Volunteer Princess Cruises

This is a difficult review for me to endeavor upon.
First, let me say that the staff and captain (who is one of the owners, if I understood correctly) were fantastic. Attentive, pleasant, friendly. I went on a brunch cruise which was priced at $ 39.95 per person. I thought upon booking that that was a very reasonable rate for a 1.5 hour cruise departing from Volunteer Landing, traveling to just about Sequoyah Hills Park, then returning to the Landing.
We were greeted by the Captain upon boarding, then were checked in just inside the deck. My party was seated upstairs at a lovely table. The upstairs has several small tables, a bar, and a few additional tables on the upper outdoor deck. The interior is climate controlled and very comfortable. The tables were set simply but lovely. You receive a drink ticket with your booking so we started with mimosas on the deck. Soon we departed and headed in the direction of campus, along Neyland. If you’ve never seen the city or the homes of Sequoyah Hills from the water you are missing out. It’s really interesting (sidenote, it makes for a great canoe trip too).
Soon thereafter, it was announced that the buffet was open. Here’s where things got sketchy. To be blunt, this was some of the grossest food I had ever seen or eaten. Not like the area was dirty or nasty, just the food itself was of a quality that really turned me off. I was not expecting anything gourmet on this trip (especially for $ 39.99), but I did expect better than this. I’m pretty sure there was a chafing dish of canned ham. there were some cold dinner rolls. A salad that was fine. Some weirdly-​textured sausage patties, an egg casserole that was gummy and hard to cut. Some type of potato dish that at first looked like kraft mac and cheese. Mostly, everything just seemed like poorest quality frozen or canned food. It was really disappointing and awful. I feel like with a little work they could probably do something much fresher and tastier with whatever their food budget is.
Given the price, you still get a good experience on this trip. The friendliness of staff, cleanliness, views from the yacht during the trip, etc. are all pluses. But this trip is marketed to include food, and if I wanted simply to see the sights I could do it on one of the other boats as a sight-​seeing tour for much cheaper. I would do this again if the food were better, but as it is, I think it’s one and done for me.

We had a great time celebrating my husband’s birthday on the Volunteer Princess. The staff was super friendly, the food better than expected and everything was prepared exactly as described.

My wonderful hubby surprised me with a dinner cruise aboard the Volunteer Princess for our 20^th anniversary. From the very beginning everything was amazing. He’d ordered the Gold package with an amazingly delicious crab and artichoke dip appetizer. The additional package really made it special. When we arrived we were greeted and helped aboard the ship by the captain and all the crew members were so polite and friendly. We checked in and were led to our table by the cruise director. I noticed the table settings were quite elegant, crisp white table cloths and flowers at each table. The lighting made the ship look even more beautiful than it already was.
Now, our table isn’t your typical table, so keep that in mind if you reserve a «regular» seat. Our «gold package» table was at the very front of the boat so we we’re treated to a wonderful view the entire trip. The table was covered with (real) red rose petals and set with a chilled bottle of champagne and a vase with six beautiful multicolored roses (pinkish white with deeper red edges on the petals) accented with baby’s breath with a sheer pink ribbon tied around the vase. I got to take those home as part of the package. There was a small white box tied with the same ribbon that had four very large chocolate dipped strawberries in it. They’d obviously just been set out because they were still a bit cool and amazingly juicy. Our appetizer arrived shortly after we were seated and was nice and hot. It was decadent and cheesy with the perfect amount of crab and served with tortilla chips.
Shortly after we left the dock, the salad was served. It was a good sized caesar salad with a very tasty dressing and yummy croutons that soaked it up wonderfully. I usually don’t order Caesar salads but this one was really good.
When you reserve the dinner cruise you are given a choose of entrees. Our choices were salmon in sweet chili sauce, bacon wrapped chicken, pork tenderloin, or a vegetarian dish. Hubby had presented these options to me a couple days in advance without telling me why so I’d chosen the salmon. I had just recently discovered I like salmon so I was anxious to try it again. This salmon was amazing! The fish was cooked perfectly and a good sized portion. The sauce was great as well. You could see the chili pepper in the sauce but it wasn’t really a spicy dish. The sauce was actually sweet with little punches of heat throughout but but they went away quickly so it didn’t leave your mouth burning.
Hubby’s chicken was very moist and tasty. There was a kind of gravy style sauce I over it that we weren’t expecting but it added a good flavor and wasn’t overly heavy. The smashed potatoes and veggies on the side were a nice compliment as they accented the dished but didn’t overpower them.
In between courses were walked around the ship and even went to the pilot house and talked to the captain. He’s a really friendly guy and loves just hanging out talking with the guests while he steers the ship. He have us some history on the boat and explained how the thrusters on the side help stabilize the boat as well as make the docking and undocking process much easier. It was really interesting when we pulled away from the dock by doing a 180 on the water without moving forward.
After talking with him, we went back to our table for desert. We were both pretty full by this time but that apple pie was soooo good. And you could tell it was made with fresh apples. They still had texture to them, I love that. It was served warm with a caramel drizzle anda scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. A perfect ending to a wonderful meal.
Also included in our package was a glass framed phot taken and printed on the ship. We were able to choose where and when to have the photo taken so we had a beautiful backdrop against the lush Tennessee greenery surrounding the river and the photo was delivered to our table shortly after desert while we were enjoying the weather on the deck of the boat. They give you free reign to wander anywhere you want on the ship so you can really experience the whole thing.
Maybe part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because of the surprise factor from my hubby and the wonderful extras he paid for, but it really enjoyed this experience and fully recommend it to anyone looking for something special to do in the Knoxville area.

«Welcome aboard!» says the English man who greets you at the entrance of the yacht.
He also happens to be the owner of the ship.
This is a family run business, with the owner greeting you and smiling at you periodically throughout your meal, as well as overseeing kitchen and service operations.
His wife runs the office operations.
Son is the Captain.
Daughter in law is a little bit of this (on the floor) and a little bit of that (in the office).
The yacht was very comfy.
Temperature control was ideal.
Windows were very clean, tables set nicely, carpets freshly vacuumed.
There were fresh lilies in a vase on every table.
Valentine’s Night offered each lady a complimentary long stem red rose.
Price for a Saturday night 2 hour cruise along the TN river was $ 109.00 for two people.
Included was a 3 course meal (which you have no control over: luckily the food was darn good!)that consisted of:
Salad: spinach leaves, a few romaine pieces and about a dozen different minutely chopped vegetables, ranging from artichokes, peppers and onions to cucumber and olives served in something slightly larger than a bread dish.
The dressing seemed like a light yogurt dressing with minimal flavor, but it was excellent when mixed with the salad.
Entrée: Chicken Wellington (which the waiter mistakenly told us was Cordon Bleu), along with rosemary roasted red potatoes and a few, and I mean, just a few, sauteed haricot verts and one small piece of broccoli head.
Dessert was delicious NY style cream cheese cake with fresh (albeit sugar sweetened) strawberries.
I must tell you, although they certainly could have (and should have) been more generous with the salad portion and vegetable side with our entrees, the food was excellent.
Tender, moist, flavorful.
Coffee was offered at a self service table, however we weren’t notified of this. By the end of the cruise, we decided we wanted some and to our disappointment, there was no «regular» left. We settled for a cup of decaf.
We each had a glass of wine ($ 6 each). Woodbridge Cabernet and Reisling, both excellent.
Since it got dark pretty fast after we set sail, there wasn’t much «sightseeing.»
If you’re not from Knoxville, and just passing through looking for something interesting and different to do, I recommend this during the daytime, or when Daylight savings returns.
Otherwise you’re basically stuck staring at each other (which isn’t so bad sometimes), or outside at artificially lit up rocks and trees (from the lights projected from the cruise ship) and the occasional multimillion dollar house on the water.
*Note to management/​owners: The women’s bathroom was mostly clean, however one of the toilets hadn’t been cleaned around the under part of the seat in what seemed to be about 2 weeks. :(Those things need to be checked very carefully.)
Gratuity was extra and parking was free next door at Ruth’s Chris Steak House.