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Paris Bateaux Mouches debacle.

It was my family's firts trip to Paris and I thought that taking the vaunted Bateau Mouches would be an exelent way to see the sights and fit in dinner. After all, they've been doing this forever! Let's start with the menu: You are offered three choices of starter, entree, and dessert as well as wine, which is fine, but limiting. The portions (which I don't usually worry about) were pretty meager, though. Our waitress was extreamly brusk and rude even though we could speak some French and went so far as to ignore us activly and drop food off the plates while serving. Pretty abominable. Then there was the "kid's option." Dear Lord. My children are aged 10 and 12 and aren't big on heavy sauces and so opted for the children's meal which was listed as "chicken fingers." What they got was one grape tomoato sliced in half, a pinch of iceberg lettuce, a puddle of katsup and THREE PRE-FROZEN CHICKEN NUGGETS. Seriously. Look at the accompanying picture I posted on Yelp. Just search for it there. This cost €35 a plate. It was McDonalds fare for $40... but less of it. We complained. My wife wanted off the boat. We were polite but outraged because we feel that we had been tricked.

Another waiter stepped in since the man running yhe floor couldn't speak english and our French is shakey and tried to help. He offered the children real meals, free of charge, some new drinks and an adult dessert, (which were pretty mediocre lava cakes which I susspect are pre packaged). He tried and we appreciate that, but still SHAME ON BATEAUX MOUCHES for trying this!

The cruise itself was loud from the engine noise and made conversation difficult. The boat traveled at a very fast pace so things sort of flew by and made the dinner feel rushed and high pressured. Also, there was no narritive or explination of what we passed so if you didn't know what you were looking at, that was your problem. I see in other rewiess that they had a narrating guide, so maybe we just couldn’t hear it over the engine.

I would never reccommend this to anyone. They failed on all aspects and charged a fortune for the experience. If I were you, I'd pick a nice restaurant on the Seine and enjoy your meal and then take a small tour with a guide if you want to hear about this beautiful city.`

Posted by
32512 posts

Thanks for the review, old brass.

If you have a search on these Forums having a look at mouches you find that the general advice is to go for the trip not the food.

Sorry you had a bad time.

Since this is your first encounter on the Forum, could you tell us how the rest of your trip went?

You said this was your first trip to Paris. Had you been to other parts of Europe before?

Posted by
3217 posts

I see that you posted the same review on TripAdvisor as well as Yelp.

Just curious - did you check out the reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp and this forum before you booked a Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise?

Posted by
10118 posts

Come here before your next trip, not afterwards. We tell people all the time not to take the dinner rides. Too bad you wasted your money. Your conclusion to eat in a restauarant is right on, but I’d still go for a boat ride, but maybe sit further from the engine.
By the way, last time I took the boat ride, the employees were all Eastern European, not French.

Posted by
2916 posts

We tell people all the time not to take the dinner rides.

I didn't even realize they had dinner rides. Maybe the last time I took a Bateaux Mouches trip they didn't have it. Or I happened to go outside meal time. In any event, on something like that I would always go for the ride, not for the meal.

Posted by
11052 posts

We have always avoided their dinner cruises and take the regular ones.

Posted by
5697 posts

And there are quite as few people here who have recommended as an alternative Vedettes de Pont Neuf, boat rides which leave from near Notre Dame. Without dinner.

Posted by
467 posts

First time poster and looks like was pretty upset with the service. It sounds like they did everything to make it right by giving your children adult meals. I am not sure why you thought you were tricked? I wouldn’t expect great food on a dinner cruise in my city it is about the ride. I hope the rest of your trip went better. Please let us know.

Posted by
7123 posts

I have ridden on the Bateaux Mouches boats during three different trips (one time was with the RS Paris 1-week trip) during the evenings. I take the boat cruise with the open viewing seats not the dinner boat cruise. All three times have been very nice, and I like that I can choose the timing to be near the Eiffel Tower at the top of the hour when it’s twinkling - very pretty from the water & water reflection.

Posted by
6428 posts

I like the Vedettes but I'm sure Bateaux Mouches does a good cruise. The problem is with trying to provide a good dinner at the same time. And, from the customer perspective, trying to eat and see the sights at the same time. Some people (even on this board) love the dinner cruises, chacun a son gout. I'd use the boat for looking at scenery and a restaurant for a good dinner.

Thanks for sharing this experience. I hope the rest of your Paris visit made up for it.

Posted by
9403 posts

My favorite one is Bateaux Parisiens. Unless they’ve changed, the commentary is live, from a real person on board, on top level. It’s quite good.

Posted by
3809 posts

I like a good warning about an inferior product as much as the next person. BUT... at the risk of being labeled a forum grump and being criticized for not being adequately welcoming to a new member of the forum (who, by the way, has no interest in participating in the forum), I do grow weary of people who engage in social media spamming against a business, casting a wide net by hitting as many outlets as they can with the same review. Especially when the review is... uhhh... a little histrionic... and it includes the phrase "Shame on ____!"... in all capital letters.

I've shielded my head. Go ahead... cast your aspersions.

Posted by
6428 posts

Well, don't feel too bad, Dave. Chacun a son gout. ;-)

Posted by
32512 posts

You're right, Dave.... it has been 5 days and just the one single solitary post with no dialogue....