City Cruises Reviews 1,573

I had a wonderful time at this experience with City Cruises! I booked a cruise at the Navy Pier to celebrate my birthday with my husband, mom, and grandmother. The food was phenomenal so was the DJ! I also enjoyed the fact that we could step outside to enjoy the breeze and beautiful views as well. I would definitely do it again!

Hubby and I had a wonderful anniversary on the brunch cruise! Plenty of parking, easy to find, boarding and departure on schedule. The brunch is served buffet style and different on both levels. It was good! There was a talented one-man musician singer that covered all genres of music that could be heard through speakers on on levels. Great for groups celebrating a special occasion. We were lucky to have perfect weather and sunshine that day to enjoy the massive top deck, that served up beautiful views around the marina, to walk around the deck or just sit at one of the lounge areas set up for a group or to make new friends. The friendly staff was attentive and fun, filling up our champagne flutes and taking pictures for us. I will definitely be going again. This would be a great outing for the MDR Holiday Boat Parade which is always the 2nd Saturday in December. This year will be 12/13/2025.

The atmosphere was great but the service was questionable. After arriving and checking in, we got seated at our table and then went off to explore the ship. When we came back, we found that our stuff had been moved and another couple was sitting in our seats. When we confronted our waitress about it, she had several weird excuses which made it hard to figure out if she was trying to say she moved us, or the guests moved our stuff. She even asked us, "Well did you want the better seats or?" (Our old seats were considered the "better" seats.) We let it go, but just wanted to inform her mainly because the guests were drinking the water we had already drank out of. We knew it was still our water because those were the only items that hadn't been moved. She said she would change them for them and never did, which we thought was gross. We came for my birthday as well, so they gave me a little card that said happy birthday. At first, she also tried to say, "oh well isn't this your birthday card? This must be your table then," in order to convince us or something that she/the couple didn't move us. When my husband asked again after about 10 minutes, she actually admitted that those were our seats. It was just a weird exchange.

Throughout the night, she continued to pressure us to order appetizers in the beginning (which are additional charge outside of the buffet experience we already paid for), and then alcoholic drinks, even though I already told her that neither of us drink. After ordering a single diet coke, my husband took a few sips from my coke, and at the end, we noticed she charged us for two cokes. It would have been totally fine for us to pay for two if she gave us at least another coke for my husband, but we only had one cup and it took her 30 minutes to even get it to us. Otherwise, maybe I missed where it said no refills? However, I'm almost certain the menu said refills for soft drinks. Her excuse for taking 30 minutes was "I'm sorry, the machine broke," while we literally watched her serve soft drinks to other guests. We never confronted her about the bill as we were already over the terrible service she gave us.

Overall, the food was good, atmosphere was great, along with the emcee and dj, but just that one waitress, Cristina, made our experience terrible. Wish we would have gotten a different city experience, let alone spent my birthday dinner elsewhere.

Beautuful day. Great crew. And very informative. I would like to see a larger sign. It was a little difficult to find the entrance

This was a great experience for my family especially the children ages 10 to 14, they had super fun.
The food was excellent, nice portions, choices of drinks were great. Music and game/view area upstairs is a plus though
the music was boring. The stairs to board the ship was very poor, it was shaky and boarding the ship isn't for the faint hearted on this one. I was terrified of falling into the water and dropped my shoe. Just for the stairs to board I won't do this again. Over all experience 4, stairway boarding, minus 10

They were professional and very organized. Their ship was safe and clean, and the length of the tour was just perfect for people trying to do as much as they can in a city within a limited time frame. Definitely take this tour - you'll see and learn a lot, and the price is reasonable.

It was all easy to access with the help of app...no waiting on lines needed. Best experience and affordable.

The food, music and dancing was great.

I was so excited to plan this cruise for my husband’s 60th birthday. Everything was on schedule and our guests were all able to take the days off, but then I received an email only a week before the event saying that they needed to cancel. I was so upset and when I asked why, they said they got reservations for two big parties, even though I had already booked it and all. I realized they don’t value their costumers and just got greedy about the profit. Very upset since we were all looking forward to it.

The staff were initially welcoming and accommodating as we boarded the boat. The food was good and there was plenty of it. Considering there were students on the boat, there was not enough dessert. The main complaint was the music and the sound! There was not sound on the top level and the DJ was NOT helpful in trying to fix it. The students did not enjoy the music which was all they could really enjoy on a boat out on the water. Music is everything. When the DJ noticed no one was dancing, did he think that maybe he should play something else? He mentioned the QR code process. Too much. He was very indifferent and kind of made the excursion boring for the students and the adults. The sound on the top level needs to be repaired. It really takes away from the experience. Just because they were kids did not mean they did not deserve a meaningful and fun time like corporations and affluent clients.

Easy to book, great food, all in all an amazing experience. Must be one of the best ways to see NY. My first time in this great city and would thoroughly recommend this.

Everything turned out nicely with the exception of my personal table seating arrangement. I was seated under a unit of some kind that caused water condensation to drop on me. I was showered with literally more than 16 or so drops. I had to stand up several times to wipe the water up to prevent the dripping.

I hosted a corporate reception/cocktail party with City Cruises in San Diego and it was a wonderful experience! From the beginning of the planning process all the way through the execution of the event, everyone I worked with was top notch. The food was delicious and the service on the boat was attentive and courteous. We definitely plan on returning for a future event!

The table we were sat at was terrible and tight
The buffet items although cooked well, were not plentiful or filled up fast enough. Despite going up 3 different times- i never had the opportunity to get any bacon and only rations of eggs.

That was a beautiful experience! Everyone were very nice

My husband and I were eager to take the cruise driving from Northern Virginia. We are open-minded people and realize that sometimes not everything is going to be perfect, but the issues we encountered were that the ads for this cruise and the price charged reflected nothing of what we experienced. The balcony didn’t have beautiful furniture, lights, and music, or a lively atmosphere as shown in the photographs; it was dark. The lights didn’t work, and people were not friendly. Everyone was crowded together regarding the areas to dance and eat. It was very plain, again reflecting nothing like the photos. I would have never spent that much money for something like this, and the boat literally just went in a circle. I can compare it to another experience, as I went on the Philadelphia cruise several years ago, and the surrounding area of Baltimore, with the dock and closed businesses, looked ragged. We won’t be returning. I think it is theft to charge as much money as we did for two people to go on that cruise for what we received in return. I will say this: the food was decent, and the waitress was nice—that's about it.

it was really a good experience though,

Although it was a rainy day, my church group had a wonderful time. The food was great and the gospel singers did a fantastic job. We sang along clapped our hands and rejoiced in the Lord. Thank You for it all.