City Cruises

For 2 years in a row the City Cruises team successfully delivered a fun and memorable Holiday Party for our San Francisco team from start to finish! Our boat, the Sunset Hornblower was completely decked out for the holidays with Christmas trees on each level. The drinks were solid the DJ - FANTASTIC and the food was amazing. Everyone had a great time. The only downside was that the night had to come to an end. I would definitely book again for a Holiday Party or any special occasion. Cheers!

It was an amazing experience. We rented a private dinner cruise for our 50-year 8th grade reunion. The ship was incredible, the food was outstanding and the bar, DJ and dance floor was perfect for a beautiful dinner cruise on the San Francisco Bay!!!

We had a wonderful cruise for a birthday party. Between 11 am and 2pm, lunch served. Nice setup, excellent service and tasty food with good atmosphere. Free parking, do not go to the double tree hotel paid parking, there is a free parking just before the entrance to the hotel. See photos.

Enjoyed my wonderful romantic cruise with my honey. It was a very romantic experience. It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday. It was such a sacrifice for him, and that is why I appreciated it more. The Service was excellent, and we even danced some salsa!!! Thank you my love for making it so special. 🌺🌹💃🕺💝

Had a lovely dinner cruise in the first week of December for a company event. Prices were reasonable and the event coordinator was awesome for working with me to fine tune the details to match our budget. Had a great experience and wouldn’t hesitate to do again. The food was delicious and unlimited!

The best way to sight seeing San Francisco

A wonderful cruise of the bay with a delectable Thanksgiving buffet! Loved it! A bit expensive though.

This company really knows how to take care of you. First rate service, awesome food, and great live music. I would highly recommend using Hornblower for you next cruise or company event.

My friends and family have made Citycruises a Thanksgiving tradition 3 years running. Perfect timing for sunset on the bay, excellent food, super friendly staff and crew, fun dancing afterwards.

We recently hosted our Team Building event here, and I must say, this was by fair the best event we've held anywhere! Throughout the entire process, our event coordinators have helped out with ALL of our details and went above and beyond with accommodating all of our needs! They definitely exceeded our expectations! Julio was our event host that evening and was there to assist the our planning committee with everything we needed! The entire crew were amazing, especially Dorothy! She was so sweet and we enjoyed having conversations with her. We had 1 bar tender for the night and he was awesome with service, especially with 55 of us! The food was also surprisingly delicious! I was expecting a cold meal since we're on a boat but everything was cooked to perfection! We booked a photo booth and DJ through Horn Blower as well, and both vendors also exceeded our expectations!! Thank you Horn Blower team for making this a memorable experiencing for us and all of your patience with all of our little details and changes throughout the process!

We had a work event on this boat last week. The boat is very worn out and really didn't seem safe. Upon entering, the entire boat inside reeked of a pungent bad smell, the chairs had stains, carpet was old and stained. It was raining so we stayed inside the entire 3 hours. I have a great team of coworkers so we still ended up having a fantastic time as a group. Entertainment Trivia = 3 stars Entree lunch = 3.5 stars Service = 4 stars I would not personally recommend.

Chef Mia, the staff, the DJ and everyone is so amazing! We were on with children and they welcomed them, danced with and were so friendly! Thank you for making our Father's Day so special! A huge thank you to our server Erika as well! We will definitely book again!

We planned on booking this cruise for our non profit High School sober grad. We were only in contract for 36 days when we realized our students could not afford to go on this cruise. We're a small farming town with very low income families. I canceled the cruise and expected them to keep our $1500 deposit, but then to my surprise they came back stating that we needed to pay the $8997 on top of that due to breaking contract less than 120 days prior to event. I explained that our non profit senior class could not pay that hinge why we're not going on the cruise and they came back with oaky, pay us another $1500!!! So $3000 from our high school sober grad class when we're in contract for less than 40 days! I do not recommend booking with this company unless you have full funds before signing contract

They won't give you a refund after booking. Very sketchy. Luckily chase was able to dispute my charge

Did a boozy Sunday cruise for a friend's birthday, and we had a really fun time. Had our own table with a great view of the Bay, and our server (just for the bottomless mimosas) was funny/friendly! Honestly, it's pricier than I would have liked, but between the 7 of us, we finished 14 bottles of champagne and had multiple rounds of food. All in all, I'd say it was worth it in the end. :) Would I do it again? Probably not - once was enough for me.

I loved my time spent on this cruise , food was great , the views were beautiful, and in the end we had a dance party . what a great time !

Our experience from last night can be summed up as over promised and under delivered. Some aspects of the cruise were great (unlimited wine, beer, and champagne!) But there were a lot of disappointments. First off, the streets to the marina were closed for the fourth so instead of offering a shuttle they tell you to arrive 2 hours early (if you want to park at the hotel and PAY), or you're left walking a mile to get over the bridge. Food resembles grocery store platters so don't expect much there. Crew is nice but honestly overall the experience was underwhelming. My group and I only had fun because we had enough drinks and were dancing.

perfect place to cruise SF reasonable price, clean and comfortable place. the food was good for the price. service was exceptional shout out to paul!

Evening Holiday party out of the Berkeley Marina. A three hour tour, three hour tour.... combination dinner, open bar, craps/roulette/blackjack (not for money of course), and dancing.... Rainy night, but we didn't feel any choppiness from the waves, Christmas/Holiday Lights of San Francisco and surrounding communities were sight to see, also yachted up to the GGBridge and Bay Bridge...impressive at night!!! A must do!!!!

WWP had an event where it was dinner and a cruise of SF Bay. This was such an amazing and memorable experience that I now would like to go back and take my family. Staff was friendly and helpful. The food was really amazing. Not to much but you are there for the views!!! I couldn't believe how beautiful it is out there in the water. I sat on the 2nd level towards the back so I believe we had the best seats. There is a dance floor down stairs and my boyfriend loved the music. Looking forward to going again with family and friends!

Went last night to Celebrate a 25 year milestone with DMC Insurance who rented the whole boat for the event. I am so glad the we were invited. My first impression was the Ship looked small but that was because we had just finished a Cruise on a Carnival ship. As soon as we were on the boat the staff had Champagne waiting for us. The bars were staffed and drinks were included. We never waited more than a few minutes for cocktails. The staff brought finger foods that were all very tasty. The views of the Bay Area were amazing. The night was clear and the weather was perfect for hanging out on the outside areas of the boat. When dinner was ready we were all asked to take a seat and each table was sent to the buffet one at a time. The food was great. I tried everything and could not say anything negative about any of the food. My wife had the dessert options and enjoyed them as well. After dinner more drinks and then dancing. Actually I was just watching but it appeared like everyone was having fun. We had a great night and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Was on board for Bubba's office holiday party. I had often heard about Hornblower cruises but had never been on one. The boat seemed a little old, but was in good shape. The 2 level vessel was spacious & clean, the bathrooms were nice, and the staff was attentive and fun. It was a smooth ride and a fun idea for a group event or party. The food offered was not bad, better than I thought it would be like slightly above standard wedding food. This was an open bar, basic cocktails and mid range booze, the bartender was really friendly and the highlight was the dj. I for got her name but she really knew how to get the party started!! The sound system was good, and the dance floor was a nice size for our group. All in all a good time. Seeing the bridge & city lights at night while cruising on the bay is a nice treat.

Booked a fleet week cruise in the SF Bay and was extremely disappointed. I was told boarding was at 1:30 pm. We arrived early at 12:30 just in case but were turned away and told the same: 1:30. When we returned at 1:10, there was a line so long that it took us 45 minutes to board. The food was horrible, and the buffet lunch was not optional. THE WORST PART however, is that the boat barely left the pier! The air show was miles away!! Huge disappointment.

Once again..don't waist your time. Tried to book a reservation last year..no one would answer the phone, just got transferred around. And its a new year...just now tried to call to book a reservation for my company/group. 10 mins on the phone, transferred 4 times, and then nothing but leave a message in a voice mail. I have no idea how this company stays in business...worst possible customer service. Find something else to do with you group..... Hey if you are the owner..try calling your own main phone number, tell them you want to book a cruise for a group of 20 out of Berkeley..who do you speak to. You will be shocked...or more likely confirm the complete sh--t show you experience. I hope your boats and food do better than your customer service....

I should have read the reviews before booking. The absolute worst people to deal with. We had an anniversary party of 17 last weekend. Over the previous months the agent I was working with provided 7 contracts, all of which were wrong! When I demanded a different booking agent, all went well until we boarded the boat. It was a different vessel than the contract said, there was no health check, there was no preboard screening per Coast Guard, while we were made to preorder our dinners, the server had no knowledge of that so we had to start over and order off the menu, there was no children's menu on board (yes we preordered those as well). I had ordered wristbands for our guests to use at the bar for their drinks to be put on our bill, but we were told we could only order drinks from our server. Our poor server seemed overwhelmed by a party of 17 and got our drink orders wrong several times and forgot to even take food and drink orders from some of our guests. The administrative people don't know what really happens on board and give out misinformation to the customers, causing lots of extra, unnecessary work for the hostess. Buyer Beware you aren't going to get what they promise, starting with the representation on their website of "hassle free from start to finish!" This review actually refers to San Francisco, not Berkeley. Sorry for any confusion.

I would give three and a half stars if possible. My best friend and I went there for the VIP New Years Eve dinner cruise. The meal and drinks were great. And off note, which is only in my opinion, that pink eye was spreading a bit through the ship. Came down with it right the next day. A bit unfortunate. So all I can say when you get on board the ship is wash and sanitize your hands every chance you get. I'm a bit laid up from the pink eye and the ensuing scratched cornea. It will mend. Just not something I wish anyone to get. Also, the toilets at times stopped working. A couple of us had to plunge them ourselves. Not how we envisoned spending New Years Eve at $290 + a ticket for something like that. It was a little gross and took away from my appetite. But the fireworks from the yacht were incredible to see. No rain or cloud cover. It was sterling and so beautiful so would I recommend this again? Yes, very surely for the random pink eye and plunging toilets are still just random events. But for New Years Eve, when people go outside to see the fireworks, you can't hear the music or the countdown inside. At all. So, my advice is to place some speakers around the outside exterior of the ship on the third and forth deck. Activate them for the countdown and play Auld Lang Syng when people cheer and toast....or something similar to celebrate the New Years because I heard a few comments around me saying, 'we really could use some music'. I happened to have the song on my iPhone 7s and played it and the sound was okay for an iPhone...but I think it would have been great coming from the live music band over speakers. This is just an idea.

I'm so disappointed I don't even know where to begin. My hubby and I had done a dinner/dance cruise in 2005 that was great. Food was good, music was fun and atmosphere was really laid back and relaxing. Fast forward 6 years... I decided to treat him to the same dinner/dance cruise for his birthday last weekend. Huge mistake. I'm going to start with the band, which was basically a bad, drunk, garage cover band that sounded god awful. The speakers were turned way too loud (we were seated upstairs) and our request to have the staff turn them down was ignored. The food was mediocre and badly paced. The service was appalling. When we asked for coffee with our dessert, our waiter shrugged and said, "Uhh..sure" like it was the most bizarre request he'd ever heard. We were seated next to a really obnoxious group of people who got louder and louder the more they drank, and made inappropriate jokes. One of the guys stood up and acted out a sexual scenario as we passed Alcatraz (I'm sure you can guess the context). None of the staff asked him to sit down and be respectful. It was surreal. The band got louder and more terrible as the night went on. When we went downstairs to see how bad they actually were onstage, we stepped into a humid dining room where people were pole dancing on the support beams. I'm not a stuffy, uptight person. I just wanted to have nice dinner with my husband. I mean, the Hornblower is not cheap! If I wanted cheap and paid for cheap, I would not have been disappointed. But I paid almost $200 for this piece of crap "cruise" that was basically like being held captive for 3 hours and forced to listen to bad music and watch trashy people fall all over themselves. It was disgusting!! My husband and I were counting the minutes until we got back to port. That's how horrible it was. It completely ruined our night out, and we don't get a lot of them being parents! Anyway, I advise any and all to STAY AWAY! What a failure and waste of money...not to mention waste of a babysitter. Oh, and I forgot to mention that when we did finally arrive back to the port, our waiter disappeared with our credit card (for the extra drinks), and didn't tell us that he had gotten it stuck in the credit card machine! It took an extra 30 minutes to solve that fiasco, which ended in my husband having to find the manager himself, try to pry his credit card out, and then finally fixing the machine HIMSELF while the staff just watched and shrugged their shoulders. AHHHHH!!!

The Hornblower is like the Starbucks of Bay cruising. You know that you'll get a quality and memorable experience every time and at every location. I'm most impressed by their staff. The yacht is setup with little pockets setup behind the walls where the Hornblower staff can emerge undetected swooping in to cleanup spills, offer service, and to drop off food (and pick up empty dishes). They prepared this incredible display of chocolate fondue, fruit, and other goodies for this party we attended that was an absolute hit. The Hornblower is also great because they have bars and dance floors on both levels. There are also plenty of views with decks on 3 levels including a sheltered area on deck 3. Although we attended an evening party, the Hornblower also offers brunch, dinner, and special events packages that will provide memorable experiences (in a good way) for all guests. Special thanks to Ligaya and friends for setting up the party. It was a night to remember!

I've had the pleasure of attending three of Hornblower's dining yacht cruises, twice before for private events and the most recent trip being last Saturday for their brunch cruise, which this review details. Our cruise departed from Pier 3. I'm not sure which of their yachts departs from Pier 39, but I have never docked from here. Our cruise was scheduled to depart at 11:00am with a 10:30am boarding time. Upon boarding, there was a photographer offering to take photos of guests with Santa Claus. Mind you, the photographer will NOT take your photos with your own camera. Boarding was quick and fast and the tables are numbered for each guest, smaller parties towards the back of the yacht and larger parties toward the front. Since I was a party of two, we were seated to our assigned table and greeted our table had a birthday card from The Captain (the occasion was for my boyfriend's birthday) and a large chocolate. Right upon seating, our server Mateo offered us beverages including champagne, coffee and orange juice, all of which are bottomless during the cruise. The way the brunch buffet is set up is that the host calls tables up to the stations, to avoid overcrowding. Since we were at the back of the yacht, we were called upon first. The various stations included salmon squares, bacon, green beans, french toast, various breakfast pastries and a carving station which featured ham and roast beef, The food was all pretty good, with the french toast being my favourite of all. it was simple but VERY tasty. The roast beef was pretty awesome also, but it was a little on the gristly side. Maybe I just had a bad cut. The green beans seemed like they were coated in some sort of sweet mayonnaise concoction and they weren't too appealing to me. The cruise itself was amazing! It lasted a little over an hour and a half and took us all around the bay, including under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz island. The weather was perfect for our cruise and the views were simply delightful. Our server was very prompt with refilling our champagne and other requests, even though right behind us, he was hosting a party of about 20 or so. I have no regrets about taking the brunch cruise at all and given the occasion, it was the perfect way to celebrate. Although I feel like the price point was a bit on the higher side for the event ($65, not including port and landing fees, etc.), it was a great journey nonetheless.

Romantic, i was hot and bothered or shall i say cold and bothered. Wut can be better then staring across the bay to see nothing but city lights as i glance into her eyes. Such a perfect momment in time as the hesatation of when to kiss happends to crawl through my stomach into the nerves of my body. With every rippled wave crashing to the front of the boat and the cold wind blowing across my head, the body heat and lips of an angel make the night perfect. Horn blower rocks i suggest that you go with a date and not stag definately got the vibe of a couples party and the only bad thing was the small selection of beer

my time on The Hornblower was such a good experience. They prepared delicious hor dourves with a great chocolate fondue fountain. The staff was great too, there was a staff member at our table almost every five minutes to remove dirty dishes. I'm pretty sure my favorite feature of this vessel are the bartenders who knew how to make an excellent drink. As for the boat itself, it's very pretty on the inside and out with a dancefloor on the bottom deck and tables along the walls. Aside from not having a stablilizer the ride was fairly smooth and enjoyable. Its an awesome boat to be on for a little getaway on the bay.

I used to DJ a number of Holiday Party events at the Commodore Cruise lines out of Oakland, but this line is MUCH better! The staff were helpful, but I did run into a lil' miscommunication as to what time I was to shut off the music. Captain said "12am" but at 11:45 another crew member approached me and said I was to shut if off. That almost caused a riot with the company I was servicing. The food was good, specifically the Prime Rib, Choc covered Strawerries and fudge slices. Everything else was pretty much Par. The Boat captain was a good navigator, rocking was limited and he took us to a fireworks show by the Bay Bridge, and we had a front row seat view of it! I rocked the party as usual (this is my 5th year DJ their Holiday Party) and everyone had a blast! I would recomment though that if you have a party of over 100 guests, that you should book the Empress exclusively, so that everyone can roam around! it's a nice boat. (but carpet interior is a tad tattered though). If you're trying to do something different next Holiday or in the summer for a corp event, I recommend these guys and the Empress Ship. I know much of you are sick of the typical banquet room shindigs.

My boyfriend surprised me here for breakfast early on while we were dating. From what I remember, we stood in line and had our pictures taken and were seated promptly at our tables. Our table had an envelope/card addressed to us which I found pretty nice. The cruise began shortly and we were grabbing platefuls of food before you know it. TIP: desserts (especially the strawberries & chocolate) disappears quickly so if that's something you want, grab some immediately TIP #2: it is extremely windy and cold despite us being there at the end of May. Bring your jackets. Ladies, bring a hair tie lol Pictures can be taken via staff and they will print it out and you have the option to purchase them at the end of your trip for $20 a pop. What was unique for our trip was that my boyfriend was checked out quite a bit by our waiter. I found it hilarious until his orange juice and champagne were filled consistently but mine were left empty... (it's not as if we were sitting very far. In fact, we were right across from each other within arms reach). Regardless, I found the situation comical and really enjoyed my cruise. Next time, I will for sure wear something warmer and tie up my hair. Hair spray would not help me.

My fiancee and I have had the pleasure of embarking upon several Hornblower dinner cruises since 2007, all of them departing from their Pier 39 San Francisco location. Before boarding the yacht they have a photo opt where your group can be shot by a professional photographer, and they are available for purchase later- all three times we've been they always turn out fabulous! I'm always pleasantly surprised by how delicious the food is, but watch out for the specialty cocktails- they can be really sugary and quite hangover-worthy! I'm sure the vast quantities that we've always consumed doesn't help either :) Dinner cruises also include live music performances, the genre mostly romantic Frank Sinatra type music. There is a dance floor that guests take advantage of after dinner, along with the option of grabbing some fresh air on the deck. It was on one of these dinner cruises that my fiancee and I first exchanged "I love you's" so when we found out that Hornblower also does weddings, we had to do it! Our wedding is scheduled for September 18, 2010 and thus far planning has gone along quite smoothly. Jewel has been a pleasure to work with and taken a lot of the stress that normally comes with a wedding out of the equation.

I put together a company event and planned it on the Hornblower Empress for this past weekend 7/13/13. I have been working with Janet for months now, planning everything and it was a great experience. The only "down-fall" I would have is that some of staff members were a bit on the creeper-side. As far as moving slowly while staring at the guests. I have had several employees come to me and say the same thing. But everyone enjoyed themselves, the food was okay, most did like it, however I think the roast beef was a bit too rare and the food was cold by the time I ate. Like I said though, the overall experience was a good one and would totally recommend them to anyone else. Please keep in mind, this is my personal opinion and this is no reflection of my workplace.

Are you ready to take a step back from the crowded New Year's Eve club places? If so, try the Hornblower Cruise! I am usually in Mexico the NYE, so with that in mind I was kind lost not knowing what to do in the states. Luckily a friend had it all planned out, we bought tickets to go on the Hornblower on NYE. Lets start with the crowd, ... I'd say it was interesting. Very little people in their 20's and 30's and a lot of people over 40. Of course, not to be surprised since the younger people are in the city. Right when we go on the ship we were handed champagne, then I realized we were off to a really good start. It was nice and warm inside. The servers were really nice. They were also passing out appetizer's. The music was pretty nice and mellow. As the night progressed it got better and better. They also provided appetizers, which I can almost say it was a dinner since there was a lot of food. Over all I enjoyed the cruise, the ride is fun and you get to see the whole bay. I would recommend this boat ride on any special occasion!

We recently attended an event on the Berkeley Hornblower. The event itself was really fun, but the meal on the Hornblower was AWFUL! I felt sorry for our friends who paid for it. My plate of food arrived and I immediately saw a large hair in my potatoes. My husband kindly gave me his potatoes and the minute I bit into the first one, I found the potato was RAW! I didn't say anything to the people at our table when someone else mentioned that she found a hair in her salad. And then another person found a hair in her salad, too. Then, one of the male guests at our table cut into his chicken and it was RAW! 4 out of the 6 people at our table had raw potatoes. We later overheard several guests talking about their raw potatoes. We were considering holding a birthday party on the Hornblower, but after our meal experience, we have decided to consider elsewhere. Such a shame.

A really fun and scenic way to spend an evening in the East Bay. Hornblower yachts (doesn't really look like a yacht to me) and charter dinner cruises have decent food (much better than "Spirit of Philadelphia, NY, Boston etc.) and the cruise itself is fun - they have a DJ and dancing, plus a cash bar. Worth the trip for a special occaision (Mother's Day, etc.) or taking a group of tourists out.

A really wonderful experience. Fun and supportive crew, interesting cruise, decent food. A great venue for corporate or personal event, or just for a fun dinner cruise on the bay. A neat date idea!

Our extended family booked a Mother's Day brunch cruise and had a really good time. At 2 hours, from 2:30 to 4:30, it was just the right amount of time, motoring out to Alcatraz and back to Berkeley. There was lots to do, starting with the buffet brunch, which was available as soon as we left the dock. While the food wasn't gourmet quality (we're really spoiled living in the Bay Area), it was pretty decent with lots of variety. And it included bottomless mimosas. There are windows everywhere with a view from every seat. As we got closer to Alcatraz and San Francisco we went out on the upper deck for an unobstructed view and a (very) fresh breeze. It was great fun to see Alcatraz up close and San Francisco from the Bay. As we returned to Berkeley the live jazz was replaced with some R&B favorites so some of us hit the dance floor. Before we knew it we were back in the harbor. It was a blustery day and the bay was choppy but the boat ride was smooth. There was plenty of room to move around and the staff was friendly and engaging. Parking was easy and free. And they gave us a souvenier picture of our group taken as we were boarding. From my 10 year old nephew to my 92 year old Mom, we all thought the cruise was great fun and a terrific way to spend Mother's Day.

tonight i attended the supper cruise in san francisco with 22 of my friends. we have attended this cruise st least 6 times in the past and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. well this time we had am experience that was the extreme opposite. it was terrible from beginning to end (not fault of the staff). as we boarded the ship, we noticed there were approximately 20+ children (under the age of 12) boarding. there appeared to be one adult who was to manage all of them. needless to say that didn't work out well. the children were unmanageable, allowed to run all over the ship, push people, knock things over, put their hands in the food, do cartwheels in the middle of the floor, step on ladies toes, yell across four tables to get the attention of whomever they were calling.....all the while being ingored by the adult(s) who were too busy at the bar buying alcoholic beverages. the ship's staff addressed the children on several occasions and told them to stop running, go find their parents, stop bumping into people, please be careful and to not knock things over... the kids were allowed to approach the bar where alcohol was being served, squeezing their way in between the adults at tje bar trying to enjoy their social time. the children were disrespectful and their so called adult supervision was even worse. the adults became so hostile with other patrons and staff and began cursing them. the situation rose to such an uncontrolable level that the staff didn't know what to do. the wait staff maintained their professionalism, but you could see the frustration and feeling of defeat on their faces. surely they weren't expecting to have such a horrible experience or be faced with a situation in which their hands were tied. the hornblower needs to have revamp their policy in terms of having under age children in an adult atmosphere. this incorrigible group of children and adults held the entire lower level of the ship hostage with their poor behavior. ****************************** the food was subpar in comparison to 6 previous times we've attended. the dj refused to play any dance music until 30 minutes prior to the ship returning to the dock. our group has never had such a poor experience. we've decided not to return for future events until the hornblower makes significant changes. we all feel as though we just threw our hard earned money$$ out the window with no value in its return. this was supposed to be a night of celebration for our group, and instead it turned out to be a nightmare. hornblower you've got to make some major changes. we won't be back until you do. hornblower has reached out to me and my group! kudus for awesome customer service.

I recently spoke with Samantha at Hornblower. Maybe I'm just a dupe, but I have to say I am impressed. She seemed genuinely concerned without being smarmy. Even so, I really doubt they'll stop using the Pacific Hornblower for airshows. So on that count you have been warned. That ship isn't the best ship to be on for an airshow. But of course airshow cruises are a tiny fraction of their offerings. Speaking of which, we'll be taking a Thanksgiving cruise soon. For the record, we paid full price for our reservation. My reviews aren't for sale! If I bump the rating up after Thanksgiving, it'll be because we had a good time.

Had an AMAZING time on the brunch mimosa cruise. It was a beautiful day to be at sea. They had a beautiful buffet with all the breakfast fixing, a carving table for nice meats. And of course a Desert table. The cherry on top was that we had the most absolute best server! Keep your eye out for Jose Antonio! Wow he made my 30th so special! This man was hard work all morning and kept my glass consistently filled with champagne! I RECOMMEND this for all occasions!! Thank you josican!

Julian was our photographer for my dads birthday dinner.He was very nice and professional!

We had our wedding on the Hornblower Empress and had an amazing time! Heidi was helpful and accommodating from the get go! Definitely a fun party and memories that will last a life time!

My family cruised, dined, and dance 3hrs tonight for my mom's birthday. The food was absolutely on point from the initial salad to the lamb shank and topped off by cheesecake. Hats off to the chef.

My Husband and I decided to do our wedding this last September on the Hornblower at 3 Hornblower Landing in San Francisco. The night of the wedding was on a Sunday from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. We found some of the experience was okay, however the entire event was way over-priced for what we received. When we went to the Open House, the presenter Lisa, did her presentation well, however the photo book that is to be included in the photography package was a lot different than the actual book you receive. We forked out over $1,700 for our photography package which included the photographer for the ceremony and most of the reception, (she was supposed to stay till the end but she cut out early) which would have been nice to have a picture of us exiting the boat as the last picture in the book instead of us cutting our cake as the last one. I was very disappointed in the outcome of the photos. My guests took better pictures with their cell phones then the photographer took, and she used a fancy camera. This lady didn't capture anybody in a good light. Eyes are closed in some shots, blurred, lighting bad, etc. Photography is a skill that this woman did not possess. We paid an extra $350 to have digital file and that didn't even get forwarded to us for two months after the wedding. I had to contact them and complain before anything was done, then when our book finally did come it looked as though it was thrown together in five minutes. The front of the book reads: "September 11, 2016", not our name, or anything. Pictures aren't lined up right on the pages, the choice of pictures they made big were unimportant whereas the important ones were tiny. So different than what we saw at the open house. Not to mention the shots were picked from the same digital file we were forwarded. For the money we spent I was expecting them to at least edit the photos a bit; center the group shots, remove red eye, etc. Nothing!!! Rip-off. The Captain was very charming and I thought very patient considering the Bride and part of her wedding party was late getting to the boat. We paid extra to have steak or salmon instead of a chicken or vegetarian dish and received a lot of compliments on the steak. The salad was a joke, a few pieces of spinach thrown on a plate with some dressing. There was no appetizers or anything (people couldn't wait for cake cutting because they were still hungry). Very small portions and we paid almost $100 per plate. I assumed the portions would be good sized and would have planned to have my own appetizers brought in if I had known that. The linens on the cake table and gift table were supposed to be white and were black so my decor didn't go with it but I overlooked that. Also the bartender was very rude to my guests. Not friendly at all. When you are on a cruise for 3-4 hours and paying more than retail prices for mixed drinks at least be cordial. Oh and one more thing my homemade wedding arch was thrown away instead of put aside for us. Very unprofessional.

I went on the Hornblower dinner cruise on Friday, January 21, 2011 with three other people. The meal looked very well put together. They already had the appetizer set on the table when you walked in. It was some kind of chicken dish, but I forget what it's called. Then you get a salad, which was more nice looking than something I would normally eat. I ordered the pork chop with the apple cranberry chutney as my entree and cheesecake for dessert. I had never had any kind of chutney before, and this being my first experience, I thought the whole thing tasted wonderful. I fell in love with it. =) The cheesecake tasted good, but not great. The texture was too soft. I had a virgin pina colada, which was great.

Sorry, wasn't really what we expected for a New Year Cruise. The SEATED VIP GOURMET TOUR, from Berkeley , disappointed us. Food was average, the room was cold for the girls in their nice NYE-dresses, so they all had to wear a coat .... and who want that for NYE? Serving was slowly, we didn't get our glasses filled up in time. And it wasn't cheap !

I wanted to give Ellie Adams 10 stars from Prestige Cruises.com my friends from Russia just came back from Mexico on a 7 day cruise via Princess Cruises & I have always wanted to visit St. Petersburg so I made a plan to visit there this July for 10 days with the jewels of the Baltic from Denmark in Copenhagen & really hope to meet new friends & enjoy new places I have never seen nor been to! It will be the trip of a lifetime for us both!!

Went to a wedding on a Hornblower yacht last night. It was a fun fun night! The whole event was seamless. What's impressive about the staff is how invisible they are. They appear when and where they are needed, but never too intrusive to spoil the fun. Food was good - nothing spectacular but the no one is there for the taste of the food any way. Bathroom was clean, and the whole yacht was very well maintained.

Very disappointed in Hornblower yachts. Relatives coming to town. Booked a party of 4 for 3 months out at Chardonnay Sailboat in Santa Cruz, Segways in San Francisco, and Hornblower Yachts for lunch on the Bay. One of our party had to cancel due to a family emergency. Chardonnay and Segways were accommodating and gave a credit. Hornblower could not have cared less. Spoke with Armando and Stephanie and they told me to "pound sand" in a very nice way. If you are using Hornblower, make sure no one dies or gets sick. That will be your tough luck.

I had my wedding from one of their yachts leaving out of the Berkeley Marina. All my guests loved it, except for those who got sea sick. I loved the fact that with your wedding package, which cost us about $6k for about 60 people, you get cake(nothing too fancy), good food (we had the individual meal selection rather than buffet),drinks, a marriage ceremony, and a nice 3 hour cruise around the bay. The servers were pretty good, and very professional. Our captain Bryan was the best! He really knew where to take the boat to get the best views including by the Giant's baseball park. He was also very calm and assuring when I was frantically worrying that we would end up leaving behind some of our guests who couldn't find the place. There were a few things I would complain about. One, is that we only got 1 hour to set up the boat with our decorations, and 30mins to clean up because another party would be boarding once we got back to the docks. My planner seemed like she was too busy to give me information to plan my wedding. I had to ask her for the menu, the cake selection, etc. She was available by e-mail though, so it made it easy. Another thing, you can't bring outside food either onto the boat, so we ended up having an after party at a friend's house so that we could celebrate with those who couldn't make it to the cruise. Also 3 hours passes by so quickly, unless you were sea sick, in which case 3 hours couldn't go by any quicker. =) My husband and I also went on a Valentines day cruise, but it wasn't as good. The buffet food wasn't all that great and we ended up going home hungry. So for the individual cruises I would give them a 2 star.

Probably should also read general reviews about Hornblower Cruises (http://www.yelp.com/biz/2pzKNzMZWP4pngfN4DnNzw) as it's pretty much the same thing. I attended a wedding on a Hornblower leaving from Berkeley Marina. They are partnered with Double Tree Hotel where bride and groom could rent a room for preparations. Wedding was nicely done, but I give them only 2 stars for their service. One of the wait staff spilled a drink all over a guest. That alone is not an issue, but the guy just cussed and walked away. He didn't come back with napkins or apologize. I was quite shocked by his reaction. Very unprofessional. I'm sure not all workers at Hornblower is like this guy, but don't they go through some kind of screening? At least educate them on how to react if you spill something, which I would imagine happens frequently on a boat.

So if you want to read my rant story here it is but not just read pros cons. Pros *Fireworks are always so crowded to watch but here it wasn't crowded and I got it last minute! *Free drinks plus alcoholic beverages *Warmer place to be on fourth if July *clean bathrooms *clean set up and over all cleanliness *servers are nice but they always seem far away Cons Main course of food was very bad it just didn't taste like meat and the salmon was overt season and taste horrible! So eat a big big dinner or pack your own meal I will next time! Customer service wasn't good they made all of us people wait in cold icy winds, it was clearly we where all here!!! Intercom hard to hear the captain and the speakers are crappy so it pops glitches few times. All assign seating it's not first come! Next time pack a dinner and a big parka jacket plus a blanket no I'm not kidding there where people us using the table cloth for warmth! Your own music with some head phones! You should be great! On to my rant! Ok I just recently went here for 4th of July, so this is how my experience went. We booked this last minute night before because we had nothing to do for 4th of July yet. So we get there in our some what fancy clothes ( I wore caprese with high heel with sweater) and he wore pants with a polo with a wind breaker) So getting back to my story, so we got there 15 mins early which felt more like 15years! It was so deadly cold and windy out that we both might catch some sickness! We hid in the hotel which was overly crowded with holiday tourist of some sort but we found a small cafe. Then we went outside around 10 mins thinking that they might let us in. Nope!What a joke, outside was so cold I shook so much shivering. It felt like 15 years everyone counting clocks. We had a whole line of freezing people made to wait til exactly 7 pm or what every time it said on the ticket. I felt more bad for the not VIP they had to wait a extra 30 mins before the ship! After that it was pretty smooth sailing but one food entry was bad which was the filet mignon and salmon so gross it was hard to stomach it just didn't taste like meat!!! Everyone around the ship had some kind of big piece of mystery meat gross! Speaker to hear music where up in the main floor techy screechy or plane buggy. No need to be first in line either it's all been assigned any way you get top or bottom. My experience was 2 ticket forVIP for berkley !I saw the the firework where beautiful, food was a C+ and it was lovely.

Took my mother to the Brunch Cruise for her 50th Birthday! She loved it. It's nice in the inside the arrange assigned seats and overall very welcoming. Carlos our server was on point with the mimosas!!

My boyfriend and I recently had brunch New Year's Day. This was both our first cruise with this company. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time since I stumbled across some folks going on a cruise while I was leaving the double tree hotel some years back. Any who I must say that the staff was very nice and courteous they kept our mimosas flowing! And very attentive. We were seated on the second level which was perfect. It was elegant/classy and very romantic overall. I rate the company and experience overall 5 stars but the food however a 3 out of five it was just ok. But I would definitely recommend it and I plan on going again for another occasion.