Singapore Duck Tour: The Original DUCKtours vs Captain Explorer, Prices, Departures and Where to Board

1. There are two companies, and they are not the same

Amphibious tours in Singapore come from two firms, The Original DUCKtours at S$49 and Captain Explorer at S$36 per adult. The names look close enough that people book one and turn up at the other building.

Nothing connects them. The Original sells from a counter inside Suntec City that also handles Big Bus tickets. Captain Explorer sells from a counter inside Marina Square📍Map and belongs to City Tours, which runs open-top buses. The two malls are a ten minute walk apart.

Side by side

Which one to take

If you can avoid a Monday and want the S$13 back, Captain Explorer does the same thing for less. The trade is the booking procedure, which asks you to confirm a seat before paying, and the two hour gap over lunch when nothing runs.

If your only free slot lands on a Monday or in the morning, the Original is the only option. It is also the one whose road leg takes in the old courts, City Hall and the war memorial, and the only one with Mandarin commentary.

2. How the hour is divided

Booked as a one hour tour, the road part can feel long if you were expecting a boat. The split is about 30 minutes on tarmac and 30 minutes afloat. Operators and resellers all quote the same figure.

Both companies work the same way. One vehicle drives through the city, rolls down a ramp, floats, then climbs back out and returns to where you boarded. There is no transfer to a boat.

What to actually block out

Why the counter wants you early

An online booking is not the ticket you board with. Staff exchange it for a boarding pass, and that pass carries your seat. With a fixed number of seats per vehicle, doing this at the last minute holds up the departure.

The Original states that late arrivals and no-shows forfeit the ticket with no refund. Leave slack in whatever you have planned beforehand.

The first thing that happens on board

A safety briefing. Staff point out the life jackets and explain how to sit when the vehicle enters the water. There are no seat belts, so the instruction is to stay seated and keep arms inside.

The guide then introduces themselves and the vehicle pulls out. Because there are no windows, engine and street noise carry, and passengers at the back sometimes struggle to catch the commentary.

3. What the road leg passes

Thirty minutes of the tour happens through traffic, looking out at buildings. The Original crosses the Civic District, the old administrative quarter. Captain Explorer circles Marina Bay instead.

With no windows in the way, photography is easier than from a bus. The vehicle keeps moving, though, and traffic lights fall in different places each run, so it does not stop in front of anything.

The Original DUCKtours road leg

The Captain Explorer road leg

It leaves Marina Square and heads down towards the bay, passing Marina Barrage📍Map, Marina Bay Sands📍Map and the Gardens by the Bay side before entering the water. The colonial buildings are not on this route.

If you want the road half to show you more, the Original has the better list. If you would rather concentrate on the bay itself, Captain Explorer is the closer match.

The four columns at War Memorial Park

Early in the road leg you pass a park with four tall white columns. It commemorates civilians killed during the Japanese occupation and was unveiled in 1967. Each column stands 70 metres.

The number four is deliberate. It stands for the Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian communities sharing the same experience. From a moving vehicle it reads as four plain columns, so the guide fills in the reason.

4. Entering the water, and what the bay looks like from it

The reason most people book sits in this half hour. The vehicle rolls down a ramp, floats, and circles Marina Bay in the same seat you have been in.

At the entry point the hull pushes water aside and spray reaches the front rows. That passes quickly, and the rest feels like a slow boat. The engine keeps running and the pace stays gentle.

What the water leg passes

Why the view differs from the promenade

Marina Bay is a reservoir rather than open sea, so it barely moves and the buildings reflect cleanly. Standing at Merlion Park or walking the Marina Bay night route gives you the reverse angle of the same skyline.

Several products cover the same stretch of water. River cruises pass through the bay and the sampan ride at Marina Bay Sands loops an indoor canal. What only the amphibious vehicle does is the transition itself.

Why this bay has no waves

The mouth of Marina Bay is closed by a 350 metre dam called Marina Barrage, completed in 2008. Seawater no longer enters, and the water inside became a freshwater reservoir.

Without tides the level stays close to constant all year, which is why the same ramp works every departure. When heavy rain arrives at low tide the gates open to the sea, and when it coincides with high tide the gates stay shut and pumps take the water out.

5. What the vehicle actually is

One operator page calls the fleet Second World War craft. Both companies in fact run LARC-V vehicles, designed in the 1960s. They are not wartime DUKWs.

LARC-V stands for Lighter, Amphibious Resupply, Cargo, 5-ton. It was built to move supplies from ship to beach and went into production in 1963, seeing heavy use in Vietnam.

How they reached Singapore

About the DUKW name

Captain Explorer puts DUKW in its product name. A DUKW is a different vehicle, an American amphibious truck from the Second World War. Yet Captain Explorer’s own page calls its fleet Vietnam War era, and the vehicle photographed on the street is recorded as a ConDiesel LARC.

So both companies run the same family of vehicle under different names. It changes neither the fare nor the route, but if the DUKW name led you to expect a 1940s truck, that is not what pulls up.

Why a retired cargo carrier became a tour vehicle

A LARC-V has an aluminium hull on four wheels. Built to carry freight through surf, it floats and handles sand. Converting one meant putting seats where the cargo deck was and fitting a roof.

Other cities run the same idea, though many of them use genuine Second World War DUKWs. Singapore started with LARC-Vs because that is what its own armed forces had just retired.

6. Where The Original DUCKtours boards

Suntec City spreads across five towers, which makes a first visit confusing. The counter is the Big Bus and DUCK Hub on level 1 of Tower 2, at 3 Temasek Boulevard #01-K8.

The same counter sells both duck tour and Big Bus tickets, and this is where an online booking becomes a boarding pass. The vehicle leaves from the road beside it.

Finding it

1. Get off at Promenade The station is on the Circle and Downtown lines. Take Exit C.
2. Enter Suntec City Mall The station connects directly into the mall.
3. Look for Tower 2 Mall signage carries tower numbers. It sits on the North Wing side.
4. Go to unit K8 on level 1 The counter carries both the Big Bus and duck logos.
5. Exchange your booking Show the confirmation email or app screen and collect the pass.

Arriving by taxi or ride hailing

The operator asks you to set the destination as Suntec City Tower 1 and 2. Suntec City includes a convention centre as well as the mall, so entering only Suntec City can drop you on the far side.

Driving yourself, park in the North Wing orange zone. Parking is charged separately.

Why people get lost inside Suntec City

Five office towers, a shopping mall and a convention centre all connect to one another, so walking through the interior gives no sense of which tower you are under. Follow the tower numbers rather than the shop names.

The food halls inside are large, which makes an afternoon departure easy to pair with lunch on the spot. If you are looking for a hotel within walking distance, where to stay in Bugis and Kampong Glam covers the surrounding area.

7. Departure times and commentary language

Misreading the timetable by half an hour is easy here. English departures leave hourly from 10am to 6pm, and Mandarin departures leave at 3.30pm, 4.30pm and 5.30pm.

Only the Mandarin runs leave on the half hour. Assuming they follow the same pattern as the English ones is what causes missed departures.

The timetable

A guide speaks, not a recording

Two resellers list the inclusion as recorded English commentary, which contradicts the operator. The operator specifies live English and Mandarin guides, and passengers report the guide talking to the group and asking questions.

That means the same departure varies with whoever is on board. Choosing a language is really choosing which guide is working that run.

Resellers open different departures

One lists only 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm, 5pm and 6pm, leaving out the 1pm and 4pm runs. The operator publishes all nine.

If the time you want is missing, that reseller may simply not be selling it. Checking a second site often turns it up.

8. The fare is the same wherever you buy it

Comparing resellers on this one does not move the number. The operator and every major reseller charge S$49 per adult. That is 8 per cent off the S$53 counter rate.

Plenty of Singapore attractions get discounted further by the platforms selling them. This one does not, which removes price as a reason to prefer any particular site.

Adult ticket by seller

The one cheaper listing

Trip.com sells the Mandarin-guided departures as their own product at S$45. The English ones stay at S$49. If you follow Mandarin, that saves S$4 and limits you to the three afternoon runs.

For a family of four the gap reaches S$16, which is worth a look. If you cannot follow Mandarin, though, most of that hour stops being useful.

Ignore the from price on listing pages

Search results show figures like from S$19. That is the infant fare. Read it as an adult price and the checkout screen more than doubles.

One listing bundles adult, child and infant options together, so the lowest of the three represents the product in search. Korean and Indonesian platforms display it the same way.

9. Where Captain Explorer boards and when it closes

The lower fare comes with two conditions to plan around. It closes on Mondays and does not run between 11am and 1pm.

The counter is unit 207 on level 1 of Marina Square Shopping Mall, next to the 7-Eleven, at 6 Raffles Avenue. A second ticket point sits below Esplanade station.

Operating hours

The two hour gap at lunch

Nothing runs between 11am and 1pm. Slotting this tour between a morning and an afternoon plan therefore fails. If midday is your only window near Marina Bay, the Original is what remains.

The Monday closure catches people out for a different reason: few Singapore attractions close on Mondays, so it is not the day travellers check for. A single day in the city that lands on a Monday rules this operator out entirely.

Getting there

Walk from Esplanade or City Hall station. Marina Square sits in the hotel cluster on the north side of Marina Bay, so guests at those hotels can walk over.

The mall is large, so remember the unit number rather than the shop name. The 7-Eleven makes a reliable marker. Marina Square

10. Captain Explorer fares and how to book

Pressing pay first causes problems on this one. The operator asks you to confirm availability before payment, because nothing is refundable.

The instruction sits at the top of the listing, along with a note that demand can make your chosen date unavailable and that the operator will propose alternatives.

Fares

The toddler fare depends on where you buy

Buying from the operator puts a toddler at S$14.50. One reseller applies the online rate to adults and children but charges the counter rate of S$18 for toddlers, a S$3.50 difference.

The amount is small, but if you are travelling with a child under three it is worth comparing the two. Adult and child fares match either way.

The booking sequence

1. Pick a slot Avoid Mondays and the 11am to 1pm gap.
2. Ask first Email, phone or WhatsApp with your preferred date and time.
3. Get confirmation If the slot is full, the operator suggests other dates.
4. Then pay Book only after you have an answer.
5. Note the expiry The voucher lasts 30 days from confirmation and expires at 6pm on the final day.

11. Choosing a departure time

The same 60 minutes plays differently depending on when you go. Singapore sits close to the equator, the midday sun is strong, and this vehicle has open sides.

There is a roof but no walls, so shade is partial. Around noon the sun comes from overhead and the roof does little.

What changes through the day

Lining up with sunset

Sunset in Singapore stays near 7pm all year because the day length barely changes this close to the equator. A 6pm departure therefore ends as the sky starts to turn.

It is still too early for night views. Marina Bay lighting comes into its own later, so if that is what you want, finish the tour and move on to the Marina Bay after dark route.

Rain by time of day

Singapore rain tends to arrive in short heavy bursts in the afternoon, which makes departures between 2pm and 5pm likelier to meet one. That does not cancel anything.

How often it rains shifts through the year, so if your dates are fixed, check the month in the best time to visit Singapore before choosing a slot.

Which departures fill first

Late afternoon goes first because the light is best. On weekends and public holidays the morning runs fill as well.

Sellers advise buying three or four days ahead. With a fixed seat count per vehicle, individual departures run out quickly. If your date is settled, lock it in early.

12. You do not choose your seat

Where you sit changes the photographs, and both companies assign seats themselves. Passengers do not pick.

The seat is printed on the boarding pass when you exchange your booking. Captain Explorer states outright that seat selection is not available.

Groups can end up split

Because it is an assignment, travelling companions sometimes get separated. Passengers booking through a pass have reported being allocated differently from direct bookings.

If sitting together matters, say so at the counter during the exchange. Once on board there is little room to rearrange.

Which seats suit what

What to do with luggage

The Original states that luggage storage is not provided. A large bag makes the footwell tight. If you are stopping here on the way in from the airport, drop bags at the hotel first.

Both Suntec City and Marina Square have lockers on certain levels, though the tour counters do not run them, so location and price follow mall arrangements. If you are planning a Singapore layover, sort the bags first.

13. Rain does not stop it

Watching a bad forecast will not get you out of the booking. Neither company refunds or reschedules because of rain.

Listings say the tour operates in all weather and ask you to bring an umbrella or poncho. The roof helps, but with open sides rain arrives from the flank.

What actually helps

Suspensions do happen

High wind or a closure on the water can stop a departure even though rain cannot. Sellers warn in advance that an emergency suspension still carries no refund and no change of date.

Both companies use the same wording. Booking on an unsettled day means accepting that.

Changing your date

The Original will move a booking if you email the operator at least one day ahead and a seat exists, never on the day itself. The request goes to the operator address rather than the reseller’s support desk.

If the weather pushes you indoors instead, Singapore on a rainy day lists what stays dry.

Where to buy a poncho

Both malls have convenience stores selling disposable ponchos for a few dollars. Buying one after the ticket exchange still leaves plenty of time.

Singapore showers frequently arrive hard and stop within half an hour. Rain at the counter often clears before the water leg. There is rarely a reason to cancel on a forecast alone.

14. Taking children

The splash makes this popular with children. Age bands differ between the two companies, and even between pages run by the same company.

The Original’s fare table sets a child at two to twelve, while its help section says three to twelve with under-twos travelling free.

Age bands by company

Two-year-olds fall awkwardly

A two-year-old counts as a child at S$39 with the Original and as a toddler at S$14.50 with Captain Explorer. That is S$24.50 for the same age.

Given the inconsistency, read the age bands on the booking screen rather than assuming. Staff do check ages at the counter.

Strollers and safety

Boarding uses steps. Strollers fold and stow, and you carry a small child up. There are no seat belts, only seats.

The entry is loud. A child sensitive to noise will do better with some warning. For the rest of a family itinerary, see Singapore with kids.

15. Steps, wheelchairs and limited mobility

This is the condition that rules people out. The tour is not wheelchair accessible. The Original says so explicitly.

An amphibious hull sits well clear of the road, so staff bring a portable staircase to the door. There is no ramp and no lift.

How many steps

Photographs of the vehicles show a wheeled staircase pushed up to the side, a few treads with handrails on both sides. Anyone who can manage stairs unaided can board.

If you use a walking stick, mention it at the counter and staff will adjust the boarding order. Moving around once seated is difficult.

Alternatives that load flat

With older travellers

The waiting matters more than the steps. Counter to dispersal runs an hour and a half, much of it standing. Waiting inside the mall where there is seating and stepping out shortly before departure works better.

For a whole day built around this, see Singapore with elderly parents. Pairing it with something seated, such as the Singapore Flyer, keeps the pace manageable.

16. What to do with the thirty minutes before departure

Arriving half an hour early as instructed leaves you with half an hour. The Fountain of Wealth stands in the middle of Suntec City, a few minutes from the counter.

The Guinness Book listed it as the largest fountain in the world in 1998. It stands 13.8 metres tall and the bronze ring above it measures 66 metres around.

You can walk inside it

Between 10am and 7.30pm daily the main fountain pauses and the small fountain at the centre of the base opens, letting visitors go down and touch the water.

Tradition says circling that small fountain three times with a hand in the water brings luck, so there is usually a queue moving round it. Exchange your ticket and head straight down.

The fountain is a feng shui design

The water flows inward

Most fountains throw water outward. This one draws it in, following the idea that wealth should not flow away. The five Suntec City towers are laid out as a hand, with the fountain in the palm.

Browsing the mall works too, but half an hour goes quickly, so set an alarm for the departure. Fountain of Wealth

17. Getting to each boarding point

Both counters sit close to a station. Promenade Exit C for the Original, Esplanade or City Hall for Captain Explorer.

Suntec City and Marina Square are ten minutes apart on foot. Which station you want depends on which company you booked, so check the ticket before setting off.

To The Original DUCKtours

Two different bus stop numbers are published

One seller gives stop 02151 and another gives 02141. They are not the same stop. If you are coming by bus, work from the Suntec City name rather than the number.

The train is simpler anyway. Promenade sits on the north side of the bay and two MRT lines reach it, so most of the city connects without a change.

To Captain Explorer

An underground link runs from Esplanade station into Marina Square, and City Hall is walkable too. Guests in the north-side hotels can simply walk.

Coming in from the airport, allow generous time. The counter closes at 7pm.

The two counters are ten minutes apart

Suntec City and Marina Square face each other across one road, connected by an underpass and a footbridge, so you can move between them without going outside. If you arrive at the wrong counter with time in hand, you can walk across.

The companies do not honour each other’s tickets, though. An Original ticket will not board at Marina Square. Staff will point you in the right direction, but a missed departure is not refunded.

18. Against the river cruise and the sightseeing bus

Several products compete for the same slot in a day. The river cruise is water only, the sightseeing bus is road only, and the duck tour splits the difference.

They overlap enough that you do not need all three. What decides it is time and fare.

Four options compared

Counting only the water

The duck tour gives you 30 minutes afloat. A river cruise gives about 40 for less than half the fare. If the water is all you want, Clarke Quay and the river cruise makes more sense.

What the duck tour alone offers is the change of element without changing vehicle. That single transition is what you are paying the difference for.

If you want the whole day covered

Big Bus works differently, as an all-day ride at S$58, and a combined ticket with the duck tour sells at S$104, slightly less than buying both.

Spending a day on a bus does not suit everyone. Singapore’s rail network is dense enough that the train is faster for pure movement. Look at the three day Singapore itinerary before committing a day to it.

19. Whether a pass covers it

If you were already considering a multi-attraction pass, this is worth checking. The Original DUCKtours appears on the Klook Pass and on Go City. Captain Explorer appears on neither.

Being on a pass still leaves you a booking step. Skipping it means turning up and not boarding.

Go City

Klook Pass

Klook Pass Singapore includes the duck tour, with a note that availability on the busier attractions is limited. Night Safari📍Map carries the same warning.

Passengers arriving on a pass have reported different seat allocation from direct bookings. If you are a group, mention it at the counter.

Is a pass worth it here

Buying a pass for the duck tour alone costs more than the tour. At S$49 it is a small part of any pass price, so the sums only work if you are visiting three or four attractions.

For what each pass covers and where the break-even sits, see Singapore attraction passes.

How the two passes differ

Go City gives you a set number of attractions within a window, and Klook Pass works along similar lines. For a timed product like this one, both require a separate reservation.

The difference is where you make it. Go City uses its own portal and wants your order number and purchase email. Klook handles it inside the app. Knowing which before you travel saves confusion at the counter.

20. The history the road leg drives past

This is the part guides talk about. The old courts and City Hall do carry a Second World War story, but several sellers tell it wrongly.

More than one listing says the British surrendered to Japan on the steps of the Old Supreme Court. That sentence puts the wrong army in the wrong building.

Two surrenders, two places

The Old Supreme Court was the viewing gallery

Crowds gathered in front of the Municipal Building for the 1945 ceremony, and records describe spectators climbing to the base of the Supreme Court dome and onto the Municipal Building roof to watch.

So the Old Supreme Court is where people stood to look down. The ceremony itself took place across the way. The British surrender happened at a car factory in Bukit Timah, well outside the city centre and nowhere near this route.

Both buildings are now a museum

The two were joined and reopened as the National Gallery Singapore. As conserved monuments the exteriors are unchanged and the work went on inside.

The duck tour drives past. Going in needs its own visit. The lawn between the buildings is the Padang, and the four columns beside it are the civilian war memorial.

21. When the route changes

A few days each year the route is different. During the Formula One race the road leg detours and the last departure moves earlier.

The race closes public roads around Marina Bay, and the duck tour uses some of them.

What changes during the race period

Booking during that period

If the colonial buildings were the point, pick another week. The water half runs unchanged, so if Marina Bay was what you came for, it still works.

Being in Singapore during the race affects hotels and transport as well. The Singapore Grand Prix guide covers the road closures and accommodation around it.

Other reasons a departure stops

Safety situations such as high wind or a waterway closure allow the operator to suspend running. The same no-refund, no-change terms apply.

Public holidays are normal operating days for both. Captain Explorer’s Monday closure lifts when the Monday is itself a public holiday.

Public holidays and weekends

Both run on public holidays, and the only exception is that Monday rule. Departures do fill faster on holidays and weekends.

Singapore’s public holidays follow several communities and religions, so a number of them move from year to year. Check whether your dates catch one in the best time to visit Singapore.

22. Where seller listings get it wrong

Line the operator pages up against the resellers and several things do not match. The biggest gaps are opening hours and how the commentary works.

Plan from a listing alone and you can miss the morning departures or book expecting a recording.

The comparison

The operator contradicts itself too

Two websites run by the same company give different figures for the length of the safety record, and the route order changes between paragraphs, with one saying road first and another water first.

The vehicle description has the same problem. It is called a Second World War craft brought from Vietnam, when the fleet is 1960s LARC-V and came from the Singapore Armed Forces.

What to trust

Take fares, departures and addresses from the operator’s own page. Use the resellers for payment options and cancellation terms.

Once booked, check the time and address printed on your pass. Because the two company names blur together in search results, that is where most of the confusion starts.

Frequently asked questions

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