Dinner Cruise on the Seine

I recommend Ducasse sur Seine. Wonderful food and a fabulous experience.

https://www.ducasse-seine.com/fr

unless you go high end like Ducasse, don't bother. Go for a lovely hour long ride and enjoy the view and eat dinner at nice place on shore.

We HAVE NOT taken a dinner cruise, but we are scoping one out for next year. One that intrigued us was

https://www.calife.com/

More convenient starting point for us (at Pont des Arts, across the river from the Louvre) and a little less upscale, but well-reviewed. The English language selection button on their website isn't working. I noted that on their Facebook page, got a quick response requesting that we call them.

It's not a cruise on a boat, but you definitely cross the Seine - look up Bustronome. It's a gourmet bus tour that is absolutely lovely.

Since you asked about things to avoid, I'll take the liberty of suggesting that you avoid a dinner cruise. I don't know the company Tocard recommended, or how good the food would be on a high-cost cruise, but I think it's wiser to separate eating from watching the views from the river. You can get great food in many places in Paris, but what makes the cruise unique is the river experience. I wouldn't want to divide my attention between my surroundings and my plate.

My favorite Seine cruise would be with Les Vedettes du Pont-Neuf, either daytime or evening. Besides their basic cruise, I see that they're offering longer ones with champagne and a charcuterie board. For me, that might be worthwhile for the additional distance it covers, but probably not for the food.

If you decide on a dinner cruise, I agree with the first 2 posters - Ducasse is really the way to go. Alain Ducasse is a well-regarded chef in Paris with many high-end restaurants and chocolate stores. We wanted to do his dinner cruise but it was sold out. Instead we ended up doing an evening cruise with Les Vendettes du Pont-Neuf (which Dick also suggested above) - this was still a neat experience, even without the high-end food. If you decide to do the champagne & charcuterie board, I'd definitely order when you order your tickets as it's less expensive. Also, if you don't eat dinner beforehand, make sure you have a dinner place in mind afterward. We didn't plan very well and were scrambling to find a place to eat as many places were closed by the time we docked since it was relatively late.

It has been more than ten years since I did this, so things may have changed. But I am going to go against the advice of some of the other posters. I fell into some money from a freelance gig, and decided to blow it on a Seine dinner cruise. Had done the River cruise at night a few times before, and I was always green with envy seeing the dinner cruises float by. We did Bateaux-Mouches and it was a really special evening. The food was much better than I thought it would be; the live music was wonderful (I am a musician, so I would know if they were hacks); the wine was flowing freely. Much to my surprise, most of the others on the cruise were French - I had assumed they would be 100% tourists, but this was not the case. For comparison, I have eaten on the first level of the Eiffel Tower, and I thought the food was better on the cruise than on the Tower. Just one person’s experience, but there you have it.

We've never taken a dinner cruise as we prefer to have a nice meal in a restaurant and then do a cruise. Several people have told us the food is usually only so - so, and they offer only a little help with orientation. And how does one enjoy a meal and the vistas at the same time? We've taken Seine cruises with several companies and Vedettes du Pont Neuf is, in our opinion, the best. The evening cruise when the city is all lit up is really great -- gives new meaning to "The City of Lights. If you do the cruise on arrival day you may be jet lagged and in something of a daze by sundown, so another evening might be better. Just something to consider.

And how does one enjoy a meal and the vistas at the same time?

What an odd comment. As amazing as it may sound, many of us have no difficulty enjoying a delightful meal and, simultaneously, appreciating a fabulous view.

Thank you all for the replies. So happy to have this group. I'll report back after our trip!