I have a small fascination for all things pirate, so the Pirate Soul Museum seemed like a good choice for exploration during my cruise ship’s port stop at Key West, Florida. Key West has dozens of little tourist-oriented museums which can be explored in an hour or so and this is one of the newer ones. My husband and I found our visit to the Pirate Soul Museum enjoyable, if a bit speedy for the price.

General Information
The museum is located on Front Street in Key West. If you are visiting the city via a cruise ship, it will be directly to your left after disembarking the conch each guest much take into the city. Museum hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The cost is $15.00 for adults and $9.00 for children but you can save a dollar or so by purchasing tickets from the museum website. No photography or video is allowed in the museum.

The museum if a walk through self-guided tour which takes between 45 minutes and an hour and fifteen minutes. We really took our time after paying $15.00. You can also arrange for a cruise ship shore excursion to the museum if you are willing to pay another extra dollars, but I have no idea why one would do that when it is within a half a block of
the drop off point and easy to navigate on your own.

What You Will See
The Pirate Soul Museum takes visitors through different scenes in a pirate’s life. A series of artifacts and interactive activities can be found in each section. You’ll visit a model of Port Royal, Jamaica, which was the capital of pirate activity. Guests also head through a pirate tavern with computer ‘books’ to learn about different famous pirates. One segment of the museum is designed to look like a ship, with a gang plank and sails. Another is a dark room with a three minute sound presentation. Make sure you don’t miss this. In a quiet room with headphones on it really sounds like a pirate battle is raging around you. The final portion of the museum displays Blackbeard’s animated severed head (gross but kind of fun, as it talks to you) and a section on pirate treasure.

Some of the artifacts are really quite impressive. I was surprised they had so many authentic (and probably expensive) artifacts in such a small museum. The museum contains the only existing pirate treasure chest. I enjoyed seeing the false lock on the front, while the real one was hidden under a piece of metal on top of the chest. One of the only two authenticated Jolly Roger flags can be found in the library section of the museum, and you can get your photo taken in front of it with a real pirate. There are also some artifacts from the ships of the world’s most famous pirates.

In addition to the artifacts my husband and I were also very impressed with the cleanliness and extremely modern appearance of the museum. Clearly a lot of money and effort went into the creation of this museum. The room designed to look like a ship was particularly elaborate. We enjoyed the computers with the pirate information, although a line was building to enjoy them before we left at one.

I loved the pirate theme of this museum, and the displays were very blunt about pirate life. Because of this I definitely wouldn’t bring young children to the museum. I saw a little boy crying virtually everywhere we went. Adults and teens with an interest in pirates will love the displays.

It’s a Small Museum After All…
My biggest complaint was that the museum was very small for the price. Even if you dawdle like we did, $15.00 is quite a bit for a museum that can be toured for an hour. Other small museums and the Key West Aquarium charge around $10. Another problem with the small size was that once the museum began to get crowded, it was difficult to access the displays. Folks would park themselves in front of the interactive ones for a while and there was no real time limit on anything. I can’t imagine how it would be when large groups of tourists from shore excursions began to head through. Hopefully the museum limits capacity. Because of the small size, I strongly advise visiting the Pirate Soul Museum first thing, like we did.

Gift Shops
If your quest through pirate history makes you want your own Jolly Roger flag or bottle of pirate rum, there is a nice little gift shop upon exiting the store. I really liked a lot of the T-shirts and prices were reasonable. You can also buy the photo of your family with the “real” pirate in front of the Jolly Roger. Across from this store there is a pirate themed store “for lovers” which only adults may go in. This offers pirate and other items of a racier nature. We strolled through, but really just thought it was kind of a weird store and the merchandise looked pretty old.

Overall…
Pirate Soul Museum was a nice place to spend an hour in Key West. The technology and the quality of the artifacts far exceeded my expectations although the museum was a little small for the price. If you’re looking for a place to get out of the sun on your trip to Key West or have a particular interest in pirates, this museum will not disappoint.

*Check out my complete review of Key West!

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime