Tours/Charleston/Charleston Sunset Blues & BBQ Dinner Cruise
Charleston Sunset Blues & BBQ Dinner Cruise
3.6(196)Charleston1 hour
VIATOR3.7(138)TRIPADVISOR3.2(58)
+5 photos
Description
Join us aboard the Charleston Princess for a fantastic evening cruise. We have partnered with a variety of local and regional musicians for a fantastic cruise featuring amazing live music, breathtaking views of the "Holy City" and a delicious BBQ buffet! Please keep in mind that while this started with Blues music more than 17 years ago, we are now offering different genres throughout the season! The delicious buffet includes pulled pork, smoked chicken, mac & cheese, cole slaw, buns and sauces on side, tea and water. Fully stocked cash bar on board! This cruise is perfect for date night, groups of friends, group outings, or any occasion. We are now in our 17th season and look forward to another great year!
Tour Options
Charleston Sunset Blues & BBQ Dinner Cruise
Itinerary
Admission included120 min
Step aboard the 3 deck, Charleston Princess for an unforgettable cruise featuring live music from local and regional bands along with a delicious BBQ buffet provided by our catering partner. Please keep in mind while this started as a Blues and BBQ Cruise nearly 20 years ago, we have expanded to other genres of music based on availability.
Pass by
The Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge is one of the largest cable stayed bridges in the world. It was constructed in the early 2000's and officially opened in 2005 replacing the older Pearman and Grace Memorial Bridges.
Highlights
Delicious BBQ Buffet Dinner
All taxes, fees and handling charges
Live Music
Dinner
Charleston Harbor Cruise aboard the Charleston Princess
What's included
Included
Delicious BBQ Buffet Dinner
All taxes, fees and handling charges
Live Music
Dinner
Charleston Harbor Cruise aboard the Charleston Princess
Not included
Parking (paid parking available on site)
Alcoholic beverages (available for purchase)
Gratuities
Souvenir Photo Package (available for purchase onsite)
Traveller Ratings
3.6
196 reviews
5
73
4
39
3
36
2
21
1
27
Important Information
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Service animals allowed
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Children must be accompanied by an adult
The Charleston Princess is not ADA compliant, however, we are able to accommodate guests with wheelchairs for the most part. Entrance to the boat is via a 30-foot ramp, which varies in steepness depending on the tide. Once aboard, there is not an elevator to reach the salon where dinner is served and the restrooms are located.
Reviews(196)
P
Paul_M
September 6, 2026
BBQ Blues Blues
My wife and I were eagerly looking forward to the sunset barbecue blues Cruise but quickly became exasperated starting with the fact that the directions were non-existent to the meet-up site. There was an address to a marina 49 Immigration St. however there were no people at the meet up site at all. There were no signs at the meet up site at all. It was extremely frustrating and confusing 49 Immigration St. is a giant dock without a single person around it and we had to walk a quarter of a mile to the end of a pier to a bar and ask people there if they knew anything about it no one knew anything about it then I had to go up to several different boat captains of tiny little boats asked if they even knew anything about it and they didn't know anything about it. It was getting late and to our meeting time until finally one person said oh yeah, it's all the way down there and it was ridiculously circuitous to try to walk all the way around these ridiculous obstacles to get to the charter boat. That was our first problem not even being able to find the boat!!!. There was no signage no one to greet us. No communication. We finally get there like five minutes before the boat was gonna takeoff at 7 o'clock. No one greeted us. No one told us anything as we got on board. What was gonna be happening in terms of food the bar, the music, the tour, how long it was gonna be nothing so we wound up on the top deck looking for any kind of guidance or assistance and there was none so we just went down to the bar on the second deck and got ourselves a couple of drinks and went back up to the top deck, still waiting, waiting and waiting for anyone to say anything which they never did. So eventually, the boat took off and since we had already taken the Fort Sumter ferry cruise, we knew all about the the lookout points of interest, including the Yorktown, which they didn't point out; the destroyer right behind it; Fort Sumpter and various other places of interest which the captain didn't even say a word or point out so it was basically an anonymous cruise with the worst band we ever heard and I am a professional musician that's supposed to be a Blue's Clues. It's like an audition tape for who wants to be on The Voice and the audition should've lasted six seconds because the female singer was awful and I'm a music producer. It was embarrassingly bad and my biggest disappointment was there was no friendly guidance or a leader at all like when we took the Fort Sumter tour. There was an extremely experienced, knowledgeable and competent ranger that give us the history of Fort Sumter in extraordinary detail. There was nothing there. No one even said hello goodbye or anything it was we could've just been illegal immigrants or people from a homeless shelter we just stumbled on the boat and got off with it with this cruise. Viatour should absolutely not do business with this charter at all. The end.
C
Catherine_C
September 5, 2026
A Good Time Was Had By All
The actual ship was a little hard to find and took a while to get to, so do arrive early and ensure you park in the correct place and follow signs closely. The food was very good, and the band was great, but not what we would've described as a blues band. The sail around was very lovely with good views of Charleston.
T
Teri_W
August 30, 2026
Music was Awesome - That is all.
The boat ride was just a typical ride. Would have been nice if someone had pointed out what we were seeing. The food was not impressive. There were three types of sauces in bowls and they were unmarked. So the sauce I got was not something I would have chose if I’d known what it was. The only thing that made this experience worth the money was the live music.
J
Joseph_P
August 27, 2026
The crew was most helpful...
The crew was most helpful and presented themselves with professionalism. The BBQ was awesome and yge views of Charleston and the surrounding area was simply Gorgeous!!!
B
bobby_h
August 21, 2026
Hammer73
Experience was good. Good food and music. Only negative is there is no air conditioning and it gets a little warm during the month of August
D
Duhsj
August 21, 2026
Amazing
I had a great time. This was our first time and it was very relaxing. My daughter had an amazing time on her 36th birthday. The food and music was great.
7
751kaitlink
August 15, 2026
Poor Customer Service
My area had a severe thunderstorm with rain for hours causing substantial flooding to the point where it was unsafe to drive. I attempted multiple times to contact this company the day of the cruise to inform them my family and I would not be able to attend and received no response back. I finally get a response back two days later and am told "the cruise still occurred so we cannot refund your money." Clearly they do not listen to the customer as I stated MY area had flooding, so although yours may not have, we live farther away and were unable to drive in safely. All I continued to get told was that the cruise still occurred and they cannot refund my money. I find that to be pretty poor customer service when you cannot listen to what the customer is informing you of and will not be scheduling this in the future. Evidently others have the same experience from the reviews here and we weren't missing much in regard to the food quality or quantity.
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Corey_B
August 2, 2026
Incredible views and food
The views throughout the cruise were incredible and the sunset added to the splendor. Food was really good and we got to see dolphins!
E
Ed_O
July 17, 2026
Anniversary
Boat captain & crew were very friendly & helpful. Getting to and from was very easy. Boat was modern and cruise was smooth
M
mariemH5187WP
July 13, 2026
Deceived
The cruise was good and the music was exceptionally good , but the food was to be desired. Pulled pork was not what I was expecting, not good , very fatty and plain chicken breast, and the desert, what was that. Look like it was suppose to be banana pudding but had no taste 😕. The music was very good