Erie Canal Cruises That Go Through A Lock

Riding through a lock is the moment most people picture when they book an Erie Canal cruise: the gates close, the water drops or rises along the stone walls, and the boat carries on at a different elevation. It is also the detail that separates the region's cruises most sharply, because several popular sightseeing runs never enter a lock at all. This guide lays out every cruise on this site's roster that passes a working lock, names the lock in each case, and flags the listings that skip one so nobody books a 2-hour no-lock sailing expecting the Flight of Five. For a wider view of where each cruise runs and what the ride actually feels like, the full rundown of Erie Canal cruise routes covers every option on the canal.

Which Erie Canal Cruises Actually Pass Through A Lock?

Four of the five cruise operators on this roster run genuine lock passages: Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises through Locks 34 and 35, Erie Canal Cruises in Herkimer through Lock 18, Sam Patch in Pittsford through Lock 32, and Colonial Belle from Fairport on its 3-hour lock cruises. The remaining listings, Colonial Belle's 2-hour afternoon and Sunday brunch cruises plus the Riverie scenic run, stay on flat water and pass no lock.

The distinction matters more than it might seem. A lock passage adds roughly 20 to 30 minutes to a cruise, changes the character of the narration toward engineering and canal history, and on the big locks gives passengers a close look at gates, valve machinery and chamber walls that a flat-water cruise simply cannot offer. The Erie Canal Boat Tours roster splits cleanly on this line, and prices reflect it: the lock options start between $26 and $44, while the no-lock options sit between $30 and $66 depending on length and meal service.

There is a second, quieter reason to care. The Erie Canal manages 57 locks across the New York State canal system, 35 of them on the Erie Canal itself, climbing a combined 571 feet between Albany and Buffalo, according to the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Every one of those locks is manned and worked during the season, but only a handful sit on routes that passenger cruises run. Choosing a lock cruise is really choosing which of those handfuls you want to see.

For background on how the chambers work and why the canal needs them at all, the companion guide how the Erie Canal locks work covers the mechanics. This page stays on the practical question: which boat, which lock, and what it costs.

What Is The Lockport Double Locks Cruise Like?

The Lockport cruise is one of the two most-reviewed lock passages on the canal, a roughly 2-hour run rated 4.8 across a deep pool of 865 reviews, that carries passengers through Locks 34 and 35: the double set the operator calls the only one on the Erie Canal. The two chambers lift a combined 49.1 feet, and the dock sits at the Flight of Five at 210 Market Street in Lockport.

The double lock is the whole show. Most lock cruises on the canal pass a single chamber; Lockport's route takes the boat through two back-to-back, so passengers get the full rise-and-gate sequence twice, once in each chamber. The operator rounds the lift to 50 feet in its own copy, and the official guidebook figure is 49.1 feet, with Lock E35 at 24.6 feet and Lock E34 at 24.5 feet, a spread worth knowing if you like your numbers exact. Either way, it is the largest lift any cruise on this roster experiences, and the stone of the Niagara Escarpment is visible around the modern locks.

The 2026 public schedule runs May 11 to October 16, with daily departures at 12:30 and 3:00 pm throughout, a 10:00 am sailing added daily from June 23 to September 6, and Saturday morning sailings in the spring and fall shoulders. Children 4 to 10 pay $12.50, under-4s ride free, and AAA and CAA members pay $24.50. There is a snack area aboard but no meal service, and no pickup: passengers make their own way to the Market Street dock.

The dock itself is part of the draw. The Flight of Five, the restored 1849 lock staircase whose Locks 69 and 70 reopened in 2014, sits beside the modern chambers, and the free Locks District Museum between the two is open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm daily during canal season, per the Locks District's own page. Arriving an hour early turns the cruise into a full locks-district visit.

Which Operators Run A Lock Cruise, And At Which Lock?

Across the roster, lock passages run at four locks: Locks 34 and 35 at Lockport (Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises, from $26, about 2 hours), Lock 18 at Jacksonburg near Herkimer (Erie Canal Cruises, from $29, 90 minutes), Lock 32 at Pittsford (Sam Patch, from $30, 90 minutes), and a lock east of Fairport on Colonial Belle's 3-hour lock cruises, from $44. Every other cruise listing on this site passes no lock.

The table below is the full lock-by-cruise picture, with the fares and lengths the operators publish. Prices are per adult and come from each operator's own listing.

Two notes on the ratings column. The Sam Patch figure covers both of that operator's lock cruises under one listing, and the Colonial Belle figures come from a pool of 53 reviews, thin enough that they should be read as a rough signal rather than a verdict. The Herkimer cruise has the deepest review pool on this roster, ahead of even Lockport, and it is the only canal cruise in the Mohawk Valley on this roster, departing from Gems Along the Mohawk at 800 Mohawk Street in Herkimer, across from Thruway Exit 30.

If the double lock is the headline act, the single-chamber cruises are the understudies with their own appeal: shorter, cheaper in some cases, and closer depending on where you are staying. The next three sections take each lock option in turn.

What Does The Herkimer Lock 18 Cruise Offer?

Erie Canal Cruises runs a 90-minute cruise from Herkimer through Lock 18 at Jacksonburg, rated 4.8 across 1,633 reviews, from $29 per adult, aboard a weather-protected vessel that sails rain or shine. The 2026 season runs daily May 22 to October 12 with 1 pm and/or 3 pm departures, some days adding a 10:30 am sailing, and snacks are available for cash only. If you're curious how much water sits under the boat as you pass through the lock, this guide to the canal's current depth and width explains how the channel has changed since its earliest days.

The weather-protected hull is the practical differentiator. Lockport's and Pittsford's boats run open-air routes where a rainy day changes the experience; the Herkimer vessel's canopy means a gray afternoon costs you nothing but the view's brightness. Children 4 to 12 pay $20, military passengers pay $27, and age 3 and under ride free.

Lock 18 itself is a single chamber on the Mohawk River stretch of the canal, and the cruise's narration leans on the Mohawk Valley's role as the canal's busiest freight corridor before the railroads took over. The dock's location across from Thruway Exit 30 makes this the easiest lock cruise to reach from the Utica and Cooperstown directions, and the town of Herkimer pairs it with diamond-mining history if you want a full day out. For more on the area's cruise options, see the Mohawk Valley canal cruise guide.

What Is The Sam Patch Lock 32 Cruise In Pittsford?

Rochester By Water's Sam Patch runs a 90-minute cruise through Lock 32 in the village of Pittsford, from $30 per adult, rated 4.4 across 180 reviews covering both Sam Patch products. Seniors 65 and over and military passengers pay $28, students $25, and age 3 and under ride free, with drinks and snacks for purchase aboard. The dock is at 12 Schoen Place in Pittsford.

Pittsford is the village-scale version of the lock cruise. Schoen Place sits in the heart of a walkable canal-side town with shops and eateries, so the cruise anchors a half-day visit rather than being the whole trip, and the operator notes the Sam Patch returned for 2026 with major upgrades. The season generally runs May to October, though the operator prints no confirmed 2026 date list, so the live listing is the place to confirm a sailing.

Lock 32 is a working chamber on the Rochester stretch, and the passage is the cruise's centerpiece, with narration on the lock's machinery and the village's canal-era grain warehouses. A lunch version of the same sailing exists at $53 per adult, a $30 cruise ticket plus a $23 optional lunch, for passengers who want the meal built in.

For the broader Rochester-area picture, including the non-lock Riverie cruise from Corn Hill Landing, the Rochester, Pittsford and Fairport cruise guide compares all the options on that stretch of water.

What Are Colonial Belle's Lock Cruises From Fairport?

Colonial Belle runs two 3-hour lock cruises from Packett's Landing in Fairport: an afternoon version from $44 per adult and an evening version from $46, both passing through a lock, both rated 4.2 across a thin sample of 53 reviews. The season runs May 15 to October 30, 2026, with the afternoon cruise sailing Tuesday to Saturday and the evening cruise running after hours.

The 3-hour length makes these the longest lock passages on the roster, roughly double the Pittsford and Herkimer run times, and the extra time buys a longer stretch of canal, the lock transit, and a more leisurely pace. Children pay $34 on the afternoon lock cruise and $36 on the evening version, with age 3 and under free. A lunch package at $67 is offered on select days, and the evening cruise has a dinner package at $80.

Colonial Belle is also the oldest boat in this comparison: the vessel launched in 1961 and marked its 65th launch day in June 2026, a fact the operator celebrated publicly. Fairport itself is one of the canal's more charming village stops, with the dock at Packett's Landing a short walk from Main Street.

The thin review pool deserves a plain statement: 53 reviews is a small sample, and the 4.2 figure should not be read with the confidence the Lockport or Herkimer numbers carry. What the listing does promise clearly is the lock passage itself and the longest cruising time of any option on this page.

Which Erie Canal Cruises Do NOT Pass Through A Lock?

Three listings on this roster pass no lock: Colonial Belle's 2-hour afternoon cruise from $36 and its 2-hour Sunday brunch cruise from $66, both from Fairport, and the Riverie's 90-minute scenic cruise from $30 out of Rochester's Corn Hill Landing, whose listing names no lock and never claims one. These are flat-water sightseeing runs, and booking them expecting a lock passage is the most common planning mistake on the canal.

The distinction inside Colonial Belle's own schedule trips people up most often, because the operator runs both a 2-hour no-lock cruise and a 3-hour lock cruise from the same dock, sometimes on the same day. The short version is the cheaper and shorter choice; the long version is the one with the lock. The brunch cruise, meanwhile, is built around the meal rather than the engineering.

The Riverie listing deserves its own note. It departs Corn Hill Landing at 280 Exchange Boulevard in Rochester, runs south on the Genesee River past the University of Rochester and through Genesee Valley Park, and joins the Erie Canal, but it names no lock, and no lock passage should be assumed. The boat has no published rating or review count, so there is no passenger signal to cite either way; the schedule lives on the live booking page.

None of this makes the no-lock cruises bad choices. They are shorter, some are cheaper, and the Fairport and Rochester stretches are attractive flat water. The point is matching the listing to the expectation, and the table above is the fastest way to check.

When Can Boats Use The Locks, And How Should You Plan Around Lock Hours?

The New York State Canal System's 2026 navigation season runs Friday May 15 to Wednesday October 14, with standard lock hours of 8 am to 6 pm daily and extended 8 am to 9 pm hours at select locations through the peak season, including Locks E-34 and E-35 at Lockport, Lock E-32 at Pittsford and the Fairport lift bridge. There are no tolls or fees for recreational use in 2026. If you're wondering how lock passage costs are actually covered by cruise fares and charters, our guide to Erie Canal lock fees for recreational boaters explains the details.

For cruise passengers, lock hours matter less than for private boaters, since the cruise operators schedule inside the windows anyway. But the extended-evening hours explain why the Lockport, Pittsford and Fairport operators can run late-afternoon and evening departures that still transit a lock: the chambers at those specific locations stay staffed until 9 pm in peak season, per the official Canal Corporation boating hours page. The Herkimer cruise's last departures at 3 pm sit comfortably inside standard hours.

Weather and water levels can still change any sailing. The Canal Corporation's alert pages list lock repairs, lift-bridge work and event-related restrictions through the season, and the operators adjust departures around them, so a check of the operator page a day or two before your cruise is the reliable habit. The official alerts live on the Canal Corporation's alerts page.

How Do Length And Fare Compare Across The Lock Cruises?

Lock cruise fares on this roster run from $26 to $53 per adult, and lengths run from 90 minutes to 3 hours, with the cheapest option, Lockport at $26, also delivering the most lock passages: two chambers instead of one. The best value in raw time per dollar is the Herkimer cruise at $29 for 90 minutes, while the longest experience is Colonial Belle's 3-hour lock cruise at $44.

The fare spread is narrower than the experience spread. For $20 between the cheapest and the priciest non-meal option, the real choice is geographic: Lockport for the engineering spectacle and the Niagara-region day trip, Herkimer for the Mohawk Valley, Pittsford or Fairport for the Rochester area. A fuller pricing picture across every cruise type, including the no-lock and brunch listings, is in the Erie Canal cruise prices guide.

One planning note on timing: the question of how long an Erie Canal boat ride takes has a different answer per operator, and the 90-minute cruises feel substantially different from the 3-hour ones. Passengers with children often prefer the shorter lock runs, since the lock passage itself usually lands mid-cruise and the remaining flat-water stretch is where younger attention wanders.

Common Questions About Erie Canal Lock Cruises