City Cruises — Attraction in Philadelphia

July 2019. A large Graduation / going away to college party for my two children. The booking was easy. Both my children and I are vegans ( dietary restrictions) , as well as 1other guest. Kelsey Afetian , our booking hosts was very accommodating and promise that there’d be 4 vegan meal options available especially since my son has extreme dietary allergies. Sadly, this was not the case. Both guests of honor, and the one paying $ thousands for the event (me) and another guest did not get a meal.. until way later, when they started collecting things from the salad buffet and had the chef toss a few veggies on a grill to feed us! as the rest of our party were finished eating and staff was clearing the tables. One of the first issues was that for the first hour to 1hr 15 minutes no one could get a drink and it was about 100° that day. The guest had just been outside in direct sunlight in line to get on the ship for a good 40 mins while a ticket count issue was being addressed. After everyone was seated and the Buffet opened, I again made sure that the waitress knew that my son had dairy allergies and we had vegan dishes requested for him, my daughter, another guest and myself, as instructed when I booked the cruise. I was informed they weren’t aware of it and there was nothing available but they’ll throw something together. While waiting for our food - several of my guest, whom where eatting, kept coming to me complaining that they weren’t able to get a beverage after asking the wait staff ( I had paid extra per person to include this) I finally had to talk to the lead wait staff, then he stopped the waitress who was busy with the buffet table and was annoyed.. it was not going well. I waited 35 mins for my own beverage, finally the head waiter went himself to get this seeing I (and my 2 children) still had no meal.The other guest waiting for food gave up and went to the upper deck with our guests at this point. By the time our meals came our guests where already done and roaming. I then had to ask repeatedly that the condiments I brought (which I was told I could bring due to food allergies, along w the dairy free cake for our party) Staff had taken them to put into the kitchen to chill, By the time we actually got the condiments, we had eaten what we we given since it was getting so late! The cruise was already on its way back and our guests were everywhere. After we located some of them we were already starting to dock. I had requested our dessert to be served ( special bakery dairy free cake $125). And they asked if I could just take it home and give it to my guest there. Most of my guests didn’t even live near me and weren’t coming in my direction. So reluctantly they brought the cake up from downstairs sliced it and literally threw slices on to plates in a hurry because they were trying to get ready for the next cruise. They informed me we were not going to have forks and we had to stand because they needed to break down the tables for the next cruise! From the unavailable drinks for overheated guests, no meals prepared as specified, leaving us to get our food after everyone was finished, standing to eat cake without a fork! which the staff was informed to bring out and serve after the meal, It was just very disorganized and sad and the staff appeared too busy to care . Afterwards I did write to the booking host, Kelsey Afetian on July 16. I did not get a reply...

We went on a recent Valentine's day cruise, and while the base amenities were nice, the not inexpensive upgrades were absolutely not worth the money. The platinum ticket package included half a dozen roses, a bottle of sparkling wine, souvenir champagne flutes and a guaranteed window table. On top of that, I (over)paid in advanced for a Bavarian Pretzel appetizer to be brought to the table.

The best I can say of those additions was that there was, in fact a bottle of sparkling wine. The roses were fine, if a little past their prime. However, the so-called 'souvenir' champagne flutes look like they came from the dollar store. They are just blank stemless glasses, no logo or anything souvenir about them. Photo is attached.

Our window table, by a stroke of bad luck, was directly next to the buffet, specifically the heat lamps for the carving station, which meant the reflection of the light made it nearly impossible to see in unless you were right up against the glass. However, on the other side, the seat was by a wall divider between two window panes, so you couldn't see unless you sat in the seat further away. This left us having our romantic dinner diagonally across the table. We did let a staff member know, who adjusted one of the overhead lights (which did help a bit and was appreciated). When asked about switching tables, he said he'd have to talk to a supervisor and they wouldn't have an answer until the cruise departed. No one ever followed up on the situation. We made do.

The buffet was surprisingly good and desert was fine (though their featured apple crumble never appeared). But remember that pretzel we preordered? Because they didn't. We saw other tables get appetizers delivered as the trip started and thought we may be in a second round. The plan was to ask when we saw someone. We had dinner. We had dessert. We finished our wine. Only then did a waiter come by and we asked about the missing (again, prepaid) appetizer. It was at least tasty.

So unless you really, really want a window table (and have better luck than us), skip the upgrades. They were a complete rip off. The night cruise also included a lot of long dark views of New Jersey, so daytime may be a bit more interesting. We still had fun, but it was more for the company and novelty than any doing of City Experiences.

Update: City Cruises asked me to contact them, and to make up for the poor experience offered a free cruise for two with enhancement. I added an extra star for the positive customer service, not just for the cruise, but the interaction itself. Greatly appreciate that the website chat function connects you to a real person when needed, and that they were very friendly, helpful, and...

The Spirit of Philadelphia has such a cute atmosphere and had potential to be a truly unique trip for a special occasion we were celebrating. We were shown to our seats immediately, then when we tried to order a drink at the bar(where there were 2 employees standing, plus the bartender, all of whom were NOT busy at all!) we were told we had to order from our table with our waitress until the boat left the dock. Ok-now we know the rules. 15 minutes later the waitress stopped by and took our order. Now we still can't go out and enjoy the deck because we are waiting for our drinks. Fast forward to 20 minutes later and we have run out of water, still don't have out drinks, the boat has left the dock and they are calling people to get in line for the buffet. Not the nice relaxing start we had hoped for! We were at the tail end of the line to get to the buffet. A spoon was submerged in the liquid for the vegetables, but there were only scraps left anyhow. At least 4 of the containers were either scraps, or totally empty. I am now wondering why we paid $600 for the 4 of us to enjoy a night out! The meats were eventually replaced but we still never saw 2 of the dishes. The meats were good. The Salmon was exceptional. Other than that, some of the vegetables looked like cafeteria food unfortunately. I suppose it was because of our seating, but again by the time we hit the dessert table, there was pound cake and little cute cups of vanilla pudding left. I think there was maybe 10 slices of brownie as well. That's it! After our first round of drinks we were given a bill. So, does that mean we are done drinking? No explanation and we even ended up taking water from another table because we couldn't find our waitress. While on the subject of drinks, $18 for a mixed drink seemed a tad high. Appetizers were all extra also. OK-so maybe there was a shortage of waitstaff. In that case, open the bar so we can get our own drinks! Instead of relaxing and taking in the ambience of a beautiful night cruise, we spent too much time waiting inside! I also think that for a 3 hour cruise, the bathrooms should have been well equipped for that length of time. They were not kept up with and had to be closed temporarily while a man went in to replenish everything. The music was fun and upbeat. The evening boat trip on a beautiful night was unmatched. The rest was very mediocre but had the potential to be...