If you’re looking for a unique activity in Key West, consider booking a floating tiki cruise. It’s about as awesomely ridiculous (or ridiculously awesome?) as it sounds—you’ll cruise around the town’s waters on a boat retrofitted to look like, well, a tiki bar! If you want to try this wacky experience for yourself, here’s everything you need to know about cruising on the Key West tiki boats.
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What are tiki boats?
A floating tiki boat is typically a wooden platform, on top of a motorized pontoon boat, with a full tiki bar set-up, including a bar, stools, and thatched roof.
A U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain stands in the middle of the bar area (where the helm is) to navigate the boat around Key West’s waters. Each of the boats usually holds six people (meaning, if you’re in a big group, you may need to get more than one boat!).
Because of the boat’s goofy shape, they definitely don’t go fast, generally around 4 to 6 miles per hour. Instead, you’ll slowly cruise along the shoreline and into the harbor, all while enjoying spectacular views of the surrounding islands and the stunning turquoise blue water—it’s seriously one of the best things to do in Key West!
What’s included in Key West tiki boat cruises?
Believe it or not, there are actually a few different tiki boat cruise providers in Key West these days—Cruisin’ Tiki, Tiki Boat Adventures, and Key West Tiki Boat, to name a few.
Generally, regardless of which operator you book with, they all include basically the same things:
- A USCG-licensed captain to steer the boat around
- Bluetooth speakers that you can play music on
- Cooler and ice
- Bottled water
In addition to bottled water, some of the operators are supposed to provide soda as well, but I honestly wouldn’t count on it. My husband, Justin, and I took a cruise with Cruisin’ Tiki and, although soda was supposed to be provided, there was maybe a can or two of Coca-Cola in the cooler—and I’ve read similar reports of other cruises having limited soda options as well.
Notably, these cruises do not include any kind of alcoholic beverages or snacks. So make sure to pack along any snacks and drinks (alcoholic or otherwise!) you want to enjoy along your cruise!
What kind of tiki boat cruises are there?
There’s generally two types of tiki boat cruises you can choose from in Key West, either:
- A cruise during the day to a small sandbar, where you can get into and enjoy the crystal clear, turquoise water, like this four hour private option or this two hour private option, or
- A cruise around Key West’s shoreline to Sunset Key and Mallory Square to watch the city’s iconic sunsets, like this private option or this option that you can purchase by the seat.
As you may have noticed, you can also book cruises either by the seat, meaning you’ll likely be sharing the boat with others, or a private boat, with all six seats reserved for your group alone.
Both can have their advantages—if you’re on a shared boat, you get to make new friends and generally will pay less than what a private boat would cost. On the downside, you’ll need to share the speakers with others and may have to compromise, based on whoever the other guests might be, which can range from rowdy bachelorette parties to families traveling with little kids.
On the other hand, a private boat is generally a more expensive experience (unless you are splitting the cost with five other people), but you’ll have total freedom to dictate the music and vibe of the cruise.
If you’re simply looking to relax and enjoy some time on the water, going on a shared boat is totally fine—this is what we did and had a GREAT time! However, if you’re kind of particular about what kind of experience you’re looking for—whether you want to BLAST explicit rap music and get totally wild or, alternatively, have a calm day out on the water with your kiddos—I’d strongly recommend booking a private tour.
Tips for cruising on Key West tiki boats
Many of the boats don’t have bathrooms
Given their design, some of the tour operators (I’m looking at you, Cruisin’ Tiki!) do not have any kind of bathroom onboard. Accordingly, make sure you go ahead of time and don’t go overboard (pun obviously intended!) with your liquid consumption before and during your trip.
If you’re worried about this, I’d suggest booking with Tiki Boat Adventures, which, as far as I can tell, is the only Key West tiki boat company that offers bathrooms aboard most of their ships (be sure to double check when you book!).
For what it’s worth, I did ask our captain on Cruisin’ Tiki if anyone’s ever had an emergency onboard and he indicated that, in dire situations, he has let people go into the water to do their business. That being said, depending on the temperature when you visit, this may not be a super comfortable solution (like when we visited in December!).
Look out for wildlife
One of the coolest things about cruising on the tiki boats is that you have a decent chance of spotting some marine life in Key West’s beautiful turquoise water, especially when you go in summer.
Other than lots of birds, we didn’t see any wildlife during our cruise in December, but we were told that, in the warmer months, it’s not unusual to see rays, manatees, and even dolphins!
Wear shoes and pants you don’t mind getting wet
Unlike any other boat I’ve been on, the tiki boats don’t really have any sides, so it’s not unusual for water to splash up on deck and onto the passengers.
We visited on a cooler day, so I had worn jeans—and by the time we got off the boat, the bottom half of my pants were absolutely SOAKED. So maybe be a little smarter than me and wear shorts or something quick-drying—anything but denim!
Don’t get too drunk
While Justin and I enjoy a beer or solid cocktail as much as the next person, we’re not, like, fall-down-drunk kinda partiers.
Our captain noticed this and told us that we weren’t his typical guests—and that it was a fairly regular occurrence that he has to turn the boat around to kick people off the cruise, because they were too drunk to safely be aboard.
Let loose, soak up those island vibes, but just make sure you’re not drunk to the point of ruining it for everyone else!
Bring cash to tip your captain
Provided that your captain does a good job, it’s customary to tip between 15-20% of the cost of your tour.
Our experience with Key West tiki boats
This past December, Justin and I did a road trip through the Florida Keys, ending in Key West on New Years Eve.
We wanted to send off the year with a bang—and what could be a more epic way to enjoy Key West’s iconic sunsets than on a tiki boat? So we booked two seats on a sunset cruise with Cruisin’ Tiki.
We were actually the only people who had booked a sunset cruise that day, so the captain had invited two of his friends to join. His friends were definitely characters and helped the cruise feel a bit more like a party!
We boarded the tiki boat at Mac’s Place and spent the majority of our two-hour cruise puttering our way to the channel between Sunset Key and Mallory Square, which has become THE place to watch the famed sunsets in Key West.
The nightly Sunset Celebration in Mallory Square is one of the most popular things to do in the Florida Keys and, at least from the water, it looked ABSOLUTELY packed to the brim for New Year’s Eve. So it was pretty darn cool to watch the sunset from the comfort of our little tiki boat, with our own music, drinks, snacks, and plenty of breathing room, with the water gently lapping against the boat’s sides.
Once we watched the spectacular colors of the sunset fade, the captain quickly steered us back to Mac’s Place and we were off on our way to celebrate the rest of New Years.
I hope you enjoy cruising around on a Key West tiki boat as much as we did! Do you have any questions about this quirky experience? Let us know in the comments below!
