Fort Sumter Tours & Boat Cruises — Local services in Charleston

My partner and I are on vacation, big into getting National Park stamps, and learning about history. This brings us to THE ONLY boat service that charters the public out to Fort Sumter. Considering there are zero other options for this service, we booked our trip with Spirit Line Cruises Fort Sumter Tours ($74.20).

We arrived early as directed, our departure location was from Patriot's Point, paid a total of $17.50 to park in their private lot because we were unaware that we could park at the ball fields and walk over for free. We had a total of only 48 passengers on board (figure a minimum $1728 at the cheapest rate for 48 adult passengers just for that trip).

The seating on the main deck was your general plastic lawn chairs. Venturing into the lower levels, you will find peeling wallpaper, dirty jumbled ceiling tiles, more plastic seating, and tables that are extremely damaged (to put it nicely). The fact that I scrolled through the current posted photos and did not see any other pictures posted regarding such a state of "working order" was a bit beyond me. I have attached such pictures. I also got stuck for a slight moment between levels due to a door knob being extremely loose and not functioning properly until I jiggled it around and maneuvered in such a way for the mechanism to appropriately release.

The boat narrator gave their usual tour info, which was fine. The ride was smooth and timely as planned. Docking of the boat seemed to be a true display of a lack of basic seamanship to put it lightly. Allowing passengers to gather near the gangway while mooring lines are under strain during the docking process is a clear safety hazard and unacceptable. The crew appeared to be early adult aged, with a couple older generational aged males. The 10 minute ranger talk upon arrival was also as expected. Then you are not left with much more time to peruse the grounds, view the museum, and visit the shop to be back on the boat in exactly one hour of disembarking. For us specifically, we went to the shop for our stamps immediately after the ranger talk, then went to museum for a quick breeze by of the items on the walls as there was nowhere near enough time to actually read everything or take it all in. We then made a quick round of the grounds in order to be back on the boat with 5 minutes to spare.

Upon our arrival back to Patriot's Point, there was another large private group waiting to board the boat for a Harbor Cruise. This group was much larger than our total 48, so you could easily double at minimum the previous dollar amount received by the tour agency.

This brings me to our overall questioning of where does the money go? If funding is clearly not being used on maintenance, upkeep, and crew training, where does the money go? It's extremely disappointing that the National Park Service does not provide oversight and continues to allow this company to operate in this manner. The overall conditions are unacceptable considering tax payer money goes into paying for such a contract. The tour company, alone, should be ashamed of the product they are offering so many tourists.

FOLLOW-UP

The next day, we received a call from the GM, Mr. Harris, who advised us that the boat that was used for our tour was not one for typical tour service but was being used due to their Spirit of Low Country hybrid electric boat being out for service repairs. He agreed with us that the boat for our tour needed maintenance and upkeep to be done and was not in a typical condition for tours and acknowledged they missed the mark and our particular boat was already scheduled for maintenance availability in January at a nearby shipyard. Furthermore, he explained all personnel are certified by the Coast Guard. He mentioned Palmetto Parking was contracted through the state and was not under their control. He was very understanding of our concerns and was professional in...

Fort Sumter is a cool location and probably worth your time seeing if you’re visiting Charleston. That said, it is your typical, government-run national park.

Let’s start with the tickets. In order to even get to the fort, you need to take a ferry out to the island. This is actually a pretty cool part of the experience because it allows you to travel around the aircraft carrier and through the bay surrounding Charleston. You get a great view of the city and get to spend a pretty good amount of time out on the water. What’s not as cool is the price of about $30 a person. I’m not sure what water taxis cost, but I’m fairly certain that what the park service is charging to get to Fort Sumter is quickly approaching highway robbery.

On the way to the island the National Park Service does you the pleasure of providing you with a guided tour of the harbor. There were some interesting facts provided, but these were sort of lost in between the jokes and attempts to be quippy and funny. Nevertheless, my wife and I enjoyed being threatened with federal prison if we dared step out of line while touring the fort while being kindly reassured that the staff on the boat “worked for the government” and were “here to help us.” A nice, personal touch.

Unfortunately, this didn’t prove too true once we actually made it to Fort Sumter. The fort is cool, the history behind it is fascinating and there are a few interesting things to see. However, the Park Service (which, if you recall was here to help us) neglected to share that the museum on the island was closed. We were only allowed to walk around the fort a little bit (which, even if you read all the placks, only gives you about an hour’s worth of things to do. At which point, you’re stranded on the island like Robinson Crusoe.

The gift shop was open for business though, both at the beginning of the tour and on the island itself.

The National Park staff who said that they were here to help us and also said that they would be wondering around the island to help answer questions and share more history were, surprisingly nowhere to be found once we stepped foot in the fort. I genuinely didn’t know where they went until they would pop out of the dark crevices and shout at kids to stop playing on the cannons. I hardly blame the youngsters…there wasn’t much for them to do once they completed the 10 minute walk around.

I’ll also just briefly mention that I really enjoyed the gift shop. I think that it very likely rivaled the size of the actual island and the Park Service very thoughtfully ensured that you had to walk through it in order to exit.

Let me repeat, Fort Sumter is a cool place. It would have been even cooler if the National Park Service hadn’t, once again, turned an exciting place into a...

My parents came down for the weekend and I booked this cruise not knowing what to expect with the mixed reviews. I have lived here for 3 years and been to Fort Sumter several times so I've been on many similar cruises.

First of all it seemed there was an odd definition of what to wear. I read nice casual as atleast khakis and a button up shirt. Obviously everyone else didn't get this message as there were plenty of tshirts and pants. There were also those wearing some very revealing dinner attired so be aware of that. We were wearing a sort of business casual and that seemed to be the most common. There are two different types of seats, the private for 2 and a table for four. Since there were 4 in our party I didn't pay extra for the seats and I'm glad I didn't. From some of the other reviews I thought there might be a table of 16 or something. I didn't see any tables larger than 4 unless there was a party and they were all together. All of those that booked to "for two" option paid $25 extra and got to sit next to the window. It was nice but I dont think it would have been worth the extra dollars.

The table was nicely set and we were seated and our waiter introduced himself and took our drink orders. Water and tea were included but any other drinks are extra so keep that in mind. By the time we departed we had some bread to start with and our orders had been taken. Starting off during the day you get some very nice scenery on your way out to Sumter, but it gets dark quickly. It was a nice time for conversation. The soup came next and while it was ok, I felt it was a little bit spicy for my taste. The salad was ok but maybe a little light on sauce but it was good. For our entree I ordered shrimp and grits, my wife ordered the chicken, my mother the tenderloin and my dad the chicken. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I felt it was presented well and tasted very nice. While you may find better meals on the shore, you certainly would have to get a good one as it was very good.

We all rated our meals around 3.5 stars out of 5. Not the absoulte best but very good. After dinner we went out on the deck and enjoyed the sites. While watching some of the barges be loaded may not be beautiful, its certainly fascinating and part of Charleston and we enjoyed it.

All in all for $50 it was an absoultely wonderful 3 hour trip. Good food, company, and service. It was relaxing with the band playing and watching the views. My complaints might have been focused more so on some of the other guests rather than anything the crew did or did not do. I was please and everyone else was in my party. I would recommend this to my friends, and I'd be willing to go again just...