From gorgeous websites such because the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Kennedy Heart to watching airplanes take off and the gorgeous timber and grassy areas the busy metropolis nonetheless boasts, the nation’s capital is stuffed with stunning views value witnessing time and time once more. Aboard a Metropolis Cruises vessel, visitors are capable of dine, drink, dance and sail down the Potomac, all of the whereas taking in magnificent views and celebrating District tradition.
“You get to see the identical views in D.C. that you just drive previous from a special angle,” D’Mani Harrison-Porter, Metropolis Cruises Mid-Atlantic regional director of selling, informed The Informer on Nov. 22 as he entertained visitors that night on the Odyssey, a ship specifically made for D.C.
“You’ll by no means discover a boat like this anyplace across the nation, as a result of this boat is designed to go below the 14th Road Bridge all the best way to Georgetown,” he defined.
A local Washingtonian, Harrison-Porter has lots of fond recollections on Metropolis Cruises vessels, which was previously known as Leisure Cruises earlier than its merger with the West Coast operation Hornblower Group and their rebrand post-pandemic.
“Plenty of these boats have been in D.C. for a very long time, to the purpose the place my whole household has images of us as children — for sixth grade commencement, dinners, issues like that — right here. So, we’re simply reminding individuals we’re nonetheless the identical firm, only a completely different title,” he stated. “We’re the identical boat, however we’re a bit extra upgraded. … Higher meals, higher high quality, higher service.”
The meals, service and ambiance are fairly glorious.
This vacation season, visitors can board the Odyssey and be transported to a heat, winter wonderland, geared up with icicles, snow and sparkly decorations, a delicious meal, scrumptious drinks and a DJ that retains people dancing to Christmas classics, R&B jams and the go-go swing.
From appetizers comparable to a creamy blue crab and potato chowder, to a smoked chili-rubbed Atlantic salmon entree, desserts just like the Spanish “Basque Fashion” cheesecake, and vegetarian choices together with a Honeycrisp apple salad and the seasonal potato gnocchi, there’s one thing for everybody to get pleasure from on the Odyssey.
The drinks are additionally pleasant and produce vacation cheer such because the Winter Spritz, that includes pomegranate and rosemary, and the peppermint rimmed espresso martini known as “Sweet Cane Lane,” which is a dessert and drink multi functional.
In the course of the holidays, individuals can ditch the stress of dishes and prepping the home for household and mates and take a look at all Metropolis Cruises has to supply.
“We do lots of vacation occasions,” stated Harrison-Porter, earlier than including the corporate was gearing up for his or her Thanksgiving feast on the water. “We do Christmas Eve brunch, and Christmas brunch and dinner. After which we additionally do New 12 months’s Eve, brunch, dinner after which New 12 months’s Day brunch.”
Past the vacation season, Metropolis Cruises welcomes visitors all 12 months.
“We most likely have probably the greatest brunches within the metropolis, simply due to what you get to see. It’s two hours, limitless mimosas, we have now an upscale buffet model menu and we have now a few of the greatest DJs,” Harrison-Porter defined. “So that you will be on right here with any individual celebrating their bridal bathe, or somebody celebrating their eightieth birthday and everybody’s going to stand up and revel in themselves.”
Chad Barth, vp for meals and beverage for Metropolis Cruises US and vp of the Mid-Atlantic area (Baltimore, Alexandria and D.C.), has had an up-close have a look at how a lot the Odyssey and firm as an entire has grown over time.
“I began as a bartender [on the Odyssey] 17-and-half years in the past part-time. I labored entrance of the home, again of the home and labored my approach by means of the operation, till I joined full-time as the overall supervisor in Baltimore in 2017,” Barth informed The Informer. “I carried us all over COVID, after which turned the VP of meals and beverage in 2021 for the entire firm.”
Now with 16 ports across the U.S., 90 vessels within the Metropolis Cruises portfolio, and working in Canada, the U.Ok., and the Nationwide Park Service with the Statue of Liberty ferry, the corporate has definitely grown. Nonetheless, there’s been lots of progress for the Odyssey over time as properly.
“We took a extremely deep dive into the place individuals had traveled coming out and in of the pandemic. Folks have been going to the Caribbean, they have been going to Latin America, they have been going to Asia, they have been in search of extra worldly flavors,” he defined. “So we reimagined our culinary choices and made an intentional push beginning final March 2023, to redevelop our culinary choices.”
Metropolis Cruises additionally up to date their beverage program and plans on making extra tweaks to the menus with a rollout that will likely be launching spring 2025.
From native Washingtonians who move the monuments on their each day commutes, to first-time guests to the nation’s capital, Metropolis Cruises is an ideal and distinctive option to get pleasure from all of the District has to supply.
“[We’re] your common restaurant,” Harrison-Porter informed The Informer, “simply on the water with higher views.”
