Dinner Cruise Seattle

If you search for a dinner cruise Seattle offers, the meal boats I found on GetYourGuide all belong to one operator, Waterways Cruises and Events. They board at Fishermen’s Terminal and sail Lake Union and Lake Washington, not Elliott Bay. I compared three: a dinner, a wine pairing evening and a brunch. For the full set of 12 trips see my guide to boat tours in Seattle.

My pick among Seattle dinner cruises, in one line: I’d book the wine pairing dinner cruise at $187 for a celebration, because the four-course menu and the wine tasting are the most specific of the three. For the best rating I’d book the brunch cruise at $116, 4.6 from 19 reviews. I’d think twice about the plain dinner at $149, which has the lowest rating in my whole comparison, 3.8 from 60 reviews. Prices are in US dollars from the listings, checked on 17 October 2026, and the booking links are affiliate links.

Night tour

Waterways Cruises & Events

Wine Pairing Dinner Cruise with 4-Course Meal

• 2.5 hours
• Free cancellation

My pick: My pick for a celebration: four courses, four wines, $187, 6:00 to 8:30 PM, 21 and over, no reviews yet.

from

$187

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Dinner Cruise Seattle WA

The table sets the three Seattle dinner cruises next to each other. All three list a full refund when you cancel up to 24 hours in advance.

Cruise	Operator	Price	Duration	Rating	Meeting point	On board
Wine pairing dinner cruise	Waterways	$187	2.5 hours	No reviews yet	Fishermen’s Terminal Dock 9	4-course dinner, 4 wines, tasting notes
Dinner cruise experience	Waterways	$149	2.5 hours	3.8 (60 reviews)	Fishermen’s Terminal Dock 9	3-course dinner, prosecco greeting
Brunch cruise	Waterways	$116	2 hours	4.6 (19 reviews)	Fishermen’s Terminal Dock 9	Buffet, champagne toast, coffee and tea

The $71 difference between the brunch and the wine dinner buys a longer cruise, an evening slot and a wine program, not a different boat. All three include a private table and the captain’s narration, and the bar is for purchase except for the welcome drink.

The ratings need care. The brunch cruise scores 4.6, but from only 19 reviews, so one bad sailing would move it. The dinner scores 3.8 from 60 reviews, and the snippets I read like the food and service, with a complaint about a last-minute change. The wine pairing cruise has no rating at all. If you want a proven score, none of the three gives you one as strong as the 4.8 sightseeing cruises, which is why I would rather book a meal for the occasion than for the review.

Waterways Cruises & Events

Dinner Cruise Experience

• ★ 3.8 (60 reviews)
• 2.5 hours
• Free cancellation

My pick: The plain dinner: $149, 2.5 hours, three courses, lowest rating in my set at 3.8 from 60 reviews.

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$149

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The plain dinner includes a private table, a prosecco or sparkling cider welcome, a three-course plated dinner and the captain’s light narration of the sights. You choose from beef, salmon, chicken or a vegan option, and the entree selection is final. Children under 13 are not allowed. It’s the Seattle dinner cruise I would book for a group that wants a table and a view without a wine program.

Waterways Cruises & Events

Brunch Cruise

• ★ 4.6 (19 reviews)
• 2 hours
• Free cancellation

My pick: The daytime meal: weekend brunch buffet, $116, 2 hours, 11 AM departure, 4.6 from 19 reviews.

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$116

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The brunch cruise boards at 10:30 AM, leaves at 11:00 AM and returns at 1:00 PM. The listing describes a buffet with pastries, a fruit platter, bacon, sausage, roasted potatoes, an omelet station, French toast bread pudding, parfait cups, and smoked salmon and bagels, plus coffee and tea. The listing says wheelchair users and people with food allergies are not covered. It is the cheapest meal and the only one in daylight, so it’s the one I’d choose for a family group with older children.

Dining Cruise Seattle

A dining cruise in Seattle, like any dinner cruise in Seattle, is a floating restaurant with a fixed table, a fixed menu and a fixed time. That has a trade-off. You get a private table and a plated meal, but you can’t hop off or change the menu. The three-course dinner says entree choices are final, and Waterways asks for changes at least three days ahead, which is worth remembering if the group is large or the party is a surprise. The wine cruise adds a vegetarian or vegan first course in its menu, with a vegan goat cheese on pre-order request.

If you have dietary needs, read the full menu on the operator’s own site, Waterways Cruises, before you pay, since the listing points to it. I’d not book the brunch cruise for a severe allergy, since the listing says people with food allergies are not covered.

Seattle Dining Cruise

What do you actually see on a Seattle dining cruise or dinner cruise? The boats board at Fishermen’s Terminal, which is on Salmon Bay, and sail Lake Union and Lake Washington. Because the boats sail inland, the cruise feels calmer than a bay trip, with less wind and swell than the open sound. The listings promise skyline and waterfront views and the captain’s light narration, but none names stops, so I can’t give you a route. The Argosy locks cruise, which I cover on the hub page, is the one that goes through the Ballard Locks, and it doesn’t serve dinner.

Sunset matters for a dinner cruise, because a 6:00 PM departure is a daylight trip in some months and a night trip in others. By my calculation for the city’s coordinates, sunset on the 15th is about 9:10 PM in June, 7:23 PM in September, 6:22 PM in October and 4:20 PM in December, so the wine pairing cruise (6:00 to 8:30 PM) is mostly after dark from November to January. The sunset cruise page has the full table.

Dinner Cruise Seattle Argosy and River Cruises

Many people who want a dinner cruise in Seattle search for an Argosy dinner cruise and for a river cruise in Seattle, so a quick answer. I found no Argosy dinner cruise in the data. Argosy sells a one-hour harbor cruise at $43, a sunset cruise at $51 and a locks cruise at $56, and its listings say snacks and drinks are sold on board. If you want to eat on the water, the Waterways boats are the only meal cruises I could compare.

There is no river cruise in the usual sense. The nearest thing is the one-way Argosy locks cruise, which crosses the Ballard Locks between Puget Sound and Lake Union; the Waterways boats sail the lakes. The city’s water is a sound, two lakes and a ship canal, not a river, so a Seattle river cruise search lands on those. The sailing page covers the two sailboats if you’d rather skip the meal.

How I’d Choose a Dinner Cruise in Seattle

• A celebration: the wine pairing cruise at $187, 6:00 to 8:30 PM, 21 and over.
• Best rating, in daylight: the brunch cruise at $116, 4.6 from 19 reviews.
• A plain dinner for a group: the dinner cruise at $149, if you can live with its 3.8.
• No meal, a view: the Bay Lady tall ship at $80 or the Argosy sunset cruise at $51.

Whichever Seattle dinner cruise you book, plan how you’ll get to Fishermen’s Terminal, which has free parking according to the wine cruise listing, and check the dress and the menu choices a few days ahead. For every trip type, see my guide to every Seattle boat trip I compared, or return to the Harbour Advisor home page.