Oh the huge manatees -- More like a Cedar Point ride than what I was looking for. Still, a pretty efficiently run operation and nice float down a clean, beautiful, lazy river. read more

This place is incredibly disorganized. Id echo Zeke's review on here. They send you to 5 different places and people before actually going tubing. It's entirely unnecessary and they make you come back to pick up your deposit for the tubes (it would make more sense to just charge a card or keep the deposit if someone doesn't return the tubes). They drop you off and you have to walk about a half-full mike on a gravel road and carry your things. There are no signs on the road. Bring snacks and your own ziplock bags for waterproofing. This is a nice River trip, but we had to get out and paddle or walk a few times. The float trip is nice, but if you can do it on your own without this company you will be much better off. Not worth the prices and the many steps and frustration. read more

My wife and I hit the river in tubes every time we visit! The scenery is awesome and its fun to just drift down the river and end up at a beautiful, scenic beach at Lake Michigan. Pay no mind to the negative review here, as costs are minimal compared the to fun, relaxation and enjoyment you'll have! read more

First time we tried Riverside and loved it. Other canoe places make you get out & drag your canoe across a busy road or take long shuttles. This one was so easy. Great service and plenty of staff. We did the lower Platte and it took us about 3 hours. We had 3 canoes & one tube. We even saw deer cross right by us in the river! I called ahead and made sure there were NO hidden fees. $40 deposit has to be left that you get back at the end. Chairs for kids riding in mididle of canoe were $2. Extra riders beyond the 2 adults in canoes are additional$10. Price is higher than surrounding canoe liveries but definitely worth it!! We will be again next year with a floating cooler!! read more

Did float trip one day and had such a great experience, went back the next day and went kayaking. Such a great set-up. Customer service was fantastic and the general store was so much fun. The time on the river was amazing. Such a wonderful adventure. I would HIGHLY recommend Riverside Canoe Trips to anyone! Loved it!!!! read more

I rented a kayak here in late June. Great & friendly service. Everything went really smoothly. I had never been in Northern Michigan and paddling down the Lower Platte River was a highlight. It was so beautiful. You are right by the road, but it is still green and quiet. At one point you paddle through a small lake. The water is not too cold, as the river is shallow. You don't need any experience kayaking to do this activity, and it takes about an hour and a half.. Highly recommended! read more

Riverside did a fair enough job. Staff is very busy but the guys and gals handling the kayaks etc are very friendly. The younger folks inside the store are overworked and friendly, but the older store workers seemed overworked and unfriendly. The cost is a bit more than Trading Post up the road ($36/kayak here), but we were eager to get going and wanted to do some shopping in their store so stayed to ride with them. My biggest issue with Riverside is that you are given 2.5 hours to take the "2 hour trip". After that you are charged "late fees". We were a group of 4 experienced adult kayakers, and paddled pretty much the entire time. We took no swim breaks, no bathroom breaks, no food/drink breaks. We were able to complete the trip in exactly 2.5 hours by the time we turned in our paddles and cushions. If we had played at all, like we'd have liked, we would have incurred late fees. read more

Horrible service! We called ahead to make a reservation and they told us we better reserve as many tube as we thought we would need just to be safe. They knew the reservation was for the same day. Then when we called back to cancel three tubes (less than an hour later) the informed us of a 3 day cancellation policy and made us pay $50 for tubes we didn't need. When we got there and asked about it they were very rude. They wouldn't even gives us $2 back for switching to a tube with no bottom. I can understand policies like that for big groups but applying it to 3 tubes is bad for business. We will never go again and won't recommend it. read more

Greed and disorganization bring this great experience down a few pegs. We go every year. Convenient location. Very confusing to sign up. You have to pay for your tube or canoes inside but make the arrangements outside at the booth. The booth is setup for both tubes and canoes/kayaks. Separate lines for each but that is not clear and people line up on both sides to get to each area. Everyone ends up in a bottleneck and confused at who goes first and that they waited in line already. Also only certain staff can do tubes and others do canoes. So that means that if people in line all want canoes then they wait in a line to see the designated staff person while the other staff is sitting there doing absolutely nothing. Why not let your staffers do all rentals? Also there are hidden fees.. There is a $5 charge to turn in vests and paddles at the end with the staff that takes the canoe. Otherwise you are supposed to hurry back to turn them in yourself before their 2 1/2 hour time limit is up. This is seriously weak turd maneuver- a way to squeeze five more bucks our of each rental. Beautiful scenery. The river is very crowded at times. When it is you will need to park your car along the national park road. You need to remember to buy parking from them even when parked roadside. There are no signs to say that along the road whatsoever but the ranger was writing tickets anyway. We saw him writing some and questioned it. He said there is a sign at the parking lot at the end; but if its that crowded you park along the road before you ever get to the lot to see that one sign at the lot. read more

My employer treated our group of 14 to a trip down the river. We had a mix of kayakers and canoers. Check in was quick and staff was friendly. You have your choice of taking a provided life jacket or floatation cushion. The river has a very gentle current and multiple spots to stop and take a dip. As you cross Loon Lake there is a sandbar that's a great spot to take a break. The river does get very busy and cluttered with tubers so I suggest you get there early to help avoid the congestion. read more

It definitely wasn't what we expected. The river was quite slow, and we kept getting stuck on the shoreline because of the wind and too gentle of current. Platte River was relaxing, yet it got very long at the end. Way overpriced as well since we couldn't even get a full refund for my brother who became quite sick beforehand. We notified the company several days ahead of time. Also once we arrived the service was horrible, and they really should employee more people over the age of seven since a little boy (a worker) just took our papers without explaining or answering some questions we had with proceeding onward. Next time I'd rather just bring my own tubes, and look for a river that actually moves. read more

The lower river kayak trip is great for little kids... Slow waters and you can just drift if you want for a few hours. Waters are shallow and overall the trip was great. It drops you out at the lake and you can easily spend a few more hours swimming and looking at all the river stones. So I do recommend the trip!! Take a snack for the end as the entire trip is about 2 hours and however long you stay at the beach and there's nothing close by to grab lunch. My only issue was that at the end of the trip the Riverside folks have a trailer to take your kayak back to the main outpost but you have to take your paddles and life jackets back up yourself, though there's ample room on the trailer. We wanted to stay at the beach a bit and the paddles wouldn't fit in our car anyway. Seemed odd to do this so we asked can't they just take it back up? Yes, they can for $5 a set. Hm. Just seemed like nickel and diming to me. We paid the money but were told we had to drive back up anyway to get our $20 deposit back even though they were taking all our equipment. Definitely a great trip but I'd try another kayak company next time. read more

We had a great time! The video explained how things work, and you can tell why they have organized things the way they have. They are shuffling lots of people through, and many have no experience on the water. If you wear eye glasses, don't forget to get a strap! I did, an expensive lesson. My wallet and car keys fell out of my velcroed pocket too. They were REALLY helpful! The owner Kyle, made some phone calls to the resort I was staying at. It turned out to be unnecessary, as some kind soul found my wallet and keys on the river. (They were in a plastic bag) Great bunch of people and a very pleasant river. It doesn't get any better. read more

You must pay up to $20 just to park. Service was unfriendly and at best can be described as cold. Make sure you have an hour set aside just to get through processing before you even get in the canoe. Then they nickel and dime you for kids paddles and seats. read more

One disorganized place. I was sent back and forth 5 times to various desks even though I made a reservation in person one month before. Different stories from each employee. A car crash of an operation. read more

Go for the full day and take your time,fish,people watch,have a drink,great little river;service is great.People come on your on vacation

So I've never felt the need to write a review before but I'm so frustrated with the management of this place that I think people should be aware... I was in charge of planning my work camping trip and everyone wanted a great place to tube. I wanted a great river that had transportation to and from our campsite, because we had a large group who wanted to have some drinks on the river, which I know many places in Michigan provide shuttles so I called several different places. I spoke with a young lady who assured me that they provided transportation from the campgrounds listed on their website. So I planned my whole trip around their listed campgrounds and booked several sites at a local state park. Then called this canoe facility back and booked my reservation and asked how I could book my transportation from the campground. She asked which campground I was staying and told me she would have a manager call and schedule a time either that Friday or Monday. No call (already unprofessional) So I had to call myself on Tuesday. The manager told me they don't do transportation services. So I told him that was the reason I booked my whole trip around their facility because I was told by his employee that this shuttle would be arranged. Then asked if there was any way we could pay for any transportation that he knew of. This manager told me if we booked at this campground 5 miles away that he would pick us up for $100...(I thought they don't do transportation services?) All in all I had to cancel my reservations at both the state park and this facility to find a place that we were looking for originally and lost just under $75 in cancelation fees. This man wouldn't even refund my full money because of their employees mistake. He knew it was their mistake too because he kept saying the name of the girl several times and kept saying he needed to speak with her. Honestly I wasn't even upset with her because mistakes happen, it's all about how management recovers, and he failed miserably. So in the end I told him I would return to their facility in the future if my full refund would be returned since it was their mistake. He refused. Obviously doesn't care too much about customers. I've been to dozens of campgrounds and been on a lot of these river trips... Never expected such unprofessional behavior and can't believe he tried to sell us into paying him ANOTHER $100 for driving 5 miles after they screwed up. Good luck to anyone working with them because I refuse to support a company with no consideration for others. From other reviews this obviously isn't the first time they have been unprofessional. read more

We just took a canoe trip on the Platte River recently. This is the place to go to rent your canoe, kayak, or tubes. On this trip we had five adults, three kids and 2 dogs and they were able to easily accomodate us with two canoes and one double kayak and we had a great trip down the river. This place has always been so busy when we have gone--usually peak summer time. The staff seem to handle it very well. The business certainly knows how to provide the right amount of staff to keep things running smoothly. All of the young people working there are very polite and definitely know their stuff. The only downside is that it can be kind of pricey. To us it's worth it though. There is no better way to spend the day on the Platte river. We are grateful that they are there to provide a really easy way to have a great canoe trip. read more

We went to this location with my son who has a head injury. The owner, a woman, came stomping over and was incredibly rude because we had parked in a handicapped spot. We have a handicap license, but she wanted us to show her the handicapped person. My son was mortified and I was very angry. They do have limited parking, but if you think someone is abusing handicapped parking, call the police, by all means. Don't make it even harder on people who are handicapped by having to prove that they are. It was one of the worst experiences we have had since my son was hurt. I will never go there again! read more

We had a great experience at Riverside. The staff was helpful and friendly. We were there during peak season and everything was smooth and efficient. Thank you!!! read more

This was not our first trip, but our fourth in the last 6 years. I cannot tell you how offended I am by how we were treated! They have ever been very organized, but the float is great. That being said our experience today necessitates a review from me who never posts a negative review. It was busy, that is the only concession, the patronizing, condescending treatment was beyond inappropriate. We followed the protocol, started at the first station, proceeding inside to pay, went out back to be loaded on a van, went back inside to by a park pass and then WAS LEFT AT THE PARKING LOT, ABANDONED FOR 25 MINUTES WHILE MY KIDS WERE IN THE VAN!!!! The manager (August 4th 2pm) drove to the end, even after we were told inside we'd be parking on the road, indicated I should park (confirmed by all the other adults in the van and my kids), when I walked to the road the van was no where to be seen. I thought they would quickly realize and come back, but no, I waited in the baking sun worried sick about my kids!! I continued waiting for 20-25 minutes!! When he finally did return my kids were in the van alone with him and they had dropped off the other group. His apology was offensive, trite and insincere along the lines of "sorry you found a parking spot before the van." Is that even an apology? He did adjust our trip end time, but was dismissive and rude. Upon returning to the main branch for my deposit, I asked to speak to the owner. I knew from the defensive response of the wife that the conversation was not going to go well. The male owner was patronizing and indicated that the manager had told him it was just a mix up and they had circled back to pick me up right away, but this was a blatant lie to cover his ass. The owner said "I'll have a talk with him" like I was five, a total blow off. Does this constitute kidnapping since they took my kids without my permission? The manager came up behind us while I was talking to the owner and lurked behind us with his sunglasses on in a threatening and intimidating manner. The owner gave me a coupon to buy food and said "I'd buy you ice cream, but you already got it." I have never felt so dismissed, brushed off, maltreated.....all I wanted was a sincere apology, meaningful, substantive that recognized the gravity of children being separated from their parents. I was in tears from worry, I had no way to reach the staff of riverside or my kids. So disappointing we will never return. read more

Sounds like the only other review on this site was written by Riverside's owner. We picked up a brochure at our hotel in Traverse City and decided to drive the extra miles to Honor. I arrived on Sat. 8/16/2009. Parking is nothing short of a nightmare and I was concerned my car would be damaged by the excess traffic in a highly congested area. We went to the signup and listened as an employee (a girl of about 18) read the riot act to the lady in front of us for being in line with her husband. Riverside will not permit more that one person from the same party to get information together. What a crock! Now our turn....we are greeted by the same sour expression and nasty tone of voice, our name is recorded on a form and we are told to watch a video and then decide if we want to take the trip. I have made the trip years before and it is a nice trip, but I will never spend my vacation $$$ with a business that would allow customers to be treated so poorly. I drove to Glen Arbor, was greeted by a smiling face at one of the several liveries, spent less money, filled out almost no paperwork and had a great trip on the Crystal River. read more

I'm trying to imagine what could make this experience more irritating, but I'm at a loss. We actually made a reservation, but were kept waiting almost an hour and a half. The check in and payment process seemed designed to maximize frustration. I'd rather stand in line at the DMV. And I would have been out of there sooner. Then, when we're finally ready to get on the shuttle, the clueless teenager at the wheel says, "You have your National Park pass, right?". Um, no. Maybe if you had told us sometime in the past hour that we needed one, we would have taken care of this little detail. After driving us to the drop off spot which is approximately a half mile walk (during which you are expected to carry your own giant tube), the Einstein behind the wheel realizes he didn't actually pack the correct equipment. That we had reserved. 3 weeks ago. Once on the river, the tubing experience was delightful, thanks in no way to Riverside. We'll be on the Platte River again next year with the tubes I'm ordering from Amazon. read more