Portland Spirit

I was so looking forward to my recent trip on the Portland Spirit. But from the moment we boarded to the moment we left it was nothing short of a nightmare. The views of the water were amazing, but the crew and captain of this vessel leave me utterly speechless. For better or worse we were seated near a doorway the crew frequently used. Both myself and my dear friend heard the crew refer to passengers as mindless morons, idiots and other assorted derogatory names.
The food was mediocre at best, the bathrooms were down right gross. I will never board this ship, its a tackless, tasteless, nasty vessel. There is an air of old world charm about being on the water and having a meal. But that quickly goes out the window when the crew talks about the passengers and the captain is clearly absent… maybe drunk? I do not know, I do not care, I will not ever be caught on this ship.

I am new to the area took my extended family of 10 people on the Christmas Day lunch cruise today on the Portland Spirit and everyone loved it. I was nervous because I had people from LA, Phoenix, Austin and Seoul, Korea and really wanted it to be fun for everyone.
Finding the location was super easy. We parked on the street which was no problem since it was Christmas Day (and free) but I think they had some parking in front of the boarding area. Boarding the ship was very easy with no drama. You start by getting a mandatory group photo and not surprisingly they offer it for sale when you leave. We went ahead and purchased two for our guests. As a side note, I have a seizure disorder and have to avoider strobe lights, including camera flashes. I had requested either being excused from the photo or the flash being turned off when I made the reservation and they told me it should be no problem. I hear this a lot in various places when I make this request but then when it comes time to start, flashes are left on and I end up a complete mess before we start. To my surprise when I arrived the captain remembered the request and went to the photographer and removed the flash module from the camera! That really put me at ease.
We we’re seated on the second of three decks (first and second being climate controlled). It was quite cold outside but the enclosed dining decks were plenty warm. We were all seated together at one table which I had also been a bit worried about from another review I had read.
I was surprised people started eating before the boat left but we gave in and we all went up to the buffet as well. The food was great and plentiful. There were various salads, cheese and crackers, rolls, vegetables (hot and cold), salmon, roast beef and turkey and of course beverages were provided by the waitress (Ginger) who was quite attentive and personable. There was a pianist on the small stage playing various Christmas songs and other songs including by request.
After eating several of us went up to the upper deck and took pictures. The captain had an open wheelhouse time so people could go in and steer the ship and get a tour of the controls from the captain. Two people in our party participated and had a great time and the captain was very personable and instructive. I also managed to get some great pictures of the river and video of the drawbridge opening. There were several places along the river that were beautiful as well as interesting floating houses, expensive houses on the steep river banks, and the river itself was beautiful.
After some time they brought desserts which consisted of cheesecakes and pies which everyone enjoyed. The dining area volume was pleasantly quiet which made visiting with each other very nice.
Most of us were wearing jeans and either polos or thermal shirts/​flannels which was perfectly fine. Some were dressed a bit more formally but we not out of place. I definitely would not recommend dressing up for this cruise. For the winter cruises I recommend bringing a warm jacket if you want to visit the upper deck. You could also find yourself waiting in line to board for a few minutes which could be cold.
I highly recommend this cruise and hope to take a Columbia River cruise during the summer months.

Fantastic, classy Sunday brunch cruise. Perfect birthday surprise and the waitstaff are very accommodating. Sang to the birthday person and proved to be a very special day. Kudos!

The food is always good. Great service and crew. I would recommend this to anyone, visitors or locals because you haven’t seen portland until you have seen it frim the river.

So talking with Carl yesterday explaining asking me why I was going on The Portland Spirit after the Redbull Flugtag Ramming incident and I explained that in business sometimes people make mistakes and as a consumer it is important to give them a chance to make things better so I decided to give the Portland Spirit another shot… After being held hostage downstairs, searched several times after 4 beers and told by security shouting at me that «I am going to throw you in jail if you say 1 word» then screaming «Do you understand what I am saying constantly till I say yes… What a police brutality guistappo BS security guard thing to do to someone on a date with their girl and people all around are falling down stairs and smoking all over the boat but somehow I was the only one being accosted and publicly tormented. Yeah, it could have been handled very different. It does not matter my status in the community, no one deserves to be treated that way on an event you are supposed to go to and have fun!

This was an impromptu little excursion due to friends coming in from out of town. They are the ones that suggested, we just went along for the ride… glad we did! They were very accommodating from the very beginning and allowed us to change our seating area to move with our party (they did not have prior knowledge we were all together) which was very nice. Never had to beckon server for anything. She was there always refilling mimosas and coffee (we did the brunch cruise). Lovely music, atmosphere and food. The 2 hours went by quick although we hadn’t seen our friends in a long time and the mimosas were a little strong (not complaining! Lol). Would definitely go on again. Next time we might bring our little ones and do the kids cruise.

Went for a friends Birthday… Staff was pretty nice. The trip itself was beautiful as well. My only negatives are that they didn’t have enough tables & chairs. But besides that it was a great value & had some beautiful & unique views of Portland.

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I have been on the Portland Spirit and the smaller boat, The Crystal Dolphin several times for different gatherings. Every single time they do a great job of hosting. I have never been on one of their dinner cruises, but I have a lot of friends who have said they’re great.
If you’re a business you should consider looking into renting one of these for your employee appreciation days. I have been on the boat in the Summer and Winter and both are great. Obviously the summer is better for being on the deck, but the winter is nice to sit inside a have an Irish coffee while you cruise along the Willamette.
I highly recommend taking a ride on the Portland Spirit!
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

I had my first Portland Spirit experience last week for their dinner cruise to Lake Oswego and back. I have looked forward to this for a long time and always wanted to go but had never hinted that I wanted to, well my boyfriend finally stepped up and took me. I went out and bought a little black dress and was very excited to go! They first take your picture before you get on the boat which was nice. The captain was there greeting us as we walked into the ship and she was super friendly.
TIP: Walking down to get onto the boat when the water is low in heels is an absolute nightmare just FYI because the ramp is so steep and metal. So wear something easy to walk in.
We get into the boat and they seat us at the front. The view is awesome. Everyone is seated by a window which is a plus so you get a good view of the houses and the riverside. The tables are topped with white linens and there is a band playing. It was a nice atmosphere. Not black dress atmosphere though. The other people dining were dressed much more casual than I. I think it would be more appropriate to wear maybe a casual dress and for men jeans would be acceptable. The banquet table seating wasn’t impressive and wasn’t very comfortable. I would’ve expected a little more upper class dining for a place that costs $ 180 for dinner and that is before any drinks. DRINKS ARE EXTRA, they make very clear to you and they’re not cheap, obviously.
The food: The menu is small maybe 3 or 4 things to choose from which is good. you don’t want too many items on a menu anyways because there is the risk that its probably not all going to be fresh. Both my boyfriend and I ordered the steak. We love steak. The timing of the meals is great, they give you a good amount of time to enjoy a couple drinks before the food and then allow a break before desert to roam about the boat. The food came, they started us out with a salad. It looked to me like a pre-​packaged mix blend with a couple tomatoes thrown on top and they put it onto a little tiny plate. So eating the salad wasn’t the most graceful, it mostly just slid around on my plate and I thought that they could put a little more effort into the salad, I began to have some doubts about the entrée. The steak entrée came and well the meat was delicious even though they never ask you how you like your meat. The veggies that came with were meh, the green beans seemed to be literally raw. They were crunchy and cold, I wasn’t impressed but the squash and zucchini were good. But they also give you some garlic bread which I did enjoy.
Over all I wasn’t impressed with the state of the ship. The bathrooms need to be updated and appeared kinda dirty. Going out on a dinner like this for the price id expect them to put a little more effort in to update the boat which looks like they haven’t done anything except maybe add an LED rope light behind the bar since 1995. They make the waiters sing. We waited quite a while for our first drinks, which I realized was because our waitress was busy singing the theme song for The Portland Spirit.

My husband and I took a 2-​hour sightseeing cruise on a Thursday afternoon on our recent visit to Portland. We pulled some chairs right up to the side of the boat and stayed there the entire time. There was plenty of space; since we were able to move the chairs around we didn’t have to sit right next to anyone. It was a great time! We really enjoyed all the sights. We especially liked seeing all the bridges, and the floating houses were beautiful! We were pleased that the bar had a local IPA on tap too. We were a little too far away from the speaker to hear much of what the captain was pointing out along the way, but that was ok with us; we were too busy talking and enjoying the scenery. No complaints at all from me, and I would even recommend this to locals who are looking for something fun and different for an afternoon.

We came here to celebrate our grandmothers 81^st birthday party because we had heard great things about the dinner cruise. So all 14 of our family members booked reservations.
When we arrived none of us were seated together and we had to plead with the coordinator that we all needed to sit together… after sever mins of talking she finally got us a seat together. not the greatest one we weren’t to upset because they did their best to get us seats together… finally we were all together and the waiter came along and asked us for our drink orders
We had given him our orders and he insisted we place our food order right away… none of us had even gad the chance to look at the menu even the slightest as we were just shown to our seats and were all still sitting down and some were still making their way to the seats. we told him we are all still getting seated and some are not at the table to which he insisted that we maybe order for the people not at the table… he finally got the hint and he left with very clear signs of irratation.
Some time had now gone by and we all got the chance to look at the menu. He took our orders and brougt our salads, things seemed to be starting to look up for us but than i noticed my drinks were taking a long time to arrive. We were sitting very closly to the bar and i could see my drink sitting there for a while while he deliver other drinks out to people, it took close to 5 mins after it made for that to get to me.
When the food arrived it was perfect… for me. He was serving the wrong plates to the wrong people without even asking whos is who’s. People who ordered medium rare steak got well done and vise versa. Bread was served to only the end of the table… we had to ask twice before finally the ship coordinator came by and we asked her and she made it happen. Finally it was time for checks… EVERYONE completly wrong checks. When we tried to tell him he got defensive/​confused. It took him 4 tried to get them correct, its like hecwaa not listening to what we were saying than guessing and bring back cometly different checks until he got it right, than short changed my mother in law by $ 10 on top of it all. Also you pay pretty much the same cost for kids to go and there are no kids accommodation. no juice or drinks for kids… lol the waiter said coffee or hot tea for the kids… wow
All in all i have to give it at least 1 one star because it was tasty food and a nice view. The ship captin was very kind and allowed my child into the wheelhouse to look around and let him «drive» the boat.

Relaxing two hour scenic cruise and no silly commentary from the Narrator ! As a former Oregonian, I had never taken a Spirit of Portland cruise ! It was fun but a little boring ! My hubby had a nice nap !! Glad I had a Groupon !!

Good food good entertainment and friendly staff. Thanks cap for allowing us to blow the horn! We had a wonderful day on the river.

The bad:
I booked my cruise on the phone because their website was having some issues. I told the person who I bought our tickets through that we would have an infant with us. When I got on the boat, they told me that we should have specifically requested a high chair, and that they didn’t have any for us because we didn’t request it. So we had to use a booster seat, which wasn’t ideal since my 23 month old can’t sit in a booster seat without constant supervision (she ended up in my lap most the of the cruise — happy Mother’s Day to me!).
Also, we were seated right next to the buffet table, which meant that we couldn’t get out of our seats for the first hour of the cruise because we were blocked in by tons of people. The servers couldn’t get to us to give us coffee or any drink refills.
The food was okay. Nothing spectacular, and they kept running out of items. So my husband got in line, had to wait a while because they were out of French toast, and by the time he actually got to the food, they were out of French toast again! They ran out of eggs, too, so I ended up giving my eggs to my husband…
Our seat was right under a fan, so there was cold air constantly blowing on us (and our food).
The good:
The coffee was good, and our server was really nice. We departed on time and were able to exit the ship fairly quickly.
Overall, I was very disappointed. I called in and voiced these complaints to them on the phone and they were understanding, but didn’t offer any kind of reconciliation.

Went on the Willamette Star for the dinner cruise with my wife to celebrate our anniversary.
Pros:
Nice atmosphere.
Nice views of river and city during cruise.
Cruise left and arrived on time.
Friendly staff
Cons:
The oil lamp ran out of oil and burned out. It was refilled and lit just before we left the dock.
Ordered sparkling cider in my reservation as part of one of the upgrade packages and none could be found and had to get Champagne instead.
The souvenir champagne glasses were covered in dust and the first pouring of champagne had to be tossed because of dust in that also. They were then cleaned.
Fly discovered on wifes salad plate after a few bites.
Given a new salad but it was not eaten.
Only potatoes served with beef entrée and no mixed veggies.
A plate of veggies was offered to me a few minutes after I was served my entrée.
Had to tell staff member not to take away the souvenir champagne glasses. They are included in the upgrade that I had paid for.
The prawn appetizer that we had was taken off my bill. The server said he couldn’t comp me anything else because it was already in the package I paid for.
I don’t expect everything to be perfect all the time but for the price of the dinner cruise and the $ 50 upgrade package I would have hoped it had gone much better.

Went on the 80s cruise for a friend’s bachelor party. It was SO much fun. The music was pumping and everyone was decked out in costumes. Even the waiters were dancing when I passed by the kitchen. All in all… highly recommend this trip.

We were excited for the Holiday Spirit Cruise, but left extremely disappointed.
The most annoying thing about the experience was that even though we spent $ 68/​each, our food was cheap and bland. And the entire night was spent with the staff trying to get us, and everyone else, to spend more money.
This next part is partially our own bad luck, but we’d understood the cruise would be «climate controlled» (which meant to us that we wouldn’t be freezing the entire time), but we were seated by the door that led to the top deck and ended up being pretty miserably cold.
There was some singing by the staff throughout the evening, and, I think as is to be expected on a cruise, it was awful and awkward.
This last complaint is an odd one, but I couldn’t help but notice that right by the entrance there was a glass shelf displaying their gift shop items, and it appeared the shelf hadn’t been dusted since the Spirit Cruise was founded in 1994. The dusty shelf didn’t make a very good first impression.
There was a pianist playing holiday music, which was enjoyable. And the staff was friendly. Overall, though, this was not worth $ 68 and we wouldn’t go on a Spirit Cruise again.

The interior of this floating restaurant is in good shape and clean. Service was attentive from Amy and Heather. We attended a business dinner here that included 50 others, and all enjoyed their experience. The route up and down the Willamette was made more beautiful by night, and the 60^th anniversary of the Christmas Boat Parade was in full stride.
The boat can get loud and lights are bright inside which makes outside viewing difficult at night. Expensive, food quality was par only, but the ride on the river made this a pretty cool experience.

Pros: The staff was friendly, the boat was clean, the drinks were strong.
Cons: We didn’t launch on time. We had a party of about 25 and we told them in advance. They had a problem getting us all checked in, even though we were all in line together.
Sadly, there was a chick on our boat that didn’t know how to control her party and because she passed out and had to be taken by ambulance, we had to return to dock about 20 mins sooner than planned.
I would do it again but not with such a large group.

Five stars for the staff of the Spirit. They’re friendly and they sing a cute song to you when you come and go. I thought it was fun! They were attentive to the needs of our group, and we were plenty needy. The food was alright, but nothing to write home about. I had the chicken parmesan and the chicken was good, but the rice and veggies along with it were just meh. Coworkers had beef which they said was too rare, and the cod wasn’t amazing. Drinks are overpriced, as expected. A couple coworkers and I had tictacs for $ 8.50 and they were in a tiny little glass.
The cruise was about two hours long and it was fun to see all the mansions on the river that I’ll never have the opportunity to live in, ha. I did feel like the cruise captain narrating the tour was a little monotone and depressed sounding. Still, fun and informative if you’re a tourist.
The décor could use some help — it’s very tacky and old looking on the inside. You would just assume for the price you pay that they could make it look slightly nicer than a bay area ferry boat.
Portland Spirit was a good time, though. We went on a lunch cruise for our annual summer event at work, so I didn’t pay for this excursion. Although we had fun, I’m not completely sure I would pay $ 35 to do it again. I would recommend it only if you have a Groupon or LivingSocial… otherwise, probably don’t pay full price for it.