My husband and I went on one of these cruises as a Valentines date. It's not the type of thing we would normally spend money on but we had a Red Balloon voucher so we thought what the hell, it's something different. Overall it was a decent night but I have my gripes.
When boarding there was a massive line, which we stood in for about 10 minutes. No big deal, but when we got to the front with our voucher we were told that we had to go to the office to exchange the voucher for a boarding pass. NOWHERE on the voucher did it say this, trust me- we checked. Needless to say, by the time we got on the boat most of the good seats were taken. Decent instructions wouldn't be a terrible thing to offer your guests, am I wrong?
We were seated in the "pre-paid alcohol" upstairs section which was nice. We were more secluded and there were fewer bogans and tourists. I do say fewer because there were still plenty of them upstairs, just not as many as the lower level. Anyway, there were two doors that went to the outside deck; one loudly squeaked like creaky old rocking chair anytime someone opened it and the other sounded like nails on a chalkboard. The noise all night was insanely irritating. Hasn't anyone heard of WD-40?
The food was really average. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect much for a harbour cruise buffet but some of the stuff was just plain bad. The potatoes in the potato salad were hard to cut, that's how raw they were. The hokkien noodles and pasta were ok. I did go back for seconds- not sure if that's because I was actually enjoying some of the food or if it was just the lure of the all you can eat buffet drawing me in.
Service? I'd say very average. If we asked for water it was like you were asking them to give you their kidney. Don't even think about asking them for other drinks. For that we had to walk downstairs and go to the bar.
Ok so what was good about the night you ask?
Our package included wine and beer so we got a bottle of red and a bottle of white. Hey why not right? And really, the food wasn't TERRIBLE. Just don't expect gourmet! I did stuff myself to oblivion.
You really can't beat the views of Sydney Harbour. It was a beautiful evening and it was nice to do something different for a change.
Would I pay to do it again? Not with my own money but I wouldn't be opposed to it if I had another voucher. read more