Bahia Belle Cruises

BORING, we’ve done this cruise before during certain events such as an ugly Christmas sweater party & the Mardi gras cruise. Those were fun. This year, we decided on doing the 80’s Themed Halloween Cruise and was such a disappointment. Not only was nothing decorated on the boat but the music sucked and only a handful of people were actually dressed up.
The cruise consisted of docking every hour. How is that fun? Our group ended up getting off after the 2^nd time they docked and hit up the local bars.
Will never do this cruise again.

Took a boat ride after my sister’s rehearsal dinner around 7pm. It’s the last ride kids are allowed to be on before its adults only. The boat ride was about 1.5 hours long from the Bahia to the Catamaran hotel. They have a bar on the first floor when you walk onto the boat. They serve alcohol and snack foods. The view from top was amazing we sat at the front for a little bit and walked around to the back. It gets pretty chilly at night so bring a jacket. The second floor has a beautiful stain glass ceiling. It takes you to the other side of the bay where you can get off at the Catamaran hotel and catch the next boat back. Or you can stay on and they will take you back to the Bahia hotel. We had a great experience and it’s very romantic during the sunset.

What a joke! A bunch of ghetto ass drunks! Waste of time and money! Do not ride this piece of shit boat with idiots in charge

We had a group of over 100, who our rep asked in advance if we would be OK to get on, and was told yes. We were all here in advance and were told they were at max capacity. After waiting to talk to the captain, he explained to the 10 people who didn’t make it on that it was «first come first serve» and they were over capacity. Then 5 people walked up behind us and the captain let them on. After arguing that it goes against his previous first come first serve explanation, he said we have enough people every night, so I don’t care. This is unacceptable service. The cruise ship should keep track of the # of tickets they sell/​give away and if it is truly first come first serve, then there should NEVER be an instance where people behind others in the line get on first. I am extremely upset about this and will make sure to tell all my visitors that this cruise ship has poor service and does not guarantee advanced ticket holders a ride on the ship. There are plenty of other cruise ships offered.

We rode the Bahia Belle at night, saw the Seaworld fireworks and sipped on delicious drinks, what an awesome Tuesday night!

We rode the Bahia Belle last night for part of my Daughters birthday outing. It was enjoyable, the drinks were good and the employees were friendly. As an extra treat we were able to catch the Sea World fireworks show from our spot on the Bahia Belle. Great way to end the evening.

I bought a groupon for this and I say I def got my monies worth. Even paying full price would have been worth it. My husband and I went on the last hour of family cruise and it was relatively quiet, we found spots to hang out and take in the view quietly. I will def be back on a weekend during cocktail hour. I knocked it down one star because drinks are way over priced, the website was kinda confusing and it took is awhile to figure out where it was.

I’ve been out on the Bahia Belle a few times over the years and always have had a great time. For those of you who don’t know what the Bahia Belle is all about. It is paddle wheel type boat that runs back and forth from The Bahia Hotel to The Catermeran Hotel. There is nightly entertainment and a bar as well as a dance floor and open air upper deck. My most recent trip aboard the Belle was for a recent birthday party. Everything was great as always. The only problem was the the DJ that night sucked. I overheard a few people on board that night commenting on it but I wasn’t going to let that ruin my fun and it’s not that big of a deal. I’m sure I will be back aboard The Behia Belle many more time in the future.

Went here on a Steampunk event with 75 fellow SP. While we had a great time, we were a bit misinformed due to bad info from the hotel on how long we had to wait to board. They neglected to tell us that there were 2 weddings there that night. And they always let hotel guests show their keys and they board first… fair enough. It’s $ 10 for the trip. Sometimes, Groupon has half off.
But we had to wait almost 2 hours to board and that was tough on some of us. A few left, but we did have fun waiting, Took all kinds of pics and socialized… we Steampunks are VERY good at socializing!
And making up for their misinformation, they went around and gave all of us a free coupon to return and ride for free. Not THAT’S good customer service.
Once aboard, we had a blast. Great DJ playing very good funky music to dance to. And the view from up top was wonderful. We could even view the Sea World fireworks from there!
We went around several times and the air temp was just perfect, like 70 degrees! Most of us stayed on until 12:30 am or so.
All in all, a fun and inexpensive thing to do in our wonderful town of San Diego!

My friend planned a birthday party here, but cancelled it, leaving me stuck with a Groupon. Not one to waste even a cheap Groupon, my friend and I decided to go. She was more into going early during the «family cruise» hours. And we did get a nice view of the bay and sunset as we cruised from the Catamaran to the Bahia and back.
But things really picked up when the «cocktail cruise» hours started and the DJ got going. We danced our way off the boat around 9:30 with just a handful of other people — passing a loooooong, long line of people waiting to get on. As the boat was already at capacity, I am fairly sure they did not all make it on at that stop.
Kinda fun, might be good for out of town visitors if you want to have a drink and dance and ride for a while.
But if you’re going just for the views, I’d recommend the Coronado Ferry ($ 4.25 each way).

I’ve been reading some of the other reviews and I have NEVER experienced any of these problems (long lines, waiting, capacity, rude boatmen/​security). Every time i’ve been on the boat, probably around 3 or 4 times, everything has been pretty easy and nice. I have NEVER been on the William boat, ALWAYS on the Belle.
I refuse to go during family cruise time, because kids on a boat are annoying and their parents never seem to care. That’s not the Belle’s problem so im not docking them for that.
The three decks are ok. The first deck, where you board, looks like a bad banquet hall and needs to be spruced up. Game room for the bored kids? The second deck is where the party is at. They have a DJ, a cool dance floor and a bar (obviously only during the «adults only» cruise time). The top floor is beautiful, my only complaint is that I wish there were more seating facing the water, or maybe some tables up there for ambiance.
The main reason for 4 stars is because its cash only bar, has a very limited liquor list and is really overpriced for their booze.
You can just walk up to the hotel people and ask for tickets, and they’re just as cheap as any cover.
Anyway it is a hidden Gem in SD, and everyone who lives here should go once

We took the 7:30 pm cruise out from the Bahia hotel, just in time for the sun to go down. The view of the surrounding area was beautiful during sunset.
The service was nice both before boarding and on the boat. We went on a Sunday, so sundaes were provided, which was a big hit with the families and kids on the boat with us. Drinks are provided on the boat for an affordable price, and servers are available on the your order instead of you having to walk down to the bar.
It is cash only for the ride, but we thought the $ 10 fee for the round-​trip was worth it for the views during sunset. The later return trips are for 21+, so it’s important to bring your ID for the return trip, although they won’t check your ID when you board during earlier rides.
According to a friend who is a San Diego native, the cruise is a bit of a hidden gem in the area, but definitely worth the experience whether you’re from the area or not.

As guests of the hotel, we received complimentary tickets to enjoy a ride aboard the Bahia Belle. General public tickets are available for purchase. There are two basic groups of times — the earlier rides, before 9:30 are family cruises and kids are welcome aboard. The later rides are 21+ and feature different events on different days, like karaōke or live djs.
My husband and I caught an earlier one so that it would still be light out to view the bay and then see the sunset from the boat. As such, we spent most of our time on the top observation area, but there are two other levels, with the bar on the second level. They also had sandwiches for sale.
Very enjoyable ride, and a nice offering from the hotel.

Huh?
I don’t know… I received VIP treatment on this cruise, I don’t know what all these bad reviews are on here for?
I could understand being upset not being able to get on a cruise that was too full, I waited in a long line, and there was a wedding going on, but… my group of seven, including three young children got on smoothly without a hitch ;) or stitch or BITCH… or double panty knot…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I thought the boat was beautiful, gorgeous stained glass inside on the roof, beautiful wood finishes, gorgeous lighting… for living in San Diego this is a must on your SD bucket list… the bay is beautiful at night… especially at sunset…
Don’t know what all the griping is for… CASH ONLY AT THE DOOR…

Big Angry NO!
We bought our Groupons to take our just turned 5 year old Granddaughter on the Bahia Belle family cruise. She dressed up and practiced her dance moves as we told her they have dancing on the boat. I called and reserved the 6:30pm family cruise (earliest they had) as she usually is in bed by 7:30pm and it is an hour drive to get to the Bahia Hotel for us. I called the restaurant (Bahia Café) and made the earliest reservation for them as well (5:30pm…seemed crazy to open the restaurant so late that people have to rush if they decide to eat dinner then go on the boat but that was all that was available.) We arrived at the hotel at 5pm and were made to park in the general lot that served the beach front for Mission Bay… crowded and we had to circle to find a space. BTW… dirtiest public bathroom I have ever been in… floor covered with TP soaked with excrement was the least of it, so we waited for the restaurant restroom. We wandered around waiting for the restaurant to open and observed 3 weddings going on at the hotel and on the beachfront. We entered the Bahia Café at 5:25pm and were seated in the empty dining room inside as everyone else was seated outside and we thought it would be faster. First, an empty dining room and they seated us right in front of the kitchen door that had heavy traffic our entire meal. Second, we ordered after waiting for attention, at 5:45pm telling our waitress we were reserved for the 6:30 cruise… she said «no problem». Well, our food came at 6:10pm and the kid meal (chicken tenders) was inedible as they covered the breaded crust with cracked pepper! A kids meal… really? They took it off our bill and our granddaughter shared our food which we all wolfed down to be out at the dock on time. When we arrived we were in line to get on the boat when a security guard came over and asked all of us to back up. Confused we did as asked (the whole line) and watched as a wedding party was let on ahead of us. They then boarded maybe fifteen people from the line and announced the boat was full and the rest of the line, including us, would have to take the next boat at 7:30pm. I protested telling him that our reservations were for 6:30 because we had a young child with us and waiting would ensure she would be exhausted on the boat and we still had an hour drive back home. He said he couldn’t help us and said on his walkie talkie «Ya, we are turning away approximately 80 angry people» as he walked away. Our granddaughter was crushed. We had been planning this for two months. We did everything we could to ensure a successful outing, choosing all the earliest times, being on time and even checking the day of to make sure they still had that particular boat available to us. I am very angry… we spent $ 100 on a lousy dinner and the boat tickets, traveled an hour each way only to be turned away at the last minute. Why not have the wedding party wait while they had cocktails on the beach? Instead they turned away a line full of crying children… this was supposed to be the family cruise after all. Big ANGRY NO for this attraction and their restaurant.
Visited May 2014

This is my third experience with the Bahia Belle.
The first time was for a friend’s birthday, but the boat was broken, so we went on it and hung out it as it was docked. Since it was broken, they let us on for free, which was nice. The second time was for the same birthday; my friend figured since it didn’t work out and a bunch of people had bought the groupon, she’d do it again a few weeks later. We got to Babia Resort around 9pm and it was at capacity, so we didn’t get to go on and went out to some bars instead.
Last night, we went on the Bahia Belle, this time parking at Catamaran Resort, for another birthday. We waited for the 10pm boarding but it was at capacity. So we waited for another hour and then luckily got on at 11pm. As far as this goes, I feel like here has to be some better method than just selling a ton of tickets with no guarantee that people will get on. It seems like a big waste of people’s time, meanwhile, people are waiting (and spending money on drinks) at the bars of each hotel, so the hotels really don’t care.
On the boat, the limited bar had drinks that were way overpriced, and while the dance club atmosphere was kind of fun, we decided to spend a lot of time on the top deck, so we could see Mission Bay. It was really beautiful and a nice night, but then fog started rolling in. We got to Bahia Resort and then turned to head back to Catamaran, where we planned to get off. The fog got really thick at this point, and we assumed we were close to Catamaran based on what time it was. It wasn’t until we pulled out our phones and looked at the map that we realized they were actually heading back to Bahia because the fog was so bad.
Here’s the thing — I don’t have a problem with the fact that they had to turn around. Better safe than sorry. My issue is that they didn’t communicate this with anyone. We only noticed because we looked at the maps app, but if we hadn’t, we would’ve been very confused when they docked and began letting people off the boat. And since the majority of people on the Bahia Belle were probably blackout drunk, I’m assuming most didn’t know that they were at the wrong hotel and likely didn’t notice until after they’d already gotten off the boat.
When we asked, we were told they were going to wait to see if the fog would lift and then if not, they’d get shuttles for everyone who needed to get back to Catamaran. By this point we were so annoyed we called for a Lyft as we were docking.
Two stars for Mission Bay at night, but otherwise, what a waste. This was the last time trying to do this, and definitely wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

While waiting for the cruise, it is nice to relax on the cabana lounge chairs on the beach. No reservation needed, first come first serve.
For hotel guest, the ride is FREE. If you are not hotel guest, $ 10 per person.
The Service: So so… the cruise leaves every hour, you can stay as long as you want. Unfortunately, many passengers love it so much and they wouldn’t get off the cruise. At the end, they could not board the passengers waiting at the pier (they have specific capacity). We had to wait for one more hour & pray that there would have enough room for us… :(
The Bar: Limited choices of cocktail.
The first level of the cruise is not open. The second level of the cruise is the bar & dance floor. Very small dance floor… super crowded. They put chairs on two sides of the dance floor. Good music, however, no room to dance. The third level of the cruise is the open deck. 9 benches for seating. It is also the «smoking area».
It is about 45 minutes of ride. Unfortunately, not much to see at the Mission Bay.

I purchased a Groupon for 2 tickets to the Bahia Belle a few days ago in anticipation for a romantic cruise around Mission Bay. Well…
First of all, while the Bahia Belle looks nice, I thought it was the bigger vessel (the William H. Evans) that we would be riding on. Nope, the Bahia Belle is a much smaller vessel with three decks (lower one is a lounge, middle is the dance floor/​bar — with a paltry beer selection; seriously, Coors Light, Bud Light, and a couple of other ones I don’t care to mention — and the top observation deck). We were expecting to do some dancing, but as we went on the «family cruise hour» and we were among the few people without kids, we went to the observation deck.
And, woof… the amount of kids running around, adults milling around, and the lack of ambiance for Valentine’s Day weekend, coupled with a very short cruise… yikes! At least Kathy and I were entertained by the conversations by the kids that night.
While I can see us doing a sunset cruise during the summer months — the Bahia Belle does have a certain charm — come here with lowered expectations.

Boom! Bahia Belle is Awesome!
I am an expert when if comes to the Bahia Belle Cruise. I have to say I’ve cruised the waters of the bay on the Belle at least 25 times. My favorite routine is to do a little bar hopping on Friday or Saturday night in mission bay, then head to the Bahia Bar. I like to get to the bar at 8:45 so I can grab a drink before Karaōke begins! I try to sneak in two songs with Leo at karaōke before I head to the Bahia Belle. Then Bön Voyage!
Grab a couple more drinks and hit the dance floor till 11:30 or so and then make my way to Robertos on the corner. Eat up, head home and repeat next weekend.

My wife and I were on vacation on Mission Beach in San Diego and we got a Groupon for a sunset cruise around Mission Bay, which is right behind our Beach house.
My aunt bought me a beer, which was cool, (Corona) and we started the trip to their other hotel on the other side of the bay.
The ship was cool because it was like an old time paddle boat, but the best part about it was the beautiful sunset on the way back!
The sun sank below the palm trees of Mission Beach and it was one of the most wonderful sights I have ever seen

Booooring ! Ce bateau passé plus de temps à quai que sur l’eau. Attrape-​touriste par excellence… Le seul moment où il vaut la peine d’être pris, c’est pendant les feux d’artifice de SeaWorld, sinon, passez à autre chose.