I&M Canal Boat — Attraction in LaSalle

Great staff, interesting history, and a unique experience. However, the 10 AM tour was not tailored to children in any type of way as advertised on the tour company’s website.

Online it states that for “the 2025 season, the 10 AM ride each day will be dedicated to younger passengers age 5-12 … children and their guardians will discover what it would have been like to be a kid in the 1840s”. This wasn’t the case for our 10 AM tour. I believe this was in part because there was a large adult group from another tour company on board, and I wonder if that’s why the “kid” aspects of the tour were dropped.

Instead of the experience of a child’s life in the 1840’s, we heard repeatedly about the violence and mistreatment of Irish immigrants, their grisly deaths working on the canal, and the business practices that kept the former two topics going for the duration of the canal’s construction. I wouldn’t say it was inappropriate for younger children, but it wasn’t what I had expected from the advertised experience.

My husband and I were engaged with the history being shared, but nothing about children was mentioned. That being said, our guide was wonderful. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and entertaining.

I would recommend the tour to other adults or families with teens interested in history. But, I would probably tell parents to skip the experience with their younger kiddos. We left feeling like the tour was a bust for our child, but not a total waste for Mom & Dad’s...

This was an interesting day trip. The host of our trip was a wealth of historical information; he was so interesting to listen to that I missed much of the scenery. The mule handler was also friendly and fun to chat with.

Our "check in" process was rough! The emails and texts said to arrive early to use restrooms and purchase and snacks for the ride. When we arrived we discovered an area at the back of the Visitor Center with seating, a slide show and a counter. This looked like the "check in" area, so we waited there for someone to arrive and check us in. We did go to the front of the Visitor Center to purchase snacks; the staff seemed confused by this, did offer to sell us two bags of chips. We specifically told the staff we were there for the ride; they offered no info re: check in. Finally with 10 minutes to boarding time we were concerned no one had shown up in the area we were waiting, so decided to walk outside to see the boat. It was then we discovered the boat is NOT outside the Visitor Center....it is across the canal and down a walking path. We hustled down to that area...nearly missed our ride! Seems you are to check in at the restaurant and then DRIVE to the boat area. When walking back after our ride we met others on the path....hustling to the next ride. They had the same experience we did. Signage would help, as would better trained personnel at the...

What a waste of money. The captain showed up 20 minutes with no apologies. They said they were working with a skeleton crew. The boat was stuck for 15 minutes. I understand the water was low but nobody told us what was going on. Even the mule starting leaving, which was funny. Then we did see the captain which he looked like he just woke up with sunglasses on with no sun what so ever. He explained we needed to go to the top deck, all on one side. That worked (still no apologies) so we were on our way. The story telling started but up top 1 speaker didnt work. The others couldn't understand that well, they did try turning it up, worked kinda. I could only hear the story is when she was standing nearby but still was hard to hear with drunk people being stupid which wasnt the crews fault but still not enjoyable. The last 2 stories were read out of a book she tried her best. Paying 15 dollars to be on the water for 30 minutes is a little expensive, especially when it was supposed to be an hour. I saw the great reviews guess tonight was an off night for them just disappointing. I think when we were exiting we should have been thanked also. Seemed very unorganized. They should have offered refunds....