Erie Canal Cruise Lines, New York, United States
3.0 (4 reviews) Spent Ranking #1 in Cape Vincent Boat Tours
Aging boats with long ride from Seneca Falls to other canal towns
First and foremost, if you are wanting to tour the Erie Canal towns, it is a five - seven hour ride through seven locks from the home base, Seneca Falls, to the first of the towns. If you are interested in touring Seneca lake, the lake is only a couple hours ride with one lock thru. We chose this company mainly because it had a steering wheel (not a rudder stick) and a bow thruster. The boats are 20+ years old and are showing their age. They have two beds and two commodes and sink area, one shower, dining seating for four easily and a well equipped kitchen. It is a steel boat weighing about 13 tons, so it doesn't move fast or handle nimbly. There was just two of us so we relied heavily on the bow thruster to maneuver, especially during lock thru. The bow thruster went intermittent on us on our second day and couldn't be relied on. We notified the company but they did not have parts to do the repair at that time (the thruster would have to be removed to be repaired as they were no longer made). We decide not to continue and returned to Seneca Falls midway thru the week. The contract has clauses to protect the company from mechanical failures, so we were out of luck relative to a refund. We explained the situation to the owner and the response was the boats are used a lot and sometimes break down. There is a 10 mph speed limit on lots of the canal. And the boat only goes about that fast, so you have ample time to enjoy the scenery. Seneca Falls is a nice place with restroom, shower, and laundry facilities - shower floors are very dirty. The other nice place is Newark, NY. Great place to stop. We toured Fairport (by car). It looks to be a good place to stop. I understand that there is a nightly charge to stay. We gave this an average rating as we didn't have anything else to gauge against. Probably should have been an average minus.
Address
, Cape Vincent, New York, United States, Postal Code: 13618.
Mobile
Website
http://www.canalcruises.com/index.html
Current local date and time now
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 23:22
User Ratings
3.0 based on (4 reviews)
Reviews
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3Stephanie A 5:00 PM Jul 5, 2015
With a little bit of effort Erie Canal Cruise Line could have been rated 5 stars.
Due to days of rain and closed locks, we started our 3- day trip out in Fairport, NY, which turned out to be more advantageous for us than beginning in Seneca Falls, NY. We wanted to cruise to the west and tie up in villages along the way with good docking. My husband and I traveled with our son and daughter-in-law (we are all seasoned boaters/sailors) so this trip was TONS of fun. We found the boat to be spacious enough to be comfortable, was extremely well equipped and easy to operate and handle. The biggest problem for us however were the 2 "heads"...bathrooms. One was totally inoperable when we got onboard, and once we were underway we realized the second head reeked of urine....really disgusting, considering the head opened directly into our sleeping quarters. We all felt urine had saturated into the wood over many years of use and might be difficult to remedy. We found the rest of the boat to be fairly clean. Fortunately there were superb docking accommodations in both Spencerport and Brockport where we tied up for the evening, both with immaculate bathroom and shower facilities...Brockport even has laundry facilities. . The boat company made no attempt to reimburse us for the fact that we didn't have use of both bathrooms. In spite of the bathroom situation and 2 1/2 days of steady rain we still had a fun time.....would possibly consider a longer cruise if we did this again..
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3ronniew666 5:00 PM Jul 5, 2017
Aging boats with long ride from Seneca Falls to other canal towns
First and foremost, if you are wanting to tour the Erie Canal towns, it is a five - seven hour ride through seven locks from the home base, Seneca Falls, to the first of the towns. If you are interested in touring Seneca lake, the lake is only a couple hours ride with one lock thru. We chose this company mainly because it had a steering wheel (not a rudder stick) and a bow thruster. The boats are 20+ years old and are showing their age. They have two beds and two commodes and sink area, one shower, dining seating for four easily and a well equipped kitchen. It is a steel boat weighing about 13 tons, so it doesn't move fast or handle nimbly. There was just two of us so we relied heavily on the bow thruster to maneuver, especially during lock thru. The bow thruster went intermittent on us on our second day and couldn't be relied on. We notified the company but they did not have parts to do the repair at that time (the thruster would have to be removed to be repaired as they were no longer made). We decide not to continue and returned to Seneca Falls midway thru the week. The contract has clauses to protect the company from mechanical failures, so we were out of luck relative to a refund. We explained the situation to the owner and the response was the boats are used a lot and sometimes break down. There is a 10 mph speed limit on lots of the canal. And the boat only goes about that fast, so you have ample time to enjoy the scenery. Seneca Falls is a nice place with restroom, shower, and laundry facilities - shower floors are very dirty. The other nice place is Newark, NY. Great place to stop. We toured Fairport (by car). It looks to be a good place to stop. I understand that there is a nightly charge to stay. We gave this an average rating as we didn't have anything else to gauge against. Probably should have been an average minus.
