told us all about the types and habits of the fish we were viewing. Cindy and Stacey saved the day!
A few suggestions for the Princess owners: Replace Captain Careless, appreciate Cindy & Stacey, and have the windows of the boat cleaned at least annually so we can watch the sunsets, birds and sailboats while considering returning for another tour!

We did a family trip with our 4 year old grandson which turned out to be a really enjoyable trip! Boat ride was relaxing, nice cabin and an open upper deck with a snack bar. Glass bottom was great over the reef when we arrived. The crew as knowledgeable and held everyone’s attention with description of the reef and aquatic life. The trip is 45 minutes out, 30 minutes on the reef, and 45 minutes back. I highly recommend it.

Bought the tickets on Groupon for $ 39 for two tickets. Booking was fast and easy. We arrived 30 minutes prior to the ship boarding, got the tickets in the gift shop, and boarded approximately 10 minutes later. The crew was friendly, we stood on the sun deck and got drinks from the bar on the boat, which I thought were reasonable ($ 6 for a margarita and it tasted good). Everyone in previous posts complained about the long ride but I enjoyed the ride to and from and didn’t find it to be too long. The weather was nice and I had a drink in my hand, I mean honestly it was awesome. Once we got to the reef we went down to the bottom of the boat, the narrator I thought was friendly and spoke about the fish and sharks. Overall the trip was amazing. I would recommend this trip %100. Try to get the Groupon otherwise it seems pricey.

This was so fun! We bought a groupon so we got a great deal on a fun day trip. We reserved our seats only 2 days ahead of time with no problem.
The boat was a little dirty and old, but really, who cares about that? I wasn’t expecting a yacht ride for only $ 30.
The reef was beautiful, saw lots of schools of small fish that were very pretty. The crew was very nice but the woman giving the tour for the day didn’t seem so knowledgeable about the fish.
On the way back we saw a big sea turtle which made my day, we thought that was super cool!

The reef once you get there is 5 stars. Amazing clear water looking down at nature. We saw 2 turtles at the reef and a bigger one on the way back. Plenty of fish of all kinds including an 80lb fish, I think the guide said a grouper.
Now 3 stars for the ride out once you get to open water as not much to entertain for 40 minutes each way. The mariner is nice looking at the pricey homes.
Yes, you can get sea sick, so if you are not used to small craft on the water, better take sea sickness pills before you go. The looking down with the movement of open water can make you sick. Our family were fine and I didn’t see anyone else hurl but if you are prone, take it.
Overall a good tour especially if you have never seen a reef close up before.

Did my darnedest to get on the boat but the staff clearly wants to have nothing to do with their Living Social business. I tried for 3 days in a row to change my reservation. There were spots on the boat but not «promotional spots». Cindy was the worst of all. «No way. No how» when I asked about standby.
They would rather watch empty seats sail off than give them to Living Social purchases. Had I known I would be treated as a second class citizen, I wouldn’t have purchased and they shouldn’t have sold. Simple minded ppl not understanding that they are offering a special to promote their business and spread out marketing costs. How can I recommend a place that has such poor customer service skills? $ 30 down the crapper.

We LOVED this tour. The ride out and back was very enjoyable as they have a top deck which is open as well as the bottom deck enclosed and air-​conditioned.
We saw lots of fish, baracuda, a stingray (buried in the sand) and a very large grouper through the glass bottom. The guide was real knowledgeable about the coral, reef history, different kinds of fish.
I don’t like being in the water, so this is a GREAT way to see the reefs and fish without having to get wet!
For those who aren’t used to small boats, take something for seasickness! The reviewers who complained simply did not take the necessary precautions for ANY ride on ANY boat in the ocean. Good grief!

We bought a groupon for this event. The ride out was pleasant and took 40 minutes. When we got to the reef they slowed down and we were on the reef about 15 minutes. The boat started swaying really badly and rocking back and forth — choppy. About half the people couldn’t handle the rocking and staring at the glass bottom so they went top side to get fresh air to keep from barfing. I saw one lady hurling over the side. The crew did not warn us at all about the nausea we might experience and it seemed like they were trying to hide that bad experience from us so we didn’t notice. But it was horrible. The glass bottom part of the boat was extremely hot and I was sweating horribly. My two kids were almost passed out from the nausea, they were lying down to keep from hurling.
We only saw some blue fish, snapper, and a couple of small fish. No sharks, manta rays, or anything like that.
They also served drinks topside I guess to make some extra cash. Then they had to nerve to ask for tips at the end after making everyone sick. Don’t do this trip, I would go deep sea fishing, snorkeling, or something like that.

It was a typical beautiful Florida Keys day. I had purchase Groupons tickets to sail in the popular Glass Bottom Boat. We arrived just when they were boarding. The crew directed us inside the Holiday Inn gift shop to receive the original boarding pass. Once we received the tickets they mention that the sea was sort of choppy. YEAH RIGHT
The crew was very friendly and gave us basic information on the captain aboard and history of the vessel.
OK so far so good! At first it was pretty smooth until we were about 20 min’s out in the open and started feeling those strong waves pounding the vessel.
When we reach the coral reef it got worst, we were there for less then 10 min’s when the captain announce we would be heading back do to passenger safety.
OK shouldn’t they have known that this was going to happen!
So glad I went with a Groupon and did not pay the full $ 30.00 per person ticket.
Make you if you go, check the weather and if you get sea sick easily you might want to drink motion sickness medication.
I guess if the weather would of been right the experience would of been different.

Inflexible.
I bought the Groupon before I was pregnant– but now my doctor tells me it is not good to go on boats when expecting. I called asking if we could please just push back the expiration 2 months so I can go after I give birth. I got a big fat no.
«If I do it for you, I have to do it for everyone?»
Really? Because a bunch of pregnant woman are calling, asking for a measley 2 month extension?
WEAK.