Cincinnati Boat Tours

"Booked our cincinnati boat tours tickets two days ahead and boarded at the Newport landing without any confusion. The Roebling Suspension Bridge passed overhead and you could hear the cables hum when traffic crossed. Water was glassy and the whole downtown slid by in one long sweep."

"We rode the sternwheeler past Smale Riverfront Park and watched the paddlewheel push a wide brown wake behind us. The narrator picked out Great American Ball Park and the sloped stone of the old Public Landing. Breeze off the Ohio River was noticeably cooler than standing on the Serpentine Wall."

"The upper deck filled quickly and the port-side rail stayed crowded most of the way out. Even so, a Cincinnati riverboat cruise gives you angles on the Purple People Bridge that you simply cannot get from shore. Haze sat low over Covington and softened everything downstream."

"Late sun turned the water copper and the glass towers downtown went orange for a while. The cincinnati boat tours tour we picked ran upriver toward the bend past the Dan Beard Bridge and back. A towboat passed close enough that we felt the swell under the hull."

"Boarding was quick and a crew member handed out a simple fold-out map of both banks. From midstream you finally see how the hills stack up behind the city. Engine noise stays mild enough to hear the narration from the stern bench."

"Counting bridges became the whole game for our kids, from Roebling to the Clay Wade Bailey. Of the cincinnati boat tours tours we looked at, this one spent the longest stretch where the spans line up behind each other. Gulls trailed the paddlewheel the entire way out."

"Wind on the top deck was stronger than I expected and my hat ended up in the Ohio River. Downstream the Covington riverbank looks almost rural, which surprised me that close to downtown. The lower deck windows were clean and gave a steadier view for photos."

"Cold air kept the deck nearly empty and the river ran slate under low cloud. An Ohio River sightseeing cruise in that light shows the working side of the water, cranes and coal barges along the Kentucky shore. Steam lifted off the surface near the lock approach."

"Hillsides on the Kentucky side had turned rust and gold and dropped their colour straight into the water. Our guide on the cincinnati boat tours pointed out Sedamsville and the older river houses below the Western Hills viaduct. The wake peeling off the stern stayed visible for a long stretch behind us."

"The commentary stuck to the river itself, the channel depth, the lock traffic, the way the Licking River joins from the south. Deck chairs on the shaded side were the better seat once the glare came up off the surface. We left with a much clearer sense of how Cincinnati landmarks sit along the bend."