halemu

Have recently heard of 'Le Calife' for dinner cruises on the Seine - has anyone had experience with them - or other recommendations?

64driver

My wife and I have done the Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise twice- absolutely first class both times. Highly recommended. Make sure you bring the appropriate clothes- jacket and tie for men. Their dock is at the foot of the Avenue George V, heading south from the Champs Elysees to the river.

janisj

I'll give the contrary view. I really don't like the dinner cruises. Been on 2 (if the 2nd time had been aviodable, I would have avoided it for sure)

I much MUCH prefer spending the $$$/€€€ on a really good dinner on land and then take a non-dinner nighttime cruise on the Vedettes from Pont Neuf.

In my experience - you pay a huge premium for a dinner cruise w/o getting premium quality food.

GeoffHamer

The general opinion is that the dinner cruises are not very good value, but that is probably based on experience of Bateaux Mouches and Bateaux Parisiens, the two main operators.
LE CALIFE (www.calife.com) is a very different sort of operation, with a dinner cruise starting at 49 euros. It would be interesting to have any first hand reports of this boat.

StCirq

I agree that the Bâteaux Mouches and Bâteaux Parisiens dinner cruises are not worth the $$$, as you can get FAR better food around the corner from the boat docks. Le Calife looks like a classier operation, though, and might be worth it.

SuzChicago

Thanks for starting this thread as I hadn't heard about this outfit. We had wanted to do something like this with our daughter on the bateaux mouches but were uncertain given the cost for a dinner cruise (and there is no child rate for dinners on the Bateaux M.) This seems like a nice alternative as costs aren't as prohibitive.

Getting pretty good reviews on Trip Advisor:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...de_France.html

Fodorites with experience?

P_M

I absolutely do NOT recommend the dinner cruise. The dinner cruise was my only regret about my trip to Paris and I will never do that again. The food is overpriced and not great. But my biggest objection is that our view out the window was limited and we couldn't enjoy seeing Paris by night.

I do recommend an evening cruise in Paris but have dinner somewhere else so you can enjoy the view on the boat. Also by having dinner somewhere else you will enjoy the food.

janisj

SuzChicago: Since you mention a child -- I 100% recommend against a dinner cruise.

From the reviews, Le Calife does seem to be a bit above the norm. But it really is not a thing for young children.

SuzChicago

JanisJ -- Can you tell me why you think it is not for a child if she is well-mannered and likes trying new foods? DD will be one month short of 11 in June. She has been going to some of the nicest restaurants from a very young age (four.) I've witnessed Maitre D's flinch upon her arrival and end up discovering she was a delightful guest because she knows that NO ONE in the restaurant has paid to have her disturb their meal (including her parents)!!! A three hour meal on vacation is something she considers quite normal at this point. It's forced her to be quite a conversationalist (and people watcher.)

I like the Calife idea as it is the only one in which we will not be paying for alcoholic beverages that DD will not be drinking.

P-M, which dinner cruise were you on -- Le Calife or one of the others?

ira

Hi ha,

I looked at their website. Considering that you get a 2 hr boat ride along with dinner for 49E + wine, it looks quite reasonable.

Let us know how it turned out,

Christina

49 euro isn't bad for that kind of thing, I just am not that interested in eating on a boat in any case, but as long as you go into it not expecting a lot, I think those things can be fun.

I think a child might enjoy that kind of thing, actually, and as long as the child isn't disruptive and noisy and running around, etc., don't think it could be objectionable -- except that some boats simply don't allow it. They want it to be an adult experience, that's all. I understand that, although many people who take children to restaurants do not -- that even if the child is well-behaved, one may simply not want to feel as if you are dining in the nursery. It creates a difference ambience, that's all. Having said that, I wouldn't care if a child were on a Seine dinner cruise if they really did behave themselves and were not noisy. I think the idea of trying new foods isn't really the issue, as those dinner cruises don't have exotic food on them, anyway.

I can see "young" children wouldn't be right for a dinner cruise, though. Also, some are out fairly late, so it wouldn't be right for a young child. But a ten year old might enjoy it very much. But you do have to check with the cruise line as some simply don't allow children that age on their dinner cruises (I think the age limit is 12 for some of them, at least for the dinner cruise, they want children at the lunch cruise). But their website doesn't seem to set a limit, so looks okay. Some of them are just not meant to be a family experience, they are a dinner by candlelight and dancing, for example (I think Bateaux Parisiens is like that), so a child just wouldn't fit in.

P_M

SuzChicago, it was Bateaux Mouches.

Whatever you do I hope you enjoy your evening.

halemu

Many thanks for all the replies - we had hoped for someone with firsthand experience on Le Calife, but appreciate opinions anyway.
Have been to Paris many times and have done regular Seine cruises, but never for a meal. We agree that there are many terrific restaurants that would be much better for the cuisine than any boat -BUT - we will have 3 other nites for that, and we are only going for the weekend for our anniversary, so thought we'd try something different.