The tour on the waterway was fine, the terrible part was the meal and seeing the mistreatment of the small monkeys and birds. The meal was literally thrown at you within a 15 minute span, at the end I asked the young waiter what they did with the left over ribs, he replied" we freeze them for tomorrow's dinner cruise". The monkeys are in small cement floored cages, one larger monkey is alone in the cage. I asked the staff, a man in his 40's from the boat crew why the monkey was alone, he replied he was a vicious animal and would kill anything in his cage, he then proceeded to tease the monkey for 10 minutes with a small flashlight! The slap at the end was we were charged $12.00 to park the car, the staff of the Jungle Queen had steered us into the lot without any discussion of cost to park or signs. You are far better off taking the canal water taxi and eating at MacDonald's,,,,,,,,,,

My family of four went on the Jungle Queen (dinner cruise) on June 13th, 2006. Here's my opinion:
The good: We went on a Tuesday so the boat wasn't full so we were not cramped. The cruise through Fort Lauderdale was entertaining since there are a plenty of beautiful homes and yachts to see. There were a few (very few) good jokes told by the host of the boat, Louis but he delivers well. The entertainment show after dinner was ok, I give it a B grade. Based on other reviews, it's obvious that the entertainers could be different if/when you go. So keep that in mind. One common theme with the entertainment seems to be that it's a bit cheesy, regardless of who they bring in. The ribs were good. If you like the food you should not walk away hungry for they offered it up continuosly.
The bad: Normally there are long lines to wait in due to a $20 picture taking routine. They don't take credit cards! An ATM awaits you IF you remember your pin#. Seating on the double decker boat is basically a lawn chair. If the boat is full, the seating could be close to miserable. The food other than the ribs is not very good (my opinion only). Not alot of time to really enjoy the meal. The entertainment starts without you if you're not finished eating. The mosquitoes are well fed... they are there to feast as well.
Drinks aside from water cost extra ($1/can of Coke). My issue with this is I wasn't told until I accepted one. The seating for the dinner and entertainment is a bench without any back support, and for us it was wet for the entertainment, since it apparently rained earlier. My 2 children weren't really entertained since the jokes told on our night were more taylored towards adults. Also, they aren't big eaters, so for us it wasn't a "bargain".
The ugly: the welt on my son's leg where a mosquitoe got the best of him is still there, 2 days later.
In all, the night wasn't memorable, but for approx. $100 for 2 adults/2 children and approx. 4 hours of attempted entertainment, what should we expect? I guess that's up to you.
With some upgrades to the food, a mosquitoe net, some better seating arrangements and finally some quality entertainment it would be a great deal. But for what it is, and for my money, it's average at best.

Adults -- definitely skip the Jungle Queen and take the Water Taxi instead. The Water Taxi is cheaper, has better commentary, and covers the same area ("Millionaire's Row"). Plus, you can stop for a wonderful seafood lunch at the 15th Street Fisheries. If you have kids, you might go ahead and take a day cruise (skip the dinner cruise) -- maybe. My 7-year-old son (who had been on the Water Taxi already) enjoyed the outbound leg of the trip and loved the crazy Florida biker/redneck guy who wrestles alligators for tips on the so-called "private island." He (my son, not the crazy guy) became deathly bored on the inbound leg, however, because he had already seen everything on the first leg of the trip. The Jungle Queen is expensive, takes several hours, and you feel pretty trapped once you've committed to the trip. I'd say thumbs down, but I can't be entirely negative because the experience with the alligators (including paying $1 to hold baby alligators) was so memorable for my son.

My wife and I were in Fort Lauderdale on May 10th, 2006. I reserved reservations online for the Dinner Cruise. The reservations were there and were correct!

We got to the dock, and met with the cashier. I told them I had made reservations online, and I quickly payed my 32.95/person and got in line to board the Jungle Queen.

Before boarding, a photo is taken in front of the boat. For $20.00 at the end of the cruise, you get an 8X10 and three wallet photos, oh and don't forget the oversized plastic holder keychain. Make sure you look at your pictures before buying, ours was quite blurry.

Once aboard, there are assinged seats, which is nice. However, they are beach chairs welded tightly together. Our seats were portside (left) right on the side so you didnt have to look over anyone.

The tour was nice, but most of it we heard on the Water Taxi. Same houses same story. The narrator was good though, and kept people on their toes. However, everytime you go under a draw bridge, you are suppose to yell, "Thank you Mr. Johnson." Well after crossing five draw bridges it gets really old.

Once you dock at the private island, (PS Its really a PENINSULA) one of the waitresses made sure she blurted that out and kinda ruined some of the fun.

You walk through a series of animal cages (monkeys, birds etc) until you wind up in a tent. You are seated immidiately and served before you can almost meet the people next to you. It is deifinitely a mess hall type meal. Chicken, Ribs and Shrimp, potatoes, beans, dinner rolls and a horrible piece of dry chocolate cake. The waitresses are very hard working and serve well. However, they are almost like robots. They keep pumping the food to you, as they YELL right behind your head (MORE SHRIMP, MORE RIBS, MORE CHICKEN) this continues through the whole meal.

The food is good, I pretty much stuck with the RIBS which are excellent. The chicken is a little dry, and I didnt do the shrimp.

After dinner, find a seat in the after dinner show. You will need to sit because you will be so full.

The entertainment is HORRIBLE to say the least. The first act was a singer. He sang a couple songs and brought some people on stage. This was something a kindergarten student would have enjoyed. NOT ADULTS.

The second performer was a juggler. HORRIBLE. Absolutely no excitement. Once again NOT FOR ADULTS.

The last act was a ventrilloquist. He started with the normal dummy and used BLAND jokes. NOT FOR ADULTS. He then brought out and old man dummy. This was quite amusing and caught myself laughing a few times.

The trip back to the docks was nice and relaxing. However, the folks in front of us did not understand the narrator saying sit, back, relax and enjoy the veiws. We listened to their stories for an hour.

Overall, this is almost what I would consider a tourist trap. The meal is good, and the ride is fun. But for as long as they say they have been around, you would think they would get some entertainment for ADULTS.