St Croix Boat & Packet Co

The food is excellent. The buffet was Prime Rib and Walleye. It is an attractive boat arranged on 3 floors. The service is good and the staff are helpful at the bar and in the dinning rooms. The Cruise is delightful and enoyable.
The combination of quantity and festive atmosphere are quite good. Once you find things you like, you can pile your plate high. They also provide complimentary desserts
Dessert, is highly unlikely event if you have room The selections are nice. Alternatively, for no extra charge, you can go back to the buffet and have more food!
I would take this cruise again before the summer ends.

What a lovely way to spend an afternoon with friends! The boat left on time, and we were greeted with Dixieland jazz as we boarded. The cruise was relaxed, and the crew was attentive and helpful. The food was good, not great; however, for the price, it was spot-​on. All in all, it met my expectations and I was happy we went. This was just a really nice (and affordable!) good time on the water with lots of happy people having fun. You should go!

Well, it often can be kind of a party atmosphere, even the 10:30 a.m. brunch cruise. So: Party, St Croix River, an abundance of food and fresh air, and a bunch of people all in good spirits! What’s not to like?!

It’s always fun hanging out around St. Croix River. The Stillwater area is so romantic. The boat itself is cute. The live band is fun to be around. The bar is great. The only disappointing thing about these cruises are the food.
The food is below average. It’s not fresh and has not a lot of flavor. The most disappointing thing was they ran out of cheesecake! You must grab desserts early before they run out.

Chartered the Anastasia for our wedding reception. I was so impressed with everything. Amy was always very responsive to my questions, the food was amazing and on the day of, the staff was great. They even had new coffee cream boated out to us when my mom complained about it.
They were great at making sure everything was clean and people were happy throughout. The cruise was about 2.5 hours and we got to go up and down the river a couple times. Everyone had a blast!
The price for chartering was so reasonable. Both for the cruise and the catering. I wish there was options to bring other caterers if you wanted, but in the end the food was great so it didn’t matter.
Thank you to the staff and crew! I hope to get out some time for a dinner cruise.

My wife and I enjoyed the 3 hour dinner cruise. The food (buffet) was OK — don’t go for the food — but the bar tenders were friendly, seating was ample, view and weather were perfect, and the «old timey» jazz band was a blast! Well worth the cost of the tickets! Glad we went!
Some advice: we found a nice table on the upper deck — and held it — early on. At first, it was hot and muggy due to the weather, so we had our choice of seats; but then as sunset came, and the weather was more pleasant, it got a lot more crowded and we were happy to have our good table!

Lunch Cruise Review:
Not to bad for the price, $ 20 for adults, $ 15 for kids. Lunch tasted nice and was a pleasant surprise for what the offered.
Being a tourist to the area and Minnesota in general I would have loved it to have been narrated to hear a little history of the area of Stillwater, it’s a cute boating town. I’m sure there is some history here. :)
I do wish it were a little longer, they are just doing big circles in both sides by the bridge and then we go back to dock, wish they could choose one side and go down it longer to see better views. Would love to do this tour in the Fall once leaves are in full change mode. Staff was friendly and helpful too! :)

We booked one of their boats for a dinner cruise along the St. Croix River on night and it turned out to be just okay.
Our hopes were pretty high, as we had always wanted to take a paddle riverboat tour, so maybe we came in expecting too much. Who knows … all I can say is that the food was decent. It’s a buffet style, so I knew it wasn’t going to be extravagant. The choices were roast, chicken, ribs, and cod. The fish was the best of the four, but they ran out of it pretty quickly. We also had the roast and the ribs. .. they were alright, pretty dry though and needed more sauce. We passed on the chicken as it looks very dry and overcooked.
The sides were the usual things you’d expect (salad, pasta salad, slaw, fruit, etc.) were equally average. The desserts, though, were pretty good. Choice of chocolate cake, cheesecake, and a white cake with berry filling were good way to end the meal.
As for the atmosphere on the boat itself, it felt more like a party waiting to happen than an actual tour/​cruise. There’s a full bar on each level, so drinking was a plenty (not that I’m apposed to knocking down a few, but when it gets to be obnoxiously tipsy and drunk, that’s where it get to be too much). They also allow smoking out on the desk, so that’s pretty annoying too!
It’s a long trip, coming in at about 2.5 hours! They could easily chop off 30 minutes and have a better experience, as it got a bit old after a while.
Overall, an okay experience and it was nice to see and be out on the river; but I don’t think we would do it again.

Had a weekday off and we took the opportunity to go on the Lunch Cruise, which I believe is available Sun. — Thurs. @ 11:30 am.
Cost was $ 20. and some change for an adult. It is about a 2 hour cruise down, then up the river and back down. Stopping traffic at the lift bridge two times as we speed through at about 4 mph ! Take time to smile and wave at the ticked off drivers ! This Cruise features an all you can eat lunch buffet with buns, cold cuts, cheese and all the fixings. That is all I expected. Imagine our surprise when they also had potato salad, chicken salad with grapes and cashews a pasta salad with sweet peppers, olives, feta cheese and sun dried tomato ! They also throw in a warm item. This trip it was a pretty good Chicken Marsala ! Fresh fruit and cookies took care of desert ! Coffee and ice water are complimentary, They also have a full bar on the first and second levels ! We had a delicious Bloody Mary made with a very good local mixer !
The one think that is missing is there is no narrative, or any instructions. Without warning the paddle wheeler blasts its horn and off you go !
No safety information or smoking rules or anything. I found that a little strange…
I would definitely do it again, maybe in the fall to see the beautiful colors.

Decent food and decent atmosphere. Not overcrowded. Very hospitable and friendly staff.

A N O T H E R. S A T U R D A Y … A N O T H E R. W E D D I N G…
THE MAJESTIC STAR. A 4 level yacht on The St Croix River in Stillwater, indeed aptly named. Truly a beautiful and clean vessel.
I had resevations about this venue, as I have experience with the owner who does indeed own half of Stillwater. The experience was not pleasant.
But, lo and behold it all was a spectacular event. The 2 bartenders were lightning fast, and the food was both tasty and hot. Unfortunately, the menu selection was slightly lacking but that was not the company’s fault. Our staff was excruciatingly young. And inexperienced. DO NOT CHECK YOUR CELL PHONES WHILE WORKING!
Our Captain looked capable, and he blew the horn when the couple was pronounced husband and wife. Nice.
So, the only things I found lacking were:
The staffs’ uniforms and general appearance were too informal. We had a harpist for heaven’sake.
The ship’s sound system was terrible, not enough speakers and too low. Could hardly hear the ceremony. If you have a wedding here, have your DJ supply the sound system.
B E A U T I F U L. W E D D I N G. C R U I S E.

We were looking for something to do for our anniversary. New in Mn. We decided on the dinner cruise. Stillwater is a very cute little historic town. We went thru the shops and took the trolley. What fun. Very informative. The dinner cruise was very nice. The buffet was St. Louis ribs and roasted chicken. The ribs were great. The chicken was very dry. Fruit and salads were very good. If you want a drink other than water you pay extra. All in all a good trip. St. Croix River is beautiful. It bothered me that no one welcomed us on the boat. I feel the captain should have said hello and welcome aboard. Nothing like that happened. Disappointing! It was like we were cattle to be fed and then moved on. Beautiful area.

This is essentially a floating Golden Corral…
The positives:
— Friendly staff
— Bar accepted card
— Food was shockingly tasty
— Excellent desserts
— Very handicap accessible – **however, absolutely no safety precautions once on the water**
— Spacious seating
— Sufficient bar options
What you need to know:
— Overpriced: the (albeit good) food served + the bore of the St. Croix are not worth the price for a single ticket
— Literally nothing happens other than at some point you notice you’re moving, then at some later point you notice you’ve docked.
— Seating is not at all intimate or romantic– don’t bring a date here.
— Your crew are (very friendly) high school kids working after school jobs. As such, they perform like high school kids– they did a GREAT job serving food and beer/​wine, getting us loaded, but then there was no one else other than the kids to lead the cruise, speak on a speaker system, or walk around and check up on us. It was like the drama club rented a boat and decided to sail for 2 hours with some adult strangers. They did their best.

We took the Majestic Star for our company event. It was part of the wine and beer tasting event along with dinner. At first, we were just waiting to leave the dock but a few people were a little late. Finally, we left the dock and had our beer tasting followed by wine tasting. Dinner was much later at 7PM which was 1.5 hr later. There were regular burgers and chicken burgers which were generous proportion. Also, we had fresh cut melons, pineapple, and grapes for dessert. Plus, they had baked beans and potato salad. There are 4 levels. First level is more posh and relaxing with lounge sofas and a piano too. Second level is a banquet hall where people sat for dinner with tints windows. Third level is partially open deck with bar to enjoy the weather. Fourth floor is really open deck to enjoy sunset which was nice. Towards the beginning we worked ourselves up to 4^th floor and then on the way back towards 1^st floor. The staff was wonderful and I was able to taste a number of beers and wines. Not to be missed and at $ 30 per person, I was amazed at the quality and service. Keep up the good work:)

Went on the Sunday brunch cruise and enjoyed it. The buffet was actually better than I expected! The very top deck was really popular and where most people sat.

As I think back on the boat cruise what sticks out in my mind is how ALL of the staff were authentically welcoming, friendly and accommodating. The scenery, well, thank you Mother Nature! The St Croix River in the summer is a wonderfully relaxing way to kick back and enjoy an evening.

I have been on the boats 3 times and the food was gross. I own a food service company and was shocked how grumpy the staff looked and they were rude. When they ran out of salad the guy told me to eat fruit. the salad was out of a bag and I was surprised they didn’t have enough bags to feed 100 people. Very disappointed all 3 times.
The owner owns half of stillwater, you think he could afford better quality food and friendly staff. Im sure they are under payed and not happy with the company. Pretty amazing these boats are always booked.

Oh, my BJ is a fun time guy. No wasted time spent chill-​laxing at the pool with that dude. No sir-​ee. We have to keep moving and see all that we can see! And he suggested that we visit Stillwater, MN.
It’s a very cute and quaint little town. But while here, we must also enjoy a little river crusing, right? So, here we were at St. Croix.
We had no reservation. But on this particular day, that was not important. Our boat was huge. Monster sized, actually. The perfect spot to bring all your little kiddies and let them run wild and free. Ah huh. Yeah. Great. Anyway…
This particular cruise included food. And I must say that I was amazed at the amount and quality of food. You know, I was not expecting groumet. But this food was much better than the church picnic type of food that I was expecting. Fresh salad, perfectly sweet roasted carrots, fresh fruit, yummy roll, tons of cookies. I really don’t see how your price of admission covers both the boat ride AND the meal and the live jazz band.
So, if you are a fan of this sort of adventure, you will enjoy this particular company.

While in Stillwater we had reservations for the evening dinner cruise. Surprisingly the dinner was actually quite good and we even had seconds as it is served buffet style. Soda is not included which was a suprise and a downsize as it should be included.
The boat was clean and the cruise was quite lovely and we both enjoyed it and would take it again should we be in the area.

Just returned from our second annual family celebration of the anniversary boat cruise.
Beautiful day, but at times too hot. The inside and the shaded areas come in handy when it gets too hot out. The inside is air conditioned and there are some nicely shaded areas on the top deck.
Still not wild about their food, but they did have a good assortment of salads this time. The rice salad with lentils and olives was quite tasty. Fresh rolls and big cookies that were tasty.
The jazz/​dixie land band was amusing and they do take requests and they’re very popular with the older crowd.
Met some nice people on the dinner cruise and had a wonderful time together! There were very nice and outgoing people on the cruise. Everyone was simply out to enjoy the scenery.
Would recommend for a fun outing on the St. Croix and I have to say, this one was far better then our 3 hour excruciating tour on the Spirit of Chicago.