Seine River cruises in Paris

On our first trip to Paris we were advised by a couple who had been to Paris 25-30 times to take the river cruise. IWe took their advice. It was a magical experience. The Alma bridge is the departure point. We advise against the costly dinner cruise. We would recommend starting at sunset. As the evening darkened lights went on all along the river, highlighted by the Eiffel tower lighting up.. It was a wow experience never to be forgotten. Don't miss it.
Hank and Geri Novato, CA

We usually do a Seine cruise the day we arrive in a jet lagged state. You take in the city with breezes blowing in your face, easy way to see sights in a non energetic condition. We usually go on Bayeux Mouches , the oldest and a Paris icon, or Vedettes du Pont Neuf. There are not long. We have never gone on a dinner cruise nor ever will.

Ô-Chateau has a champagne cruise that's less crowded and much more pleasant (to me, anyway) than the other cruises. I had been on two previous Seine cruises, the second time under protest, and found them to be too crowded and noisy to be enjoyable. But on our last trip to Paris (2019,) a friend suggested we join her on the champagne cruise, and it was much better, if for no other reason than we were in the front of the vessel, so didn't have to contend with people blocking our view to take photos. And, well, champagne...

https://o-chateau.com/en/

I did the RS "Best of Paris" tour just before the bug hit.
It included a Seine River cruise. As we were boarding the RS guide was telling us to:

1. Stay in a group
2. Use your elbows against the other people trying to push past you.
3. Other similar advice.

I turned around and left. If I wanted to do one of those Cattle chute things I would have gone to Disneyland. Several of these other tours (the Champagne one for ex) sound much better.

There are several cruise options -- one just upriver from Pont d'Alma, one at the base of the Eiffel Tower and one at Pont Neuf. May be others -- those are the ones I am aware of. They are about an hour and run the same course pretty much and round trip. They are cheap and you can just walk up and take one when you feel like it. If you miss a boat another will be along shortly.

I am not a fan of being down in the ditch and don't find them magical but our granddaughter wants to do one and so we will do it this spring. I think nighttime is best -- the city is lit up and the Eiffel Tower does its little 5 minute sparkle on the hour. We will probably take the boat near the Eiffel Tower because I want her to see the Tower up close at night.

Vedettes du Pont Neuf cruises were recommended on a recent thread. I considered their hour Seine cruise until I realized that the Take Walks Heart of Paris walk I plan to do also includes an hour Seine cruise. VdPN cruises have multiple start times; times and types of cruises (cruise, lunch cruises, dinner cruises, canal cruises) are on their website. The Take Walks Heart of Paris tour starts at 10am. Enjoy!

Thank you all for your kind replies and information. We feel better prepared to make a choice now.
Merci, au revoir

I recommend Vedettes du Pont Neuf and if you check their website, they have discount ticket options:

https://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/

Thanks Tocard --- I am checking them out. Mark

Rick covers the various companies, as does Frommers. They all sound pretty similar, unless you want to incorporate dining.

In May 2019 we splurged and boarded the Calife dinner cruise (Le Calife - Port des Saint-Peres). Incredible experience. Very relaxing (not shoulder to shoulder) and amazing food. Highly recommend.

The reason that I recommend Vedettes du Pont Neuf is that their boats are smaller and are designed to keep people seated. Bateaux Mouches have more open deck, allowing people to roam and to stand in front of those seated, blocking views. Cost and comfort are the two primary reason I prefer Vedettes du Pont Neuf, but otherwise, their routes are identical.

My first 3 trips to Paris included an evening Seine cruise on our last night.. We enjoyed ending the trip seeing Paris lit up. I haven’t done it the last few times, but maybe in April we will resurrect our old tradition. Thanks for the tip about the smaller boat.

As much as I respect & follow much of Tocard's advice on Paris, I prefer the Bateaux Mouches (next to the Pont de l'Alma) over the Vedettes, I use a professional camera for pictures & the open deck of the Bateau puts you higher above the water for better pics than the Vedettes. Plus, you are not trying to shoot through windows. I stand all the way at the back of the boat , as not to interfere with sitting passengers taking pics (correcto, Tocard!). As Tocard surely knows, we are in the age of selfies so there is a lot of standing up among sitting passengers anyway. Reminder: cruising the Seine at dusk & sunset makes for some spectacular pics but sunset in Paris during the summer can fall between 10- 10:30 pm & the twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower may not begin until 11 pm.

Looks like the O Chateau champagne tour is on the Vedettes. I am torn about what to book. Reviews are mixed on all them.

We are staying overnight in Paris (staying at CDG) before travelling on to Mallorca the next day. Our plane is scheduled to arrive in Paris at 12:30, April 1, so we are considering zipping in to the city and doing the river cruise and having a meal (not on the boat). At that time of year Is it possible to get on cruise without booking one in advance?
Thanks
D

Dan,

Vedettes du Pont Neuf is one we've used several times and never had to have a reservation. You might want to google them to see if that is still the case.

For a contrasting experience, consider a cruise on Canal St-Martin, starting at the boat basin near Bastille and ending at La Villette, where there are a number of major cultural institutions. The small boats go through locks, sometimes well above the street level and next to apartment buildings. Part of the trip is through a tunnel. I've read about, but can't vouch for, one boat that cruises part of the Seine and then turns into St-Martin. Google will show you the opportunities.

Another vote for Vedettes du Pont Neuf. We have been twice. We always do the one that leaves around twilight so we get some daylight and get to see the Eiffel tower light up. We have been in the Fall and it was VERY cold on top, but still beautiful. We have also been in the Summer, and cruised by the waterfront where they do the dancing, so much fun to watch. They have a photographer on board and at the dock you can purchase the pictures (cash only), kinda cheesy I know, but our framed photo is one of my favorite pictures to look at in our house, I can bring up the memory of the whole day with just that one picture.
If I recall the price is reduced if you buy your tickets online, but you can also just buy day of at the counter.
We had no pushing and shoving...LOL. Plenty of seats and nice people.

Vedettes du Pont Neuf is the one we used without a reservation on Sunday April 24,2022 about 6 PM. Not very crowded when we arrived about 20 minutes before the trip. Bought our ticket on site and it was cheaper than on line. Tours leave frequently about every 15 to 30 minutes. Nice one hour trip saw the sights including the dancing groups along the river, which is a Sunday ritual. Narration for the trip was live and pleasant. It may be more difficult to get a trip without a reservation during the high season. The crew likes to get a tip. We found that, although Rick Steves suggests tips are not part of the European culture, a 10 percent tip is fairly common for services at restaurants and cabs in both Germany and France. Thanks to all who gave us advice on getting a river cruise.

I, too, used Vd Pont Neuf - partially because they were near to the Latin Quarter, where I was staying, and the other cruises weren't stopping there (limited schedule last October during Covid). I ended up going twice, once an twilight/evening cruise (it was so magical seeing the ET light up for the first time) and then a 2nd time the day before I left.

You can purchase in advance, online and get a discount, they were great! (There was some construction in October near their pick up location, pretty sure it's done by now).

hello all,
I went into https://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/ to book two champagne cruise ticket. Paid and credit card payment was processed successfully by france tourisme. But I never receive ticket confirmation in my email box. Is this company still operating?
https://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/

thank you

But I never receive ticket confirmation in my email box. Is this
company still operating?

Have you checked your spam folder?

We just returned from Paris and as dgl did we did a dinner cruise on Le Calife. Definitely more expensive, but the food was pretty good, and it wasn't crowded at all since it's all table sitting. Plenty of opportunity to get up and take photos as needed. We left at 8:45 pm and it was about 1.5 hours with great views of sunset and the Eiffel Tower sparkling on the hour. I would definitely recommend. We passed by a number of the other boats and it looked pretty chaotic and way too crowded. I wouldn't have enjoyed that at all.