Ottawa Boat Cruise : Ekeau Canal Cruise Departure

I took the Ottawa boat tour.Overall, this was an enjoyable experience. There are a lot of wonderful and educational landmarks along the Ottawa and Gatineau rivers. Gliding août the Ottawa river was relaxing. It could have been an hour longer and I would have enjoyed it just the same.I appreciated the information shared by our wonderful tour guide, Andi. She was engaging and kind, and truly seemed to enjoy her job and sharing Ottawa with her guests.A star has been reduced due to limited seating available. It is not the number of seats, but rather the type. I feel as though the seating could use an upgrade.

Our family recently moved to Ottawa and this was the perfect introduction. Wonderful staff and such a smooth great ride along the canal on this electric boat. The staff were welcoming and our tour guide Madison was phenomenal. I highly recommend!

I must admit we were underwhelmed with our Ekeau tour. While being a great concept (emissions free tourism!), the canal cruise itself felt really impersonal.The seating was cafe style chairs placed around the boat. We had a stack of chairs right in front of us which impeded our view. One of the crew could see us struggling to gain visibility and made no effort to help or move the chairs. We eventually moved.The most jarring part of the experience was that some guests were discourteous (talking loudly, rushing to get on and off the boat, walking around with shoes off). There was little effort from the team to guide guests through house rules to make it a more pleasant experience for all on board.The tour guide did a great job and shared lots of fun canal facts. There was also a small bar on board which could be used throughout the journey.In hindsight, I would have much preferred to ride a bike along the canal instead. It’s a flat, dedicated bike path. It’s still emissions free, you can hire it from the same spot as the cruise, and you can do it at your own pace.

We took the 5.30 PM Canal cruise on July 1. The part leading up to the cruise was completely chaotic. The instructions for boarding were pretty unclear and people ended up facing in two different directions for the same queue. When we tried talking to the others, it only added to the confusion. The ticket agent waited till we asked explicitly to clarify the situation and even then wasn’t too helpful.The actual cruise was fun however- we went past many picturesque landscapes and historic sites. The guide was quite engaging and enthusiastic and shared many anecdotes. There was well-versed multi-language guidance. Not worth paying the additional fee for priority boarding though.

We totally enjoyed the cruise. Brennan is an amazing Guide and made the entire trip an awesome experience. He is funny and entertaining. This is not a historical cruise it is simply entertaining and fun. There is a washroom aboard but bring water/snacks as they are costly on-board. It is worth the price.

It was good. We did it on our 10th day of travel, so of course it was nice to sit down and enjoy some things we didn't have time for, in a more peaceful way. Nice that they are licensed with some snacks and a sizeable washroom, I always look for that on a boat. Guide was good, but I think he could work on adding a few more jokes - everyone wants to laugh on things like this. Speaker volume could have been turned up a notch. Also didn't notice a tip box, that should be made available or a bit more obvious. I'd recommend, but it's not awesome.

Thanks to Ana for the amazing tour! She’s a great guide - friendly, knowledgeable and very entertaining. We enjoyed the cruise, views, and learning about history. Trip is around 1.5 hours. You can purchase drinks and snacks at the boat and there’s a very clean washroom inside. We had a great time!

My main gripe is the wheelchair accessibility, the rest of the experience was okay. A bit expensive for the kind of tour and for how long.Their website says this is wheelchair accessible, it is NOT. There is wheelchair accessibility to & around the marina, but getting onto the boat requires access by stairs. Luckily I was able to help my girlfriend get aboard with her broken leg. I called ahead and asked if it was wheelchair accessible, they told me only at the Hull marina would it be wheelchair accessible. I asked the representative on the phone before booking if it was wheelchair accessible, she said it was, I checked on their website if it was wheelchair accessible, it said it was.The photo displayed is the main entry to the boat.The moment you require access by stairs ANYWHERE. It is no longer wheelchair accessible. This can easily be resolved by installation of a wooden ramp with grip tapes.Fix this issue please.

We had a great experience. This was our second time on the tour and we still had a great time! Mélodie was a lovely tour guide and made the trip so fun. We were a group of 12 with a wheelchair user and they accommodated us very well. My only negative commentary is that if you do not know how to access the canal via the bike infrastructure from the NAC, you might assume the tour is inaccessible. Better signage for wheel chair users and people who need a ramp would greatly improve this!

Boat ride is good. Slow and steady ride where the guide shows the Parliament, Supreme Court, residences of prominent government people like Ambassadors, Prime Ministers. Boat is good and we went for 7.30 pm ride and the sunset was beautiful. It was a scenic ride.