William A Irvin Museum — Attraction in Duluth

I would give this one star, but I am giving three stars because the ship itself and the staff members who were there to share the history of the William A. Irvin were amazing. They were very informative and friendly and we enjoyed speaking to each one of them. My young nephew had his heart set on visiting this museum. The site says that they start the last tour at 4:30 p.m. and that each tour lasts between 45 - 60 minutes. We came just before 4:30 p.m. right after another excursion we had booked had ended and they gave us our tickets ($130.00 for six adults and one child). As we walked onto the ship and began asking questions to the first gentleman, we heard a loud screeching noise which was apparently them closing the exhibit behind us (no problem, end of day, we get it). The staff member who gave us the tickets then showed up waiting for us as we talked and looked at the ship. It was very awkward. We overheard her telling several employees that she was ready to leave for the day. She proceeded to follow us through the whole ship, making us very uncomfortable. As we would chat with the people stationed at each part of the ship, she would be not far behind us looking annoyed and impatient. If we had arrived after 4:30, or if the exhibit was free I wouldn't care so much. She had no problem taking our money, and made the entire experience unenjoyable. The ship itself is beautiful, the other staff members were very friendly and knowledgeable. Definitely worth a visit, but go well before the last tour so the manager doesn't rush you because she has...

On my most recent trip to Duluth my friend really wanted to go on the tour of this ship. We were there on a pretty hot day and while the gift shop was cooled, the rest of the ship was not, so I would suggest getting something to drink before starting the tour.

Our tour guide was pretty good, she's obviously done it a few times and was good at identifying the rooms / areas that the people didn't have much interest in or were too hot to be in for too long. It was pretty cool to see some of the inner workings of such an old ship.

If you have kids or older people with you, you need to know that there are a LOT of stairs that have low ceilings, VERY steep steps and cramped quarters. There were several children under the age of 12 on the tour we were on and of course, they are kids, but if you have a baby, which a few did, it's going to be tough. I'm 6'5" and I was able to manage, but it was a LOT of ducking.

The tour lasted about an hour and was a fun way to spend an afternoon down in Canal Park. If you are in the area and looking for some history on the Great Lakes shipping boats and all that sort of thing, this will be right...

We came here during the Haunted Ship. We were followed for the last half of the ship walk through by an employee- there was a simple misunderstanding where we could’ve been spoken to, instead we were basically forced to RUSH through (in the video you can hear him telling me to “keep moving” lady) because I wanted to stop & ENJOY going through the haunted ship. He stepped on the back of my friend’s foot- that’s how close he was following us. Made everything so much more awkward & pressured- we tried to reason with him, & he wouldn’t have a conversation with us. Despite us driving over 3 hours to attend the ship & spending over $100 on tickets for the entire group. The ship was awesome, beside the wait time on the top deck, & the way that they chose to handle a minor misunderstanding, pushing us through so quickly it was unbelievably not enjoyable. Recommend getting VIP if you get tickets- we got through right when...