Captain Bill’s Seneca Lake Cruises

Lake Seneca is one of the largest of the eleven finger lakes and is surrounded by high cliffs and two salt processing plants. Now that you’ve read this, you’ve learned about as much as we did during our 45 minute cruise.
I am being a little facetious. The guide needed to add more color to his commentary for our tastes as the seven minute gaps between the minute-​long tidbits of information meant that you were left to your own for conversation. You could take cat naps as you were lulled by the gentle waves and drone of the Diesel engine powering the boat, or you could stare out mindlessly aboard the old wooden boat and wonder why you bought the tour in the first place…

This company put a sour taste in my mouth from the very beginning. My husband and I were in the area for a couple of hours and thought a boat ride/​tour would be a good use of our time. We arrived 25 mins before the boat was scheduled to depart and bought our tickets. When it was time to board, we were notified that the trip was canceled because we were the only people who purchased tickets. It would have been nice if they gave us a heads up that our trip could be canceled for poor tickets sales. I was definitely annoyed. At the last minute, a sweet couple bought a ticket and saved our trip! The boat ride was nice and relaxing. The tour itself wasn’t anything special. The information that was given to us was boring and the tour guide’s personality was a little dry.

A great relaxing informative cruise around the southern end of seneca lake. Approximately 50 mins in comfortable covered seating. Very likeable knowledge crew.

Go for the scenery and the staff and skip the food. The cruise was nice and the staff was friendly and attentive. The food was exceptionally bad, I mean grade school, public school, government subsidy cheese bad. The buffet menu was taken from a penal colony. And let’s not forget dessert which consisted of 4 boxes of cookies in sealed packages.
As I said the cruise and staff were great, just skip the food.

Someone else needs to open a boating business on Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen! The schooner ‘True Love’ is very expensive but absolutely beautiful — I wish we could have afforded it instead of the 50 minute boat ride on the Stroller IV. The Stroller IV is a classic old boat but it’s a diesel and very, very loud. No tranquility on this cruise! And we could barely hear the informative talk. They just take you out for 2 miles and back again, and you don’t have a chance to enjoy the beauty of the lake because it’s far too loud and smelly. Also you can’t even be outside on the deck — it’s all interior seating with windows that slide open. It was actually stressful. But since they’re the only boat besides the schooner, they’re absolutely full with the tourist business! No need to improve if there isn’t any competition.

We had our wedding on the boat, and it was great! Everything was perfect! mark the owner took care of every detail! I would recommend this venue to any bridal couple!

This was a pretty cool idea to celebrate my brother’s birthday. It was our first time to this area, so we wanted to see the sights. Besides being completely blown away by the outlandish prices, the tour was three hours long. It was nice to see the sunset and the moon rise, but the meal was extremely drug out.
The prime rib (which they said was our only meal option) was totally dried out. I wish I had salt because the entire meal needed it. The soup and salad were nice, but those are kind of difficult to mess up.
There was narration and some lake trivia in the beginning, but that was it. I wish there was a band or some entertainment.
The upside was our server Abbey. She was super sweet and very accommodating.

We were staying in a cabin on the lake and wanted to get a better view of the whole
lake so we choose captain bill’s at random.
All of our group (including twin 3 yr old boys) were very happy with the choice. The guide was very informative and knowledgeable about the lake and we all learned some interesting trivia. He was also able to recommend some winerys to visit.
I should also mention that we just took the 45 minute cruise, not the dinner or lunch cruise.

Ordered the surf and turf; the scallops were drenched in butter and prime rib was overcooked and bland and seemed to have been microwaved. Do not expect to eat well in this overpriced cruise trip.

We went on the one hour sightseeing cruise. Which left Watkins Glen at 8pm. Nina at the ticket counter was pleasant. The Stroller boat is a 1934 wooden boat and is nicely maintained. It’s about 50′. The young man who narrated the cruise was very professional and articulate. He was knowledgeable and very well spoke. He even came around to each couple and asked if we had any questions. Captain Tony didn’t say anything for the duration of the ride, but go us to and from the dock safely.
$ 15/​person. Decent value.

My husband and I went on the Sunday evening dinner cruise. It turned out that on Sunday evenings in the summer they have 2 singers/​guitarists playing blues. They weren’t the best, but it was a nice addition.
The boarding area is very picturesque, right at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The trip is about 3 hrs. They offer your choice of prime rib, Cornish hen, veggie lasagna or scallops in mushroom/​wine sauce with a petite prime rib. Each dinner comes with soup, salad, baked potato and mixed veggies. For desert there is cheesecake (with or without strawberries), coffee and tea. They have a basket of rolls and cups of water on each table. There is a drinks menu but there is an extra charge for alcoholic beverages.
I had the prime rib and it was huge! I couldn’t finish it. It was nice but I’ve had better. The veggies were unfortunately overcooked. My husband had the scallops and petite prime rib and he said it was good.
When the musicians take their break the captain gives a short talk about the Finger Lakes. We were able to go to the front of the boat for an unobstructed view of the lake and surrounding homes.
They also offer dinner cruises without music on other nights, as well as a lunch cruise and a brunch buffet cruise.
The Sunday evening blues dinner cruise is approx. $ 50 per person. We think we got our money’s worth.
We decided to take this cruise when we were visiting nearby Corning, NY. It is located in Watkins Glen and is about a 30 min. drive from Corning.

This review is about the regular cruises, not about the lunch or dinner cruises.
The cruise was okay — it was a beautiful day so we wanted to head out on the water. The stench of the oil really got to me. For $ 13.50, you basically have a guy drive you out two miles and drive you back with his assistant doing most of the talking, giving you information about the lake and its surrounding features.
Then the Captain will waltz around the boat and talk to some people — some A LOT more than others. He might spend ten or fifteen minutes talking to some people and one or two minutes talking to other people. Apparently, this welcomes the suggestion of gratuities. For what? I don’t know. But that was a major turn-​off.

After being served well done, soggy gray prime rib twice (I sent one back thinking it was a mistake, silly me) after ordering rare, we figured out how the dinner cruise works. They ask your main dish preference before the cruise because they cook it ahead of time at Seneca Harbor Station restaurant. I suppose this could work if they served it right away, but they don’t. The waiter actually came to the table and asked how I wanted the prime rib done, which led me to believe there was a choice there for a minute. The veggies were ice cold and the baked potato had that brown look inside that they get from being cooked a long time.
My husband had the «surf and turf» which turned out to be a piece of fish wrapped around some soggy bread crumb mystery fish stuffing and a tough, overcooked pork steak. He had the same cold, stewed-​looking veggies and brown potato.
Oh, and they start the meal with a soup that they call gumbo. I guess because there’s some okra in it. Everything in it had been cooked into a bland mush.
Not recommended.

My husband, mother, and I went on their one hour boat cruise on Seneca Lake last week. It was a hot day, so we welcomed the short cruise on the beautiful lake. The captain and his assistant were both very knowledgeable and entertaining. It was interesting to learn about the salt processing plants on the lake. I’m glad it wasn’t longer than one hour, but it was an hour well spent.

The ambiance is the only reason this place is getting two stars.
You are able to sit outside and enjoy Seneca Lake while drinking a class of local wine. That I enjoyed!
Everything else about the experience had something to be desired. The service was slow, even though they were not busy. Also our server had to check with the kitchen several times when I asked questions about the menu.
When our food finally arrived I was we were left with no silver ware to eat it and I had to go to the hostess to ask for some… ugh!
She didn’t know where to get the silverware – really???
My mom and I both had salad. I thought that it was impossible to mess up a salad, and it is, but I could of just went home and tossed in some lettuce and tomatoes with grilled chicken and had the same thing.
Find somewhere else to go.