Highlights of Melbourne Cruise

Not worth it in the cold and rain

Probably would be nice in good weather, but not worth it in the winter if it is cold and/or rainy. Only 1 heater in the back that didn’t do anything. And because it was raining, we couldn’t see out the window. Wish they would have something to clean the side windows like they did the front window during the tour. Also, the commentary was okay. It was pre recorded but it would have been nice to have a live tour guide.

Questionable value and experience - possibly good for younger families and to get some city bearings and history

Was a 2hr cruise, broken with a 30min interval between going upriver then downriver. Would have to say there is not that much detail to see from the boat, e.g. botanical gardens so mostly we found the understanding of the different areas of the city useful for subsequent walking around and also some of Melbournes history. The commentary is recorded, so lacks some kind of character often experienced with live guides. The seats are not built in to the boat, they are cheap chairs placed within the boat. There is a bar onboard and complimentary tea/coffee. Price seems a little high for the actual experience.

Do the Yarra on water.

Captain Michael and First Mate Cameron were marvellous hosts. We learnt much of the history of the Yarra River and surroundings particularly the beautiful bridges which grace the water. Saw lots of sights one never sees when driving alongside the River - all so fascinating. Even going downstream towards the docks was such an eye opener. We can thoroughly recommend the two hour tour to everyone

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Took Skydeck from Airport to CBD area. Very convenient, just scan QR code and you're ready to board the double deck bus. It's about 20mins or so ride, sightseeing their city area. It's walking distance to our airBNB apartment, pretty much convenient with luggage and all..

Good value

Great trip up and down the river. Some great sights and excellent narrating and service by staff. Will recommend.

Relaxing way to see Melbourne

The audio detailing the sights was very informative. The boat was comfortable and sights amazing. Worth it.

Interesting but noisy!

The CBD part was good and fascinating to see how the bridges are!! Good crew but please turn down the music as it ruined the experience.

Best views of the city

Having the perspective of seeing the city from the water in the afternoon was fantastic - especially after doing a bit into bus tour in the morning.

River Cruise

Just seeing Melbourne from the river and hearing the commentary as we went.It was a grat experience.

Not for families with teenage children

The cruise was a pleasant experience. The commentary gave a good amount of information. Somehow it was a bit dull and my teen son didn’t enjoy it much. May be it’s not for teen age children.

Worth the time.

This was an informative and interesting tour up both directions of the river. Well worth doing if you are interested in hearing more about Melbourne.

Very little to view up river ...

Learning the architecture about the docks and the history..the ride was pleasant. it was on the cooler side but sunny out ..the ship cargo area has great views coming back towards the city ...nothing tour guides can do about the view..one of the historic land marks was spray painted with graffiti ...the life sea aquarium is a better option for this kind of money spent with more to see .

Arriving in Melbourne

Pleasant and informative tour that wasn’t too long. Surprisingly good and with great views of the city.

Changing landscape

My American friends were fascinated by the difference in each end of the river on two hour tour. From port to green riverbanks

Soaking up the Sun

Lots of good views of the Melbourne skyline. The audio could have been louder to be clearer. The weather was nice and we enjoyed the ride as well as the scenery. Learned something about the history of Melbourne.

We just felt it was a bit slow for our us

The cruise takes you upstream and down stream. We found upstream better and the docklands downstream was a bit too long for us But of course one can sit back and enjoy the day with many pictures to be taken while on the cruise They offer some drinks and tit bits on the cruise and one can move around d and capture all the sights

A relaxing way to enjoy a couple of hours in Melbourne

I’ve been to Melbourne many times but have never done a river cruise before. On a sunny but cool autumn day it was a fantastic way to relax and enjoy this dynamic city and a little of its history from the water. Highly recommend for good photo ops and a relaxing outing.

worth the money

seeing the city from a different perspective, commentary was very informative, staff were friendly, would do it again

Good views of the port from the water

Trip down to the port was very interesting. Good commentary. Downriver more interesting than upriver for me

When purchasing the...

When purchasing the tickets on Viator, we chose our tickets according to the age ranges specified and thereby selected 4 seniors tickets for those in our group above age 65. However, on picking up the tickets from Berth 2 at Southbank, I was informed that a senior is one who must hold a senior card in Au and NZ. After much "discussions", the person at Berth 2 let the matter go. I feel this point should be clear and not be an unhappy start to the cruise. The river cruise, though pleasant, is in itself not memorable and it comes with a 15 mins wait time in between to pick up passengers. Basically the 2h cruise is made up of a one hr return cruise sailing east in direction of Sth Yarra and a second one hr return cruise sailing west towards Docklands.

Too long.

The ferry is terribly slow. 2 hrs is way too long. And honestly, it’s not worth going for one complete hour upstream (where there’s no architecture). And if we choose a 1 hr trip, it took us upstream where’s there’s nothing to see other than the MCG. This trip can easily be done in 45 min max with slightly a faster moving ferry. And why’d you have a ferry with a closed (opaque) top. People sitting inside away from the windows cannot see the skyline.

Great way to see...

Great way to see Melbourne. Service was super, everyone was so friendly and helpful. Had a great time, great value for money!

Semi cold day in April 2024 but the river cruise tour was warm and interesting

The cruise was on a semi cold afternoon…this river boat is 90% enclosed with side windows that open so you’re really not cold. The roof is semi covered with glass that lets the sunlight in warming the compartment. The rear has seating for about 12 people to sit and another 10 to stand. The rear wasn’t windy at all and the picture you can take was incredible. There are two trips you can take … the up river and down river. I purchased both trip so it was a two hour river tour. The tour is mostly a pre-recorded audio tour but the captain and the first officer will answer any question you may have. Learned a lot about Melbourne and the aquatic and land history during the river excursion. They do offer drinks and snack at a cost that was reasonable so I would suggest pre-buying some food prior to getting into the boat if you take the 2 hour tour. The ship berth (berth 2) where you get into your boat has plenty of food / bar around the boat company berth. I truly enjoyed it but I like boat tours everywhere they offer one .

Great river tour

There wasn't much to see down river except many trees We took the 2 hour cruise. The up river was great. We liked all architectures of the different buildings. No two buildings looked the same. The staff was great .

Highlights of Melbourne

It was awesome. The toilets are clean. The experience was smooth. My daughter loved it soooooooo much!

A Great time on the Water

Great tour of the river and the harbour. The crew explained everything well and the recorded history was perfect. Even the choices for background music was pleasant for everyone. We took lots of great photos and videos due to the large open windows. A very pleasant tour on the water.

Family friendly

Great easy informative trip, reccomend ++++. Couple of hours up & down the Yarra River. Free coffee , always a bonus. Friendly staff, easy to get yo and find. Great family sight seeing cruise.

Company delivers on its claims

Excellent way to see the highlights of Melbourne. Quite a different perspective to the land. Friendly and courteous staff. This was our second attempt to do this tour. We had booked in January but had to cancel because one of us had contracted COVID. We got a full refund from the Company without any hesitation.

Worthwhile!

We learned so much about the history and development of different parts of Melbourne. The information was presented very clearly and was full of detail. Very worthwhile experience. We cruised both upstream and downstream.

Yarra River cruise

Friendly helpful staff. Interesting information. Great time of the day as we got to see the school kids rowing. Pitty music was so loud that we couldn't hear the outside noises of the boats and wildlife.

Cruise into Melbourne’s history & landmarks.

Ferry on time, good commentary, friendly staff. A good glimpse into Melbourne’s history & landmarks. Good when you just want something more low key. Two slight negatives: we booked 2 cruises, one upstream & one downstream, & found that there was a half hour wait between the 2, which we did not anticipate. Also the tea & coffee on the ferry was very ordinary. But overall would recommend.

Seeing the Melbourne...

Seeing the Melbourne Docklands. Having spent the first 25 years of my life in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne I never went to the docklands. Too scary in those days when it was run by the unions and had a reputation of criminal activities. (I suppose nothing much has changed really). Anyway it was not accessible to the general public but it was an eye opener and the skipper added to the highlights.

Nice

Nice to see Melbourne from river. Expected a better commentary for the price. Would rate a 3 star. It was a beautiful day and we were tired of all our walking, so it was a nice diversion.

Couples tour

The 1 hour to Docklands was just perfect for us. Got to see the city and enjoy the river and its life. Great tour. We sat on the back deck and enjoyed the scenery.

Informative

Thoroughly enjoyed this experience, was a great way to see the city from another perspective. Relaxing afternoon

Melbourne Hi-Lights River Cruise

It was a beautiful day for a river cruise. A wonderful vantage point from the river to explore the Melbourne skyline!

Too long only do half of trip

We did upriver and downstream this was too long. Recommend you only do downstream it gives good overview of city. Upstream was also ruined by group that was having loud discussion couldn’t hear river narrative over them. Not sure why they did boat ride.

Good boat trip just too long

Good view of downtown Melbourne. We did upstream and downstream. If we had a do over would only do downstream. Both were too long and did not add much value to just doing half. Staff where we bought tickets was very unhelpful had to figure on our own where to wait for boat and when to board.

Ripped off and rude

We booked a 2 hour cruise where only the first hour could be completed. We were not told the tour would be cut short until we returned to the jetty. Then we were told the tour would not proceed further. We were told we would get a refund. We had to line up for a refund at the booth only to be told no refund could given as we had to go via Viator. The employee was aggressive and very rude. He would not put anything in writing about the cancelation saying he would contact Viator by email so they would process the refund that day. Viator say they did not get a message from him.... days later we still are waiting for the refund. I doubt we will get the refund. Commentary on boat was poor and pre recorded. Not worth it.

Good but not special

Very interesting but nothing special. Took in most of the major sites observable from the river and some of the city scape scenes are exceptional but just not that gripping.

Short tour

The tour was supposed to be two hours long but took only one hour. The narration was underwhelming. All in all, meh, okay way to spend an hour.

Enjoyable informative leisurely

Very informative trip up and down the RIver at a leisurely pace very enjoyable give great views of Melbourne

Highly recommend

The scenery. The staff were professional and friendly and the boats were clean. This was such a good view of Melbourne.

Relaxing

Very nice to be out on the water and viewing the variety of buildings. Both north and South Bay were interesting to see. Good chance to relax and enjoy the river. 2 hours. Hopped off and went to the Riverland Bar and had a fabulous salad and meatball sandwich.

Strongly recommend

The most customer friendly service I’ve ever met. We change date of the cruise few times, without any problems. Wonderful cruise, great staff.

Good Trip

We did the entire two hour cruise. Good cruise to see Melbourne from the Yarra River. Commentary was excellent and add on explanations by the Captain very useful.

Sailing up and down The Yarra

The commentary when we were sailing up the river. It was really interesting. The crew and pilot were excellent

Yarra Boat Trip

Great way to see Melbourne from the River Yarra. Friendly and informative trip which enhanced our overall visit

Relaxing cruise

We chose to do the highlights cruise showing both sides of the city up to Herring Island and down the port. It was a relaxing way to view the city

Very good

Saw this trip advertised and decided to give it a go as this was our first time in Melbourne. On reading reviews, a lot of comments were around the commentary recording not been very good. Luckily for us, the recording wasn’t working so the captain took over with his own superb and knowledgeable information along with a nice sense of humour. We paid for the 2 hour cruise which took us both ways down the river firstly towards the sports area and then down to the port. We really enjoyed and after disembarking decided to walk along the river in the warm sunshine.