Pirate Adventures of Cortez — Local services in South Bradenton

Bought my tickets weeks ago. Took the day off from work. Booked a hotel and drive up the night before from Naples (a 2 hour drive) all to go on this Pirate Adventure with my kids. Got my kids pirate themed books and movies to get them excited.

The night before, while in the hotel with my kids, I received a voice mail saying the boat ride was cancelled. I was up set, but told myself that this is probably a small company and something might have happened unexpected, and being a small company they had no back up plan.

But, then I called them back. I got their voice mail, which talked about how they are having their grand opening and won't be taking any reservations , if I heard right, until January 2019. It's currently the end of May 2019. They I got a "This mail box is full" message.

First off, it's 2019, who still uses a mailbox service that can get full? They obviously don't check or update there phone calls. It seems that this business don't mean much to them and people's plans aren't important to them.

Their cancellation policy states "If you cancel within 24 hours of your sailing time or do not show up, you will be charged the full ticket price". They cancelled on me about 18 hours before our sailing time.

My kids cried, but only for about 5 minutes, then I found some other things to do and told them the new plans and they got over it.

Also, I bought the ticket through Groupon, and it took me almost 40 minutes of chatting with Groupon to get me a refund. This part isn't the Pirate Adventures people fault, but it did add to the headache. They should have been the ones contacting Groupon and telling them to...

I think the best way to review the Pirate Adventures of Cortez is to compare it to Captain Memo’s pirate cruise in Clearwater Beach.

Captain Memo’s is on a much bigger ship, and though my kids had fun on it, I would call it “manic fun”. There were an insane amount of people on board and all the kids were running and screaming everywhere (my daughter ended up getting elbowed in the eye😒), and we felt like we were dying of heat stroke because the ship has very poor ventilation and not enough shady seats.

For the Pirate Cruise of Cortez, we absolutely LOVED it!! It was 1000% worth the hour drive from Clearwater. It’s a decent sized boat with just the right number of people on board and shady seats with great breezes to keep us cool. It was extremely engaging and they had a very fun itinerary. My kids were wildly entertained and they did a great job keeping the kids’ attention and keeping things under control. The staff put on an awesome show full of magic and wonder and did a fantastic job engaging with the kids. I could’ve sat back and watched the whole time from a comfortable and breezy bench in the shade, but it was so much fun that I found myself getting involved and having a great time. We went first thing in the morning and the weather was perfect. I can’t recommend this place...

I can’t say enough about our pirate adventure!!! The crew was great with the kids to say the least. They kept the kids engaged the whole time and not one minute did I see any of the children look bored or disinterested, both the crew and the children were into it! I have to say even us parents were enjoying the boat ride and the sound effects they were perfect! It was a blast and I would definitely recommend this adventure to family and friends with little ones . Being a mother of three boys it is challenging to find activities to do as a family and we hit the jack pot on this one, even my 1 1/2 year old enjoyed himself watching the children/little pirates run around on the deck . Also customer service was amazing and when I had a few questions about bringing my toddler they were quick to respond and reassure me of my worries about bringing a baby, which in the end they were absolutely right. Thank you pirates you guys were awesome and thank you for the fun experience it’s been two weeks and my boys are still talking about it , they even want to be pirates for Halloween ! Thanks again , Your fans...