Ride The Ducks

I’ve done a few duck tours because they are usually well done and really give you an insider’s view of a city. Unfortunately this was not the case for Philadelphia. The announcer/​commentator spoke more about random movies and tv shows that had a connection to philly than the majority of the sites plus he was difficult to understand. Additionally, he really didn’t have anything nice to say about many people from other states and cities. The tour went around in circles probably to reduce fuel costs but a lot of the important places were not included. Going out in the Delaware river was pretty horrifying and not for the faint of heart. I understand that this is part of the gimmick but the little bit of time on the water to go past the condos and the waterfront really wasn’t worth it. This tour would probably be 10 times better if the announcer/​commentator was replaced and the route included the stadiums. Maybe the double decker bus tours are better here. Sorry, but I can’t recommend this activity.

Took a Duck Boat tour on a Saturday. Tour guide was «Betsy Ross» who was highly entertaining and led a good tour. She had a lot of energy and knew a lot about Philadelphia. Really good for a family with younger kids.

The tour is nice however the guide did not talk much. When he did, it was not loud enough. The price for this tour is just too much.

It was an ok tour. It was very corny. We had a great experience in DC but the philly tour fell a little short of our expectation. Our route had some terrible holes and rough roads. The one thing that really got me was the fact that we stopped to switch out our driver for a boat captain. In DC one operator performed the entire tour. Everything aside it was worth going.

Kinda lame. If you don’t like puns and stupid jokes, choose another tour. I chose this one because i had limited time and it was shortest. It wasn’t very informative. Also, the little plunge in the river was pointless. They really didn’t have enough water content to operate in this market. Not much to see.

This was my first city tour and I really enjoyed it! We were only in Philly for two nights and the weather was deadly! In the high 90’s– so especially having a toddler with us we tried our best to stay out of the sun. We still wanted to take in all of the amazing sites, but were just so pooped. We decided to by the ride the ducks and adventure aquarium combo tickets. We booked the last ride of the day at 6PM in hopes of the heat dying down a little. Our tour guide was dancing Fred and he was GREAT. I really wish more people were as energetic and passionate about what they do as him! The tour is about 90 minutes long, and 20 minutes of it being on the water. It was not a stuffy tour… Fred added his own touch and made the ride and information really enjoyable.
I only wish the bus had some sort of fans or something — the heat on our day was horrid! Also, they took a picture of our family before boarding the bus but since it was the last tour of the day, when we got back — no one was there of offer information about buying or viewing our picture.

I decided to play tourist and check out the duck boat rides. They have had some bad press lately — so I figured to check them out now more than ever! One thing I would mention is seating is first come first serve so if it’s a busy weekend (like July 4^th when I went) make sure to get to the boat 10 minutes in advance to get some prime seating. Our ride was completely full and the tour guide was nice and informative. I learned a couple of new things about Philly that I did not know like how will smith’s dad has a condo by the Delaware River. I would have loved a little more history though! Overall it was enjoyable and about 70 minutes long, half in land and half on the water. At the end you get a quacker to make sure to let the rest of the population know you were on the tour! They were quite fun.

Vicky was great! Loved her cheesy jokes and enthusiasm for an early tour — likeable! Great tour but I thought they’d dress up like the do in Boston duck boats.

The City of Philadelphia is a party pooper… the tour cannot pass out the quackers until the tour is over… too much noise… Yeah car horns are much more quiet. My only reason for giving it a 4 instead of a 5 star is the seats are too small for 2 adults so an 80 minute ride with a cheek hanging over is pretty uncomfortable. Vicky is wonderful. Great tour; well worth the money.

Ride the Ducks is how you play tourist the fun, quirky way. It is cheesy and over-​the-​top touristy, but you know what? Sometimes we all need cheesy, over-​the-​top, and quirky in our lives.
Let us cover the obvious first: if you cannot abide quacking noises, skip this tour. If you think that making random quacking noises as an otherwise mature person is fun, you will enjoy Ride the Ducks.
We did not have a lot of time to explore Philadelphia so my cousin suggested going on a tour where we can cover most of the interesting spots. We can then choose which ones appealed to us the most and explore those places at our leisure. Ride the Ducks is good in this department because their driver/​captains do the usual tour guide spiel, but the vehicle also gets into the water, which affords riders a view of the city from the Delaware River.
If you want a silly way to play tourist, Ride the Ducks is the way to go!

This is a fast passed ride quickly highlighting the historical and cultural points of Philly before entering the Delaware River where the pace slows down a bit. We took the ride mainly for the water views, not the historical points. For the history and culture points take a hop-​on hop-​off bus to digest everything at your own pace.

Cute way to tour city center. Seats are a little tight, both length and width. Very easy to feel knees in your back from your fellow riders. Your guide was knowledgable and pointed out all of the major sites /​landmarks. They take safety very seriously and would not begin the tour unless everyone heard the safety information. Water part was a nice twist to a standard land bus tour. Ride is about 1 hour on land and 30 minutes on the water. Water ride provides a nice view of Philadelphia and New Jersey shore line. Duck beaks (witch quack) were given out toward the tour. Glad to see they don’t give them out at the beginning, otherwise you would not hear the guide. Tour provides a good foundation to plan your walking tour, which is a must.

Did the tourist thing with some family visiting & with it being summer we decided the Duck tour was a nice way to go. It was actually fun & full of nice information too.
Yes you will get the whiff of car engines & hear the loud noises of the city but here’s a clue folks, it’s an opened car & it’s in a busy city. It’s bound to happen. Our tour guide, while not always accurate on all her facts, was entertaining & very cute. She gets an A for effort. :-)
I will admit that the best part about riding the Duck is when it goes from the road to the Delaware River. It’s a fun way to see the city from another point of view. And you get to ride on a cool machine.
I wish that the Duck tour was like the Hop on Busses but then that would be too much to ask for. Anyway, it’s a fun thing to do with the family.
Tip, get there early to get a window seat. Those are more fun & you get a better view of the city & sights.

I’m sitting on this crap right now. It’s something out of a nightmare. Hot exhaust fumes blowing at you in 90 degree weather and a tour guide straight out of a minstrel show. I wish he would stop yelling his superficial (first sentence of Wikipedia) knowledge of Philadelphia. It’s clear that this tour guide has little wit or knowledge about the city, just an overblown enthusiasm that he tries to compensate with.
I wish there was more depth to the tour. But I don’t think this tour is catering to people who actually want to know about this wonderful city, but to those who want to be entertained in the most simplistic way possible and have the right to brag that they went on this boat.
Such a waste of my time :(

Our bus was 20 minutes late, and I could not stand all the quacking. Aside from that, the tour was good. Our tour guide «The Great» was good. He was funny and tried to keep it upbeat and engaging.
The tour goes by fast and there is no getting on and off the bus/​boat. I understand the appeal of going in the water, but there was not much to see out there aside from Will Smiths Dads House? Kind of lackluster.
It does give you a good view of places to go see when you have more time.

As a Philly resident, I got a lot of crap from my boyfriend for taking the duck tour! :) It was definitely aimed towards children and I thank the tour guide for not handing out the duck whistles until we exited the boat. Some of his facts about the city were incorrect but overall we had a great time.

I’m going to start off with the bad things and go into the things I enjoyed. Let’s begin!
I’m a big fan of history, especially the history that occurred in Philadelphia. I would have given this a 5 stars, but I’ve been on one or two other Ride the Ducks in other cities and just thought they had better quality. I’m not sure if it’s a policy change due to safety, but they used to give out quackers before the riders entered the trolley. I remember it being a lot of fun quacking at people while driving by, it would get a good reaction out of people, it was also good advertising for the company, too. Also the water portion seemed very short, didn’t seem like the 20 minutes promised at all (it was a really nice day), but still worth visiting if you’ve never been on a Ride the Ducks.
While riding the streets, the host (ours was named Duck Duck Jay) plays music according to the area we drive through, says a lot of jokes, which is great and has us quack manually with our hands and mouths, while not as fun, it’s about guaranteed that it’ll still put a smile on your face.
I am from Philadelphia, so if you’re visiting definitely give this approximate 80 minute tour a try, it goes all around the city to everything that contains a long path of history. I’ll definitely be visiting again!

Not the best city-​tour I’ve been on, not the worst. Our tour guide tried fairly hard to keep us entertained for the duration of the trip, however I think he was either massively hungover or (perhaps) high. He often lost his train of thought and started to talk about his own experiences in Philly, thus skipping over some of the sites.
Furthermore, the tour guide’s comments often included phrases such as «I think …», «I’m not sure…», or «This might be …» Most of individuals were uncertain if what the guide’s ‘facts’ were actually true or not…
was it entertaining? Sort of… Were my expectation higher? Probably… Was it worth the $ 30? Undecided…
Overall, 3-​star worth… A-​Ok.

So I was in Phillie on business and didn’t have much time for sight seeing. I found out too late that you had to have a ticket to go in Independence Hall, and they ran out hours before I got there. The line for the Liberty Bell was about 100 deep. And so I’m pondering what to do, and there’s a woman yelling about duck tours. What the heck.
So I had the fortunate draw of Captain Norm. He’s an actor on Blue Bloods and does this when the show is on hiatus. His knowledge of Philadelphia is great. His many, many, many bad duck puns are funny. And he seems to genuinely enjoy his job.
As a teacher/​coach, I have to drive school buses, and I also work part time for a limo company, so I drive those as well. I can’t imagine having to drive those ducks through the tiny streets of Philadelphia. The man has skills.
The only down side was that I was there during a cold snap in April, so it was cold and rainy, and they had the plastic windows down so we’d stay warm. That made for not not many pictures. But that’s not their fault. I point it out to say go on a warm day.
I’d say Captain Norm was worth the time and money for sure.

This tour is hands down a 5 star review for anyone that rides the ducks. What a easy, stress free an fantastic way to see the historic sites of Philly. There is no way I would have had the chance to experience all I saw on this tour in 3 days. Combine it all into two hours, take a small ride onto the not so clean Delaware river and laugh your butt off with the hilarious commentary from the tour guide. First time riding the ducks but won’t be my last when I visit other cities! Loved it!!!