Island Carriages, Galveston

my family visting Galveston for a get a way, chose to take an Island Carriage ride. We found the site at Galveston.com with a phone number for info. We conntected with the owner,Sid. After an informative conversation, we were booked with a carriage pickup at Fishermans Wharf Restrant/ pier 22. After dinner we chose to take an hour historic tour. What an eye opener post Ike Galveston. We had a special tour called the "Sculpture Tour". Remarkable, knowledgable and friendly driver. Beautiful horses, I want one. Do It !!!!!!!!

The most dirty carriages I have seen. The poor horse had a lump on it's foot that bled. This horse should not be on the streets. Nor should the dirty rude driver.

Our family uses this mode of transportation annually for Dickens on the Strand. This year we will be using it to take the children around to see the Christmas lights. It is so much fun and the personnel are wonderful with all of us.

My friends and I made reservations earlier this month to take a carriage ride with Island Carriages, and to meet them at 22nd and Strand St. for our ride. We also specifically requested someone knowledgeable in local history to guide our tour. The carriage never showed up, so we asked one of the other carriage drivers in the vicinity, and were told that the carriage we were waiting on was over by a place called Fisherman-s Wharf, almost 2 blocks away from the agreed-upon location. They had forgotten about our reservation. The carriage, when we reached it and explained about our forgotten reservation, was small, dirty, and very uncomfortable, with very little padding on the seats and ragged Christmas garlands still on it. Finally, almost 30 minutes late, we began our tour, which was supposed to be about 40-45 minutes long, and go into an area with many historical Victorian-era (hence the request for someone who could tell us about the history) houses. The actual ride lasted no more than 25-30 minutes, and went nowhere near any historical/Victorian houses. We also received no historical facts about any of the buildings we did happen to pass. Instead, it was all mindless small-talk, non-funny jokes, and a complete disregard for any historical questions we asked. All in all, we strogly advise against this company. It was an awful experience, simply not worth the money, and we should've just gone with the other carriage company, which had more carriage choices and intelligent-sounding, helpful drivers, and was actually at 22nd & Strand, where we were supposed to begin our ride. Island Carriages was a huge disappointment.

I rode with Island Carriages for a romantic anniversary evening with my wife. The carriage was dirty, the driver rude and was charged for a 30 minute ride that took just 15.