We did a dinner cruise. The food was pretty awesome. I have never had baked salmon that tender and delicious. Good salad bar and other meat selection. The waiter was professional and attentive. After the meal the sight seeing on the upper deck was second to none. The dance party DJ kept throwing shout outs to us because it was our anniversary. Nice personalization and we had a blast. If your thinking about it, be like Nike. Just Do It!
Tany Jenny Paz
Where to start? My husband and I took the signature dinner cruise on June 28th for the bargain price of $243 and it is $243 we will never get back. The moment we got on board, the smell of filth hit is overwhelming. The a/c did not work properly and sitting inside was unbearable. The food was absolutely disgusting. It was like cafeteria food; very bad cafeteria food. The mystery Mexican corn casserole thing was something of nightmares. The bathrooms smelled worse than a port-a-potty. Oh they were absolutely AWFUL! I ended up just leaving my filled plate of slop so I could escape to the breeze outside. We perched ourselves on the lower back deck for the shortened 2 hour cruise and just drank the night away. It was semi-decent out there until 2 of the teenagers from this gigantic teen tourist group decided to use it as their personal make-out spot: the kid made it all the way to 3rd base so I guess the evening wasn’t a complete bust for everyone! All of the staff were very friendly and the cruise did not do as promised which was to sail around manhattan to the east river. I guess there was an issue with the coast guard stopping that from happening. The host was very kind and professional about it. And the cherry on top; our waitress; when we went to give her a tip, surprised us with a $124 mystery bar bill which was confusing because we assumed the drinks were included since we paid so damn much for the tickets. I don’t know, maybe I read the ticket wrong. But then it almost seemed as if she was scamming us because when we asked to see the check; she didn’t have it. So, in the interest of just wanting to get the hell out of there, I told my husband to just give her the credit card. She whipped out her credit card machine which she turned on and then seemingly turned back off and asked us “don’t you have cash”? Boy was that sketchy as hell!!! Thankfully we did not have cash! Then she says “don’t worry about it”. It was very odd!!! Never again with City cruises!
Ramon Ray
What an amazing time. From before we got on the boat, to right as we left. Smiles, and a great experience. Food was good. Service was good. We celebrated our wedding anniversary. Wonderful staff. Thank you!
Amber Crane
This was one of our best experiences in NYC. We went up and stood the entire time at the front of the boat and we had the best views! Went right by lady liberty ♥️ it was amazing - sunset tour highly recommended!!
Moones Rajabi
Pretty organized, we enjoyed our time a lot last night, thanks to the staff. Also a reasonable price ticket.
Monique Lozano
We booked the pedestal tickets at 1pm. It tells you to get there half hour early. It took us HOURS to get on the boat just to leave. When asking a person who works there right when getting off where a priority line for the pedestal was she said there wasn’t. As we continued to walk we saw the signage. We missed the cutoff for the pedestal by 4 minutes and weren’t able to be let in. Kids were devastated especially after waiting hours in line. My advice is book as early as possible in the day.
juliet Foster
ALWAYS an amazing time on City Cruises!! And we had the perfect weather for it! ??
Chris Henderson
What a terrible experience.
My wife was supposed to join a bachelorette party for the brunch cruise today. We live 2 hours away and she left with plenty of cushion to get there early, but unfortunately hit traffic and was 8 minutes late. Most for the rest of the party had been on board and asked staff to wait for the few minutes it would take my wife to get there and they initially agreed, but when my wife arrived they said they could wait no longer. The boat was still docked and didn’t leave the dock for 12 minutes after she got there. She was met with a rude employee who turned her and the friends she was with away, and provided no explanation as to why they could not board the boat that was still there.
I can imagine this being the case if the boat was gone. She would not expect them to turn around, but when the boat is still there it is just terrible customer service to deny people who paid already entry. There was no refund, there was no kindness or apology, no explanation. The staff was rude and ruined a fun day for a group of friends.
There are other river cruise companies in the area people, maybe consider going to one that will treat you well as a customer.
Update: I have tried several ways of communicating with this company and tried to speak to a supervisor who will not simply tell me their policies. No one seems apologetic, no one has been considerate, it’s all about keeping the money they took without rendering a service. No way for an experience-based business to treat customers. What an awful experience this has been. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
You should take every one star review with a grain of salt, but this has just been a terrible experience all around and it has only gotten worse.
Julie T
It was a good trip
Elizabeth Palmer
We disembarked at Ellis Island and specifically asked the crew if there was another ferry to the Statue of Liberty and we were told there was one more. After getting off we were told that was the last ferry to the Statue of Liberty and therefore we didn’t get to go to the Statue of Liberty after standing waiting for the ferry for over an hour. This was a very poorly run operation with little to no communication to people onboard.
You would think that on a DINNER cruise, you would actually get to eat dinner. Don’t come hungry, because there’s a chance you might not get any food. I came here with a large group and we were one of the first tables to board, but the very last table to get called up to the buffet. By the time we got to the buffet, there was no more salad, chicken, or pasta.
I don’t drink, but other people in our group bought the top shelf alcohol package, and the waitstaff and bartenders had no idea about that and still made them pay for drinks a la carte.
When booking a ticket, you have the option to pay an additional $30/person to guarantee a window view. Imagine my surprise when I walked onto this filthy outdated boat to see that ALL the tables had a window view.
Just go to a waterside restaurant instead if you want a good meal with nice city views.
Pete Smith
Great lunch buffet. See statue library nyc skyline building
Karen Wagner
We went with a senior group on the Spirit of New Jersey in a heat wave, temperature was 88 degrees out , the boat had no A/C , doors were left open , unable to cool off on boat , they gave a bottle of water with buffet , eventually offering some ice tea . .They were lucky that no one didn’t pass out , felt nauseous and had a headache , most of us had heat exhaustion.Coordinator was told later that there would be no A/C on boat.This was a cruise from hell!!
Steven Smith
Worse cruise ever, staff super rude and lazy. Food had no flavor. DJ basically put on a CD and went to sleep.we docked an hour before cruise was over and they basically rushed us outta there...try somewhere else...the good reviews were posted by staff
We did a dinner cruise. The food was pretty awesome. I have never had baked salmon that tender and delicious. Good salad bar and other meat selection. The waiter was professional and attentive. After the meal the sight seeing on the upper deck was second to none. The dance party DJ kept throwing shout outs to us because it was our anniversary. Nice personalization and we had a blast. If your thinking about it, be like Nike. Just Do It!
Where to start? My husband and I took the signature dinner cruise on June 28th for the bargain price of $243 and it is $243 we will never get back. The moment we got on board, the smell of filth hit is overwhelming. The a/c did not work properly and sitting inside was unbearable. The food was absolutely disgusting. It was like cafeteria food; very bad cafeteria food. The mystery Mexican corn casserole thing was something of nightmares. The bathrooms smelled worse than a port-a-potty. Oh they were absolutely AWFUL! I ended up just leaving my filled plate of slop so I could escape to the breeze outside. We perched ourselves on the lower back deck for the shortened 2 hour cruise and just drank the night away. It was semi-decent out there until 2 of the teenagers from this gigantic teen tourist group decided to use it as their personal make-out spot: the kid made it all the way to 3rd base so I guess the evening wasn’t a complete bust for everyone! All of the staff were very friendly and the cruise did not do as promised which was to sail around manhattan to the east river. I guess there was an issue with the coast guard stopping that from happening. The host was very kind and professional about it. And the cherry on top; our waitress; when we went to give her a tip, surprised us with a $124 mystery bar bill which was confusing because we assumed the drinks were included since we paid so damn much for the tickets. I don’t know, maybe I read the ticket wrong. But then it almost seemed as if she was scamming us because when we asked to see the check; she didn’t have it. So, in the interest of just wanting to get the hell out of there, I told my husband to just give her the credit card. She whipped out her credit card machine which she turned on and then seemingly turned back off and asked us “don’t you have cash”? Boy was that sketchy as hell!!! Thankfully we did not have cash! Then she says “don’t worry about it”. It was very odd!!! Never again with City cruises!
What an amazing time. From before we got on the boat, to right as we left. Smiles, and a great experience. Food was good. Service was good. We celebrated our wedding anniversary. Wonderful staff. Thank you!
This was one of our best experiences in NYC. We went up and stood the entire time at the front of the boat and we had the best views! Went right by lady liberty ♥️ it was amazing - sunset tour highly recommended!!
Pretty organized, we enjoyed our time a lot last night, thanks to the staff. Also a reasonable price ticket.
We booked the pedestal tickets at 1pm. It tells you to get there half hour early. It took us HOURS to get on the boat just to leave. When asking a person who works there right when getting off where a priority line for the pedestal was she said there wasn’t. As we continued to walk we saw the signage. We missed the cutoff for the pedestal by 4 minutes and weren’t able to be let in. Kids were devastated especially after waiting hours in line. My advice is book as early as possible in the day.
ALWAYS an amazing time on City Cruises!! And we had the perfect weather for it! ??
What a terrible experience.
My wife was supposed to join a bachelorette party for the brunch cruise today. We live 2 hours away and she left with plenty of cushion to get there early, but unfortunately hit traffic and was 8 minutes late. Most for the rest of the party had been on board and asked staff to wait for the few minutes it would take my wife to get there and they initially agreed, but when my wife arrived they said they could wait no longer. The boat was still docked and didn’t leave the dock for 12 minutes after she got there. She was met with a rude employee who turned her and the friends she was with away, and provided no explanation as to why they could not board the boat that was still there.
I can imagine this being the case if the boat was gone. She would not expect them to turn around, but when the boat is still there it is just terrible customer service to deny people who paid already entry. There was no refund, there was no kindness or apology, no explanation. The staff was rude and ruined a fun day for a group of friends.
There are other river cruise companies in the area people, maybe consider going to one that will treat you well as a customer.
Update: I have tried several ways of communicating with this company and tried to speak to a supervisor who will not simply tell me their policies. No one seems apologetic, no one has been considerate, it’s all about keeping the money they took without rendering a service. No way for an experience-based business to treat customers. What an awful experience this has been. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
You should take every one star review with a grain of salt, but this has just been a terrible experience all around and it has only gotten worse.
It was a good trip
We disembarked at Ellis Island and specifically asked the crew if there was another ferry to the Statue of Liberty and we were told there was one more. After getting off we were told that was the last ferry to the Statue of Liberty and therefore we didn’t get to go to the Statue of Liberty after standing waiting for the ferry for over an hour. This was a very poorly run operation with little to no communication to people onboard.
Restaurantji Recommends
This is a total scam.
You would think that on a DINNER cruise, you would actually get to eat dinner. Don’t come hungry, because there’s a chance you might not get any food. I came here with a large group and we were one of the first tables to board, but the very last table to get called up to the buffet. By the time we got to the buffet, there was no more salad, chicken, or pasta.
I don’t drink, but other people in our group bought the top shelf alcohol package, and the waitstaff and bartenders had no idea about that and still made them pay for drinks a la carte.
When booking a ticket, you have the option to pay an additional $30/person to guarantee a window view. Imagine my surprise when I walked onto this filthy outdated boat to see that ALL the tables had a window view.
Just go to a waterside restaurant instead if you want a good meal with nice city views.
Great lunch buffet. See statue library nyc skyline building
We went with a senior group on the Spirit of New Jersey in a heat wave, temperature was 88 degrees out , the boat had no A/C , doors were left open , unable to cool off on boat , they gave a bottle of water with buffet , eventually offering some ice tea . .They were lucky that no one didn’t pass out , felt nauseous and had a headache , most of us had heat exhaustion.Coordinator was told later that there would be no A/C on boat.This was a cruise from hell!!
Worse cruise ever, staff super rude and lazy. Food had no flavor. DJ basically put on a CD and went to sleep.we docked an hour before cruise was over and they basically rushed us outta there...try somewhere else...the good reviews were posted by staff
I want to do it again
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