Philadelphia may be the city of brotherly love, but it can also be a city of romantic love, especially on Valentine’s Day. This is true in general for the simple reason that Philadelphia is a large city with a lot happening on Valentine’s Day, and it is true in particular because Philadelphia has some nice Valentine’s Day cruises. These cruises are offered on the Spirit of Philadelphia, a ship operated by Spirit Cruises, and below we outline exactly what is available on Valentine’s Day.
Philadelphia is one of the several cities along the East Coast that is served by Spirit Cruises, a dining cruise company that is owned by the larger conglomerate Entertainment Cruises. In some of these cities, like New York and Chicago, Entertainment Cruises operates multiple cruise companies in addition to Spirit Cruises. Other cities, like Baltimore and Philadelphia, have only Spirit Cruises for their cruise-dining needs. And even in Baltimore, there are two Spirit ships that can offer dining cruises, whereas Philadelphia only has one. Obviously, a lack of dining cruises won’t register as a problem to most people, and nor should it, but we mention it in the present case because it explains why there are comparatively few Valentine’s Day cruises in Philadelphia. Why Entertainment Cruises has invested less heavily is Philadelphia is not entirely clear, but it may have something to do with the amount of open water available for their ships. A dining ship based in Philadelphia can only sail around a segment of the Delaware River, whereas the other cities have larger bodies of water at their disposal. None of that, however, is really to the point. We are concerned with what is available.
The Spirit of Philadelphia’s flagship offering is of course the Valentine’s Day dinner cruise; that is, the dinner cruise that is offered from 8:30 to 11:30 PM on February 14th. At $174.07 per person, this is by far the most expansive of the Spirit of Philadelphia’s cruises. In addition to this (somewhat) late night cruise, there are two other cruises on Valentine’s Day: there is a lunch cruise from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM that costs $60.17 per person, and an “afternoon lunch cruise” from 3:30 to 5:30 PM that costs $100.37 per person. There is also a dinner cruise the evening before Valentine’s Day from 7:30 to 10:30 PM, and this costs $99.03 per person. The lunch and dinner menus are identical but for the fact that a Chilled Crab and Lobster Croquette serves as the dinner’s first course, and the lunch menu lacks this stage of the meal entirely. Regardless of which cruise you book, each couple gets a rose, and everyone who is over 21 can participate in a champagne toast at no extra charge (but additional drinks cost money). The precise details of all of these cruises can be found on the Spirit of Philadelphia’s website.
So, there aren’t a ton of Valentine’s Day cruise options in Philadelphia, but there are probably enough to satisfy the needs of those who are inclined to take one. There are a couple of dinners to choose from, and there are three separate meals on Valentine’ Day itself. Check out our general article on Valentine’s Day cruises for other ways to celebrate the holiday via cruises.
