That stretch of the river is awesome. Can’t speak for those particular tours or being in a group but I kayaked it with my teenager on our own (booked through a tour company to get a permit) last April and it was great. Lots of hot springs in the side canyons to explore. We did it as a full day thing though. I’d make sure whatever you are booking has time to get out and explore. That was the best part!

Did not tour the dam but would have with more time. Really enjoyed our river trip though. We were told that it gets crazy in summer but we had the upper stretch right below the river largely to ourselves in spring.

The postcard tour is perfect if you have limited time or if it’s not summertime. The longer raft is great in the summer.

Following

My kids really liked the Hoover dam tour. They were young teens.

I'm debating options for a trip mid-April and appreciate any advice from others. Option A is to book the 3-hour Colorado river raft tour, which has you rafting (floating) immediately below the dam. It's a longer raft tour that ends on the Arizona side of the Colorado river. This option would have us stopping in the visitor center but skipping the guided dam tour, for which you can't purchase tickets in advance anyway. Option B is the postcard raft tour, which is 1.5 hours on the Colorado river. I think that with this option we would attempt to get tickets to a guided dam tour. Our group is 2 adults, 2 teenagers and a tween.