Newport Classic Cruises Bannister's Wharf — Attraction in Newport

Heartbreaking Experience on the Newport Champagne Sunset Sail — Misleading, Uncompassionate, and Deeply Disappointing

I very rarely write reviews, but this experience deserves to be shared so others can make an informed decision. My wife and I had been looking forward to this Newport Champagne Sunset Sail for weeks. It was meant to be a peaceful, romantic evening on the water — something beautiful and memorable after a long, difficult period. Unfortunately, the entire experience from booking to boarding was nothing short of disheartening.

My wife is temporarily disabled and walks with the help of a crutch. Wanting to be proactive and respectful, I called ahead to explain her condition and make sure accommodations wouldn’t be an issue. I wasn’t asking for special treatment — just a little understanding and communication. Instead, I was met with one of the coldest, most dismissive responses I’ve ever experienced in customer service. The person on the phone said, almost word for word: “Good luck, but if you’re one second late, we’re leaving.” There was no empathy, no flexibility, and no willingness to work with us despite clearly explaining our situation.

We left early but, as anyone familiar with Rhode Island knows, traffic around Newport can be unpredictable. We did our best and still arrived right around the scheduled boarding time, only to see the boat already pulling away from the dock. We tried to explain, but there was zero compassion or effort to help. No refund, no credit, no sympathy — just indifference. Watching that boat sail off while my wife struggled to stand, disappointed and embarrassed, was heartbreaking.

Even putting aside our personal experience, the advertising for this excursion is misleading. The promotional photos and descriptions suggest a cozy, romantic sail with a small group of guests — something intimate and peaceful. In reality, when we saw the boat, it appeared to be overcrowded, likely with several dozen people onboard (just an estimate based on what we observed). The atmosphere looked loud and cramped, nothing like the calm, romantic sail the marketing promised.

What makes this so painful is that we had such high hopes. This was supposed to be a special evening — a little moment of light for us both. Instead, it turned into an upsetting and discouraging ordeal that left us feeling dismissed and disrespected.

I want to be clear: I’m not writing this out of anger. I’m writing it because I don’t want another couple — especially one dealing with physical challenges or traveling from out of town — to go through the same experience. All we hoped for was a fair, kind, and accurate experience that matched what was advertised. What we received was the opposite.

To the company: please consider that your guests are people, not just bookings. A little compassion and honesty would go a long way. And to anyone considering the Newport Champagne Sunset Sail — take this review seriously and think twice before booking.

My wife and I will never book with this...

Many years ago we went sailing through a different company and it was a wonderful experience. The guide was informative, they took us far out in the ocean where we didn’t see other boats. This trip was not the case. First it started out with the young girl checking us in. She just stood there as if she couldn’t wait for her shift to be over. Checked us in but I had to ask where the line is, what time we should be there, etc. Not great customer service. The cruise was at 3:30 and I must say they were very prompt. There were 3 young men hosting the cruise. One at the helm who didn’t say 2 words, and only 1 of the others occasionally mentioned who lived at a mansion we passed and he only spoke twice our entire cruise besides the initial safety directions. I truly was expecting them to be more engaged and educate us as to what we were seeing. These kids also acted like they were just going through the motions. We did purchase tickets ahead of time for the wine and I will say they gave a nice amount and the Prosecco was delicious. It was served in a white paper cup but maybe they have to because it’s a boat. A plastic cup would have been a better choice. We ended back at 4:53 pm to end our 5 pm cruise. That was fine with me as it wasn’t that enjoyable anyway. The boys immediately put a tip bag up and here’s the best part: they only said thank you to the people giving them large tips! I couldn’t believe that so I decided to see if it was a coincidence or not. I grabbed a few dollar bills and although I don’t think they deserved any tip I put that in the bag, the kid saw it and didn’t say a thing, I looked at him and he just smirked. Like he was pissed I didn’t give more. Sorry for the long review but I wanted to be thorough. So in ending, I would not recommend this cruise line. They really need to hire employees that will make the sailing experience a pleasant one. Sadly, I believe it is this generation who does not want to work and does as minimal as possible as I see it...

If I had a chance i wouldnt even give 1star. We made our reservation couple weeks ago. And the day we suppose to have the sunset cruise we called them in the morning to see how is their departure procedure. They told us to come 30mins early from our departure time. Which is understandable. Our reservation was at 5.30pm so we supposed to be there 5pm. Unfortunately mother nature decided to make a surprise and rain started around noon and according to radar it will be raining after 8pm. So in the afternoon we called them again to double check, we also were in walking distance but of course we didn't want to walk there under heavy rain and hear "canceled" we explained that we will be walking and before we started walking we need early heads up if there is any cancellations. They kept saying "there is no cancellation for now and you have to be here 30mins early"

We walked there, all of us were soaked, and guess what did they say?! "CANCELLED" and they keep saying "here, Weather changes anytime, so we didnt want to let you know till last minute" i told them even radar havent been changed it still shows it will be rainy till 8pm, and we called them twice before leave the apartment. And they were very careless!!!! She even said they called us a minute ago just before we arrive, do you think we have a miss call? Of course NO! I would never recommend ...