Nice 1 1/2 hour cruse up and down the Mississippi River. This was a lunch cruse that started at…read more11:00. You could either do the cruse with food, or without. We shared the boat with about 25 people and all of us had the meal. It was early spring, so I'm sure the boat fills up as the weather improves and travelers are out and about. Our lunch was sliced turkey, Swedish meatballs with potatoes and carrots. The turkey was hand carved and the rest was buffet style. Food was decent and there was plenty available. Coffee and tea were included, but other beverages, including a full bar, was available for a charge. The trip itself was nice. The highlight was going through a railroad bridge. (Twice - going up and down) A large section of the bridge has to turn to open a space for the boat to go through. Otherwise the views were a bit pedestrian, some nice homes along the river and a few uninhabited islands. There were some bird watchers on our trip who got really excited when they spotted a couple of Eagles nesting in a tree along the river. The captain does a nice job as a narrator/guide to bring the area to life with interesting stories and historical facts. Overall this is a nice relaxing trip. Sit back and learnt some history of the area and Mississippi River, and enjoy the ride. It's always fun to be on the water! Glad I did the trip, probably wouldn't need to do it again.

Me and my wife were not thrilled with our experience. It was way too crowded at dinner tables. We…read morewere smooshed and older man kept bumping my wife's arm while eating and waitress forgot my drink. We should have been more spread out at tables - not at full capacity. Also , the prime rib was over done and chicken was pinkish. People were a tad snooty also.

Great experience today with Captain Aaron and his son Mississippi... I mean, River. LOL…read more Aaron was friendly, had tons of information and was great with everyone on board, from 8 to 80. He shared all sorts of great information and even let my niece drive the boat for a few minutes. She LOVED that so much. Great value for your dollar as well. Definitely check out Captain Aaron and you might just end up with a fun selfie on your phone too.

Fantastic experience. Lots of interesting information and fun. Boat is comfortable and snacks and…read moredrinks for sale.

So glad I tried this! I was skeptical at first as I am from La Crosse and thought I might be bored…read morein my normal stomping grounds. I'm so glad I gave it a shot! Erik was awesome with making sure everyone in our group felt comfortable on the segways before we left. it was super cool to see so many areas of La Crosse that I never knew existed. I would highly recommend a tour with these guys. From LAX or not, you will enjoy your time!

Hands down fun for the whole family good, good instructing on how to ride for beginnersread more

We rented kayaks to relax and enjoy the lake close to the water. However, it was not relaxing at…read moreall. We spent almost $100 for kayaks covered in mushy algae, moths and spiders and their webs. No one prepared the kayaks for our use. They could have just hosed them off, instead we had to try to clean them ourselves and endure the stressful ride with spiders on ours backs. It was as if no one was working there. I give the service a solid C-

Outstanding service, highly recommend these guys! Very efficient at what they do. A variety of…read moreboat rentals to choose from and all well maintained. Very reasonable prices, well worth it if you're in the area!

Just spent 3 nights on Therapy, 2 adults, 3 teenage boys and 1 dog. The staff (Chris, Hugh, étal)…read morewas very nice, very easy to deal with. Check in was a breeze, and you get trained before you head off on your own. The boat was clean, there was plenty of space for all of us. We did bring disinfectant spray and wipes though, and used those as soon as we entered the boat, for precaution during these times. The kitchen was well equipped - I found the fridge more than adequate for our 3 night stay. The boat had a generator - so you can have air conditioning on, on days when you need a break from the heat. The houseboat experience itself was good too. There are plenty of beaches to chose from, and Lake Pepin was nice for just hanging around during the day. "Parking" in public docks can be tough, there are limited spaces on the dock. One time we waited so long we gave up, the other time we waited and got lucky. The fishing was meh. 3 nights and we didn't get a nibble until the last night, when we finally switched to live bait. We caught one fish and that's it. It's probably us, and our lack of fishing skills. :-). We got into trouble one night, when we were trying to beach, and was able to get help from Hugh right away, guiding us over the phone. They also came and checked on us that same afternoon. No judgement and no drama, very professional. Overall I would recommend Great River Houseboats for a safe, socially distanced family getaway, that's still quite fun and adventurous.

Two years on a drive through Alma we stopped at the GRH, viewed the the boats and decided to book…read more Unfortunately a week before we were to take out the boat the wife of our friend broke her foot. We had to cancel and the manager of the GRH was kind enough to let us apply the deposit towards another date. In July (last month) we took took out a Houseboat for a 3 day adventure. Unfortunately the condition of the boat was disappointing and was not the boat we saw when visited 2 years prior. Among the issues: 1. No locks on the the entrance and rear patio doors. We felt unsafe at night or when we left our belongings on the boat and when we stopped in town for dinner. 2. While laying on the bottom bunk in the main cabin you would see either water stain or urine stains on the bottom board of the bunk above. 3. No canopy on the top deck (again different from what we saw when we visited). It made the top deck unusable since during the trip it was extremely hot, humid and sunny. 4. Chipped toilet seat. 5. Dead fly's on the ceiling of the main cabin. 6. Cabinet door fell off in the kitchen area. 7. Area below the sink where the trash can was absolutely filthy. To be fair, the staff was very nice and the river views were magnificent. We cannot in good faith recommend this company to anybody. We contacted management after the trip and requested a refund, they refused to offer a full or partial refund. They told us they informed us about the condition of this particular boat in advance...NOT TRUE, would never have accepted this boat, in this condition, for this amount of money.

The owner was extremely friendly and even let us go out on the river, despite being 2 weeks from…read moreofficially opening.

Great place to go for relaxing and enjoying good vibes with friends. Staff is had the best customer…read moreservice Ive ever witness. Will be visiting again!!

Wish we could give more than 5 stars! This experience far surpassed my 6-year-old grandson's…read moreexpectations. We got to see a two-headed snake, so many gators, and the biggest snakes we've ever seen. The absolute highlight was when my grandson and his Dad got to hold a gator--he hasn't stopped telling everyone about it since! Definitely a must-see highlight of the Dells.

My son has become Mr Alligstor almost overnight (well it started maybe around May of this year and…read moreapart from his normal video gaming, Alligators -- and to a lesser extent Crocs and Caimans) are his jam. He had been watching science-related videos, reading books, talking alligators and crocs nonstop. We were planning a mini father son trip and I wasn't sure where to go, when to my surprise I saw that Wis Dells had an alligator place! So we actually headed up there from NW Chicagoland for Alligators first...and boy this did not disappoint. The place was surprisingly very clean and not smelly at all--I had a college roommate who bought an old Used car that had a garter snake in it and he kept it and boy did it smell...so this is no small feat to keep it clean with this many reptiles. It was the first thing we did in Wis Dells and my son was there a good couple of hours (entrance was about $20 for us to visit and then you can buy food to feed -- meat packets were very reasonably priced), and also feed alligators, pythons, snapping turtles, alligator snapping turtles, caimans live mice and/or rats depending what the animals needed that day. Thankfully the owners -- lovely people who have been there nearly 30 years -- feed the live animals we don't have to touch them. I'll admit that left me a little squirmish but my son was in heaven. We were there about 2 hours (most folks I imagine last about 30 mins) and my son was really excited to see the animals -- behind closed glass tanks. They have 14 or so gators in the big tank right as you walk in, have an albino alligator (large one too) in a separate tank behind. Several pythons- including a jumbo yellow scary python and one a little smaller next to it. They have turtles, some smaller snakes, and some toads etc in other cages.... I figured we saw all we could ever see that first 2 hours as it isn't the biggest place, but my son really wanted to go back before we left, so we went back 2 days later and I don't know how we missed it on day 1, but they had a photo opportunity to hold an alligator (its mouth is taped for safety) and that was the thrill of my sons life! He's been telling everyone about that post our visit. Overall it was impressive how clean and not smelly the place is, showing the care the handlers/owners take to these animals. One bit of advice, while they have some very brief blurbs on some (not all) of the animals, I'd recommend adding more complete blurbs in the animals like a traditional zoo would. They also have an opportunity to buy alligators (which presumably is legal in Wisconsin) and that is something I'd never recommend -- Thankfully they aren't cheap so kids likely couldn't do that without a parent being involved:). All in all across 2 visits we were there 3.5 or so hours and my son had the absolute best time of his life. I can't thank them enough and they were super great to him answering his questions, etc (especially since on the second visit they were pretty darn crowded but they gave my so. Extra special treatment :) ). A wonderful experience-- and a reminder of the things we parents do for our kids lol - as Id never be there if it was t for my son, let alone be there twice! We will be back too next time we go to the Dells (I hadn't been to the Dells in over 20 years--first time as an adult, and I hadn't a great time, but this was amongst our biggest highlight of the trip)

Highly recommended from our family. We loved the boat and service provided for the boat. Kat and…read moreJeremy helped us with our reservation and with getting out on the boat. They were both awesome to deal with. Nice size pontoon boat for our family of four. More people could have fit on comfortably. 8 would probably be a comfortable amount at most, but you probably could fit more. Not sure more than 8 would be as comfortable. Plenty of room on the boat. We boated the entire day and even fished off the boat. The boat has a depth finder and fish finder as one unit on the boat. The boat seemed fairly new and in great shape. Plenty of comfortable seating cushions on the boat. It could have used more cup holders, though. Plenty of storage under the seats and cushions. We did several stops to swim while out on the lake. The lake is not very deep (Castle Rock Lake) so go more towards the center of the lake to swim. There it was around 15-20 feet deep. You could anchor there with no problems. Awesome ladder on the boat to get back in the boat from the water. With four in the boat, plenty of room to fish. Casting or bobber fishing. Fish finder on the boat was a nice touch. It helped find good areas to fish, but we had no luck catching any that day. Smooth ride while boating on Castle Rock Lake. Not many boats on the lake the day we were out on the lake. We didn't see many boats on the lake the whole time we were there. That's nice that the lake does not get too crowded with boat traffic. The boat has a Bluetooth radio to connect your phone for music and a nice music system for enjoying your boat ride. Overall smooth experience reserving the boat in advance and then getting out on the water. Kat showed us how to use the boat and then we were off on the lake boating. Seamless experience from reservation to turning the boat in at the end of the day. Highly recommend renting a boat from them on Castle Rock Lake. Just so you know, they operate out of a shack next door to the Shipwreck Bay Bar and Restaurant. The shack is located on the hill above their docks. There is a banner on the side of the shack that says Castle Rock Water Sports. That is where you start your day. For lunch while boating, the restaurant by the boat rental docks, Shipwreck Bay Bar and Grill, is great and so is the Dirty Turtle Bar and Grill just North of there via water. TIP: When filling your boat with gas at the end of your boating day before turning it in, go to the Dirty Turtle Restaurant/Bar down the way from the Castle Rock Water Sports docks. It's about half a mile or less North of their rental docks by water. The gas pump is by the Dirty Turtle Bar and Grill itself. You will have to pull the boat all the way into the marina by water and up to the dock right in front of the Dirty Turtle bar where the gas pump is at. Dock your boat there and go into the restaurant with your credit card. Tell the bartender that you want to fill-up your boat and they hold your card and turn on the pump for you. Go back out and fill your boat to full from the pump. The pump hose is pretty long and will stretch most of the way down the dock to fill your boat no matter where you dock it. After filling your boat with gas, go back into the bar and pay. They can put it on your card or you can pay cash instead. Knowing all this would have saved us some time, but we figured it out, finally. Enjoy!!!

The entire booking process went extremely smoothly and our pontoon boat was great. Jeremy was very…read morehelpful, and helped us realize that we were charged too much for gas. He was also very nice and gave us a quick tour of how to use the boat.

Gg We rented a…read morehouseboat for 4 days with six guys. It was an amazing experience. The boat had everything you need for a comfortable voyage. For example, the kitchen was better equipped than many Airbnb rentals I've stayed at. SS Rentals staff was so professional. We've never piloted a boat that big before. It felt intimidating until Bob walked us thru the process. Even navigating the lock was a piece of cake. The scenery and wildlife was out of this world. I just can't say enough good things about SS Rentals or our experience.

Great, great, great. We rented a houseboat and loved it. Ok it was expensive but we had a great…read moretime. Bob gave us the orientation and even lent us his fishing poles. The kids (adult kids) had a great time fishing and we caught a ton of fish. I called a few days before the trip and the very nice lady answered all our questions. The new owner was very accommodating and hands on. He was the guy adding oil to the engines and fueling the boat. Gotta love a hands in owner. Only suggestion is to bring more food and beverages and worms than you think. There isn't any place to stop and pick up needed items. If you have a small fishing boat, bring it! You can catch fish from a houseboat, but it is limited. Bring a Bluetooth speaker. There is a sound system but radio only. You should do this!

Niagara Cave absolutely exceeded every expectation we had. We've explored caves across the country,…read moreincluding Cave of the Winds in Colorado, which has always been one of our favorites. Amazingly, Niagara Cave may have just taken the top spot! From the moment you descend underground, you're surrounded by breathtaking formations. The stalactites and stalagmites are incredible, and the underground waterfall is simply stunning. We chose the Black Light Tour, and it added a whole new dimension to the experience. Watching the cave formations transform with the ultraviolet light was fascinating. Our guide, who I believe was Kaylee, made the experience even better. She was knowledgeable, engaging, perfectly paced, and genuinely enthusiastic about sharing the cave's history and geology. You could tell she loved what she does. If you're anywhere near southeastern Minnesota, this is absolutely worth the trip. Whether you're a first-time visitor or have toured famous caves before, Niagara Cave is a hidden gem that deserves far more recognition. We'll definitely be back, and next time we'll be bringing friends and family along to experience it with us.

Very nice cave tour - hour long with 225 down and 275 up stairs total. Not a bad walk given the…read morecold temperatures in the cave. Perfect activity for a hot summer. Friendly staff - they understand we have small children and didn't mind them. Lovely place to bring family