Seine Cruise

The Seine Cruises do not require pre-planning. Just walk up and get a ticket when you want to go. If the boat is full, there will be another one along within the half hour. There are docks near the Eiffel Tower, near Pont d'Alma, and under Pont Neuf (and perhaps others). Just pick the closest one. The first two have the large flat boats, the Vedettes Pont Neuf are smaller boats. We liked that line, but the boat is smaller and you can't really easily move around once underway. We had seats in front of the bridge on the top deck and that was great. For Pont Neuf you an get tickets on line that provide coupons at a discount that can be used whenever you feel like traveling. I think they now charge different amounts for day and night.

Bottom line -- this is something you can do on the spur of the moment.

We did a night cruise with Vedettes de Pont Neuf and a day cruise with Bateaux-Mouches. We much preferred the Vedettes de Pont Neuf. Not just because of the lights at night but because it was open air on top and seemed less crowded. No reservations, just walked up at twilight and got on board. There was commentary on the Vedettes de Pont Neuf cruise with a real person who sounded interested in what she did -- not just a canned spiel. It was a full boat load, but did not seem overly crowded. Very little line to board. Would advise getting there early enough to get a good top side seat

The Bateaux-Mouches boat seemed to be a bit more crowded and it was covered. The commentary was recorded if memory serves correctly, but my memory could be wrong.

Can't offer any insight about Bateaux Parisiens as we've never used them.

Agree that there is no need to book ahead and we also like Vedettes. You might want to plan ahead and take sunscreen, cap, hat, etc. We did the boat ride spur of the moment and got way too much sun and regretted not having the necessary items.

Save up to 5 euro per ticket if booking online with Vedettes du Pont Neuf.
http://vedettesdupontneuf.com/tickets/