Kerrie D.
Yelp
We were in PDX visiting our daughter, and she shared how much she had enjoyed a Portland Spirit dinner cruise her work had sponsored for employees, so, we booked one for the three of us.
This is an organized operation. Staff are there to tell you where to go and what to do every step of the way. Not necessarily in a bad way, more in a-we know how to run this kind of thing, so don't question us-kind of way.
We didn't question anything and were led upstairs to our table which was right next to a window-Great!
Our server was very nice and did the best he could to get drink orders and bread on the tables. There was also an announcement with a strong suggestion not to go outside on the boat until after dinner was over, which we listened to but ended up making it so that we lost any ability to see the sunset out on the deck. By the time dinner was over, it was dark outside, and there was not much to see from the deck.
On the other hand, the actual dinner quality of the food was better than I expected, and coffee and dessert were included, which I did not even realize was going to be a thing. From reading other reviews, it is important to add that this was NOT a buffet; it was an order-off-a-menu situation with three options.
I paid in advance online, and three tickets for this dinner cruise ran about $550. Once we got on the boat, there were a bunch of add-ons, drinks, extra apps, flowers at the table, etc...They also took a picture of every group as they entered and brought it around to the table toward the end to offer for purchase.
Honestly, the hawking was overwhelming, and the price was HIGH. We were in for an additional $175 once we got there, making the night $725 plus a strongly suggested 20% tip to the server adding another $140 or so.
Was this entire experience worth $865 for three people? No, it was not. I could tell that for most of the people around us it was a special occasion kind of night for them, but even so, there are so many excellent restaurants in PDX to take $865 to.
Maybe the allure was just that it was all on a boat?