Hornblower Cruises & Events

First time me and my husband went to the dinner champagne 3 hour cruise. It was grrreat! Staff was so sweet, food was great, d.j. had different music for different age people. I had the fish diner, our server notice I didn’t like my carrots and she walked up to me and said” you don’t like carrots? «would you like more asparagus. I said YES! is it extra? You can’t be to careful, she smiled and said no. We’ll heck yeah! Lol. She was sweet. They treat you like royalty and you don’t have to be rich. And we are not. It was great and romantic. I don’t know what my husband ate bit he said it was good, and if it’s good its FOOD. I want to go back on my anniversary for sure.

So I got tickets on groupon because it was a deal for 2 hour cruise for 6 for $ 104. Picture of the boat was beautiful and the details on the deal seemed fun! The day I chose to use the deal was on a day I was off of work. The «fine print» on groupon didn’t specify to make a reservation and mind you I live about an hour and a half away. When we got to the horneblower they almost did not honor our groupon tickets because it was «booked» so I explained we came a long way and luckily? the attendant was able to get us in.
So as we were waiting in line to get on the boat for our cruise I saw some nice boats and the boat that was approaching us was super small. I was hoping that was NOT our boat. But guess what. It was. Lol
Ew. So we got on, and it stunk! Like old furniture or moth balls. Anyways it was small on the inside and there were Windows! I thought it would be open for the cruise for the view! Not even regular Windows too, they were The plasticy type where u need to slide it open to get a view. There was small areas in the front of the boat for about 10 people to stand out and enjoy the view while the others stood behind or just stayed inside and looked through the scratched up plastic Windows. I just do not understand how they thought using this boat for a 2 hour cruise was acceptable. So turned off by the experience. The whole time I was wishing I took another cruise with a different business. I saw some nice Horneblower boats but for some reason I do not understand why we got the low budget one :(was it because it was groupon? Well I just know I’m never trying this again. 2 stars because San Diego is beautiful.

I had some friends in town and needed to provide them with the best san diego experience they could have so naturally I picked a Sunday Brunch cruise around the harbor with Hornblower Cruises!
I talked to Kelly and he laid out the different cruises they had to offer very simply and helped me pick one. Once we got there, DJ set us all up and took care of us the whole trip! Bottomless mimosas while cruising under the Coronado bridge it doesn’t get any better than that. The staff service was amazing, the food was delicious, the champagne was on point — it didnt get any better than that. By the end of the trip, my entire group said, hands down, the Hornblower cruise was the best part of their trip down to San Diego.
Thank you Kelly, DJ, and the rest of the staff of Hornblower Cruises! You guys made our vacation the best!

The Hornblower dining cruise is spectacular!
I went on the dining cruise for the first time on Saturday for a wedding. I was pretty excited especially since I’ve been trying to get my girlfriends to have a girls night out here for the longest time but it never happened.
The wedding ceremony on the Hornblower cruise is on the top deck with the captain about an hour before departure and before the public gets onboard. They celebrate the wedding ceremony with a champagne toast!
The views of San Diego Bay are breathtaking! I was in awe! Especially at night when you see the skyline.
Food:
1.) Basket of warm breadsticks and butter! YASSS!
2.) Salad with strawberries and cranberries
3.) Filet Mignon and Prawns with mashed potatoes-​Oh My Goodness! That Filet Mignon SLAAAYYYEED! It was so good and soft! Perfect! I never finish my food but I finished that steak in seconds LOL
4.) Cheesecake for dessert-​I forgot to eat mine :(
Attire:
Dressy. Please do not show up wearing jeans and a hoodie. Men, I suggest wearing slacks and a button shirt. Ladies, a dress would be perfect or at least dressy pants and blouse. Think Sunday best at minimum.
The dining room has a full bar and they make awesome drinks! I love how they’re not cheap with their drink sizes! I had the midori sour and mai tai both were good!
There is also a dance floor and DJ on the boat. They play mostly 60s and 70s music with romantic love songs. It’s a pleasant dining experience!
I would highly recommend the Hornblower for anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions.

This is probably one of the best brunch cruises I’ve been on in my entire life! Boarding was a snap. Once aboard, we were directed to our table, which was beautifully set up. Our server, Fabian, was professional, helpful, and a lot of fun. She did a great job! There was every kind of food imaginable, available for any palette. The selection was unbelievable! Everything from eggs to sushi, to the carving station, was beyond extravagant. Expertly prepared, wonderful presented, and very very delicious. Our party of ten really had a great time. What a great idea for a Sunday brunch! I can’t wait to come back.

We booked the champagne cruise via Vimbly and had a fun time. Reservation thru their site was pretty easy and they were actually a tiny bit cheaper than booking directly with the cruise. Make sure that you park by the 1800 N Harbor Dr location as there are two Hornblower departure sites (I saw a few disgruntled customers being told they were at the wrong Hornblower location for their cruise).
The champagne brunch cruise consists of bottomless mimosas and an all you can eat buffet. Perfect for a date. There’s quite a bit to choose from the buffet: carving station, eggs benedict station, sushi, variety of salads, dessert bar, breakfast potatoes, mac n cheese, cassolet.
PLUS, there’s endless mimosas (hold the orange juice if you just want champagne). I have more pics of the food and drinks on my blog.
I thought the food was just ‘ok’. Friend thinks Hornblower hires an outside catering company that sends the food on board. I was excited about the french toast bar especially when I saw the whipped cream. Unfortunately, the whipped cream didn’t taste much of real cream at all. It tasted mostly artificial.
I tried the benedict bar towards the end. The poached egg was completely hard by this point and the hollandaise sauce was a bit gritty and bland. The roast beef was alright and I liked the horseradish cream sauce. The dessert bar was fun but none of the desserts tasted home made. Both these cakes were quite sweet.
Note that you can take your desserts upstairs to the deck to enjoy the views and ocean breeze. You can also bring your champagne to the deck to enjoy.
The two hour Champagne Brunch Cruise was fun. I didn’t think the quality of the food was memorable but the variety offered was nice. The lines to get the food wasn’t too bad and most of the passengers seemed content to enjoy the Sunday at their own leisurely pace. We even witnessed a wedding proposal right on the deck!
We probably won’t return to try the brunch again as the food was average at best. But we’d book another cruise that offered drinks and a tour of the city again.

I booked this for March 17^th, my Wife’s Birthday (3÷18÷16). We celebrated it that day anyway. The cruise was great! Everyone on the ship was nice and the views and food were great! We sat near the very back of the ship, at a window and it was amazing! I can’t wait for the next one!

This cruise is so nice we had to do it twice!
The BF and I have spent the last two Valentine’s Days on the Hornblower for their champagne brunch. First of all, bottomless champagne and mimosas. Who can say no to that?
But besides that, the food is actually incredible. They’ve got a ton of assortment to choose from. There’s a station with your typical breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. Then, there’s a seafood area with salmon and sushi. There’s a salad and pasta station with caesar, potato salad and a great italian salad. There’s a prime rib station with the best eggs benedict next to it. And of course, a huge dessert assortment. The food alone makes the price of the cruise very much worth while.
The brunch cruise strolls around the bay for two hours. I love being on the bay because there are no waves so it’s smooth sailing the entire time. On the top deck, you get narration about what you see. Lots of interesting history, especially as you pass under Coronado.
Overall, this cruise is so wonderful and it has been the perfect way to spend Valentine’s Day. We’d definitely love to try more cruises through out the year to get to enjoy the sights and foods!

Went on a champagne brunch cruise for valentines weekend and it was great! Boarded around 10:15, was greeted with a warm smile and champagne. Nice spread of food ranging from sushi to salads to fruit to pastries to meat and on and on and on. Service was really good and the boat was very nicely maintained. Would definitely come back again.

Amazing views on the Bay! The Inspiration is simply… an inspiration! Actually they are hosting a cruise for MLB fans during the All Star break I hear with PETE ROSE! Their people are so nice and friendly! If you like cruises or baseball or dinner I would definitely check out Hornblower!

My husband and I bought 4 tickets for new years cruise 2015, the line was long and I didn’t have a print out just the email confirmation. One worker approached me and saw the email and sent me to another line 20 minutes later another worker sent me back to the original line. Then at registration table, I was informed that I could not participate in the dinner cruise ($ 200 I paid) because the other 2 people had already entered ahead of me and registered for all 4. I said but only 2 entered and they said but you don’t have the print out and you should’ve been here when they entered, sorry. I was not able to join the dinner cruise. Money wasted.

After going on a few whale watching boat tours, I still prefer the smaller boats than Hornblower. If i return, i think i’d do so for a dinner or meal cruise
The boat was nice-​, clean and spacious.
However, the day we were there it was rough and the entire week many departures had been cancelled, creating a little bit of chao for OUR DAY
First, i contacted Hornblower for a couple of days to try to book. The customer service agent is based somewhere not in San Diego so they are not aware of the ocean conditions as they are being emailed the local conditions. For 2.5 days, Hornblower cancelled their 2x daily depature rides (5 departures). So, on the 3^rd day i had called an hour before the scheduled 930am departure. They told me it was yet again cancelled and that MAYBE the afternoon wil be a go. And that they have up to an hour to call us if conditions change. So, this basically meant that i had to be there on standby… so we got there THREE hours in advance. We got lunch there and ended up arriving an hour early.
THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOUR TRIP
–ample cushion time to park, line up and line up (split up your group to tackle this) Esp if high season. Ours was slow time, but due to above circumstances
–research what to bring on a trip and prep yourself
–Dramamine, ginger products
–When taking young children you might see if they get motion/​sea sick. SAw lots of poor kids wailing and screaming w/​in 30 minutes. Dont make your kids suffer.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Our situation was that the company cancelled 5 earlier departures for 2.5 days, creating a huge bottleneck of passengers. So, on my boat, we ended up with 3 – 4 days worth of passengers. I believe this was a sole reason that created a bit of chaos that day.
Even with arriving an hour early, parking was very limited. The paid lot right next to boarding was ful (or the guy manning it said it was). So we had to fumble 4 alternative parking. You can park in meters up to ½ mile away for 3 hours (but the boat tour advertised for 3.5 hours so initially i didn’t think that was enough time…(boat tour ended up being just 3 hours)
While my partner was dealing w/​parking i went to find the line to redeem my vouchers. After that, a longer line to board. I ended up boarding close to last b/​c parking was such a challenge and if your party isn’t there they wont let you
i was waiting, one of the staff mbrs told me there were DESIGNATED meter spots that belonged to the city (?) that would not enforce that day. WELL DONT U THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HANDY IF IT WAS COMMUNICATED EARLIER LIKE IN SIGNS. Then as we were boarding, we saw that the guy (who initially closed the lot and claimed it was full, REOPENED it)!!!
What lacked was a lot of etiquette on my boat by the passengers. There were many inside (white tableclothed) tables. Ppl would put things on the tables to claim tables, then they would go to the outside deck, too, and hoard those seats! As a result i ended up standing for close to an hour outside! :(Bad ppl.
It was about an hour or more, that we began seeing a pod of 3 whales. We followed and cruised along w/​this pod for aobut an hour.
The ride got a bit rough with lots of swells. I can see why most smaller boats didnt’t go out that day/​week and because hornblower is a big boat, the boat was more stable but even so, i had to hold on to the handrail & had to ask to sit down on an empty chair that might
I’m glad i did go, b/​c if i didn’t go on the hornblower there was no way i could have whale watch that day on a smaller boat due to weather conditions.
However, i think Hornblower should better communicate to its passengers (zero stars) about that entire parking situation. Because this was a special situation with 3 – 4 days passengers in one, surely they foresaw what COULD happen. So someone should be fired for not doing this.
Secondly, on board, there are many visitors and many of these ppl have never been on a ferry, a boat, let along in the ocean. There were many families. Many kids. They were not prepared at all and had no clue what it meant to be in the ocean.
Hornblower should provide literature to these ppl. The basics: hats, gloves, warm layers layers layers. Dramamine.
I was distracted for an hour and chose to stay outside on the deck in the cold bc i wanted to see the whales. So the hour distracted me. I don’t particularly feel 100% in a boat, and that’s even after taking dramamine.
In addition to informing its passengers of how to best prep themselves on what to bring. why are they selling junk food??? Maybe they should announce when ppl are in line boarding (hello, lots of idle time!!) and sell Dramamine so they can start to take it THEN. On the boat, they should offer ginger products. Ginger naturally helps w/​dizziness, vomit, nausea. How about selling ginger tea, ginger candy, ginger cookies??? Win win situation??? When i went back inside (as we were heading back to shore, many kids &adul lay their heads down on the table).

I’m giving this place 5 stars! The staff, the food, the drinks, the photographer, the view and the ship itself was amazing! We had the lobster dinner celebration package that came with 2 flutes and a bottle of champagne and window seat of course. My boyfriend proposed to me on Saturday and everything was perfect. He had the photographer waiting for us at the top deck to take pictures of the proposal. They even gave us a flash drive and pictures of our special moment. It could not have gone any more perfect. I’m so happy!

Attended a wedding on the Emerald Hornblower. I was pretty impressed with the food, the very nice people aboard, the stocked bar, and the amazing views of San Diego Harbor.
It was a lovely evening wedding. The boat was pretty good size and accommodated about an 80 person wedding rather well.
I was only disappointed in the fact that I didn’t get to blow my horn. Womp womp.

I was actually surprised as to how much fun I had on this dinner cruise. We got to board early and were seated right in front of the live band— who played very well!
The food was pretty good. The highlight for me was being able to go to the top deck and watch downtown SD and the Coronado Bridge go past us… I’d recommend taking an evening cruise.

Ever wanted to board on a boat? Ever wanted to dine on a boat? Ever wanted to board and done on a boat at the same time? I do. But did I? Nope, not on the day I checked in. Spice is the variety of life. I only did it because I was passing by. You ask if I have ever board and dined on a boat before? Yes I have, and it was on the Hornblower.

While I was researching ideas for my own wedding, I was introduced to this Hornblower Cruise, now that I finally experienced it for the 4^th July event, and I am so relieved that I hadn’t chosen this to be my wedding event.
The window seats are available at an extra cost when ticketing, those are sold out pretty quick for an event like 4^th July, so you need to act quick. I decided to celebrate 4^th July for the first time — pretty much– so I booked my tix at the last minute.
I got in line to be on board, at boarding a host would escort to my seat. I was seated next to storage section behind, right below all AC vents, right in front of a pole/​pillar. I asked to be seated somewhere at least warmer, and my host was friendly enough to look for something better when he had a chance (which never happened but). He also told me that my table was matched to my ticket number. That’s BS for sure I think. There’s total of three Asian couples including us, and two other couple were right next to us. How is that possible?
Talk about the food, there’s bars — more than plenty– salad table, cocktail shrimp table, some tiny sushi rolls with cucumbers in them mostly, salmon, ribs, turkey, teriyaki chicken, rib eyes, roast beef, some cheese crumbles, and cookies and cakes section.
It is a buffet so everything is overcooked of course, chicken, turkey and ribs are too hard, salmon, sushi rolls were stinky and fish, everything else was pretty nasty.
Only the shrimp, roast beef, blue cheese crumbs, cheese cake and couscous salad were ok, and I bet people thought the same, because those were only selections that were empty.
To the middle section from the restroom area smelled like ammonia, aisles between tables were narrow and crowded. Most older folks were seated upstair, younger crowds were at downstair, I thought that made sense — less stair cases for seniors.
My host tipped me to finish meal asap to reserve a chair on the deck to enjoy fireworks after, but there’s plenty of chairs so I didn’t need to rush. Watching fireworks is always amusing, but the whole time, I felt like I was crushing a party as uninvited. 4^th July is pretty patriotic, as an immigrant myself, I didn’t feel that I was treated right because I didn’t belong there.
Well, but it was a good experience to find out Hornblower Cruise is not worth of trying for any of my future events.

I was pleasantly surprised by the nighttime dinner cruise on the hornblower. We were told to board 30 minutes prior to our reservation time. It doesn’t matter where your place is in the boarding line as they have assigned you a specific table. This is nice so you avoid a herd of people rushing to board. You get your picture taken before walking on the ship. As soon as you enter you’re greeted with a complimentary glass of champagne. Nice touch, a tad too sweet, but its free so im not complaining.
The dining area surrounds a dance floor. You may go upstairs to the top deck and check out the views of San Diego and Coronado. Dinner begins being served at 730. Salad with bread rolls is their first plate but you can order appetizers at an additional cost. For the main course I had beef short ribs with mashed potatoes and vegetables. My date had salmon. The food was ok. Nothing great. We eat at a lot of nice places so maybe my standards are higher. Anyhow the total cruise is 3 hours. I was totally afraid I’d get sick, but the bay is smooth waters so I was good to go. Our server, Alberto I believe his name was, could have been better. He seemed unsure and kept dropping things.
My major gripe… they have signs on all the tables saying they wont serve water unless you ask. Great. Why was every seat served a water upon arriving? Makes no sense. Don’t serve water unless people ask. Also, they kept trying to refill my water glass without asking and I had to stop them each time. Don’t post a sign unless you will follow through. Save water.

Celebrated my birthday and my moms birthday at Hornblower’s Sunday Champagne Brunch. We took advantage of the birthday «deal» where you pay for 3 adults, the birthday person is free. We initially had a party of 6 but the morning of my mother in law was sick so my in-​laws didn’t show up. The cruise was non refundable so gentleman who checked us in gave us a voucher for a free picture to try to make up for it. Thanks, guy.
The process of getting on the ship was quick. Everyone working seemed to not want to be there and didn’t do anything to make our birthdays special. We were greeted with champagne and were lead to our seats. I asked if we could sit next to the window and the woman gave is a half ass «I can try but most likely won’t.» She quickly walked away and didn’t try so we just let it go.
The food was mediocre at best. The highlight of the cruise was the amazing views of the bay and unlimited mimosas. For being San Diego natives, it was absolutely breathtaking to see our home from a different perspective.
It was great for a one time deal, but to be honest we probably wouldn’t do that again.

Hornblower is perfect for any type of celebration. I took my boyfriend on the dinner cruise for his birthday, and the both of us loved it! For $ 60, you can do open bar also. When purchasing your ticket, you’re paying for everything already (except for additional food/​drink items!) Let me list what was amazing about the cruise: the staff, the view, the ship itself, the food, the drinks, the ambiance, the everything.
When making reservations for the cruise (or getting lucky and showing up with tickets/​purchasing tickets on the spot), you’re given a table number. There’s no hassle on seating, which is nice. I loved how my boyfriend and I got the end table, so we got a big portion of the cushioned seating with a lovely view. If you’re 21+, you get a complimentary glass of champagne, and if you’re under 21, you get a complimentary glass of apple cider.
There are scheduled times for when the entrees arrive. It starts off with a salad, then the main dish, then ends with dessert. There is a menu with food and drink options, and that’s not part of the ticket you got to board the ship, so there will be a bill. For example, if you don’t want to wait for the salad, you’re able to order an appetizer. There’s dinner options to pay for if you don’t want the free options, and there’s additional dessert options, as well. Of course, there’s a bar, so that’ll cost extra also.
The bread and salad tasted EXTRA amazing because my boyfriend and I were hungry. I really did enjoy the salad, though. The main dish that the both of us got, THE STEAK, was good! My boyfriend wanted his steak a little red, and it wasn’t, but that’s alright. I think there was a little too much seasoning, but I still finished it. The vegetables it came with were tasty, I love me some crunchy carrots. Also, the potatoes were good. There’s cheese inside of them! I paid extra for the crème brûlée because it wasn’t part of the regular menu, and it was completely worth it. I finished it in a heartbeat. The alcohol was deeeee-​lish, and it sure did hit me and my boyfriend! Good vibes.
You’re allowed to walk around freely with and without drinks on the deck and on the top floor of the ship. I suggest leaving the dining area to look at the amazing view of San Diego, but bring a jacket because it’s cold – you’re in the middle of the water! There’s also a DJ and a dance floor in the middle of the dining area, so everyone can watch you dance! It’s fun!
Our waitress and everyone on the ship were so friendly! It made our experience even better. It was a night full of happiness. The both of us would definitely do this again, even for a brunch cruise or something. They give a free dessert for birthdays!