There are a number of dining cruises, including brunch, dinner, and holiday cruises, in New Port Beach, and thanks to the city’s year-round Mediterranean climate, these cruises are offered throughout the year. Essentially all the dining cruises are offered by Hornblower Cruises, which is one of the nation’s major providers of dining cruises, one that happens to have a particularly heavy presence in California. However, there are other dining cruise providers if you include companies that charter boats for private events. Below we have compiled a guide to dining cruises in Newport Beach, which focuses on Hornblower, but a couple of the boat chartering companies are touched on as well.
Hornblower’s operation in Newport Beach essentially serves the southern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Those who are on the northern side of the city would likely find the dining cruises in Marina del Rey more convenient. (These cruises are also offered by Hornblower.) The dining cruises in Newport Beach can essentially be divided into two categories: there are the regularly scheduled brunch and dinner cruises, which are offered on weekends throughout the year, and there are Hornblower’s specialty cruises, which are offered for holidays (e.g., Easter) and occasionally an event of Hornblower’s own creation (e.g., the “Full Moon Dinner Cruise,” which is offered on a few scattered occasions in the spring and summer).
A dinner cruise, regardless of whether it is a normal or specialty cruise, generally costs around $85 per person, and the brunch cruises are always about $20 cheaper (again, even if it falls on a holiday). Most dinner cruises are three hours long and feature four-course meals, and the brunch cruises are two hours long and the food is served buffet-style. A complete list of Hornblower’s cruises, and the dates on which they are offered, can be found on the Newport Beach Hornblower website.
If you want to take a dining cruise in Newport Beach, you will almost certainly sail with Hornblower. This is the only company in the city that offers dining cruises that are open to the public on a regular basis. However, for the sake of completeness, we should note that there are companies from whom you can rent a boat. The most elaborate yachts for hire appear to be those offered by Electra Cruises, which can be rented out for corporate events, weddings, or particularly elaborate parties. The Fun Zone Boat Company also rents boats, but for less grand affairs, and in fact these ships can be chartered fairly cheaply. If you have a large group and want to put together your own dining cruise, Fun Zone Boat Company is worth considering. These are just two of the companies that charter boats in Newport Beach – there are definitely others, although not all of them could be used for dinning purposes.
So, overall, there are a few ways to take a dining cruise in Newport Beach. If you are a couple or small group that wants to eat a meal on a boat, you’ll likely work with Hornblower. However, if you have a large group, you could consider chartering a boat. Hornblower actually rents their boats out for this function, but there are other companies to consider as well. So, if you want to cruise on the waters off of Newport Beach, you shouldn’t have any trouble arranging this.
