We've been told that a "must do" in Paris is an after dark cruise on the Seine. Any recommendations? Should we do a dinner cruise (seems pricey) or cruise only? Thanks!

The Seine Cruise by all means--it's a beautiful way to see the City of Light. But forget the dinner cruise. The food isn't all that great, and the dinner cruise is very expensive; save your money for a good meal ashore.

Many discussions of this in post posts - search for Seine Cruises. Opinion has it that yeh it's great at night but the dinner/wine cruises overpriced and many say they take their own wine on board on non dinner cruises. Anyway scenery is same without or with dinner - absolutely delicious! three or so different companies about the same - watch for ubiquitous discount tickets on such things as Galeries Lafayette/au Printemps maps, with French railpasses, from hotel brochure racks, etc. But not real expensive.

Take this one at sunset. http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/va/

You can download a coupon for a 2 euro discount.

This is a BYOB cruise, so bring some wine, cheese, bread, olives, etc and have a nice time.

You may also want to try the batobus. It's a nice way to cruise (day or night) without the commentary screeching throughout the entire ride. Unlimited pass for 1 day is 11 Euro, 2 days is 13 Euro., etc. There used to be a discount on the pass if you had a Carte Orange, I'm not sure if that is still applicable.

http://www.batobus.com/english/qui.htm

Agree with Budman--do the dusk time just as the lights are coming on. And the BYOB --they sell it at the quay but it is expensive.

We went on this dinner cruise last year and it was elegant and the food was wonderful. The experience was unforgettable. Here's the url

http://www.marinadeparis.com/vf/index.htm

Budman:
Is that the cruise that uses smaller boats than Batteau Mouche(spelling) and leaves from Pont Neuf? THanks.

yes, the Vedettes de Pont Neuf leave from the Pont Neuf

It's nice to look at the boat schedule and take a boat that departs in the evening on the half-hour
That way the boat will arrive near the Eiffel Tower just in time for the light show that occurs on the hour.

Question:
When you BYOB on the (non dinner) cruise, do you bring your own glasses or cups? Are there tables?

We bought our wine on the quay, and they opened the bottle and gave us a couple of plastic glasses. There were no tables -- we just kinda lapped it.

We used Bateau Parisiennes @ 9,50 euros. Nice cruise at dusk, "Glass" all around and on top.

I definitely agree with the previous poster, Underhill.

just a tip---if you take bateau parisiennes- do not go with the school trip groups (noisy, distracting, etc,)i led a school tour and i think they give discounts to them as they all seem to be on board-- and do not go if it is at all rainy (even drizzling) because you can't see through the rain drops and condensation- it does steam up!

Actually, this past January we went on an evening when it was slightly drizzly, and didn't find the fogging-up-the-windows problem
There wasn't any fog, which might have otherwise obscured our view of some of he monuments
and the ET light show was spectacular, the lights seemed to shimmer even more because of the moisture

I'm piggy backing here:
If the sun sets at 8:50 pm, would the 8 pm or 9 pm cruise be a better "dusk" cruise? (I'm looking at Les Vedettes du Pont-Neuf, which does not have an 8:30 cruise) Or should we wait to 9:30 to see the eiffel tower light show?

Depends on when you're going as to when it's dusk. I'd take the 9 p.m. cruise and get most of the dusk and the Eifeel Tower light show as well.

One of our favorite nights in Paris was an evening tour of the city with Fat Tire Bike Tours and the tour concluded with a boat ride down the Seine...and they supplied the wine!

It was a great combination of activities. FTBT's are highly recommended tours of the city - and you stop by to try some of the famous B ice cream (afraid I will mutilate the spelling of the name).

Seriously consider that combination!

elaine- i think we went on different boats..of course, they may be designed the same way, but i was referring to the overhead glassed-in section on the boats parisennes bateau which leave from the dock across from the Eiffel Tower and, of course, april may have provided more body heat. who knows? i just thought it was worth mentioning to the poster ...

SandyfromTexas: Tagging in a little late, but for reference we took the 9PM Pont Neuf Vedettes on April 12 and had the benefit of dusk and dark. The Samaritaine's colored lights came on just before the cruise began. Maybe you can use our date as a comparison to yours and adjust the time accordingly.

I'd follow Elaine's advice to leave on the half-hour. We got to see the ET sparkle for only a portion of the time but the dusk/dark was perfect.

Tickets were 8€ each with the internet discount. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed a bottle of wine bought earlier that day at a market.

Just before departure, what seemed like a horde of kids boarded (yikes!)but they were HS students from outside of Saratoga, NY who were very quiet and well mannered.

For us, not having a meal allowed us to relax and just focus on the city.