Odyssey Cruises — Attraction in Tarpon Springs

Absolute delight of a cruise!! We went on a whim while visiting Tarpon Springs and boy am I glad we did! Great Captain— Sam and hilarious and informative “naturalist”/first mate/bartender, Chuck. Boy he can pour a mean rum runner! Get your drink tickets ahead of time and save a bit. They set the mood from the start— playing the Titanic theme song on embarkation; we were laughing so hard!! Their whole playlist was fun and had half the boat dancing by the time we got back, about 2 hours later. Went out to a little island for shelling and then caught a gorgeous sunset. On our way back in we saw dolphins AND had the most gorgeous view of a giant blood moon rising (sorry, that part probably can’t be repeated). But my absolute favorite part was leaving behind three people on the island when they weren’t back on board in time for us to catch the sunset from the water. So word to the wise, when they say be back on board and we’re leaving at an exact time, have your butt back on board by that time! So rude to be straggling when an entire boat full of people have paid for a sunset cruise and have to wait on you. (Don’t worry, we came back and picked up their salty asses right after the sun set— they were probably too busy pouting to even enjoy the dolphins on the way home, lol). Anyway, this lil cruise was an absolute GREAT way to start off our Florida vacation. Thank you so...

Had a wonderful 2 hour excursion out of Tarpon Springs on a large pontoon boat that holds about 40 people. On board staff included a driver and a naturalist/tour guide. We went out the Anclote River and beached on the south tip of Anclote Island, where we had 30 minutes to get our feet wet, enjoy the view, search for shells and let my 4 year old grandson burn some energy. As we got back on the boat we had an opportunity to ask questions about the things we had found or saw. Our very knowledgeable guide was able to ID the various types of shells, answer questions about the area and surrounding islands etc. Someone had brought up something ball-shaped that reminded me of a Christmas ornament. She identified it as the egg casing for a certain type of shell, showed where there were shells still developing in some of the units, gave everyone a chance to see it, and as previously stated, explained that anything found alive on the island (except tourists) had to stay there. She asked if there were any 'birders' on board and displayed some of her extensive knowledge in that field. Although we did did not see any dolphins this trip it was still worthwhile. Tip: When you pick up your tickets you can pre-buy ice cold bottles of water for $1/bottle which you can have them get out of the cooler at any point during the trip. On board they sell...

Overall, I and my friends, really did enjoy this trip. I say that upfront because we do have some criticisms as well. First - DO go with this company! They were fun and friendly and gave nice service. Capt. Rick was lots of fun and very informative (when we could hear). I would go again. Second - don't pay for any alcoholic drinks, as they taste , really, like nothing but very sweet punch. We bought our 1/2 price drink tickets before boarding, which is good. If we had paid $7 per drink for what we got, well... let's move on. Third - it was pretty apparent no one was looking for dolphins. And that's ok. These things can't be guaranteed, but honestly, if the crew was looking, it wasn't apparent. And none of us on the boat COULD look because they had an ABSOLUTE RULE OF NOT STANDING UP OR MOVING on the boat. WAY too restrictive for 2 hours, not to mention, not fun, and probably why I wish we'd been given a lot more time on the island. Fourth - you guys need to either add 2 speakers facing the back of the boat, or place the 2 you have sorta "back there" further back to the VERY BACK. We couldn't hear a thing. Well, ok, we heard some, but honestly, less than 1/2 of what was said. See - it sounds horrible - but somehow the trip WAS fun and we would go again. It just could have been SO...