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    Big Bear Pirate Ship

    3.5 (87 reviews)
    Closed 7:00 am - 7:00 pm

    Services - Big Bear Pirate Ship

    Boat charters

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    Pirate Ship Big Bear Lake Tour
    Peggy F.

    Worth the ride and fun for adults and kids alike. The pirate tour guide is humorous and kept us entertained. He grew up here at Big Bear and knows the neighborhood real well, giving a nice overview of the history of Big Bear along with us meeting famous people along the way. The voice actor for Bugs Bunny lives right off the lake here and he even came out to greet us with his megaphone from his backyard. The weather here at the lake ranges widely. So even if it looks all sunny and hot, it'd be wise to have a jacket on hand, it gets crazy cold for a stretch of the ride! The receptionist wasn't joking when they advise to bring a jacket for a portion of the ride. It's like stepping into the freezer for 5 minutes out of nowhere. The pirate has a treasure chest on board and had all the little kids go up to the front and pick their own plunder to bring home as souvenirs, so nice of him! Fun cool experience. Great place to visit during summer.

    Steve S.

    I don't understand all the negative reviews, it's a cheap replica boat with a corny pirate captain, it's great for what it is. Reserve online, fill out forms online, show up on time and expect a silly, informative tour on a tiny fake pirate boat and you will be fine. Lighten up people.

    Patrick S.

    Dont let the size of the ship fool ya, its really cool. cost was ok, but the guys working the ship were great. really nice tour around the lake for a few hours. i liked how they tell you all the cool details of the lake, some history and other cool things that the lake has to offer. great for smaller kids and adults. slow easy boat ride, and they serve beer and drinks ( for a cost ) and gave the kids some souvenirs. i would do this again.

    Kim C.

    Better than expected whole family young and old enjoyed it. Fri 4pm trip Here are a few random thoughts... Kids have to wear life jackets much to the shagrin of my 9 year old. He was uncomfortable and annoyed the whole time. So if you have a personal jacket bring it. Pirate driver and "wenches" were great! High energy, kind, engaging, funny. Just so nice to see someone in service business providing a great service and make you feel they want to be there. Music was awesome. Fun upbeat sing along play list. Made the ride feel like a party cruise. We had drinks so it was happy hour. Some fun surprises I won't ruin but other reviews do if you're curious. Kid friendly with treasure box get to drive boat etc. My son was a bit afraid to get up and walk along the boat as it was moving with so many people blocking him ( people and kids standing in aisle) so the pirate was kind of enough to bring some things to him. I bought pirates booty to snack on at the shop before we boarded, glad I did. Weather was perfect, high 70s sunny. Not sure evening sunset cruise would have been as nice because we probably would have gotten cold. If you've never really cruised the lake this is a perfect way to do it and get some fun facts. Drink menu included soft drinks $1 Chardonnay and Cabernet $8, several different beers $6 or $8, margaritas, and a few specialty cocktails $12. You can either pay cash on board or run a tab and pay at the end. Expert tip--Bring a koozie, the soda cans are freezing and hard for the kids to hold the whole time and beers are in the bottle. Generous pour for the wine and red wine was fine. Seating. If you're early, choose spot not facing anyone. My mother's only complaint is it's a bit crowded facing strangers who kick you the whole time, otherwise seating was fine. I'm not sure I need to do it again unless I have new people but I really thought it was great. Maybe a private charter sometime.

    Grace C.

    Great activity for adults and kids. A beautiful sail around big bear lake on an authentic pirate ship is a perfect add to any trip in big bear. Kiddos get swords to swing in character on the boat, get the chance to steer the boat, and get something special out of the treasure chest at the end. For adults there are reasonably drinks priced on board and context about big bear lake with immaculate views through out the trip. No bathroom on board but there is a restroom to use in the marina before the 90minute lake excursion.

    05.12.18  Time Bandit tour
    May A.

    Amusing enough I called in the morning to reserve a spot for the Pirate Ship tour for me and the hubby. Our visit to Big Bear was in mid-May and only one 90-minute tour at 2:00p that Saturday was available. They open up more tours during the hot summer months. We were able to secure a place at the Pirate Ship tour. This 1/3 scale 16th century Spanish galleon replica was a prop in the 1981 movie "Time Bandits" where a young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal. I, myself, have not seen the movie but our 'pirate' captain navigating our ship... well, he said some not-so-nice things about the movie. That was enough to not make me want to watch it. The pirate ship is docked at the Holloway's Marina and RV Park in Big Bear Lake. It didn't seem big but it accommodated some 30+ of us including children and a few babies. It was super windy at the lake and at times the ship would list, the distribution of weight aboard would cause the ship to heel to one side and I would glance at our captain tour guide's way to see his facial expression and he would have that worried look. Now that's scary. The tour took us around the lake and points of interest on a narrated 90-minute tour. There was even a full bar on board! The captain told us stories and anecdotes, pointed to some real estates by the lake and even steered us to one of them owned by Mel Blanc Jr, who came out on his deck and spoke through a megaphone as Bugs Bunny to us. Mel Blanc (the father) was the voice of Looney Tunes cartoons Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Speedy Gonzales, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, and Wile E. Coyote. So that was cool. The tour continued as we heard about the history of the lake, the boat and the village. The captain also entertained us on the cruise by firing his small canon at a competing tourist paddle boat. LoL. That's about it. Fun! Review #1035

    Here's looking at you matey.
    Elita D.

    I booked the Pirate Ship boat tour for my 3 kids and I. I was pleasantly surprised to see the wide assortment of life safety vests at the dock. The ship arrived on-time and it was a sight to behold, including the pirate captain, boat wench, decorations, etc. The seating is comfortable and the boat tour was the right balance of story telling of Big Bear history and giving us riders time and space to just gaze at the natural beauty around us. The boat wench offered pirates booty popcorn, pirate tatoos and hats/swords for the kids. They delighted in being able to pick a toy from the treasure box. You can tell that the captain is really passionate about sailing and sharing the Big Bear history with his riders. I truly respect and appreciate the genuineness of this business. A lot of people get in to tourist business to make quick buck, but this captain truly has a passion for what he does and cares about making sure the riders fall in love with Big Bear Lake as much as he has. My kids have already requested another ride, so I'll be booking again. Cheers.

    Captain & my baby

    We had such a fun time! The kids were able to steer the boat. The captain was so sweet! So was his support employee. I highly recommend taking your kids on this especially those who love pirates. We had a 6 year old, a 2 & 1 year old. They loved it! The captain knows the area so we'll & the tour was lovely overall!

    Here is the ship we took our anniversary cruise on

    What a great idea to spend a couple hours with my spouse on an anniversary cruise.. while it was fun for adults we really took it to see if our grandkids should go on it.. and we enjoyed it so much we know it would be a kick in the pants for those under 10..

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    2 years ago

    SUCH A FUN RIDE! Our captain was fun and engaging. Learning all about big bear was really interesting and insightful!

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    Such a great experience, and they made it so special for our kids (ages 5 and 7). Definitely a highlight of our Big Bear trip!

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    Page 1 of 3

    Ask the Community - Big Bear Pirate Ship

    Review Highlights - Big Bear Pirate Ship

    You even stop by Mel Blanc's house, where his son does the voice of bugs bunny and various looney tunes characters.

    Mentioned in 8 reviews

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    Miss Liberty Paddlewheel Tour Boat

    Miss Liberty Paddlewheel Tour Boat

    (122 reviews)

    We drove to big bear for the weekend and just browsing what to do upon checking in our hotel. This…read morewas around 5pm. Wanted to see the lake and came across this activity. Cheaper than others and has a 6pm so we bought tickets and walked half a mile fr our hotel and made it there. Process was smooth in buying tickets online. It wasn't crowded and everyone stayed upstairs to see the view. There are snacks and drinks available to purchase downstairs and affordable. The ride took 90 mins and we saw the sunset. The narration is hard to understand but we soak the nice view in and enjoyed the ride.

    Came to Big Bear for the weekend and was excited to take a tour of the lake. You can make a…read morepurchase request online but this is not a confirmation. I understand that as a business you need to make a profit- they don't confirm the tour unless they have 15 people. However, that makes it frustrating as a customer. Our purchase request was for Saturday at noon. However, there was no status update prior to Saturday. I called at 10:20am the day of to see if it was still happening but was told that they wouldn't know until 11am. I then called back again at 11:15am and they still couldn't tell me if the tour was happening. They ended up calling at 11:25am to say it was cancelled (only 5 minutes before their 11:30am check in time). This business model leaves customers waiting literally until the last few minutes which makes it hard for anyone visiting for the weekend to enjoy their time and plan their day accordingly.

    Big Bear Charter Fishing

    Big Bear Charter Fishing

    (53 reviews)

    UPDATE: Confirmed this business is not in operation under this name, and is a scam - SO BEWARE. Do…read morenot book through their online booking system. We got in touch with the guy who's name was being used to run the scam - he's really close with and previously worked with the people that work at the marina. He confirmed that this company had been sold, and it turns out they weren't taking reservations. The marina is also investigating what's going on. Someone is using the guy's name, Adam, to answer the phone and using a google powered online booking system under this company's name to collect the fee and then doesn't show up, disconnects the phone line, etc. We let our bank know, now the original Adam knows, and the marina does too. Original: ITS A SCAM. We called, told to book online so we did. $300 for a private charter later, we showed up 15 minutes early and the marina said they hadn't seen the guy that runs this in over a week - hadn't even seen his truck at the dock at all today. We're alerting our bank, but beware - this isn't a real company listing. Phone number no longer works, it gives a busy signal that we showed to the marina employees who were just as confused as us. We're alerting our bank and flagging this account.

    We had a wonderful day with Austin, who was an amazing fishing guide and host. Everything was top…read morenotch for our 10 yr old twins, who had a ball. So did the three adults. We would highly recommend these folks. We all had so much fun and caught 12 fish, took home three to cook for dinner. The last one was an 18 inch rainbow trout.

    North Shore Landing - These are just some of the spiders

    North Shore Landing

    (201 reviews)

    We came up last weekend and rented a fishing pontoon. I was enjoying our family time until we…read morereturned back to the dock. I wish we would have read the reviews first before renting... The office staff seemed stressed and busy. Service was so-so. The safety video was probably from the 80s? We later got to know Norma who was just a middle man and as professional as she could be. Before we left I guess my husband was told to take a photo of the prop before we left (from the drivers seat) which we later learned was not a good view/angle if there are already damages to it. There are faded signs at the marina shack to ask take photos. TAKE TONS OF PHOTOS! Because they will try to say you damaged the boat upon returning. While other boats were not looked at twice like ours was. There seemed to be conflict or a disagreement with some thing between the staff when we got on but the guy just brushed them off. I wonder now if we weren't supposed to even rent that one. The gauges were broken and the life vests for my kids were stamped with a date of 1989!! And then another stamped of "passed" in 1993. Let's just go with the 10 year lifetime date for fun. We returned and after we raised the prop the staff started acting that there was an issue and we had no clue what was going on. We waited while they looked at the prop and there was fishing line in it. That they took off and dropped back in the water right there. Finally after about 20 minutes they say they need to call the owner. We still don't know why, and they say it's because the prop is bent. We didn't hit any thing at all. They said we could leave and call us later. But we opted to wait. One employee said it was "silver" when we left but was worse when we returned. He was really a jerk the whole time to even the other staff, blaming us. There were three staff members who were nice and professional- I didn't get their names- a guy with an accent was friendly and seemed to be bothered by the other punk, a young female at the dock. I saw another couple going out for a rental to see if they were going to use our boat. I asked him if the boat keeps going out. And his only answer was that it's the renters responsibility to take photos. After the manager called the owner it was finally determined we would not be charged $100 for the prop. The manager on site seemed understanding and mature verses everyone else running the show. As we had a $250 deposit on hold for damages on the rental. I was enjoying our time until the end and will not recommend going here again.

    Terrible business owners didn't want to refund nor give us the boat ride that we paid for. To…read morepreface this, it was raining the day we wanted to rent the boat. SO BUYER BEWARE!!! Don't believe the highly rated reviews. These jerks don't keep promises. Make sure to record any promises. Especially if they don't let you take the boat. They have terrible policies. They stole money from our family.

    Big Bear Pirate Ship - boating - Updated May 2026

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