Mystic Seaport Museum

So much to see! We enjoyed the free boat ride in the seaport with the purchase of entering. There's no tours inside the area or even employees so you wander where you want to & go at your own pace. The Tavern was a great stop for drinks & the food smelled wonderful.

The only reason I am giving two stars instead of one is the excitement of being on a old history filled whaling boat the last of its kind.. I enjoyed the view from the boat and learning about the boat the woman who told us about it was very nice and had a good deal of information about it.. Unfortunately there was no staff at any other boats or old town buildings to share there knowledge of the events that took place so many years ago.. That was disappointing because the whaling boat was the first exhibit we visited so it made me think that there would be an actual person at all the other exhibits as well.. Aside from the history we were told that our ticket price came with a free boat tour and a free chance to take our own boat, on lend from the museum out for 30mins.. Only half of that is true they don't tell you that you have to put your name in hours before you want your free boat tour.. they don't tell you that they only do three tours a day and they are already reserved for people who either been there before and know how it works or people who where lucky enough to get to the boat tour area early.. The woman at the front desk who told us about the boat tour said nothing of putting your name in.. We where under the impression we would just have to wait in a line.. We decided that taking our own boat out would be the only way we could salvage our expanse of the museum and get some kind of bang for our buck as most of the museum was dry and uninteresting.. We took our own little boat out and could not work it at all the staff saw us struggling and did not help at all despite us being only a few yards away and asking for help knowing they could hear us they looked right at us. We had to call the museums front desk and ask them to radio the boat staff to come get us it was annoying and very frustrating.. If you are a museum and you let your guest take a boat out you have to expect that they will need help or not know how to do it the staff was not helpful at all.. Save your money its not worth it.. You can actually see all the boats better if you take a tour boat that doesn't have to do with the museum we took a ride on the Mystic Express and the tour guide told us more about the boats then the museum did..

The views of tall ships against gray fall skies reflecting in a dark water were very picturesque. No crowds. Very good guides.

Interesting place. Self guided tour but many exhibits are closed. If you want to do the boat ride get there early or return another time within 2 days(maybe 3). Planetarium was cool and the presenter was outstanding(young guy whose voice can keep your attention)-he should try voice overs or readings.

Great day with my daughter's