Event Cruises NYC — Local services in New York

Update at the bottom.

This review is for the New Year's Eve cruise: $250 a person. In a nutshell: it was packed, the food and music was terrible, the drinks were cheap (boxed wine and Bud Lite), and it was way too long.

The cruise was oversold. If it was the summer people would have been out on the upper deck but this is NYE, it's cold and it was raining so the downstairs area was packed. There was a dance floor but people set up chairs in the middle of it. That didn't matter too much because very few people were dancing (2 or 3)—because they didn't turn down the lights and the music was terrible. Why was the music so bad? Because it was Muzak (Royalty free music). Yes, the DJ played decent dance songs but they were versions of songs with the soul removed. But then he kept talking over the songs. There are DJs that do that well but not this guy. He kept talking about his long drive back to Rhode Island.

The food and drinks: tasteless cold veggie burgers and cheap cupcakes. Thank god we ate before. I already complained about the drinks in my intro but you'd think $250 would get you a halfway decent cheap beer and wine. Maybe I'm a snob. They did give you a sparkling wine at midnight. I had trouble choking that down too.

The day-of they kept sending text messages with changing times that we should arrive, it kept getting earlier and earlier. We arrived at 8:30 for their 10pm departure. The boat wasn't ready so we had to wait outside in the cold for more than an hour (it was raining too - not their fault - they did supply plastic rain ponchos). Once on the boat we went downstairs, it was a steamy COVID petri dish (yes, my friend and his wife contracted covid. I can't say for certain that they got it from the boat ride but a small enclosed area with poor ventilation (steamed up windows)— seems very likely. Then the boat sat at the dock until about 11pm. Once the boat started moving they did turn on the AC.

At midnight the boat did pull up close-ish to the Statue of Liberty so you could watch the fireworks—but you could only see them from the front of the boat. Think about the shape of a boat. Pointy in the front (room for about 25 people), flat in the back. There would be more viewing area in the back for more than 100 people—mind you, the back is covered but I think more people could have seen the fireworks and been dry. There might be reasons they can't do that, but what ever, that part wasn't the worst. Oh yeah, did I mention steamed up windows? You couldn't see out of them from the downstair cabin.

The staff was nice enough.

I'd like to add that I am a New Yorker and I hate touristy stuff but I went there with really low expectations and I was ready to have a good time. I couldn't have imagined it would be that bad—I felt trapped on that boat.

So save your money. Don't do that NYE cruise! If you're visiting the city and you really want to see the city from the water, do it any other time and it will be a whole lot less but I would expect the same cheap food, bad music and overcrowding.

The Staten Island Ferry would be a better option. If you time it just right you could probably catch the fireworks at the Statue of Liberty.

Update: Event Cruises contacted us. The first guy said it wasn't oversold—why were people sitting on the dance floor (see photo)? The 2nd guy was more accommodating and is supposed to send some tickets for another cruise to make things right. I appreciate that. They both said they would take my feedback into consideration. Small things, like better music/DJ and dimming the lights would go a long way. And don't say you're going to serve chicken and pulled pork sandwiches if you're going to serve...

We did the Valentine’s Day dinner cruise on 02/14/2025 and it was such a waste of time and money it was our FIRST Valentines together so I decided to do a cute little dinner cruise thinking it would be a fun idea for us little did I expect the shit show that was about to transpire we got there at 6:55 they staff was telling us to run cause they will be closing the doors soon for the boats so we start running and one of they staff members working one of the boats started saying endalé endalé to my girlfriend who is Hispanic and found that to be extremely rude well we get to the boat at 7. We are breathing heavy cause we had to run all the way around the pier while waiting around 7:45 and we are still standing there they said their was an issue with the previous charter so they had all of us standing out in the cold for 45+ minutes or some people even longer my girlfriend got dressed up to the nines from head to toe she was shaking and shivering even though she had a jacket on. Cause they had no heat lamps and didn’t prepare for anything to go wrong we had plans to go see a wicked on broadway the following day which she really wanted to see and we can’t now cause she got sick because they had us waiting outside in the freezing cold for over 30 and when we finally got on the boat it was horrible we had a three plate dinner course with a complimentary champagne flute we didn’t even get till the very end of the trip cause the staff said we didn’t pay for that when. We showed them that it does come with a glass we had waited for over the whole trip. I. Top of that we had to wait thirty plus minutes to even be talked to by wait staff which we found out at the very end they were trained just thirty minutes prior to the event starting and they were understaffed to begin with and we got some really shitty pieces of stale bread and the food was dry and bland. If you are thinking of doing this for valentines to make it a special day for you then DONT DO IT WITH THEM they got my girl sick Ruining this three day weekend and I will be getting a refund for this trip what a waste of time and just a shitty money grab by the owners we will be posting all the photos and videos the only person that was even remotely helpful was the manager of the boat Andrea she was apologetic to everyone and at least gave us some type of service at the very end we had to get our own drink and constantly had to ask to get some type of service consistently it made the whole trip very difficult to spend time and have a good dinner with my girlfriend do to me constantly getting up to get a drink for me and her or to go ask to get some type of service so we can get food cause if we didn’t we would have never gotten food such a pity the owner tried to just take their money and run and say that we got our service but it wasn’t what we paid for and I will be constantly calling their customer service to get a refund and until then they will be getting negative...

I would never book with Event Cruises again. Their customer service is horrendous. My husband initially booked a dinner with Event Cruises for our Anniversary, but we had to cancel because I was extremely sick. Under no circumstances do they offer refunds, and we had to pay a 35% rebooking fee, which I negotiated from 50%. I was annoyed that I had to pay a rebooking fee on top of the $400 plus that my husband paid, but after re-reading their refund policy, it was very clear that they were operating under their policy.

However, here is where my issue comes in. On April 13th, we were scheduled for our 7 pm dinner. I went to their Google page, clicked on directions, and was taken to the incorrect location. I was taken to the West side instead of the East side. I called Event Cruises on the day of, panicking, and explained the situation because I knew there was a chance we would not make it in time. They checked their Google page and were silent because they could see what I was saying was accurate. I was told to send an email. The next day, I sent an email with a screen recording as evidence. Unfortunately, my husband and I did not make it in time, and we missed the boat. I called Event Cruises again, spoke to another rep, and explained the situation. He was very arrogant as he checked the Google page, started making excuses, and told me to send an email. I sent an email with my screen recording of being taken to the incorrect location from their Google page.

A rep acknowledged their Google page was inaccurate but refused to allow my husband and me to rebook without a rebooking fee.

You can see their response below:

Serenity P (TopView Sightseeing) Apr 22, 2024, 1:47 AM EDT Hello Doris, Thank you for choosing TopView Sightseeing! We sincerely apologize for any confusion you experienced earlier. It has come to our attention that Google incorrectly directed you to Pier 40 instead of Pier 36, as clearly demonstrated in the video you provided. It's important to note that we are not affiliated with Google in any way. To address this issue, we have initiated a detailed web inquiry to gain further insights. Despite our efforts, please understand that our sales policy dictates that all transactions are considered final. However, we have already minimized the rescheduling fee to accommodate your situation. Unfortunately, this is the best option available to us at this time. We kindly ask if you would like to proceed with the current resolution. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we are here to assist you every step of the way. *All sales are final Sincerely, Serenity P Customer Service Representative

Please note that they have now fixed their Google page, and it does take you to the correct location. But what company would admit that its Google page is inaccurate and still charge you a rebooking fee? They would rather lose a little over $100 than gain a...