Hello to ALL! Please do NOT EVER book through DC Cruises this is the most UNPROFESSIONAL Services I have ever met in my life. For starters, the customer service is beyond low. When you try to reach out and get help you will only get an email and that's when they are ready to reply. After 9 emails, the manager finally called me back and when I asked him his name he wouldn't even tell me his name. Then as a Manager he told me, he knew I didn't speak to his co worker because "Lori" has not picked up the phone in almost 2 years. She "prefers to only talk through email" was his exact words. I called to book a private boat tour which the website states is available and then when you talk to them they say it's not. On top of, I told him the services they state they offer are not true and he should change that on his site. And all he could ask was did I want my money back for the tickets I already purchased because he knows how this goes. I kindly asked him how what goes? And all he could say is if you are upset now you should get your money back, when at the time I was not upset I was just trying to get an understanding of all the lies he has posted on his site. Saturday the day of the boat ride I had a reservation of 38 people paid and reserved for my event, and was told to do the Early boarding pass to get on the boat for an hour prior at 915pm to the other guests who board at 1015pm. I decided to have my guest meet me in Georgetown at 8pm to have dinner at Nickside riverside grill therefore we would be close and ready to board when it was time. I still have my receipt from Nickside riverside grill showing we paid and closed our tab at 8:59pm. We then walked out on the pier to wait for the boat to arrive to not seeing not one "Dc Cruises" boat appear. My guest and I stood outside from 9:07 pm until 10:22pm when the boat arrived in the rain. At 10:22pm the boat arrived and everyone got of the boat with an attitude and was made I asked the gentleman who was loading the boat who could I speak to in regards to this boat NOT being here at 915pm and he argued with me for 10minutes to where my brother in law had to interfere. He then got mad and went and got the Captain. The captain came off the boat mad and had an attitude and said he didn't want to talk and was not moving the boat until the Manager came down because 3 people emailed and lied on him saying he was not there at 915pm. I have my 38 guests on top of a witness from the Boomerang cruise crew that was there from 8pm until we docked at 10:39pm to confirm the boat never came at 915pm; so I'm really unsure of who this captain thought was lying on him. After a Gentleman from management came out, and I addressed my concern he then told me I would have to call management on Monday. I asked how do you call someone who does not even have a number listed on their website? He said well please email them. He then told my guest to proceed on the boat because we must leave. Got on the boat and the Captain was very rude and nasty and did not say excuse me, but pushed past my guest to get to his seat. We pulled off from the pier about 10:39pm. Only to think we were about to try to enjoy ourselves and the DJ begin to play music. 11:07pm the DJ announces it's no longer raining and he wants to take the music outside. The Dj took from 11:07pm until 11:33pm with setting his music up. Only for us to pull back into the Pier at 11:52 and the Captain to jump off the boat and go complain even more than he was when we first got on. This was the WORSE birthday ever thanks to DC Cruises and their horrific staff. I will never ever in my life give them another penny of mine. If you are looking for rude, disrespectful, ignorant and horrific customer service they are your go to. read more

I took a Fourth of July fireworks cruise organized by the International Club of D.C. with them on Thursday. The tours take off from Washington Harbor on K St. There are many nice restaurants here. We left at 7:00 P.M. and were back by 10. We saw the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials and the Washington Monument. The fireworks were excellent; they lasted about an hour. The fireworks were absolutely magnificent. It looked like Baghdad during the Gulf War. When the fireworks were done, there was smoke everywhere. It was really loud too. It was really a trip. If you are taking the fireworks cruise, get a seat near the side of the boat for the best view. There is an overhead awning to protect you from the sun and the rain, but this can be disadvantageous at night. I was on the inside of the boat, but I had a good camera so I could still zoom in and get a good view. The staff was friendly and very helpful. There were drinks and desserts available if you wanted them. I left my backpack on the boat when I left. I sent them an e-mail on Friday and I was able to pick it up on Sunday. Thank you so much for the help. The boats are clean and well maintained. You need to show up on time because the boats leave at the listed time. I think the boat is a water taxi during the day, and gives Potomac tours on the weekends. Keep up the good work. No complaints. read more

30 min late and still no word on when the boat will show up. No signage anywhere in sight letting us know we are even in the right spot. Highly recommend going with another cruise like Potomac of Nightingale. But of those cruise companies had signage and people instructing and helping customers. Very professional. Again DO NOT waste your money on DC Cruises!!'n read more

Even though moonlight cruises say it's ok for children above 7 yrs to attend, it is very non-kid friendly. The website never said that children can't be on the upper level. The way the manager handled it from the beginning wasn't professional. We decided to stay anyway but didn't have a great experience. There was a patron behind me rolling a joint luckily I was able to hide it from my kids but the patron very easily hid it from the manager who was nearby and perhaps intentionally overlooked. Lastly the manager played a special requested song for another patron and announced it over the microphone. My daughter asked him to play a song and he rudely stated "sorry we don't do that!" My wife confronted him and when I was alone he finally approached me. He tried to make excuses for his actions and blame it on the stress of the job and I told him that he managed all situations poorly. I first told him that his child policy was unclear in the website. I then told him that he spoke to my daughter rudely and if he explained why he couldn't play the song in a respectful manner she would have understood. He did apologize in the end and gave my son a toy that made him smile; however until reviews steadily improve I would forego bringing children to the cruise in the evening. read more

This is the private msg I rec'd from the captain of the company, who didn't have the courage of conviction to make his comments public. As a customer svc mgr for some 30 yrs, I can say w/ full confidence that THAT says a lot about the accuracy of my evaluation. I tried to put it here as a snapshot, but couldn't. If anyone would like me to forward it to them so you can see that I am not making this up, pls message me. "This is the most obnoxious review we have even (sic) read, and reflects more on you, then on the service provided. Shame on you - the boat is the nicest sightseeing boat in Wash DC. You are so busy complementing (sic) yourself for pushing ahead to get on the boat, LOL, only a New Yorker would be proud of that!" As for me "pushing ahead", I never either said or suggested that. In fact, the passengers who hadn't yet fled the misery of standing in the torrential rain & being ignored by the boat's crew were waiting in a clot on the dock for someone, anyone, to call them over to the boat so they could take cover. When they didn't, I ran over to the boat & hopped on board. Every single person followed, w/ comments like, "Well, yeah, let's go - what the he-- are they waiting for?" You will also notice that nothing was said in the captain's private msg regarding cleanliness, safety & overall quality of the boat & the cruises. In fact, somehow he interprets it as the "nicest sightseeing boat" in DC. Taking umbrage at a disappointed customer who had the temerity to say so on a public forum, making personal attacks, misstating customer comments & doing all of this away from public view only confirms all of the negative reviews. You will notice from my reviews that I don't make a habit out of attacking businesses & often make allowances for various circumstances. If I say a business falls short it's because it does & I do my best to explain why, which is why my reviews tend to be long. So, again, I would strongly suggest that anyone who doesn't wish to waste their time or money on shabby infrastructure & basement-level customer service, esp. if you are from NYC --- because obviously they don't wish to serve anyone outside of the DC culture -- find another sightseeing cruise. There are several & a few have rec'd very nice reviews here on Yelp. And I would thank the captain to tend to the improvement of his business so his evaluations & reviews get better & stop attacking customers. read more

The "Bitch Better Have My Money" Cruise. We took 2 out-of-town friends on the 10:15 PM 'Monuments-By-Moonlight' cruise last Saturday night. I'm hardly a prude, but the cruise had a DJ that played only expletive-laden hip hop & rap (including the above title of this review). I didn't mind that there were people smoking weed, but there WERE actually other folk on the boat besides the ones who apparently appreciate that music. Judging from the response I received from 'Lori', though, my "demographic" isn't what the company is looking for: that's what the nightclubs for our demographic are now playing. yours is the 2nd complaint we've had about this in the past month, so i think we need to clarify on our website somewhere that that's what you're going to hear. i'll pass your comments along to my manager. sorry you didn't enjoy it. -Lori Very glad I never invited my parents on one of their cruises. Definitely won't be sailing with DC Cruises again! read more

DO NOT PURCHASE. Truly terrible experience. Bought tickets for a party of 10 for Easter weekend. Boat was scheduled to leave at 3:40p, so we arrived at 3:00p to queue. Our family, including three young children, had flown in from Minnesota and drove down from Baltimore to enjoy a day together on the Potomac. One of DC Cruise's boats had broken down earlier that day. Instead of timely informing its ticketholders of the problem and issuing a refund of our purchase price, DC Cruises "relied" on another boating company, Capitol River Cruises, to accommodate its customers. Unfortunately, Capitol River was unable to host any of DC Cruises' ticketholders (because it was running a deal with LivingSocial that day). As a result, only one boat was available to DC Cruises, which could not accommodate all ticketholders. By 4:45p, I was on the phone, calling DC Cruises for a solution: no one was available to speak to me. Furthermore, no employee or agent of DC Cruises was available on-site to field the issues that arose; only a pathetic sign that (fraudulently) read "DC Cruises tickets honored on the following [three] boats." Long story short, dozens of ticketholders, including our party, were made to stand in line for hours, only to be refused passage on boat after boat. When I brought a complaint to DC Cruise's attention, they offered a lackluster reply, first telling us to continue "waiting it out," and then contending that our party was at fault. I am in the process of fighting for a refund of our purchase price. Never again! There are many companies that offer similar boat tours. Save yourself the heartache and avoid dealing with DC Cruises. read more

My wife and I went on the fall harbor cruise this past weekend, and were NOT impressed. There was no narration, nor "hot cider" as advertised. They had no front office and double charged us for our trip. Would NOT recommend this company to anyone. read more

We had a great time with D.C. Cruises. They hosted our teen group for a private river cruise. The boat easily handled our group of 45. The staff was friendly and helped us personalize each part of the experience from the lighting in the cabin to the music that was playing. The folks in our group considered it the highlight of the evening. I would definitely be interested in using them again in the future. read more

DC Cruises - Tours Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

The person who runs this company, sells tickets for cruises but does not have any representation at the departure site. Not a representative nor any kind of sign. Apparently, you are allowed to go on any of the other boats with your ticket (they get reimbursed). The owner returned my call, and blamed a (very helpful!) representative from another boat company for confusing his patrons. That he DID have a boat there leaving on schedule. How I was supposed to know that was the DC Cruises boat, I have no idea, as the word DC Cruises was not mentioned anywhere. At the most, it's a sketchy company. At the least, he is someone who hasn't got a clue how to run a tourist/customer service business. Go for the Nightingale instead. read more

Took this cruise . The cruise itself was not bad and went around the Potomac river. However, it was not v enjoyable. 1. The driver hardly gave any commentary. You would expect them to say when we approached different landmarks and some context. At the very least, some kind of "monument A is on your right" should have been there. Wasn't there 2. Boat was filled more than the number of people accomodate on the top floor. Most people obviously want to stay up , so there's a rush upstairs. With people standing and blocking your view, it wasn't that great. read more

At first glance, we thought it all looked a bit rinky dink, with the super crowded boat and haphazardly set up booth to act as a cash bar in the corner, but once we set sail, it's a pleasant trip. You really can't beat the views you get of the monuments lit up at night, either. You can get a bucket of 5 or 6 beers (bud light type stuff, they aren't stocking many options) for about $30, and that was just what we needed. The top area, where you could enjoy the fresh air and views the most, was unbearably crowded. Literally people pressed into each other from end to end to the point you couldn't even squeeze through if you tried with all your might. As a result, we stayed in the lower level, which is mostly enclosed but with windows. There is a small outside area on the bottom for room for a handful of people, so we went out to enjoy the sights whenever there was an opening. Overall, it's not a very memorable trip, but if you can get a cheap deal and some friends you like sitting and chatting with, it's something I would recommend people try at least once, if for no reason other than the experience. read more

I took a Cherry Blossom cruise on The DC Harbor Cruises line in the spring last year. The boat was fine, no issues with the bar or restrooms or anything. My issue is it states it is a cherry blossom cruise and yet we went no where near a single cherry blossom tree! We saw Regan national and the Navy yard. After the cruise ended we went an saw the fully bloomed trees on foot. Waste of money if you're hoping to actualy see a cherry blossom tree onboard a Cherry Blossom cruise. read more

I bought a coupon for an Oktoberfest cruise. Overall, these guys seem like they don't know what they're doing and they don't care. Service is sloppy and rude. I got the impression I was inconveniencing them by paying for food and a beer. The view of the Potomac was nice, but the boat was packed full of people making it very uncomfortable to move around. Very disappointed, and I wouldn't go back. read more

DC Cruises - Inside - Tours Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

The cruise was nice enough for $20 - a little boring, but good if you just want some time off of your feet. There was a groupon available for $15 which most of the cruisers seemed to have. They said to arrive 20 minutes early but 5-10 probably is more accurate. read more

A company that quickly responded to emails, let me know the second seats on a sold out boat became available, helped all in our part feel comfortable, and were extremely accommodating to even our seniors. And the music was great too! read more

So completely "cheesey" I'm almost embarrassed to post this, admitting I actually bought this cruise (but not at full price). About 75 of us were crammed into the lower deck and many had to stand for the duration. The DJ was blasting music appropriate for a 20's crowd into a crowd of 75 whose average age was probably around 45. $3 for a 8oz cup of soda?! Thanks, I'm good! The only good thing I can say is that the boat itself appeared to be well-maintained/clean. read more

Cool if it's not hot outside because the AC doesn't work. Captain told us it takes awhile to get cool. Three hours later and it still wasn't cooling the room. On a good note, the DJ was really good. Someone else paid for tables and they took their tables to give that space to the DJ because of the rain. Should make better arrangements for rain so you don't take someone else's paid for space and then offer them nothing in return. Probably wouldn't book this again as the staff on board was not the least bit friendly. Bartender's drinks weren't good and they were expensive. read more

We signed up for the monuments by moonlight cruise. Signage to locate the cruise was poor and The cruise is too short. Most cruises for a similar price are two hours. The boat was very crowded and there was absolutely no narration to let any visitors know what they were seeing. This cruise is a total rip off. I definitely would not recommend it. read more

My fiancé and I took their 8:00 Monuments by Night tour and was awesome. The tour did get started about 10 minutes late but was otherwise a terrific experience. We sat up top for the best view possible. They were playing some chill type of romantic music at first but then started to play a little R&B towards the end of the cruise. The staff was very courteous, I would definitely recommend taking this cruise to anyone. read more

I chartered a DC Cruise tour 2 or 3 times and really had a great time each time, (we used the open top boat which was great.) My wife loved it!! The staff was really friendly. The Boats were really nice and left pretty much on time. All-in-all a good time (with some great views of historical sites up and down the Potomac including the Monuments). read more

The parents visited and really wanted to do this. They don't go far and there really isn't much to see. Nice bar downstairs. You are better seeing monuments from land. read more

Was executing much more than a quick boat ride to the bridge and back. Don't waste your time or money on this ...

I bought a LivingSocial deal for a Moonlight Monuments Cruise of the Potomac. It was a 90-minute cruise on a lovely, clear night. I sat at the front of the boat, which I would not recommend because it meant my hair was in my face the whole time, but other than that I have no complaints. They have beer, wine, and soda available for purchase. They share some fun facts about the monuments with guests via a PA system. The group was a mixed bag so there wasn't much socializing between groups, but I think it'd be a great outing for a group of people. A bit pricey without a "daily deal" coupon at $40 a pop, but cheaper than chartering your own boat, I guess. With the deal? Totally worth it. A bit of a hike from the Smithsonian metro stop so wear comfortable shoes! read more

I purchased the tickets off of livingsocial. My husband and i decided to use it for our 7 year anniversary. What a waste of time. I would had more fun in my living room watching a movie and eating some popcorn. No joke. I was so bored and hot. Nothing entertaining but the other people that was on the boat with you. Highly.... Not recommended. read more

We did the 9:15pm moonlight trip and we really enjoyed it! Top of boat was pretty crowded so we moved to the front and had that part all to ourselves the whole time. Stick to the beer as the wine comes out of a box. Kids really enjoyed it as the planes coming into Reagan Airport were coming right overhead. It was a cool thing to experience. read more

DC Water Taxi -- Monument boat tour on the Potomac from Georgetown to National Mall and back, great narration. Perfect Sunday afternoon.

Snagged 2 Groupons for $24 for the Cherry Blossom Cruise 04/06/2013. Totally worth it. There weren't many cherry blossoms ( beyond our control) but the weather was great as well as the tour and I was able to take some great photos. Friendly staff and choice of seating inside or out. Even got to learn some historical facts. Would definitely tour with DC Cruises again! read more

We travel to DC from NC several times a year for Redskins football. We do not do the tourist 'thing' much anymore, as we have seen about all there is to see. However, we recently came home from a 3 week vacation in Europe where we took 'city boat tours' in 4 countries. We discovered that with boat tours you get a great/different perspective of the city, and usually great narration. So, we looked for a tour in DC. There are a few choices of boat companies. We chose DC Cruises for the length, price, and more adult type cruise. It exceeded our expectations. We learned a lot of history we did not know, and saw amazing views of the city and monuments. The narration was fun and informative. The boat was clean, had a small bar and plenty of room above deck with tables and chairs. There was a lot of room in the 'inside' if you don't want to be exposed to the elements. read more

DC Cruises is just 'ok' at best. Definitley no fancy if that is what you are looking for. Like so many others, I got a Groupon to do the Fondue Cruise, and the set up of the buffet is just kinda blah. The chocolate was decent and so were the dippers, but the boat was old and dirty and not pleasant. I actually did a Tea Cruise during Cherry Blossom time about two years ago on the same boat, and that experience was much better. The tea, and all the food was fantastic, and getting to see the Cherry Blossoms from the water was beautiful. I guess the company has gone downhill in the last couple of years...very disappointing. read more

DC Cruises has proved to be nothing more but an unresponsive and troublesome venue. I would also not recommend them to any person living in the DMV area. (I attempted to cancel over 72 hours before the cruise date and not only did I not receive a response, they refuse to let me use the voucher that I already paid for. I had to get Groupon involved in settling this issue and DC Cruises still has not responded.) The lack of professionalism and sheer business etiquette at DC Cruises has aggressively demonstrated that this establishment is of poor quality and WILL be replaced in the near future. There are other venues that offer the same excursion with much better customer service and business savvy. I, along with the many others that I know have had this problem, will be taking our business to these other venues and working to make sure that others do to. read more

My scheduled time for me and a friend is tomorrow, and I'm already extremely frustrated with this company. The most unprofessional, unresponsive, and unhelpful group I've come across in a while. I bought a Groupon for me and a friend at $30. Cool. Great deal. Something new. Let's try it out. I didn't really see anything on their website about a Groupon voucher code like normal (I've used several Groupon vouchers in the past). So I emailed them in May (almost 3 months ago now) to get some direction on how I should book, etc. No response. Now, me and a friend are wanting to go, I decide to try it out. I go online, start the payment process. I clicked next once, and it said payment was processed. No review order? Have never seen that before. So, I think no problem, I will email this third party company that DC Cruises has a contract with - they'll totally understand since I just did this 2 min ago. Well, they say DC cruises won't allow that. So I email DC Cruises - the next day they email me back saying No because they have to pay fees. I then attach my email from May and explain that they never responded to me to help. After a few times back and forth (and terrible email grammar - which is a red flag and shows how unprofessional they are), the manager says she will give me back the $30. Better than nothing I guess, but I wouldn't have even purchased these if it weren't for the deal I was getting. Terrible customer service. I thought Groupon was supposed to help both customers getting deals and the companies getting exposure to bring people back... obviously they don't care. And even worse, I tried calling DC Cruises and nobody answered - went to voicemail - then says mailbox full. Are you kidding me?!?! AWFUL COMPANY. Save your $ - plenty of other boating/tour places to choose from. read more

I did an afternoon cruise with them back in April and it was great, such a good experience. So when I had a friend in town, I decided to take her on a cruise as well, their "Monuments by Moonlight" tour. Wow was this not like the last time. It took off 25 minutes late, there was no sign, there was no guy checking people in, and the crew was unbelievably rude. Their excuse? "So sorry, it's Saturday, we're very busy on Saturdays." Huh, that's weird, if you're ALWAYS busy on the same day every week, maybe think of adding more staff on Saturdays, or allowing for extra time between cruises. Just a thought. Thank god I got these tickets on groupon and didn't pay full price for them. read more

The captain really knows his stuff. Great narrative and really nice clean boat. Apple cider was top notch and a very nice added touch to the Fall Foliage tour. We had a great experience. The Cruises run on time and the people that work for DC Cruise are very helpful and kind. We had an outstanding time! read more

I bought a 4 person package deal for the Fall foliage cruise. On the deal it mentions that cruise riders will be given a treat of Fall tea and warmed cider. The deal also mentioned that we would be going on a 1 hour scenic ride on the Potomac river. These mentioned aspects of the ride were present and quite lovely. What was NOT mentioned was that the cruise was a 30 minute guided tour. Now, a guide tour of the Georgetown part of the Potomac river sounds nice, but to be honest, it was dry and boring. The captain was giving notes about how low the tide was, which has nothing to do with history. On top of that, I would have not purchased the tickets if I knew half of the ride was a guided tour. My friends and I bought the tickets to sit and chit chat to catch up with the beautiful backdrop of the foliage. As soon as we got on, we were talking and catching up. Someone working with the cruise line, came up to us to muzzle our conversation. He asked us to end our conversation until the guided tour, that I DIDN'T mindfully sign up for, was over. When you go to DC Cruises website, the Fall Foliage isn't even listed as one of their cruises. There was no place on Living Social OR the cruise line website that would have informed you of it being a guided tour. I was disappointed by the lack of communication about what kind of tour it was and how the cruise members handled myself and my friends. In the future, there should be two sections. 1 - for people who want to hear the tour and 2 - those who don't. read more

I have family coming into town so i am trying purchases some tickets off of living social. I was trying to take them on the DJ cruises July 29 I don't see the DJ one being advertise but it is advertise on the website. I am trying to get ahold of someone so i can use my vouchers on July 29 for the DJ cruise read more

DO NOT BOOK THIS CRUISE. they cancelled the cruise without telling me (even though I had bought 10 tickets for a birthday party). Refused to answer my calls or respond to my emails a couple days before. Worst service, this entire thing is a scam and not worth the headache and disrespect i felt throughout this entire process. read more

About to be a long review FYI. Started looking for birthday ideas for the boyfriend and landed on the idea of the DJ exclusive cruise party for a total of 20 people. I went onto their website to do a little more researching and bottle service was offered so I wanted a little more information like bottle menu, table setup, food, etc. First off, don't put a "contact us" phone number that doesn't accept calls. So I took the email route. I emailed them and, and got a pretty quick response within 24 hours which was very very very generic. It included ticket pricing, "party table setup," and bottles can be requested, and that price may vary, AND being ABLE to bring small appetizers onto the cruise. But the website said "no outside food." Good luck contacting someone and getting clear precise info. So that email didn't really answer my email I originally sent them. So I sent a total of 7 emails back and forth of coming contacting me via phone because I had a lot of questions prior to having my whole party of 20 purchase their vouchers. NO ONE CALLED ME. I got a total of 2 MAYBE 3 emails back. I was a little disappointed and almost regretted my decision on the cruise party. But I gave DC Cruises a chance. Once we got there, I forget the gentleman's name but he was quick and organized on seating our party first on the bottom level. Nice cruise boat, comfortable table seating area, bartender was awesome (ashley? I forget her name too) but the staff was absolutely wonderful! We had a blast. We were able to bring cake and cupcakes onto the cruise for the birthday celebration. It was a very smooth cruise. No one got sea sick or anything. When we went upstairs to the DJ level, that was fun and full of dancing and sceneries as we sailed. Cruise could do some inside upgrades and could be slightly bigger for the amount of people it attracts in one event. I'm sure they're still upgrading because based on other reviews people said it's hot in the boat. It was air conditioned in the lower level where our table was so I'm glad we didn't have that pain point. Music could've been a little more diverse versus straight rap and r&b. And bottle service could have a little more inventory on board or at least communicate it sooner so large parties can plan in advance. Besides the hassle in sales communication, it was fun and I'd recommend it. Definitely consider doing a private party if you have more than 30. read more

DC Cruises (http://www.dc-cruises.com/) and Capital Yacht (http://www.capitalyacht.com/index.php) are run by the same people; in fact, DC Cruises is the "tour division" of Capital Yacht, according to their websites. The negative Yelp reviews for Capital Yacht apply equally to DC Cruises -- that is to say, buyer beware. read more

drove 2 hours as a new customer to do the cruise. standing on the dock at 3pm there is no boat in sight, no signs, nobody is answering their phone or email!!!! i highly doubt this shitty company even exists!!!!! waste of a present that i was giving to my mother. waste of my one day off that i get per month!!!!! read more