Our Earnings

How We Earn Money

This site is an independent guide to cruises and boat rentals along the Erie Canal in New York State. Every cruise and rental card links directly to the operator that runs the trip, whether that is Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises, Rochester By Water, Colonial Belle, or Erie Canal Adventures. Those direct links carry no commission, and no operator has paid to appear here.

A small number of other links on the site are affiliate links that may pay us a commission: hotel links are Expedia links through Travelpayouts, and the free walking tour link is a GuruWalk link. None of these adds anything to the price you pay. The canal cruises and boat rentals themselves are different: the large tour marketplaces list no live Erie Canal boat products, so the cruise and rental links go straight to the operator's own booking page.

When A Booking Earns Us A Fee

The cruise and rental cards on this site are plain links to each operator, marked nofollow, and they earn us nothing. Affiliate links appear only where a partner actually sells the product, which for canal boats is nowhere among the big platforms. So the money links you will find here sit in articles and lodging sections, never on the cards that matter most.

The full disclosure lives in two places: the site footer and this page. You will not find it repeated under every booking button, because repeating it adds noise without adding honesty. One clear statement, in one obvious place, is enough.

What No Fee Can Buy

Cards are ordered by published review counts and by how well a trip fits the route or town you are reading about. No operator pays for position, and none has been asked to. Affiliate potential plays no part in which tours get listed: if a cruise runs on the canal and takes bookings, it belongs on the roster, commission or not.

How We Get Tour Details

Prices, durations, departure points, and ratings on this site come from each operator's own page and its public listing. Rates do change with the season, and the 2026 schedules we have seen for Lockport and Herkimer show spring through fall sailing with shoulder-season variations. Whatever the operator's booking page says on the day you book is the final word.

Corrections

If you spot a wrong price, a changed departure time, or a cruise that no longer runs, please tell us through the contact page. Corrections from readers keep this guide useful for everyone planning a trip along the canal.