Amazing Grace Harbor Tours — Local services in Newport

Sorry for the long post. After reviewing various boat excursions, my husband and I thought the Amazing Grace would be great way to spend the day with our children and it seemed as if they would be welcoming to have children aboard given the price point of $0 for a certain age. Unfortunately that was not the case with some of their staff. We arrived on time, found a great parking space, the lady at the ticket booth was great and friendly and and were able to sit on the upper deck and then the narrator introduced himself. He starts talking and my oldest who is 5 wants to let him know that he has been to Newport. He was quickly scolded by a lady sitting not even 5 feet from the narrator that she couldn’t hear and that basically he needed to be quiet. The narrator is in agreement and continues. From that point on our trip is ruined. Every movement my boys make I feel like I’m on needles since I fear this woman is going to lash out again which just as I suspect happens when we are almost done with the boat ride. My youngest who is almost 2 was trying to get the attention of a fellow passenger who was gracious enough to abide and was talking with him much to his enjoyment and no they were not being loud at all. But apparently the narrator and lady thought again that we needed to be quiet and that people could not hear his narration of Newport and again another scolding (which BTW highlighted the various expensive yachts that we saw. Yeah I’m good I could careless that so and so got a got gazillion dollar boat while the rest of us are trying to make the best of a pandemic). We couldn’t get to shore fast enough. I graciously thanked the fellow passenger who helped keep my 2 year old engaged and apologized for getting her in trouble. We waited for everyone to get off, since you know we got 2 kids and a diaper bag. Well our disappointment continues as we leave - the narrator takes it upon himself to apologize for our children to the lady who was complaining about them. Seriously! My husband questions him to which the narrator basically brushes it off and does not acknowledge how discourteous he has been. My husband has tried...

Overall a great experience. The guide was knowledgeable and very informative about what you were seeing. We had great weather and a smooth ride - I give only 4 stars because in the confirmation email you get after booking online tickets it gives you a suggested parking lot stating that the lot switches to a flat rate after 3pm so we parked there. However the lot does not change to a flat rate. We could have found less expensive parking elsewhere. Also, the website states that they show you the Newport Mansions on this tour. They do not. You can certainly see large houses on the western side of the island, but they do not go around to the eastern shore where the breakers, rosecliff and marble house are all located. Other than those two misleading bits, we had a...

Amazingly disappointing because we were the last to board the boat and found out as we departed that there was no room on top so we had to sit downstairs and missed 90% of the narrated tour because it was geared for those up top who could see what the announcer was describing and pointing out. The crew member downstairs who might have assisted those of us downstairs sat there looking at his phone. We paid full ticket prices ($80) and missed most of the points of interest. Tip: if you can't sit upstairs don't...