Portland dinner cruise or lunch?

Two cruises, one operator

Portland Spirit Cruises runs both the dinner cruise and the lunch cruise from the same downtown waterfront dock. The dinner sailing lasts 2.5 hours and the lunch sailing 2 hours. The operator has three boats, the Portland Spirit, the Willamette Star and the Crystal Dolphin, and it can change the boat and the boarding location, so check your booking confirmation. All three have enclosed, climate-controlled dining decks and partly covered outer decks. The Portland Spirit is the largest, a 150-foot yacht with plated seating for 340 guests; the other two boats are smaller.

• Dinner: 2.5 hours, three courses, live piano
• Lunch: 2 hours, a plated entrée, live piano
• Both: a reserved table and narration on the outer decks

What the dinner cruise includes

The dinner ticket covers a three-course meal: bread, a salad, an entrée you choose from the menu on board, and a house dessert. You also get a reserved table, live piano music and historical narration on the outer decks. The operator's sample dinner menu offers chicken, steelhead, braised short ribs, lamb and a vegetarian pasta, but the entrées change daily, so treat that as an example, not a promise. The included dessert on that sample menu is a New York cheesecake with berries, and other cakes are sold separately. A menu waits at your table when you board. Appetizers, beverages, the service tip and the souvenir photo are not included.

What the lunch cruise includes

The 2-hour lunch cruise serves a plated lunch with a choice of entrée and fresh-baked bread. A side salad, appetizers and desserts are available to buy on board, so the lunch is lighter than the dinner unless you add them. Live piano and commentary on the city's landmarks run during the sailing, and the narration plays on the outer decks. Drinks and the service tip are extra, as they are on the dinner cruise. The host speaks English. The operator's sample lunch menu offers chicken, steelhead, a cheeseburger and a vegetarian Thai curry with tofu, and like the dinner menu it changes daily.

Daylight or after dark

Departure times appear when you check availability, so the light depends on your date. Sunset falls around 4:30 pm in late December and just after 9 pm in late June. The river upstream of downtown passes parks, clubs and marinas, so after dark the best of the view comes on the return leg, when the skyline and the lit bridges appear. Guests describe glare on the windows at night, so step onto an outer deck. The Tilikum Crossing, whose cables are lit by an art installation that shifts colour with the river's temperature, is one of the bridges to look for. In winter, the lunch cruise shows far more of the river.

The route

The operator's route map shows the dinner cruise heading upstream from the Waterfront Park dock, under the Hawthorne, Marquam, Tilikum Crossing, Ross Island, Sellwood and Lake Oswego railroad bridges, and turning at Lake Oswego. Lunch and brunch cruises turn earlier, at the Milwaukie waterfront. Both then run back north toward the dock. Along the way the map marks Ross Island, Oaks Amusement Park, the Waverley Country Club and Elk Rock. The map is marked as not to scale, and the operator notes that routes vary with river activity and conditions, so read it as a guide.

Who each cruise suits

Choose dinner for an anniversary, a birthday or a group evening where a plated meal is the point. Choose lunch if you want daylight, a shorter sailing or a lighter meal. Families with young children are usually better off by day: the operator says the entertainment on its regular meal cruises caters to adults, and a long dinner cruise often runs past a child's bedtime. Children are welcome on both, and the sample menus include chicken tenders or buttered pasta for them. Ask your server for crayons and a children's activity sheet. For a birthday or anniversary, add the occasion in the booking notes: the operator says it can announce an occasion on board.

Drinks, tips and other extras

Neither ticket includes beverages, and neither includes the service tip. A bar on board sells drinks, and the operator prints suggested tip amounts on your onboard receipt, so you decide at the end. Appetizers, extra desserts and the printed souvenir photo are also optional. Outside food and drink are not permitted, and carry-on bags can be inspected at boarding. Check the total in the booking widget before you pay; it shows the fare for your whole party in your own currency.

Dietary needs

A vegetarian entrée is always on the dinner menu. The operator can modify entrées to be vegan or gluten-free, but it asks you to request that before the cruise, when you book or by phone. The galley is small, so guests with severe allergies who need ingredient separation should give detailed notes in the booking. The kitchen cooks with extra-virgin olive oil and a canola and olive oil blend. The lunch menu follows the same rules, and its vegetarian option is the Thai curry in the sample.

Booking, cancelling and paying

A GetYourGuide booking can be cancelled for free until 24 hours before the cruise, with a full refund, and you can hold the places now and pay afterwards. The operator's own website sets different change and refund terms, so keep to the terms of the channel you booked through. Open dates and departure times show once you pick a date. The operator says many Saturday and holiday sailings sell out in advance, so a larger party should book as soon as the date is fixed. Groups of ten or more adults can ask the operator about its own group arrangements, which sit outside this booking.

Who this isn't for

Skip the dinner cruise if you need a guaranteed window seat, because the ticket does not promise one. Skip it if you want drinks included: it sells dinner and a pianist, and this is a seated dinner, not a party cruise. People who need strict ingredient separation for severe allergies should weigh the small galley first. If you only have a winter evening and want to see the river itself, book the lunch cruise. Pets other than service dogs, and smoking of any kind, including vaping, are not allowed on board. Nor is this a quick sightseeing hop: the dinner sailing takes the full 2.5 hours.