Cajun Encounters Tour Company

We went on the City Tour. There was a problem with the a/​c on our bus, but it wasn’t until one couple demanded to get off because we were all baking that the driver told us he was taking us to meet a different bus. Knowing that earlier might have saved some frayed emotions.
That hiccup notwithstanding, we had a very positive experience and thought it was well with the money (the bus tour; they also offered a more expensive van tour). It was very informative. Our guide/​driver was Derek who is native to the city. He was great — an excellent mixture of local flavor, history, culture, and humor. The tour includes going into the 9^th Ward, the area of the city most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It was interesting to see the rebuilding that has gone on. I understand some parts haven’t been touched, but the tour (perhaps obviously) didn’t include any of that.
It was also a great way to spend a very hot and very humid afternoon in New Orleans.

We found out about this tour company through the New Orleans visitor center. Its a good company thats been apparently featured in a lot of media outlets.
This company will pick you up (but you have to wait 15 – 30 minutes from the assigned time) and drop you off at your hotel (but you will get back later than the assigned time of return so I don’t recommend making any set plans after the tour)
For the city our we got picked up, then had to get out of the tour bus to consolidate into another tour bus. Our driver was also our tour guide.
For the plantation tour, we got picked up, then others from another bus had to consolidate with us on our tour bus. Our driver was not our tour guide – we had different tour guides for each plantation. FYI-​there was no bathroom on the bus and the drive was an 1hr away (without traffice). This time does not include the 20 – 25 minute wait for the other bus to consolidate with ours. We were supposed to get back by 6pm but didnt get back by 7pm due to traffic.
Overall I found this company very professional and would use them again on another tour.

We had an awesome time and Capt. Greg was so delightfully quippy and knowledgeable! The trip was very reasonable and was an hour and 45 mins long. We saw many gators, wild boars, and birds!

Pictures do it justice! Great family fun and a thrill for anyone in the area, fun local staff and tons of critters! Just remember to bring your bug spray!

While visiting New Orleans, it’s good to get away for part of the day to experience something other than hustle and bustle of the city life. Enter: the swamp tour. While some may balk the idea of venturing into a swamp, it’s actually a great experience that you won’t find in any other place. It’s also surprisingly quite clean as well due to the constant moving waters. If you have time for any tour, the swamp tour is the one to take!
Make sure you set aside about half the day for this particular tour. Pick-​up at your hotel is relatively easy and the driver will spend some time gathering the rest of attendees. Along the way, the bus driver may keep you entertained with stories about the city. It was so interesting to see and learn about the remaining effects of Hurricane Katrina as we left New Orleans. When you get to the swamp site, you’ll check-​in and then wait to be called in groups. Then, you board your designated boat and it’s away you go for about an hour and a half.
The tour itself really gives you an appreciation of the unique landscape the state of Louisiana is situated on. It doesn’t get any closer to nature and the tour guide will take you around the marshland, swamp and even the bayou. Of course, we saw plenty of gators swim up to our boat and we were able to get plenty of cool shots as our tour guide fed them marshmallows and hot dogs from a stick. We also saw turtles, ducks and feral pigs as we ventured deeper into the bayou. The land is truly beautiful and the tour guides work hard to show you a good time.

Cajun Encounters Swamp Boat Tour was absolutely amazing and by far the highlight of our trip! Our tour guide was Jacob who was by far the best tour guide of all the other boats. Jacob provided a great boat ride with plenty of information about the area, history, and homes. When we would come across any of the wildlife Jacob was sure to make sure everyone saw the animal by rotating the boat or luring the animal to the other side. We saw tons of animals with the highlights being the Alligators and wild pigs. This was an amazing tour and I would highly recommend anyone visiting New Orleans book this tour!

We took a city and cemetery tour today. I chose this company because the reviews looked really good. I have to say that we were sorely disappointed. Firstly, our guide seemed to have trouble with her microphone, even though we could hear her just fine. It became quite a nuisance to constantly hear her complain about the microphone. Quite frankly, she made New Orleans seem as exciting as the most boring section of Baltimore! The cemetery stop was just OK but nothing to be excited about. It is St. Louis Cemetery number one that has a great deal of cool history and this was St. Louis Cemetery number three. The city tour covered the French quarter, Treme, the garden District, the ninth Ward to see the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the warehouse district, and a few other areas. The problem was that the tour was continuous driving with no time to take pictures or really take anything in.
It was a big Yawn for me and I do not really feel that I got anything out of it. We are actually going to be taking a private tour of the city tomorrow in order to take time to see areas that we are greatly interested in. The only good part of this tour is to give us a small little taste of what we may want to see more of. This is what this tour is good for. If you are looking to see really cool sites and learn cool information, this tour was not it, unless it was our driver/​guide that was limited. As an example, when we drove here from the airport, we were driven by a private company. The driver at that time decided to take us to the Garden District and show us some cool homes, including the large home where American horror story’s Coven was filmed. The Cajun encounter tour wasn’t even close to being as cool as that. Our guide talked about Hollywood in New Orleans which wasn’t that impressive and talked about the Saints which no one was really into. She did not seem to really get into the cool and interesting facts that we got with our driver yesterday who simply drove us from the airport to our hotel!
Therefore, I do not recommend this tour and was grossly disappointed. Will not be taking any of their other tours as grossly disappointed with this one.
The only good part is that they do come pick you up at your hotel and they do drop you off either at your hotel or in a popular section of the French quarter if you request it.

This tour is a must if you’re vacationing in New Orleans. The actual location of the tour is about an hour out of the French Quarter so you have the option of being picked up from your hotel on a tour bus, which is honestly the most convenient option. From the moment you hop on the whole tour is really organized and groups are separated by wristband colors onto to separate boats. But you’re given ample time before and after the tour to grab some snacks, use the bathroom, or browse the gift shop.
My tour group was with Captain Ian who was really pleasant and knew his stuff. We mainly just saw a range of alligators and few birds but I was more so impressed with the overall scenery and beautiful views of the land. The bayou section is the best part of the tour but unfortunately we weren’t able to see any boars due to a alligator hanging out in the area. But the only true downfall of the tour was things really depend on what side of the boat you’re sitting on. Our captain did his best to make sure both sides got good views of the action but there’s only so much you can do. But like I said, this tour is a must. I’d be really interested in doing their night tour if I ever returned.

I like this tour company. I took the city and cemetery tour and plantation tours. They picked us up at our hotel. The city and cemetery tour was good. Our tour guide Derrick «Ashton Kutcher» was also the driver! He did an awesome job explaining the history and Katrina stories of what happened. I also liked his explanation of the cemetery. He was not cheesy at all very professional and answered people questions best to his knowledge. We had a stop at the cemetery and a stop the city park were you can buy snacks. This tour gave me idea where to go other parts of the NOLA besides FQ.
The next day we had a tour of plantations oak alley and Laura. Basically this part they were transportation. They just drove us to the plantations. The driver did not give many instructions he forget to tell us how much time we had for each plantation. Some people were rushing to finish the sites.

Henry was the greatest tour guide we could ask for. We brought our family of ten to Cajun Encounters and loooved it!

We took a 2 hr. tour with Capt. Troy. It was a beautiful morning on the water. Our guide asked each of us to introduce ourselves and to tell him what was of particular interest. Mine was the birds, my friends asked for plant life, and alligators. We found our guide to be knowledgeable on all of our interests.
We saw alligators that came right up to the boat, wild boar, a racoon, a red tail hawk, Cooper’s hawk, blue herons, green herons, 3 different woodpeckers, cardinals, a duck nesting in a tree. And more!
I highly recommend this tour. I especially liked the quiet times when Troy let us drift a bit and listen to the swamp. Amazing place, like no other I’ve been. Go.

This tour was by far, the highlight of my family’s trip to New Orleans. The boat is covered (thankful for shade) and led us through the swamp/​bayou with a cool breeze (we took this tour in mid-​May).
Captain Greg had a great, witty sense of humor, and led us to 2 alligator sightings (1 small, 1 large), Hamlet the feral pig, various birds, snakes, and explained the varying ecosystem /​foliage of the swamp /​bayou.
We were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the swamp and highly recommend Cajun Encounters. Our driver to/​from the swamp was friendly as well with pickups clear and organized. Really well done.

This tour was a ton of fun. Captain extremely knowledgable and very funny. The only reason I can’t give a 5 star review was because of a little kid on the boat that really put a huge damper on the trip for me and my wife. We thought you had to be 13 to take this trip. Someone brought there 6 or 7 year old who would not shut up the entire time. I have 2 kids myself so I know how they are, BUT I also know I paid good money to enjoy the ride not here a loud mouth annoying kid the ENTIRE time! I just wish they wouldn’t allow such young kids on board, he was extremely annoying and his mom could not control him.

We are here for a family reunion and not everyone wanted to take the cruise. Troy was a great guide and everyone agreed after the trip over it was the best thing we had done so far on our trip. What a great time we had. Thanks!

It was such a great tour. Really informative and entertaining.
Had a blast, would come back with the family, kids will love it.
Thanks
Rene

I went with a group of 13 guys as part of a bachelor party through New Orleans, and as much fun as we had all weekend, this might have been the highlight of the trip. We were still talking about it on the flight home. Raven, the group coordinator, helped us organize round trip transport from downtown New Orleans out to the swamp. The driver «Alligator Mike» showed up promptly to pick us up, and soon after we were dropped off we were on our way down the river.
Captain Bishop was our swamp guide and he was just right for our group of inebriated city idiots. He was hilarious and informative and we were laughing as much as we were learning. We saw a bunch of gators, wild boars, even a massive 5 foot riverfish that Captain Bishop hoisted up into the boat.
You never know what you might end up seeing, but you will definitely enjoy yourself and I highly recommend Cajun Encounters for any group trip.

First, manage your expectations. These are not actually swamp tours. They are river tours in swamp areas. The boats are too big to go into the swamps.
Once that piece of news sinks in and you realize that you’re only going to see the swamps from the outside, the tour is quite good. The guide was informative and professional. Some of the other boats seemed to have comedians conducting the tours, which can be fun at the right time, but I was happy with our guide.
The wildlife available to see will depend on the season. We were lucky to see several small alligators, wild pigs, turtles and a variety of birds.
The Cajun fishing village mentioned in the brochure is just a few nice houses with docks. The name conjures some romantic notions of isolated cabins with inbred kids staring at the strange city folk, but you won’t find anyone here stranger than your average Republican.
It really was a well organized and professional tour… but it wasn’t a swamp tour.

My mother and I took a ghost tour with Melody one night. Melody was so awesome! Such a great storyteller and very personable. Her voice carried, and that was a good thing since other tour groups were near our group at times. At first I thought the tour was pricey, but after hearing her tell stories, I knew why it was $ 25 a person.
We also took a City/​Cemetery tour with Renee. He was very knowledgable and personable. It was a great comprehensive tour. If you wanted to see all those things without a guide, it would’ve taken a while to make sure you were going the right way. We went from the French Quarter to the Ninth Ward all the way to Metairie and the Garden District. Worth the money!

It’s not every day that we city folk can see live gators, wild boars, and a bald eagle in its natural habitat. Really enjoyed this tour, don’t think I’d go visit this park of Louisiana if they didn’t provide the means to do so. They pick you up in a van at your hotel (for an additional fee of course), drive you to the swamp, load you on the boat for the 2 hour tour, and drive you back to your hotel. It takes up about 4 hours of your day, but it’s worth it in my opinion.
How much wildlife you see depends a lot on the weather and the season. I went in October, so it was right before the gators begin to hibernate. I think in the colder months you don’t see any gators at all (Nov-​Jan) so be warned. They don’t guarantee anything. Also during the hot, muggy summer it gets really hot and humid and the bugs are out. We got to see about 10 gators, 3 good sized ones up close. A lot of them had been poached due to aggressive hunters during hunting season though, which is a very sad thing. Usually hunters leave these ones alone or aren’t so aggressive, but for some reason this season was extremely brutal to the local natural area.
You also get to see wild boar who are running around in packs. They aren’t afraid of the swamp tours and actually actively pursue them, because it means food, i.e. marshmallows! Wildlife, including gators, apparently love sugar just as much as humans. Our captain, who is hilarious and told jokes all through the tour, was very adept at chucking the marshmallows to bring the animals closer to us. He knew several of the animals by name, which makes sense since he probably sees them 2 or 3 times a day.
Make sure you bring plenty of water as you’re sitting in a boat the whole time. If it’s hot outside, you’ll want to bring a hat as well. Also, make sure you go to the bathroom before you get on the boat at the Cajun Encounters building. It would be an uncomfortable 2 hours if you don’t.
A great way to see nature without getting yourself dirty.

My husband and I took a swamp tour. Was very sweet, we’ve seen a type of nature we’ve never seen before.
Overall good experience.
We did self transport, took about 1 hour to get there from Jefferson.

It was a good experience. We were looking for something to do in New Orleans on short notice. We saw this on Unilocal and I decided to call to see if they had any available slots.
I called for five adults and it was about twenty-​five if you didn’t need a shuttle. We took the shuttle and it was fifty-​two. I am glad we took it as it was about 45 mins away. They said we could get picked up at the Best Western Landmark which was close to us. They said it would be from 8 – 8:30a for our pick-​up.
When they say between 8 – 8:30a pickup, be there before 8a! Our bus driver was oh so somewhat friendly. It must be to early for her on a Friday morning… lol She called me about 6 min before 8am that they were there already. Good thing our place was only 6 min walk. We got there at 8am and we left as were the only ones to be picked up at that location. We were dropped off at another bus. The new bus driver was very entertaining and gave us a good history from surrounding New Orleans spots on the way to the swamp.
You have to check in so go there right away. They do offer bathrooms before going on the boat. The boat ride is about an hour and a half. I recommend to bring some snacks or water if you want something to eat. I am glad that the boat has a tent to cover us from the sun. For the ladies, put your hair up as during period of times during the ride, the guide will speed up the boat. Make sure to bring your cameras as there are many spots to take photos.
Our tour guide was oh so entertaining. He was not lively in entertaining the many people on our boat. It just seemed like a job to him but nothing he loved to do.
We say at least 5 alligators up to 6 foot. They seemed small and they were not afraid of the people at all! They do love marshmallows which was new to me! We saw a few turtles and saw a family of boars! I would recommend and take any swamp tour on your stay in New Orleans.

After heavy partying for consecutive nights at the French Quarter, we were all looking forward to our swamp tour at the Honey Island Swamp in Slidell, New Orleans and run by the Cajun Encounter Tour Company.
It’s $ 52 per person and the tour operator will take you to the swamp via a very comfortable coach bus. The bus trip takes about 45 minutes, the tour guide point outs places of interests along the way and hurricane Katrina affected areas.
After registering, the swamp tour begins using a flat boat, but for thrill seekers a speed boat is also available for about the same price. I highly recommended the covered boat that can accommodate 20 people. It’s secure, intimate and comfortable shaded from the sun.
The trip is something that everyone visiting New Orleans must do, the Bayou is serene, beautiful and you get to see many animals in their natural habitat. Towards the end of the boat trip the Captain passes an authentic Cajun Village on the way back to the dock.

We had a great time on the swamp tour! Request Captain Troy, he is very informative, entertaining & the wildlife follow him. He can spot a wolf spider from 15 feet away.

Tour guide was excellent, john was his name, and informative. He was a very funny guy and shows you a great variety of the city. Trip is a must to see a lot in little time, I think it took us about 2 ½ hours total. Bus is air conditioned which worked well, and really clean. Will try another one of their tours if I ever get down here again. If you can do it and ask for john if you want a great tour! Price is a bit high but if you go to a hotel ask the front desk if they set up tours and see if they can give you a discount, might only save $ 10 but it’s something. Howbout that!

I did the city/​cemetery tour. Greg, who sold me on the tour, said that we stop at St Louis Cemetery 1 and get to go in and see the grave of Marie Laveau. We drove by the cemetary quite quickly and I couldn’t even get a picture. We stopped in some random cemetary called the Metairie or something and the most interesting person buried there was Anne Rice’s husband. About ¹⁄₈ of the people got off and walked around.
I do not recommend this tour at all. It was very boring, focusing mostly on Katrina damage. At least six people I saw fell asleep. The tour guide was funny (or tried to be) but he just kept saying the same things over and over. Threw in a few historical facts but mostly everything was about Katrina. They stop by a lot of houses, so if you enjoy architecture, I’m sure you might like this tour.
Not even worth $ 20. If you want to see the 8^th and 9^th Ward I recommend taking an Über there and having them drive you around.

We booked a Plantation Tour through the concierge at our hotel. We listened to her book the tour for us with the date and time we wanted. We showed up today at the pick up location to go on our tour and the gentleman working in the office told us the group would be picking us up any minute. After 15 minutes we become concerned and asked him what was going on. To which he replied they’d be there any minute. It was now 45 minutes and we were starting to get mad. He was busy talking (pestering) another group to book tours with them immediately. Finally after he was finished it was an hour after our pick up time and he finally made a phone call for us. Turns out the tour company booked us on the wrong day. They had us down for Sunday… the day were leaving town! After wasting an hour waiting around and then the disappointment of not being able to do the tour we tried calling for a refund and still have not heard back from this company. We have been on 2 Gray Line Tours and HIGHLY recommend over Cajun Encounters!!!

We bought the city tour through concierge at our hotel who states be at the corner by 1:35. ½ mile from our hotel. Yet pick up is 2 to 2:30. It was hot, ridiculous as we all stood there.
Tour guide arrives late, the guy who told us to book it through him drives by on his scooter.
We get on the bus and it’s sold out two loners on the bus who won’t give up their seat for the elderly couple to sit next to each other.
The tour guide was nice but some of the things that came out of her mouth was astonishing. Plantation houses and slavery is beautiful. Um are you kidding me?! Slavery beautiful.
We pre paid our spot but had to take a 15min break so she can double check. I was a lil concerned thinking I gave my cc the day before.
The air conditioned bus was a plus, plugging other tours meh.

We took a tour with Butch for the New Orleans city tour, operated by Cajun Encounters. Butch was awesome. Informative and entertaining. He made our tour so enjoyable!

We visited after purchasing a groupon deal. We called for a reservation and set up a pick up at our hotel. The bus arrived at the end of the thirty-​minute window, 11 AM. We Ickes up a few more people near St. Louis Cemetery and were on our way. The driver talked a bit about the impact of Katrina and what we were passing as we drove out. The tour was two hours. We saw wildlife, although no huge gators. We took our own cold water to drink before and during the ride and snacks to eat after the tour while we waited for the return bus. Those who didn’t had few food options from the gift shop.

Good as per the descriptions. The driver couldnt speak clearly and couldnt hear all the way through

Ditto experience what Karen P said. Same exact thing occurred to me. Do not book here!

They say they are the number 1 company in Nola but clearly they do not CARE about the people who booked their tours. they dont even have the decency to make sure you are in the tour bus for pick up, mind you they will not wait or even look for you since they have a lot of people to pick up. They are rude and prefer to argue with you for cancellation instead of providing good service. people BEWARE!!!

I did the plantation tour Laura and Oak Alley with Cajun Encounters, great time, good information on the bus. A full day tour so bring some snacks and water.

Karen was a terrific tour guide! Pricey at $ 50 each for the city/​cemetery tour but informative. You should take this tour first to help you decide what you really want to invest time in going back to see in more detail.

Ghost walking tour was awesome with Trevor! A wealth of history and knowledge with some humor mixed in. Would highly recommend!