A Key West tour that we regretted booking

Of our six American Cruise Lines run shore excursions that we signed up for pre-cruise, there are two of them that we regretted booking. One was because of poor planning on our part and the other was due to how the tour was partially poorly run. 

To kick off our first tour experience, here's the welcome committee of Mama Chicken and her little chicken nuggets that greeted us as we stepped off the ship in Key West.

The first one was the HydroThunder Electric Cars in Key West. This 5.5 hour excursion is listed at a low activity level but is really up to you how active you want to make it. You can also set your own times and turn the car back in at any moment before that 5.5 hours is up should you decide you're done with all you wanted to visit. ACL charges $75 per person for this experience and each car can hold four people. You are personally responsible for any parking fees and entrance fees related to any local establishments you choose to visit. This "tour" is basically the equivalent of getting a cooler than normal car to rent for the day and make your own itinerary. The company did provide a color paper map to help you figure out how to get anywhere. The gentleman checking everyone in also kindly helped answer questions highlighting on the map how to get to the specific places anyone mentioned wanting to visit.

The HydroThunder Electric car company comes to the cruise terminal to pick up everyone booked in shuttle vans. Once dropped off at the shop, we each visited the counter inside to sign up, show our driver's license as ID, and get assigned a numbered car. We then headed out with the instructions to walk around our car taking pictures and filming a video of the car while still in its parking spot. This was to ensure that there was proof of how the car looked before leaving the lot. It also gave us the chance to let the employees know of any issues before we left. As it turns out, our front tires needed more air and that was quickly remedied. 

Now being a lot more familiar with getting around town driving a golf cart, this type of vehicle reminded us of home. It is open on the sides so you'll either get a nice breeze if it's sunny and warm or a nice bath if it's raining. Two nicer features that aren't normally on your standard golf cart - this vehicle had proper crossbody seatbelts and windshield wipers. 

A view showing the entire length of the car and the two same sized seats in the back row. ACL's website lists this excursion as not ADA accessible but I think if you had someone in your party who could with assistance using a cane or collapsible walker slide into the passenger seat, then they could be a passenger. Then it would be up to your group whether you visit a place that might not be ADA accessible. 

The front of the car:

The trunk of the car lockable with the same key so you can store jackets, an umbrella, small backpacks, or store purchases as you make all your planned stops.

So why was this an excursion we regretted choosing? Because we had no plan in mind. We had no list of any landmarks or shops or restaurants we wanted to visit. Others on this tour had a great day because they used their car to transport them to places like the Butterfly Conservatory (one of the complimentary excursion options with free admission stickers for all to use) or the Hemingway House. If you have the loyalty status giving you included Premium excursions and picked up these admission stickers to the Butterfly Conservatory, you could enjoy a free and frugal outing. We drove around through busy streets and lots of construction all while having conversations like this:

Me: "Want to go here?" 

Dad: "Not really." 

Me: "Well how about here? 

Dad: "No, not really." 

Yet at the same time encouraging me to "tell him where to go" as he drove along. I may be good at trivia and puzzles but having an answer for giving him directions to no given location was a bit of logic I couldn't quite figure out. After about an hour and seeing lots of the same streets, we returned the car. 

We made the best of the rest of our morning by taking advantage of ACL giving everyone complimentary Old Town Trolley admission stickers. This was also on the list of excursions to sign up for as a complimentary excursion but you didn't have to have signed up pre-cruise in order to use the admission stickers. There was plenty available for the taking at the information table outside the lounge. Around the corner from the HydroThunder Electric shop was one of the Old Town Trolley office locations. We relaxed on a bench outside talking with a kind local gentleman until the next trolley arrived. 

We ended up on a trolley driven by a charismatic funny gentleman named Chris and chose to ride once through the entire loop. A scenic drive turns out so much better when you have someone driving that knows where they are going. The provided stickers were good for use of the trolley both planned days in Key West so I slipped the sticker still attached to the paper in the back of my provided ACL lanyard. That way I could show it as needed but also not have to worry about it still sticking to my next day's shirt.