Affiliate disclosure
The short version: some links on this site earn us a commission, you pay the same either way, and no operator can pay to appear or to rank higher.
Where our links point and what they earn
Each availability button and each in-text link to a boat, from the Sebago open-bar sail to the Appledore tall ship, opens a listing on GetYourGuide or Viator with our partner code attached. Book through one of those links and the platform shares part of its own commission with us. You pay exactly what you would pay by finding the listing yourself, since our share comes out of the platform's side of the transaction.
One further relationship exists alongside the two booking platforms: the "Check rates" buttons beside the hotels named on the homepage are affiliate links to Expedia, routed through the Travelpayouts network. The same principles apply: your room price is unchanged, the hotels named are simply properties near the Historic Seaport and Key West Bight departure docks, and no hotel paid to appear. Beyond these, there is no display advertising, no sponsored posting and no paid reviewing anywhere on the site, and the videos embedded on the homepage earn us nothing at all. If another network is ever added, this page and the footer disclosure will name it before the first link goes live, not after.
What it does not change
- Inclusion. Every sunset cruise we could verify, a real evening departure from Key West Bight or the Historic Seaport, bookable right now by an individual, with a rating and review count that survive two independent checks, is here. Eleven cruises made it across four categories: four catamaran sails, three schooner and tall ship cruises, two dinner cruises and two tiki party boats. Duplicate listings of the same vessel sold twice would pad the lineup and split reviews across two cards, so they were dropped.
- Ranking. Positions follow the review data, not payout rates. The two platforms pay different commissions, and nothing on this site is sequenced around that gap. A hub that opens with the Schooner America 2.0 does so because its 893 reviews (checked September 2026) top the tall-ship group, a claim you can test against the counts printed on every card. No operator can purchase a spot.
- What we say about them. The Schooner America 2.0 carries a 5 across 893 reviews, the largest sample on the site, so it is presented as the standout tall ship sail. The Tipsy Tiki cruise also shows a 5, but on only 6 reviews (checked September 2026), so its card says so plainly rather than letting the number carry weight it has not earned. The booze cruise sits at 4 across 16 reviews, and we report that as it stands.
- What we leave out. Daytime snorkel trips with a sunset bolted on, and a reseller's duplicate of a cruise already listed, were read and then dropped. They would pay the same commission as the boats we kept. Being bookable is not enough on its own.
- Things we earn nothing from. Watching the sun go down free from Mallory Square, a drink on dry land at a Duval Street bar, and the advice to skip the water entirely on a windy evening when the boats rock hard. None of those pay us a cent, and they still get their say wherever they beat a paid ticket.
Scores, review totals and fares
Every score and review count printed here comes straight off the live listing, then read a second time before publication. Nothing gets pooled across platforms, rounded upward, or estimated. Where the two readings disagreed, the figure was left off the page rather than reconciled. So the 4.5 beside the Sebago open-bar sail reflects 3,831 traveller reviews, the 5 beside the When And If reflects 135, and each number is that listing's own published count.
Fares follow the same discipline, with one extra warning. Where a from-price appears on this site, it is a dated snapshot pulled from the live listing, never a quote, because prices shift with the date you sail, the option you choose and the market you book from. The live booking page is the only real authority on what your card will be charged. When a fare looks different in two places, the usual cause is currency localisation rather than an actual change.
Prefer to book without our links?
Search the operator's name on the platform directly, or go to the operator's own website and book there. Sebago Watersports, Snuba of Key West, Fury Water Adventures, Classic Harbor Line, Sunset Sail Key West, Key West Schooners, Barefoot Billy's, Sunset Watersports Key West and Hula Hank's all sell these evenings themselves. We would genuinely rather you got out on the water. The hub pages, the FAQ and the guides work exactly as well as research whether or not you ever click a booking link.
Anything unclear: send us a note. How the listings get checked in the first place is explained on the about page.