I had some expectations of what a river cruise might be (I have done one on the Potomac River in Washington, DC) and this was different than what I expected, but I think that if you don't have any preconceptions, this was a nice little cruise. I went with my husband on a Sunday afternoon. We booked just tickets (not food) and arrived about 20 minutes before the start of the cruise. I would recommend getting there early so that you can get the seats you want. All the seating is bench seating with a table, but some are near open walls of the boat and some are by regular windows. I'd say the open areas are good if you want to take photos. We started off by having a drink - I had some sauvingon blanc and he had a beer. The prices were regular sorts of prices, not overly expensive, given the captive audience. Our particular cruise was from Hamilton Gardens and went into the Hamilton CBD area up to the Fairfield Bridge and then back again. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't awesome for us. It was overcast and drizzling most of the time, with a couple of downpours in there as well. That said, it wasn't a total wash and I did enjoy our time. There is a recorded tour guide that points out some of the sites along the river during the cruise. They also provide you with a small map and a guide to some of the birds you might see along the way. I was getting kind of hungry and had a brownie and then later ordered a ham and cheese toastie. I was actually really surprised that the toastie wasn't just microwaved or something. The hostess went to the back of the boat, cooked it on the grill and it was served nicely with a small salad and quite nice presentation. Overall, I think this was a fun experience, particularly if you're just visiting in the area. It would have been nicer in sunnier weather, but it wasn't too bad in the rain. They also have cruises that go in the opposite direction to Mystery Creek Winery, for wine tasting. read more

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The Waikato River Explorer website is tired and old, certainly needs to be updated as its really unappealing in its present form. Overall this website is a boring customer experience Other issues the site has listed below. 1. Reduce or optimize your meta keywords 2. Check all images for ALT attribute 3. Make your HTML code less messy 4. Delete frame and iframe tags 5. Add proper sitemap.xml file 6. Get some Google +1 clicks read more