NYC Dinner Cruises: What the Ticket Includes

How to choose

Buffet with a DJ, or plated with a band

Three dinner boats carry most of the reviews. They differ in how dinner is served, what plays and how dressed up the room is. Prices and ratings are on Viator in October 2026.

Signature Dinner Cruise: the casual one

The City Cruises Signature Dinner Cruise (from $119, 4.16 from 1,407 reviews) serves a buffet of entrees, salads and desserts in a climate-controlled dining room, with a DJ, games and open-air roof decks. A table for the party is guaranteed. Coffee, tea, iced tea and water are included; cocktails, wine and beer come from a cash bar. Dress is casual: nice jeans and khakis are fine.

Bateaux Premier Dinner Cruise: the dressed-up one

The Bateaux Premier Dinner Cruise (from $171, 4.41 from 1,485 reviews) serves a three-course plated dinner on a glass-enclosed boat, with a vocalist and an acoustic band. It boards at 6:15 pm and sails from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. The dress code is semi-formal and enforced: no casual jeans, t-shirts or sandals, and no children under 6. Drinks beyond coffee, tea and water are extra here too.

Dinner Cruise with Live Music: the most courses

The New York City Dinner Cruise with Live Music (from $156, 4.0 from 596 reviews) sails for three hours on the Louisa of the Seas. Its five-course plated dinner runs from a charcuterie board through salad, seafood and entree to dessert, at a private table, with live music, unlimited soft drinks and one beer or wine ticket. A VIP upgrade, for 22 people a night, moves the table to the top deck with six courses, caviar and two cocktails. Gratuities are extra.

Which pier

Which pier, and when to board

• Pier 61, Chelsea Piers (West 23rd Street and 12th Avenue): the Signature and Bateaux dinner and lunch cruises on Viator. Bateaux boards 45 minutes before departure, Signature 30 minutes; late arrivals are likely to miss the boat. City Cruises also sails Signature dinners from Pier 15 at South Street Seaport (October 2026), so check the pier on the ticket.
• Pier 36, Dock 9 (South Street, F train to East Broadway): the Louisa of the Seas. Boarding opens 30 minutes before departure, and the boat cannot wait for late arrivals.
• Pier 62, Chelsea Piers (West 22nd Street): Classic Harbor Line's brunch yacht. Check in at its ticket booth.
• Pier 40 (north side): in October 2026 the New York City Skyline Dinner Cruise and the NYC Bottomless Brunch Cruise list it as their boarding point, as do the same operator's Premier Holiday Dinner Cruise, Holiday Brunch with Cocoa and Valentine's Day Romantic Brunch Cruise.

Two New Year's Eve sailings board elsewhere in October 2026: the NYC New Year's Eve Fireworks Cruise aboard the Nautical Empress at Pier 81, and the New Year's Eve Fireworks Cruise with Open Bar & Buffet Dinner at Pier 78. For any other sailing, the pier on the ticket is the one to trust.