Real Pirates Salem Museum With Guided Directors Tour

This tour was packed with fascinating facts, intriguing history, and entertaining stories. Our tour guide did an excellent job bringing the world of pirates to life, offering a fresh perspective on their history and adventures. It was a fun, educational, and memorable experience that I would highly recommend!

A nice quick overview of the pirates life from why they chose to become a pirate & to their demise. The artifacts were interesting & the sets were cool especially the ship.

Our guide Caleb was AMAZING! He was very engaging and made the museum really come to life. He answered everyone’s questions and was very knowledgeable on the subject of Sam Bellamy and his crew’s story.

Our guide Caleb was very knowledgeable and gave a good tour. The museum is small we only spent 45minutes to a hour there. It was not busy at our ten thirty time.

Capt’n Johnny Depths at The Real Pirates, Salem delivered one of the best tours I’ve ever experienced. He was outstanding from start to finish — incredibly knowledgeable, engaging, and genuinely passionate about pirate history. His depth of insight into Sam Bellamy, his crew, and the wider world of piracy brought every moment to life.We booked the Director’s Tour, and it was exceptional. Capt’n Johnny guided us through the full journey of Bellamy and the Whydah with storytelling so vivid it felt like stepping straight into the past. If you’re visiting Salem, this experience is an absolute must. Highly recommended — and definitely book the Director’s Tour!

This was a fun and unique museum with real pirate artifacts and interesting history. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly. I enjoyed the ship walk-through getting to touch coins recovered from a shipwreck. Highly recommend for pirate lovers of all ages.

We had a really entertaining and informative tour with Pirate Graybeard! We spent about an hour pouring over the amazing artifacts recovered from an actual pirate ship that sunk in a storm off of Cape Cod. The museum is so detailed - you really get a feel for what it was like to live as a pirate in the “Golden Age”. Highly recommend the guided tour!

My friend and I had the best time! Our tour guide was Doug and he knew his stuff! He was informative, answered every question my friend had, and he was very easy to have a conversation with. The whole experience was very engaging! Will definitely be going back for another tour.

Short on Pirate lore and long on the subject of what a great treasure hunter the guy who found this ship wreck is. While he certainly found more treasure than I, I really wasn't looking for a story about him, was interested in Pirates. When the tour guide started to compare this to Oak Island and how 90% is based on facts, she lost my interest.

If you’re looking for the real treasure of Salem, forget the overpriced tourist traps... Johnny Depths is the gold. In a town that sometimes feels more like a postcard than a living, breathing story, Johnny is the heartbeat we didn’t even know we were missing. His passion is infectious, his stories are vivid enough to make you smell the salt on the sea breeze, and his knowledge dives deeper than Davy Jones’ locker. He’s exactly what Salem needs when commercialism threatens to sink the experience. The Pirate, the man, the myth, the legend... Johnny doesn’t just guide you; he pulls you aboard and makes history feel alive. I can’t say enough good things except that if you leave without booking him for the directors tour you might as well be walking the plank! :)

Amazing tour. Although it was self guided, this museum was amazing. The signs were easy to read and the exhibits were incredible. One of the best experiences I have ever had.

This was a lot of fun, especially if you want to learn and see a real treasure of pirates. I highly recommend.

This is, hands down, the best small museum I’ve ever visited—the displays were beautifully arranged and so interesting. One thing I especially liked was that interpretations written on the walls were large enough to read without getting right on top of them. The human guide was knowledgeable and engaged, and the admission price was reasonable. I recommend this without reservation. BTW, there’s at least one other pirate museum in Salem—make sure you go to “Real Pirates Salem."

It was excellent. Our guide, Josh, aka Pirate Herbert (or was it Norbert) was very knowledgeable of the Whydah and Captain Sam Bellamy and Blackbeard too. He made the tour fun and enjoyable. And the most commendable part is he was supposed to go home early but he extended the stay so he can give us all the details. The exhibits were also great. It was a worthwhile visit.. Highly recommend.

This is a gem of a museum located just down the way from the visitor’s museum! We chose the Guided Tour, and it was interesting to get a bit more backstory on the items they have on display and learn more about the pirate Black Sam Bellamy, his lover Maria, and his crew. I currently have a book written this year in their bookstore, and they asked me to sign them, which was awesome, and I loved spending time with the “crew” working there. They are very engaging and knowledgeable! This museum is a sister museum to The Whydah Pirate Museum down in West Yarmouth, where explorer Barry Clifford showcases his finds and his story of how The Whydah Galley was discovered. Black Sam is not very well-known, but his story is full of many adventures, including sailing with Blackbeard!

We visited Salem and our guided tour included this museum. We are from Charleston, SC so we were interested in pirates to begin with! The introduction to the tour is really informative and even our teenagers enjoyed walking through the museum. Pretty cool story and you get to see real artifacts!

The museum was amazing with so much history and real life coming to life. The only reason this is average, is we signed up for the Director's Tour. With this tour, we were told it was 1 1/2 hours long. 1 hour into the tour, we were barely 1/3 of the way thorough the museum. The tour guide was great, but went into too much detail to the extent that my spouse and I left and finished the museum on our own after 1 hour. This is well worth the visit, but maybe not the guided tour if you do not want to listen to hours of stories and college level detail about Pirate history.

This place was so cool! Carolyn(I think her name was) the owner was so friendly. Checked us in and really made sure we enjoyed our experience. Seeing all the real artifacts was so neat. I will definitely recommend to others!

We took the Director's Tour and would strongly urge everyone to take it. Our Director for the first half was actually one of the principals and was absolutely fantastic. She switched us to one of the staff for the second half. This was his first tour and it showed. He was ok but needs some guidance on effective lecturing. In any case, it was a great experience. Well worth the price.

I did not know what to expect when I booked this tour, except that I was sure that I knew nothing about pirates. After 2 1/2 hours at this fascinating museum I am hooked. There are a variety of exhibits, all unique and each its own learning experience. Everything on display in the museum is genuine and represents its own back story. Because we were lucky enough to have a fabulous guide, I learned so much more than just about pirates. I left with many more questions than answers. There is so much more I want to learn about the life of a pirate, both male and female, pirate ships, and the treasures that were found on these ships. I highly recommend a visit to the Real Pirates Salem Museum. I am already looking forward to my return visit!

After a brilliant tour of the House of Seven Gables with Stephanie Clements, I booked onto this tour because I wanted to learn more from her. I didn't know much about pirates before I came (hardly anything, in fact) but by the end I was absolutely transfixed by it all and couldn't wait to come home and research everything! Stephanie is such a great storyteller, explaining all of the history in a fun and easy to digest way. I enjoyed this so much and would definitely come back. It made such a huge difference having a guide rather than just visiting the museum solo.

Took the directors tour in the morning on the 4th. The tour was amazing. The staff was great and knowledgeable. I learned a lot and had a great time! It was fun learning about the lives of real Pirates and seeing actual artifacts from the ships.

A hidden treasure right in the middle of Salem, MA! So close to everything. This is a must see museum. Make it a priority when visiting Salem. Regardless of your age or where you are from, you will get something out of it. The story of the shipwrecked Whydah Gally is a fascinating one. It's wild that it went down off Cape Cod back in 1717, only to be discovered in 1984. The museum flows well, is interactive, and managed by the best staff in the industry.

great tour!! spent about 3 hours there. the staff was great! very friendly. a lot of interesting history. Would definitely recommend checking it out.

We experienced Real Pirates Salem with our Scout Troop and families. Carolyn welcomed us into her museum and gave us a fantastic experience. Yes, you can do the museum on your own. But, Carolyn brought the story behind the actual artifacts to life, engaging the Scouts and the adults in the experience. Some really cool stuff at the end with the concretions and stuff they're working on. Our trip created lasting memories for our Scouts and families. Look forward to going back and seeing what else they have learned from the Whydah.

Absolutely excellent. Captain Johny Depps is the best. It was informative, entertaining, sad and fun. I was delightfully surprised by how good it was!

Instead of just buying tickets to the museum, I bought the guided tour because I thought it would be more interesting for my grandchildren, age 11 and 14 . It was awful. The guide was dressed in pirate costume, but he spoke low, and in a monotone, and was just not interesting at all. He basically read what I could read on the wall from the exhibit. The kids were bored after about five minutes and wandered off. We left early.

A really fantastic museum and a nice change to hear about this part of Salems history too. I'd suggest buying tickets direct as we brought through trip advisor expecting the directors tour booked but it was only the standard entry. They were very good and sorted us out.

This collection of a real pirate shipwreck and its artifacts is so cool and beautifully displayed. The best part is the people who work here - all are so passionate and so friendly - we got so much more than just a museum tour! Definitely recommend and would go back.

As a pirate buff, I had a blast! Learned a few things I didn’t know, AND was able to touch several pieces of 8! Amazing! But to me the highlight of the tour was when our guide opened the container housing the concrete like material which once covered one of the cannon recovered from the shipwreck Whydah. You could clearly smell the wood and gunpowder! Talk about bringing history alive!! A+ Do t miss this one folks!

My spouse and I had the pleasure of attending the directors tour with Bill. He is very knowledgeable on the history of the ship Whydah, artifacts, and of those persons involved during that time. After Bill completed his tour, my husband and I started from the beginning and took time to read all the information and take pictures. This tour was a nice break from everything else we did and saw in Salem. Highly recommend this tour for others. If you are on the fence, just do it! Thanks Bill!

I was going to cancel this event but it was less than 24 hours so I wouldn't be able to get a refund. We went on Wednesday 9/13/23 we were greeted by a nice man at the front desk who told us our guide, Stephanie would be ready shortly. We were surprised that we were the only people there and that was a bad feeling for us about this guided tour. We were right about our feelings because Stephanie was not friendly, with no sense of humor or enthusiasm, just bland. She gave us the tour with someone else with her (Beverly) I believe that was the name. The extra person with her was not friendly either and did not contribute anything positive at all to this tour. The entire tour was just the facts and no personality at all from them. I believe they were uncomfortable with us. On a positive note the museum was interesting and worth a visit without paying for the guided tour. We noticed other people there during our visit did the tour without a guide. The entire time we visited Salem all of the other guides were personable. I think this museum should think about that when they are hiring guides.

Our family (2 adults and 2 kids ages 4 and 7) really enjoyed our time at Real Pirates! I highly recommend the Director's Tour. Our pirate guide was incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the artifacts and history, and we learned so much more than we could have on our own. He was a fabulous storyteller too! The kids were treated so kindly and generously, and the staff was amazing! You must visit this gem on your next trip to Salem!

I brought my 2 children and 2 nephews here. It was a beautifully crafted museum. The set up was immersive and we felt like we were really a part of the pirate experience. We were lucky to tour the museum with one of the co-owners. He was extremely knowledgeable and engaging. He told us all about the story of the ship, the pirates and the expedition to find the missing ship. Great value for an affordable price!

We did the directors tour and it was great. We were able to go at our speed. Our tour guide explained everything in great detail and it was a very welcoming experience.

Our tour guide was amazing. Victor was the best . Had a great time would recommend this tour to everybody a 5 star tour great job.☠️💀☠️💀

Interesting tales of the pirate history in the area. Good display of the artifacts and story behind the sinking of the Whydah.

Excellent presentation of both the Atlantic slave trade and piracy. Fascinating artifacts from the Whydah, a slave ship captured by pirates.

We just returned from a fabulous afternoon touring the Real Pirates Museum in Salem, MA. Our guide was an expert on the history of piracy in and around MA during the 18th century. Featured is a recounting of the real-life story of "Black Sam" Bellamy and his beloved, Maria Hallett. The name of Bellamy's ship was the Whydah Gally. Seeing the actual treasures and parts of this ancient ship was a thrill. Everything is researched and authenticated. The dioramas are first class. You will not be disappointed.

You can learn the dramatic true story of Black Sam Bellamy and his crew. The Director's Tour is well worth the extra ticket cost.

I wanted to take the opportunity to recommend this tour and to personally thank Bill for an awesome experience at Real Pirates Salem. The Museum and Tour are fabulous. The History of the Whydah and Sam Bellamy are so interesting that you will not want to leave. Bill was tremendous in explaining the history and search of the wreck to my Grands. We all thoroughly enjoyed the tour and will be back again to learn more on the ongoing salvage. BE A PIRATE. ARRRRRH.

We had an absolute blast! Our tour guide was so kind and accommodating. His knowledge was vast and we enjoyed every second!

I took the directors tour in late November 2022, and was amazedat the actual artifacts and treasure that was brought up from the wreck of the WHYDAH, shipwrecked off the coast of cape cod almost 300 years ago. The guide was a walking encyclopedia of fascinating historical stories about the ship, the pirates and the story of how they managed to loot hundreds of millions of dollars of gold, silver, gems and other treasure from dozens of ships as they plowed the waters up the coast of the Americas to their doom off the cape. How decisions were made was a case study in democracy, before democracy was born. And there was a witch! Marie Hallett, who’s beauty inspired Captain Black Sam Bellamy to win her the riches that were needed to defy her parents dislike of black Sam. This is the real deal. Don’t miss it.

This Museum was above my expectations. Very informative and the curator went above and beyond to make the group's experience great. It was a lot to learn especially about things in our own backyard. It was totally worth it. I would truly recommend this to visitors coming to Salem especially at Halloween. This is definitely a place for schools to get a good education and they'll come out in awe. I hope to get the rest of my group & some re-peat people to go to this again. I'm sure if you go back, there will have been things you missed

We took the Director’s Tour with Jason. He was very knowledgeable and kept it interesting. I was thrilled with the entire tour, and Jason had an awesome outfit on as a Pirate. I would recommend this tour. Great job JASON!!!

Jason, our tour guide was excellent!!! He is very knowledgeable about Black Sam Bellamy and his escapades. We've been to other pirate exhibits, and they did not compare to this interactive experience. We are so glad we took the time to learn about this shipwreck and its treasures. A big thank you to Jackie for suggesting it.

This was one of the highlights of our trip! We did the Director's Tour. It was interesting and informative. We had plenty of time to examine the exhibits and our tour guide answered our questions. Worth your time and money!!

We had a great time here. I really liked the directors tour and how passionate he spoke about the histories and treasure hunting experience. We even got to touch legit pirate booty. You can't say that everyday.

I took a group of four individuals with disabilities and two other staff besides myself to the real pirates museum. We were booked for the director's tour at 10:30. Due to parking issues and some other things we ended up arriving 1 hour late. This trip took about a month to plan speaking with what I am assuming was the manager. Completely disappointed in the problems we were having with finding parking for our bus, we decided to go anyway and just walk around. Upon arriving we were met with the absolute best service!! The staff were unbelievably accommodating. They found us a pirate to help guide us through and explain everything. This meant so much to us that we were still able to get the tour and on top of that they helped to get our pictures and inside info on the best parking in Salem!! We will be sure to visit again and recommend to anyone looking for an amazing experience.