Key West Shipwreck Museum

Absolutely worth a tour. Gives great history of Key West. They have some great artifacts to look at and a tower to climb with a great view. We did not watch any of the movies but other reviews say they were informative also. You can save a bit if you bundle a few diffent tours.

Purchased this as an excursion during our trip to Key West. The place is in a nice central spot and perfect for ending a day exploring and biding time for the Mallory Square celebration. The price was worth it. The guys in character were fun and personable. A lot of history in an entertaining way. We enjoyed the story and lore of the early days of Key West and can well imagine the riches. Thanks for a great excursion!

This place rocks! If you are into history, role players, treasure, salvage, antiques, or just general Key West history, then this is the place for you!
Located next to the aquarium and around the corner from all the trolley and train tours, the shipwreck museum is an ideal location for making a day of your time on the island. The role players — who are playing Key West-​based salvagers from the 1850’s — do an excellent job telling the story and keeping all entertained. I especially enjoyed seeing all the salvaged artifacts and treasure. I also highly recommend going into the lookout tower to get a great view of the island.
The tour takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours — depending on how much you want to read and explore. A must visit in Key West!

The only redeeming part of this tour was the view at the top.
We bought our tickets late in the afternoon. We had to wait outside in the sweltering heat. No one else showed up, so they could have just gotten the show started.
Finally, the tour started (in the heat). Our first guide must have been affected by the heat as he kept forgetting his lines and stumbling over his lines.
Next, we went inside and had another tour guide. He had a couple of good facts, then we were on our own. There really is not much here. Just some random artifacts here and there. They have some videos playing.
The AC is not that great either! It was warm in there. They needed to crank it up a bit!
Once we went upstairs, we went ahead and climbed the tower. Stunning views from there and a nice breeze. That’s why this is a 2 star rating vs 1 star.
It is a tourist trap and a decent way to spend 15 minutes if you don’t have anything else to do. I feel like we were swindled into coming here.
I wouldn’t recommend it.

Cute fun tourist trap. I would consider renting it «Key West Shipwreck Salvage Museum», since the name is slightly misleading.

It was interesting to learn that during the mid 1800’s that the Key West economy thrived on salvaging items from the ships that wrecked off the various reefs. About a ship a week wrecked on the reefs near Key West. The guided tour was fun but a bit overpriced. I would go to the Mel Fisher Key West museum instead.

This is a true Key West gem. If you’re at all interested in the fascinating history of Key West, this museum is a must see. You’ll learn about the rich history of the «Wreckers» and discover a wealth of information (and artifacts) left over from one of the most interesting times in U. S history. The actors at the museum also make the tour extra special — not only is it fun to have a tour that’s guided by one of the «original» profiters from the Wreckers, but the actors actually know a ton of great facts and are happy to answer any questions along the way. Also, the view from the top of the museum is incredible.

Are the good reviews for real? If the tickets cost half what they do then we might give it 3 – 4 stars, but for the price it was a huge disappointment. The guide was fine, but her presentation might have been 10 minutes and then we were on our own. There are some interesting exhibits and good history there, but we walked out feeling as if we’d just been lured onto the reef ourselves.

At $ 13, this place is far overpriced. The short presentation by the reenactors was excellent, but at only 15 minutes, it really was not worth it. And, the exhibits are small, but interesting, and can be seen in 5 minutes tops. the walk to the top of the tower is worth doing. however, unless you are bored stiff with nothing else to do, pass on this.

Very nice museum and a lot of amazing artifacts and treasures to go along with it. Plenty of surprises and the staff give some history lessons and shows about every 20 minutes (Top of the hour, :20 and :40 past the hour). Good part is that you get to go up to the very top of a 65 foot tower and see spectacular views of the town and island of Key West.

It ain’t Disney but it’s pretty darn good. Try to go when there are no cruise ships in port and enjoy the museum on your own terms. It’s more than stuffy old displays so be prepared for surprises. I probably should just leave it at that.

Very good and the drama to go along with it was great! The top of the tower was wonderful as well

Great museum with 65 foot tower. Good history about pirates and good acting too. You just need to take your time looking at the things. Service is great. The museum has a great theater. The 65 foot tower has the best view of Key West there is. There are 2 bells on the tower that you can ring. They say if you are lucky, you may be able to see a ship wreck! It was very fun!

Also wenn man nach Key West kommt, sollte man dieses Museum nicht verpassen. Die Darstellung des Asa Tift, der einen durch die Räume begleitet, ist einfach mal etwas anderes als Museumsführung. Und auch finde ich es interessant, was und wie die Leute damals etwa Klaviere aus den Wracks geholt haben.
Das Museum behandelt eine wichtige Periode in der Geschichte der Florida Keys. Ich bin gerne dort hingegangen, war gerne dort und immer interessiert. Und alleine die Aussicht vom Turm ist die 12 Dollar wert.

This was fun. A nice way to get out of the heat and the cutest older man gave us our history lesson. Went up to the top for the view and saw some neat things, including a 60-​something lb piece of silver. The basement smelled kind of gross but overall a fun tour.

This was an awesome, educational experience for the whole family. The guides were dressed in period clothing, had a wealth of knowledge and even did great accents. The trip to the tower was fantastic and provided great views of Key West. So worth the money and time to come here.

Great museum with an amazing view from the tower. I highly recommend going to where you would buy tickets for Conch Tour Train and purchase the Mallory Square package. It includes tickets to the Shipwreck Museum, the Aquarium, and the Conch Tour Train.

The museum was a nice way to spend an hour or so. There wasn’t a ton to see, but what they had was well done and the live actors were quite entertaining. The highlight was the tower. It gave you a nice 360 degree view of key west with plenty of opportunity for pictures.

If you’re in Key West, this is a nice place to check out. A lot of really neat history and artifacts. I will say, it is a little spendy for the size of the museum (only took us about 15 – 20 minutes to see everything there). But it is put together nicely, the staff/​actors are informative, and they are friendly too. Check it out if you have some time to kill!

It came down to going here or the other Shipwreck Museum — definitely glad we chose this one! You start out getting an intro/​overview from «Mr Asa» himself of his life, his house (the museum), and the history of wrecking in the Keys. Try picking up the silver (use your knees) and get a feel for the weight of $ 32,000. The videos and archived pieces mix well together. The real smell of sea water adds to the experience as well.
I’d suggest getting a combo pass with another attraction like the Little White House or one of the Trolley Trains.

Shipwreck!
There is a lot of history to learn and enjoy at this cool museum. We got discount tickets through the internet and we were able to get the insight from Colonel Sanders from the 18^th century. There’s a tower that everyone must climb to the top. The award? A breathtaking view of the gulf coast. Make sure you ring the bells along the way though. It’ll make people wonder what you are up to.
Arrrrrrrr!