Being onboard a City Cruises London boat is a great experience for the family, one that everyone can enjoy. City Cruises are known for their excellent interactive tours up and down the River Thames in central London.
We chose the Hop-on-Hop-off River Pass as it offers unlimited access for 24 hours for a family day out with city experiences. This pass means that you can hop on and off at any of the four City Cruises piers on the Thames. The piers include Greenwich, Tower of London, London Eye, and Westminster.
There are two different boats to choose from including one with an open upper deck, so you can see the views from the top deck. The second boat is an indoor saloon with dome-shaped glass roof for indoor viewing. Equally, this boat does also have outdoor seating to the back and sides of the boat, meaning you don’t have to be inside for the entire journey.
Having a Hop-on-Hop-off pass gives you the choice to disembark at one of the piers and explore the region. Once you’ve visited that region you can return to another City Cruises boat and hop on to see more of sights from the comfort of being seated.
Needless to say that anyone who takes a City Cruises boat tour will get to see some of London’s most iconic sights. Each tour boat has either a live or recorded commentary showcasing different landmarks and historic buildings. Big Ben, Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, Cutty Sark, The London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and so much more can be seen from every boat tour.
A Family Day Out With City Experiences
There were only three of us in our family party, but we spotted much bigger families of all ages taking the boat trips. It’s a great way for all the family to see the Thames sights together, and for those with disabilities too. For foreign visitors, the City Experiences App and Audio Guide Tours are all available to download prior to the tour. In addition the audio tours are available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, and German. Plus Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Vietnamese, and Spanish. Furthermore, City Cruises offers an activity book for the kids, simply visit the website and download a free activity book for onboard.
Luckily it was a live commentary from the London Eye to Greenwich where we disembarked our City Cruises boat. The commentator was hilarious with anecdotes about pubs on the Thames, local celebrities, and many historical stories. Plus it was a sunny day, which made the experience all the more fun on the boat.
Additionally each boat has an onsite cafe, stocked with sandwiches, drinks, ice creams and more. Equally there are onboard toilets, bins for rubbish, and most importantly life jackets, which are all pointed out by the commentator.
More City Cruises Info
Moreover, each pier site has a schedule board, which showcases timings for the boat tours and includes the last departure time of the day. Equally, the schedule boards are changed seasonally to reflect the busier times of each season.
It was a great day out on the City Cruise. Plus we had the option of returning the day after to use up our full 24-hour river pass.
Family tickets are priced at £49 for 2 adults and 3 children (under 15). This is for the full 24 hour Hop-on-Hop-off river pass. Visit City Experiences to find out more about City Cruises.
A Family Day Out With City Experiences – Words by Rachel McAlley
