There are many Boston Harbor cruises. There are sightseeing cruises, booze cruises, and dinner, lunch, and brunch cruises. There are also high speed cruises offered by the amusingly-named Codzilla. Operated by one of the major players in the Boston Harbor cruising scene, Boston Harbor Cruises, Codzilla offers a high-speed and relatively short trip around the Boston Harbor (or Boston Harbour, although not really because Boston isn’t in the UK). It’s a good option for those who want to get on the Boston Harbor without taking a cruise that takes an entire morning or afternoon, and who can deal with a bumpy and wet ride. Below we’ve compiled all the information you’d ever want to know about Codzilla, including reviews of the experience, ticket prices, and booking information.
As you’ve probably already gathered, Codzilla does not offer a leisurely boating experience. There are plenty of ways to casually sail around the Harbor checking out Boston’s many sights – see our guide to Boston Harbor cruises for more on this – but Codzilla doesn’t offer one of them. Rather, it offers a 40-minute thrill ride around the harbor at speeds reaching 40 MPH. (By car standards – the only standards many people know – this obviously isn’t very fast, but things feel a lot different on a boat.) Given these speeds and that the top of Codzilla is open, you can expect to get wet on the Codzilla, especially if you ride in the back, where passengers get splashed the most. So, you’ll definitely want to wear clothes that can easily dry after the trip, and you’ll also want to make sure you go on hot, sunny day. A fictional narrative and blaring music also accompany a trip on the Codzilla. The story, which is told when the music is off and the ship isn’t whipping around the harbor, centers on an aggressive giant cod lurking around the harbor. Obviously, it is designed for children, and adult passengers probably won’t find it particularly thrilling.
Although passengers for the most part enjoy the experience offered by Codzilla, there are some consistent critical themes that emerge from people who have reviewed it. Some of these criticisms, like that the giant cod story isn’t engaging for adults, strike us as unfair (obviously a story about a huge cod in the harbor isn’t aimed at adults), but others are worth considering. For one, the tickets, which can be bought online through the Codzilla online ticket page, are somewhat expensive for a 40-minute ride. Adult tickets cost $29 and kids tickets cost $25, so an average family could easily spend over $100 for less than an hour’s worth of entertainment. Moreover, of the 40 minutes in the harbor, not all of it is spent speeding around the water. The boat must slowly taxi in and out of the no-wake zone, which consumes a substantial amount of your time on board, and even some of the time outside of the no-wake zone is consumed with the cod story. Thus, the main attraction of the Codzilla – flying atop the waters of the Boston Harbor – only occupies some of your time on board. Other complaints about the Codzilla are seat specific. For instance, some complain about not getting splashed with enough water, and others ruefully remark that they couldn’t hear the music. However, others might consider these pluses, so you’ll just want to be mindful of your seats when you are getting your tickets.
So, the Codzilla isn’t for everyone, and, like most forms of entertainment, it can’t please everyone, but overall it offers a pretty cool experience. It’s certainly an exciting and unique way to see the harbor, and might be exactly what you are looking for. For more information, be sure to check out the official page for Codzilla. If Codzilla doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, you might consider some of the other trips offered by Boston Harbor Cruises or another cruising company that operates in the Boston Harbor.
