Cruise Newport Beach — Local services in Newport Beach

My boyfriend and I had a great experience yesterday on the sunset cruise! I made sure to read reviews and do research with things like parking, etc before heading out and we had such an amazing day. We got out to balboa around 1:30/2pm, and found parking RIGHT on Main Street, so close to the beach and Daveys locker. (The parking meter was broken and wouldn’t accept our card, but luckily they allow you to pay for parking on your phone, also parking may have been super easy because we were there on a weekday). I only had to pay $15 for parking which was awesome, street parking is free after 6! We spent a few hours on the beach swimming and laying out, then we had dinner Ruby’s Diner on the pier.

We checked in for our sunset cruise around 6:30. Once you check in you start lining up for the cruise around 7:15. Me and my boyfriend walked around Balboas little boardwalk to kill time. We went on the Ferris wheel and just hung out. We lined up fairly early (7:05) and were like 3rd in line. Which is great because once we got on the boat we went straight to the upper deck and got AMAZING seats! So where you are in line does matter if you want good seats. I bought us drink tickets so before we took off I went down and got us two sodas. After reading some reviews I was nervous because it said the line for drinks gets so long and there’s only one bartender. Maybe since it was a weekday it wasn’t that bad, but I got my drinks within like 5 min before we took off for the cruise.

The cruise was really nice, they played nice music and we mostly cruised around the marina, looking at the amazing houses and boats. We did end up going to the end of the rock jetty’s facing the open ocean for another awesome view of the sunset. It was a nice end to the day. Everything went so smoothly and there were no issues at all! Maybe just people like not having respect for personal space and crowding our little area but...

I bought a Groupon ticket a week prior for the Sunset cruise. No sunset this evening, but certainly that’s not in Davey’s power. At check in, it was hard to hear the cashier due to low voice and background noise. His excitement level is more likely fine for the fishing crowd, but I wonder how the cruising crowd enjoys the warm welcome? Sarcasm intended. The Groupon I purchased was for two cruises and two drink tickets. When I went to Davey’s locker to use the Groupon voucher, there was a 50.00 minimum to use the voucher, so I had to buy two more 5.00 drinks that I did not want. The cashier gave me two boarding passes and two drink tickets (total). I didn’t feel like challenging the process of the voucher and required extra drink tickets purchase, so I let it go; however, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. On top of that, my wife and I had a coffee and a tea. So that’s what, $20.00 for coffee and tea? Not cool. Plus, I still provided a $2.00 tip, because the server was friendly, clear speaking, informational about tea location and honey option. We were 7th and 8th in line because we arrived 60 minutes prior to departure as was repeated several times in the ordering process, so we sat at an inside booth. The cruise was smooth, the booth bench bottoms were padded, with wood backs. The table felt rather sticky, but that could be for a number of reasons. This was a 30 year wedding Anniversary weekend away for my wife and me. I had hoped for an actual sunset, but that’s the risk for a prescheduled cruise. Too bad the sales and service portion fell a bit short. Not sure if I can bite on another try of this bait. I’ll leave it to the younger...

I hope this Does Not Happen to you. My partner's 72nd birthday was the day of this Harbor cruise. We arrived and got our Boarding Pass 75 minutes ahead of the launch time. When we got in the waiting line, there were twelve people ahead of us, including an African American couple of our age from Simi Valley. My partner and I felt the wait would be worth it, to get an inside window view seat, in that the evening was overcast, foggy, and chilly. TEN minutes before boarding time, the African American couple ahead of us, ALLOWED THIRTY TWO 32 of their friends and family to CUT AHEAD OF the others waiting in the line. The late arrivals were strutting like privileged entitled passengers, and when they pushed their way on board, immediately TOOK OVER the entire enclosed cabin, posting one or two of their party at each of the six or more window booths for [8 each]...and then denying my partner and I any right to sit down, as they proclaimed they are saving ALL THOSE SEATS for the others in their ""Privileged"" party, as they were wandering all over the two decks of the vessel. Once the drinking started, this group of 32 people dominated every minute of the 1.5 hour experience. They were loud, had unruly kids, drank too much, and made most of the rest of the passengers uncomfortable, not to mention forcing all the others to endure the cold air, wind, etc. Overall, the entire experience was ruined by this rude narcissistic crowd from Simi. My partner and I were more than glad to Get Off...