Savannah dinner cruise: how to pick

What the evening is

This Savannah buffet dinner cruise is a two-hour riverboat evening that boards from River Street. The ticket lists a round-trip cruise with a captain and crew, a buffet-style dinner and live entertainment, and it describes the food as Southern in style. The host speaks English. You sit in a ballroom-style dining space while the boat moves along the Savannah River, and a top deck is open for the evening air. Guests describe a lively night rather than a hushed one, with music and dancing. It suits groups who want one easy evening with the riverfront in view. The sailing is the whole evening, so there is nothing to book around it except how you arrive and where you park. Reviewers praise the friendly crew and a clean, spacious boat.

Three riverboat evenings, one operator

Three tickets cover the same river. The buffet dinner cruise with live entertainment is the main one. A Monday gospel dinner cruise adds gospel music to a buffet dinner and runs on Mondays. A sunset cruise has live music and an open-air top deck but no dinner, with food and drink for purchase at an onboard bar and grill. All three last two hours, all three board at River Street and all three are run by Savannah Riverboat Cruises. The cards on this site open each one, so the first choice is the kind of evening you want, not the boat. Each card carries its own rating and review count, so read the card for the evening you lean towards before you open the calendar.

What the dinner is

Dinner is a buffet, so you choose your own plate. The ticket describes a Southern-style meal made with local ingredients and says there is something for every palate. Some travellers say the buffet would be better with hotter, higher-quality dishes, while others call the food very good, so treat it as a convenient dinner on a moving boat and not as a restaurant meal. Menus on a buffet can vary, so the crew is the guide to what is out on your night. If you eat vegetarian or have an allergy, put the question to the operator before you book, because the ticket does not list dietary options. Reviewers also praise friendly, attentive servers at the table.

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The music and the dancing

The ticket promises live entertainment, with tunes from the 50s through today's hits performed by the riverboat's entertainers. Guests describe a DJ on the top deck, bands and singers on other floors and people up dancing, and one reviewer says the boat has several floors with different music on each. Expect volume, requests and a dance-floor mood, with a dinner on the side. If you want to talk over dinner, choose a table away from the speakers. If the music is the reason you are going, the Monday gospel cruise is built around it, and reviewers describe the choir drawing the audience into the songs.

What the ticket does not cover

Alcoholic drinks are sold on board, and gratuities sit outside the ticket. Parking in downtown Savannah is a separate matter, and the ticket tells drivers to allow an extra 30 to 60 minutes to find a space. On the other two cruises the pattern is the same: the gospel cruise lists additional food and beverage and gratuities as not included, and the sunset cruise sells food and drink at its onboard bar and grill. Take a passport or an ID card, which is the one item the ticket asks you to bring. Work out these extras before you go, so that the evening has no surprises at the bar.

Booking terms

The GetYourGuide ticket carries free cancellation up to a day ahead of the sailing, with a full refund, and a date can be held without paying today. The ticket is marked likely to sell out, and the operator recommends booking ahead for dinner cruises and weekends, so choose your date early. The calendar lists the starting times and the evenings that run. The cruise operates rain or shine, and you will not be offered a refund if you miss the boat, so allow time for parking and for the walk down to River Street. A reserve-now-and-pay-later booking holds the date without a payment today, which suits a party still agreeing numbers.

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Choosing a date

The calendar decides. The sunset hour moves through the year, so the starting time on your date tells you whether you board in daylight or in the dark. The Monday gospel cruise runs on Mondays, and the other two run on the dates the calendar shows. The operator advises booking ahead for weekends, which are the evenings most likely to fill. Savannah has a humid subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers and frequent but brief thunderstorms, and mild, sunny wintersso an evening on the water is workable in any season. Check the date against any other plan that evening, because the cruise operates rain or shine and a missed boat is not refunded, so there is no weather escape built into the booking.

Which evening suits which party

Choose the buffet dinner cruise for a birthday, a family evening or a group that wants dinner and dancing. Choose the Monday gospel cruise if the music is the reason you are going, and plan for a lively night, since reviewers describe the singers drawing the audience in. Choose the sunset cruise if you would rather skip a full dinner and watch the river from an open-air deck. Some travellers on the sunset cruise say more narration about the route and the port sights would help, so read it as a music cruise, not a commentary tour. The riverfront guide fills in the sights while you sail. Solo travellers book it too, and one reviewer describes meeting new friends on board.

The river you are on

Savannah was established in 1733 on the Savannah River, and the river is tidal at the city. From the water the waterfront reads in layers: River Street's former King Cotton warehouses at the foot of the bluff, the ballast-stone wall of Factors Walk above them and the Talmadge Memorial Bridge across the channel. The Port of Savannah's facilities line both sides of the river, and large container ships and tankers sometimes pass within yards of the promenade. The riverfront guide names what to look for. Several riverboats are berthed beside River Street. Savannah is noted for its 22 squares, and its downtown is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States, so the cruise sits at the edge of a large historic city.

Read next: What you see from the Savannah River

Who this isn't for

Expect no hushed, candlelit table here. The boat is lively, the music is live and amplified and the dinner is a buffet, so guests who want a plated, restaurant-style meal should look elsewhere. Nor is it a narrated history cruise, so if you want a commentary-led sightseeing trip, a daytime narrated sailing is a better fit. Families with very young children should weigh the volume and the late evening, and anyone who needs a firm start time for a tight plan should check the calendar for the date first, because the starting time is set per date.

How to decide in a minute

Work through these in order and the choice usually settles itself.

• Want dinner and a dance floor? Book the buffet dinner cruise.
• Want gospel music with your dinner? Book the Monday gospel dinner cruise.
• Want the river at sunset without a full dinner? Book the sunset cruise.
• Look at the calendar for your date before you plan the rest of the night.