City Cruises - Alexandria Reviews
Reviews
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![Former Chicky]()
Laura Sent on 11/17/2012We chose this venue for our wedding because we wanted something different than the norm. It was a pleasure to have our wedding aboard the Cherry Blossom Riverboat. Our guest complimented us on choosing such a great place. Even though our wedding was 4.5 hours long, it did not feel long and none of my guests felt like hostages on the boat (that I'm aware of).
Charlotte helped us out a lot with the last minute details, by providing an aisle runner that someone from a previous wedding had left, gathering my bridesmaids to hand out bubbles at the end of the wedding, and other details like that. She did an excellent job as a coordinator. Our guests had also said that the wedding seemed to be well-planned.
Our photographer told us that he really appreciated the venue reaching out to him to make sure that he was familiar with the boat. -
![Tracey]()
Tracey Sent on 05/25/2011Laura at Potomac Riverboat Co was amazing to work with. Everything turned out wonderfully despite the 8 inches of rain and tornado warnings. I would do it again in a heartbeat. -
Karen Sent on 09/16/2018Our June wedding aboard the Cherry Blossom Riverboat was the most special and unforgettable day for us! We love Old Town Alexandria and being on the water, the Cherry Blossom offered the best of both worlds! We remained docked in Old Town for our wedding ceremony and then set sail on the Potomac for our reception. We booked the riverboat for 4.5 hours and that was the perfect amount of time to have our ceremony, cocktail hour, seated dinner, and dancing. The space was perfect for our 110 guest count. Our wedding went without a hitch thanks to Alison Grant who was our PRC coordinator through the entire process. She was professional, helpful, and such a pleasure for us and all of our other vendors to work with.
If you are looking for a unique and fun wedding venue, the Cherry Blossom Riverboat is perfect! Our top notch team of vendors that made it all of this possible for us: Main Event Catering, Bialek's Music DJ Brennan Sullivan, Katie Nesbitt Photography, ETC Coordinators, and Sweet Root Village.
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Colleen Sent on 06/12/2018We loved having our wedding on the Cherry Blossom! It was such a unique venue that made our wedding memorable for both ourselves and our guests. Our coordinator, Alison, was helpful throughout the entire process. We were impressed from our very first visit to the Cherry Blossom.
The venue has a list of caterers you have to choose from and the bar is provided by the venue. These costs add up quickly; my recommendation if you're thinking about the Cherry Blossom is to look into the price of the caterers too before you commit to the venue. We had tastings with several, and while we ended up going with Main Event, both King Street Blues and Windows were excellent contenders as well.
Our day-of coordinator was also very helpful in making sure everything ran smoothly. The only issue we had was leaving the dock on time - due to a few unfortunately rude no-show guests, we were delayed. My recommendation is to be clear about your intentions to leave without your full guest count if you expect some guests might not show and want to get the full amount of time you paid for on the boat.
Overall, I recommend the Cherry Blossom for an unforgettable wedding experience! -
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Lauren Sent on 07/08/2018We had our wedding ceremony and reception on the Cherryblossom in May of this year and would not change a thing! The Potomac Riverboat Company, specifically Allison, was so great to work with throughout the planning process and day of! We are Old Town locals and chose the boat because it was able to hold a large group (120) at a great value for the area. Everything went off without a hitch and so many of our guests loved the unique experience.
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![Cherylbsimpson]()
Cheryl Sent on 01/24/2023New company; several hiccups.
PROS: The boat was beautiful, the water was lovely, and the bar was on point. They were also willing to stock enough non-alcoholic sparkling cider for about half the guests who are sober. CONS: So, the company I booked with (Hornblower) got bought out (by City Experiences or City Cruises) in the middle of my wedding planning. Which, made things very very tricky. With Hornblower, the vessel I booked lived at National Harbor. So all the vendors I booked were near there. The new company moved all the boats to the Wharf in D.C. And would not accommodate any extra time at the National Harbor dock for set up or tear down. So, my coordinator had to haul all the decorations (including several boxes of rental flowers) to D.C. and hire extra staff to make sure they could get everything set up in time (1 hour). Have you tried to set up for an entire wedding in 1 hour? Tear down time was also limited to 15 minutes per the new company. Have you tried to tear down a wedding in 15 minutes? My coordinator had to virtually throw together all my decor including the special glasses I bought for us to have our first drinks in... which ended up breaking sadly because they didn't get wrapped properly. But the thing that upset me the most was that they refused to make accommodations for my husband's elderly grandmother to board early. She has trouble with stairs. They let the entire bridal party on early to do a quick rehearsal... why couldn't my grandmother get on too? She just wanted extra time to climb the stairs. She's 75 for goodness sake. Also, you'll notice in my photo several empty chairs lining the aisle. During planning I asked if they could be moved to the back. They refused to do that. It's "more work for the crew" and would "cost extra". But they moved all the other chairs and tables to the back. Why couldn't they move these? Lastly, not only were the beef tips cold, but they ran out of sides before the last 15 people went through. Either control the portion sizes by serving it yourself, or bring extra. And, always check your warming lights are lit! lol. I'm sure they learned that lesson. The Food & Beverage manager was very sweet and I could tell she felt terrible for all the issues. Unfortunately, our group did not have a positive experience. Tl;dr - Boats are fun. But, on this boat, my coordinator had to go to extraordinary lengths to make the event work. I paid her extra for the additional staff but she went above and beyond in terms of effort and time. My grandmother was in questionable condition after having to rush up the stairs. And I could've done without my new family being hangry at the reception. Maybe now that the company is a little more settled in they wont have all these issues. But, make sure every logistical thing you need is in the contract before you sign it. Good luck. -
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