City Cruises Washington DC - Pier 4

We had a fantastic company dinner cruise on the Odyssey! From the planning process with Emily to the day of event execution: food, service, atmosphere...we were very pleased. Thank you to Erica and your team for making us feel welcome and taking good care of our guests! The DJ accommodated song requests. Our bartender even made fun mocktails for the kids onboard. Being out on the water and seeing the city and monuments lit up was a pretty cool experience and made for a memorable evening!

EXCELLENT. Staff was so friendly, fun, and helpful. Special shoutout to TALIA REID for being the most amazing coordinator and helper. She made sure the evening went perfectly.

Great cruise, our DJ kept us having a great time. The views, of course, were awesome. The food was not bad for lunch. The boat esthetics were mid. Our server was attentive but busy at times when needed dancing, lol. It was good to see them joining in.

THIS IS THE EVENT TO BEAT!!! Ms. Holly at the bar took SUCH good care of us the entire night. Our server chillay was so nice and made us feel like family! I was elated at the end of the event. I do want to brag the most on Ms. Holly again! Love her so much!!!

I attended for a family birthday dinner. It was great time. Definitely worth the price($145). It came with a 3 course meal and drinks. The DJ was also very good and the atmosphere was great.

I booked this event to celebrate my fiancee's 40th birthday with several dozen of our friends. Given the extremely high cost of this service (approaching $150 a ticket), I thought I'd be getting something special to mark the occasion. Nothing could have been further from the truth, and nearly every person we brought with us commented at some point or another during the evening about how something had irked them. I'll list the highlights here:

-Unresponsive team with regard to booking the event to begin with
-A buffet with extremely average food that we had to wait multiple times to get refilled and was then taken away completely for the evening before the one hour point
-DJ managed to both get my fiancee's name wrong when announcing her birthday, then failed to play the one song she requested for the evening
-Music was incredibly loud, to the point many of our guests had to retreat to the back of the boat to not have their ears blown out
-The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting and filled with a terrible smell that ran the entire length of the evening, so I don't even know what was going on there

In general, this entire operation feels like a money grab, and my fiancee was beyond brokenhearted by her evening. Her friends and I went out the next weekend to celebrate her birthday to a lovely restaurant that wound up costing less than half as much per person with far nicer food and amenities. Do yourself a favor and please consider any other venue for your events. It's too late for us, but it isn't for you.

I couldn’t think of a better place to get engaged. My fiance booked a cruise here on Friday and was truly impressed with the service and experience.

Food was delicious. I really liked the flavor of the za’atar steak with the gravy, and the basque-style cheesecake. I did not mind the wait at all, and, in fact, they were nice enough to serve extra bread to everyone while you waited. If there is one thing I’d suggest, it would be to add a little more seasoning to the puree with the steak. Also, add less salt to the au jus. However, the food was overall great. It’s nice to have a little boat ride while seeing sights such as the Georgetown Waterfront, US Capitol, and some of the monuments from the water. Ride is so relaxing and you barely feel the boat moving.

Our server was so nice. I’m allergic to dogs, and was worried about having a reaction when someone came in with their service dog. So, thankfully, my fiance and I moved to another seat, and that helped the experience so much. I forgot the server’s name, but he deserves accolades for accommodating my allergies (it would have ruined the night to get an allergic reaction) and telling his manager and the DJ to make an announcement about our engagement.

You also get an opportunity to get your picture taken by a professional photographer, which is so important to remember my engagement night.

The DJ plays a variety of music such as old-school hits and some new hits for those to dance to, but it would be nice to have some more slow dances, especially for couples who have anniversaries or have gotten engaged.

Everyone was so nice, and you get amazing sights, music, and food as part of your experience. Overall, I would highly recommend City Cruises. Thank you for making my engagement special.

I just wanted to take a moment to express our sincere appreciation for the outstanding service provided by Candice Valentine, who served our group of 27 on Inner Harbor Spirit today for lunch cruise. From the moment we boarded, Candice’s friendly and attentive approach made a lasting impression. She was incredibly professional and ensured that every detail was handled seamlessly, making our experience truly enjoyable.

Candice’s dedication to serving our group, managing all of our needs with efficiency and warmth, was remarkable. We couldn’t have asked for a better server, and we look forward to bringing another group aboard in the future – and we’d love for Candice to be part of that experience again.

Thank you, Candice, for making our time on the cruise unforgettable!

Anniversary EMBARASSMENT -

Unfortunately, my experience was regretfully memorable — My gf and I was denied entry onto the cruise and had to watch it sail away, without us. For anyone considering booking the Washington DC Signature Bottomless Mimosa Brunch Cruise, I strongly advise reading this review and proceeding with CAUTION.

A few weeks ago, I booked a cruise for two through TripAdvisor, 24 hours in advance, only to arrive and discover that City Cruises had no record of my reservation due to a system error. Despite providing all confirmation details—emails, credit card transactions, etc.—the ONLY solution City Cruises offered was for me to contact TripAdvisor directly to resolve the issue. After traveling across the city to ensure we arrived on time, allowing for any unforeseen delays, it was incredibly frustrating that the company refused to assist in correcting the problem. It would have been appreciated if City Cruises had made an effort to resolve the issue, such as conducting a root cause analysis, and settle it once we returned to the Pier.

Fortunately, TripAdvisor was understanding and helpful, explaining that "You are not the first person to call in today," and issued a full refund within 48 hours.

To avoid any potential issues, I highly recommend calling ahead to confirm your reservation is on the list before arriving.

Food tastes absolutely delicious.
The music get you out your seat

The food and tour were amazing! We took the Odyssey today and loved it!

The boat is not bad, the staff is not bad, but the experience is totally lacking and most certainly not worth the price.

1. Advertising is innaccurate to put it mildly. No views of Washington monuments because you go upstream up to the first bridge and then they turn downstream. No views. Which would be fine if you had not been promised views and charged extra for window seating.

2. The drinks package is not a discount on drinks. It’s an extremely limited menu of house drinks. You will not be able de order what you want, but what they have. Three quarters of drinks are off the package. I let the package go and had to order out of pocket.

3. Food is not bad. Except it’s cold, there’s a half hour gap between the three course, and you will be forced to eat medium well steak. Cold.

4. Understaffed or quite simply bad service. Takes 20 minutes to get a drink. Which I paid out of pocket despite having a drink package.

5. It’s not live music. It’s a DJ that half the time leaves a four or five song stretch of music. You will not “dance the night away”. This is not entertainment. It’s recorded music.

So here’s the deal: if you pay over $800 dollars for a 2.5 hour experience for 3, you expect a certain level of experience. This is worth no more than a hundred dollars per person, and even at that (and forgetting all other issues) it’s quite simply… boring. It’s not just a waste of money; most importantly, it’s a total waste of something a lot more valuable: your time. If I got this for free a second time, I would not go.

Delayed by over an hour.

Love this experience. We did premiere with plated dinner. Music was great. Sights are beautiful

The Odyssey is now a filthy rust bucket I predict they'll be out of business in the near future.

They must be in financial trouble those glass windows in a mostly all glass boat haven't been cleaned in forever, they're filthy.

The outside has a lot of rust in his badly needing a paint job