Seine Cruise October 2023

Vedettes du Pont Neuf is a river cruise company we've used several times. It is not a dinner cruise. We never had to have a reservation. You might want to google them to see if that is still the case. We ususal do one in the evening for the atmosphere of seeing the city all lit up. Gives new meaning to "the city of lights". The dinner cruises offered by other companies have gotten mixed reviews in the past; some good, some not so good. Personally, we think it's better to have a great meal somewhere before the cruise. That way we can concentrate on the views of the city and not have to split our attention between eating and watching the view.

For a dinner cruise I'd recommend Le Calife, though there are more expensive options if you want a really high end dinner cruise experience, such as Alain Ducasse. I'd avoid the mass cruise companies for a dinner experience if you're looking for something better than tourist food fodder. The 3 main cruise companies are Vedettes du Pont Neuf, Bateaux Parisiens and Bateaux Mouches (though there might be a couple of others). They all do the exact same cruise between the Ile-de-la-Cité and the Eiffel Tower. The only differences are the size/type of boat and the departure points along the Seine.

https://calife.com/en/

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

https://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/home/

https://www.bateauxparisiens.com/english.html

https://www.bateaux-mouches.fr/

If you're not doing a dinner cruise then there's no need to pre-book any of the cruises. Just show up at the departure point and buy a ticket to board the next boat. If you want a smaller and more intimate (and much more expensive) cruise experience there are several companies that do this.

+1 Mystique

There is also Maxime´s dinner cruises:

https://www.marina-de-paris.com/en/book-your-cuise/maxims-dinner-cruises/

I have only tried Ducasse sur Seine which was wonderful; outstanding food.

For the regular cruises, you can obtain a price break from Vedettes du Pont Neuf if you purchase tickets online:

https://vedettesdupontneuf.com/