The Booze Cruises of NYC

If you find yourself in New York City (particularly Manhattan) one evening, eager for some time on the water and a couple of drinks, there are several “booze cruises” that can fulfill both of your desires simultaneously. Or, if you find yourself in New York City, eager for some time on the water and a couple of dozen drinks, you might elect for one of the all-inclusive booze cruises, or the booze cruises with an open bar, depending on how the company advertises the fact that you can drink as much as you want on board. With all-inclusive alcohol or not, the booze cruises of NYC provide a unique (and for many raucously enjoyable) experience in a city with no shortage of nightlife opportunities. What are the booze cruises of NYC, and what can you expect on one?

We won’t try to exhaustively list every booze cruise that you might find in NYC, and we do this for two related reasons. First, any list that claims to be exhaustive is liable to being charged with possessing gaps (however small), so we’ll circumvent this potential criticism by simply not trying to list every company that might claim to offer booze cruises. The phrase “might claim” is important, and it presents the second reason why we won’t aim for exhaustiveness. It is not always clear what exactly counts as a booze cruise. There are numerous cruises, ferries, and water taxis that operate in the waters around NYC, and a good portion of these have bars on board. However, not many would consider themselves full-blooded booze cruises, or at least they aren’t booze cruises all the time. That is, some companies periodically have “party nights” or whatever you want to call them, meaning their ships temporarily become booze cruises, but the company isn’t primarily about offering cruises on which people drift around the city and drink.

One company that is all about offering cruises on which people drift around the city and drink is New York Booze Cruise. (The name says it all.) The company operates five large boats – the biggest seats 350 people, and all but one can accommodate well over 100 people – and offers booze cruises every day of the week. You can either join one of the regularly scheduled cruises, or if you get enough people together, you can charter a yacht for a night. It costs a little over $40 (thanks to a few dollars in “fees”) to simply ride the boat for the night (from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM), but for a little less than double the price of general admission, you have access to an open bar. You have to drink nearly $40 worth of drinks to justify buying the open-bar ticket, but considering you have four hours on the water, it could definitively be worth it, especially considering how quickly the cost of drinks adds up in a place like NYC. The other booze cruises – the main ones are NY Party Cruise, After Work Cruises, and Freedom Cruises – operate in a similar way, generally offering at least a couple of different ticket types for individuals, as well as separate deals for groups (who may or may not want to rent an entire ship). Each company has its own focus – ranging from late-night cruises (offered till 4:00 AM by NY Party Cruise) to brunch cruises on the weekend (offered by Freedom Cruises).

So, there are a range of booze cruises in NYC, and this diversity ensures that if you want to drink and float around the city, there should be something right for you. If you want a wild night out, this can be arranged, but so can a more sober evening that concludes relatively early. A booze cruise needn’t be all about the booze, although it can be.

Think you might want to take an NYC Booze Cruise? Check out our article on how to book a booze cruise in NYC.