Melbourne: City Highlights Express Cruise

What a fantastic way to see Melbourne from the water! The skyscraper views along the Yarra River were awesome, and the first and last 15 minutes of the cruise were absolutely stunning, with beautiful scenery and the city skyline at its best. I took the 4pm cruise, which is perfect for anyone who wants to enjoy the city views from the river. It left me wondering how the skyline looks once the sun sets, so I'd love to come back for an evening cruise to see the city lights on the water. Highly recommended for visitors and locals alike. Bring your camera!

Provides the tourist with a broad idea about the city and its landmarks. We were seated on the deck. While passing under the bridges, felt unsafe at times due to the low gaps.

It was a wonderful cruise, very informative.

Thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Views were amazing and the pods have plenty of room to move around. Service was excellent.

What a great little boat cruise! While it happened to be a perfect day for it, as a local I found that I learnt a lot about things up and down the Yarra River that I was completely oblivious about! Smooth ride in comfort allowing us to take some great pics during the cruise. I'll go again for sure - but for longer next time!

Nice view for turis, great experience.

There may be a big step down onto the boat. History of the river is done by audio. Captain helpful..

Very nice crew nice check in person

Great no problems at all. Nice friendly people 👍🏻

Good Weather....Good Price.... Sitting outside in fine weather was an added bonus. Great city skyline on both sides of the river. Restaurants nearby aplenty for drinks and or a meal.

If you have never down the Yarra cruise - you simply must do it. Gives you a great perspective on Melbourne. I've been to the city a lot but never done this - choose a good weather day and do it. Leaves from right near Fed Square and it's so easy to do. Great commentary on board. Also walk a short distance to the floating restaurant Afloat and have a Prosecco or a Beer or a meal on a sunny day - it's a must. Enjoy - true Melbourne town attraction.

Total waste of time and money. Windows and Rods are blocking most of the view. I could not take any quality photos without any obstructions, No commentary available. Total waste of time, money and resources. Please spend your money on better things instead of wasting in this horrible and boring cruise.

Had a great day on the Yarra on a beautiful September day!! Great experience and very relaxing to do on a Sunday!!

This is a great way to see some of Melbourne attractions. The commentary onboard is very informative I’ve lived here for 20yrs and learnt so much. Friendly and helpful staff. I would definitely recommend it.

Great trip to explore city from the shores , touches all important scenic points . The staff have a great attitude!!

Floating along the Ybarra River was peaceful and scenic but the audio tour was a bit hard to hear. The chairs were a bit tightly spaced. We were a bit confused as to where to catch the tour, didn’t realize both locations would work. All in all a nice overall look at CBD from the river POV

This tour has been our only disappointing Trip Advisor-booked trip in Australia so far. We were flexible enough to deal with the time change just a few days before our tour. But instead of a live guide on the tour, it is a pre-recorded monologue that in the end really isn't too interesting or informative. You learn the name and history of some bridges and buildings, but without the live guide, you lose out on recommendations and the color you're looking for in an intro tour. Plus, the Yarra River itself isn't that scenic, or at least the portion this tour took us on.

The cruise I booked I did not get, apparently the cruise I got was better...I'm not sure spending so much time ou in the docklands area was a good use of my time.

A nice river cruise. When we arrived as per the email, the time had changed, which was fine but prepared for this to happen. Pre-recorded tour and just went up one side of the river and back again. Clean boat and friendly staff.

Crowded like sardines onto crappy boat, stuffed into uncomfortable chairs haphazardly strewn about, made to listen to a recording of supposed "tour" information and on my boat, the sound system wasn't working so the recording cut out every few seconds so you basically couldn't understand anything. What an absolute farce and waste of an hour. If you're really lucky (as I was), it will also be filled with screaming children unattended by their parents running into people, chairs and everything else.

The cruise I had booked was actually cancelled but I wasnt told until we were inquiring at the pick up point. The lady at the both was very professional and apologised and we ended up with an upgraded cruise for no extra cost. My family loved it especially my son, he had a brilliant 4th birthday. Thank you Melbourne city cruises.

Fabulous guide and skipper, didn’t get to see it all due to tides, but we understood.

It was a bit boring! Not very good views of the sights from the boat.

Melbourne Yarra Cruise. Up stream past many beautiful places for example Polly Woodside to the longest bridge in Victoria to the Docklands and many more! Then downstream to beautiful bridges and gardens MCG and many more! What a beautiful sunny day it was on our 2 hour trip it was enjoying a complimentary cuppa

The entire experience was awkward. When we checked in, we were told we were “upgraded” but it more felt like our time-slot was cancelled and they pushed us to another cruise leaving about 20 minutes later. The cruise went the opposite direction of what we had expected and the pre-recorded audio wasn’t informative and was slightly off from what we were seeing, never mind you could barely hear it. I would NOT recommend as a means to get to know Melbourne a bit more but if you want a quick nap, this can provide that opportunity.

Relaxing trip. Trip was changed to another one (from 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm). I was promised it was better. It was good. But a bit boring (personal opinion). But overall, relaxing.

Very comfortable cruise with friendly staff and English commentary. Punctual in departure and arrival time.

Boat engine noise drowned out the limited commentary. It could have been a much more interesting tour with additional audible commentary.

Basic boat trip but without much narration. Basic boat trip but without much narration. Basic boat trip but without much narration.

We did the Melbourne City Highlights Express Cruise with Melbourne River Cruises and honestly it was one of the best ways to see Melbourne in a short amount of time. The cruise covers both the beautiful parks and gardens section of the Yarra River as well as Docklands and the city skyline, so you get a really good mix of Melbourne’s nature, history and modern buildings all in one trip. The commentary was interesting, giving lots of facts about Melbourne landmarks, the Yarra River, Federation Square, Botanical gardens, Docklands and the sporting precinct. The staff were very friendly and professional, making boarding smooth and helping guests throughout the cruise. The boat was clean, comfortable and had great views from every angle. Perfect activity for tourists, interstate visitors or even locals wanting to experience Melbourne from the water. Great value sightseeing cruise and definitely something we would recommend when visiting Melbourne.

Its a big boredom crouse. Better to dring a beer or two for same ammount of money.

Had a lovely time- a perfect activity for visitors to Melbourne. Enjoyed the commentary and lovely onboard service 👍🏻👍🏻

It was an amazing day plus their service was so friendly and it was so beautiful to see all the views of city . It was almost 1 hour we had fun on our ride . Thanks for the team 😊. The staff was great 👍. The moment was so great 😀. Captain was so friendly person 😍. The price per person was quite cheap compared to others , which was affordable .

This was the perfect river cruise for us. Comfy seats, a good boat captain, recorded commentary with interesting facts about the history of Melbourne and the various art, bridge Ms and buildings we passed. Also, 45 min was ideal for us since we often get bored on longer cruises like this. This was also less expensive than others we considered. The only thing to be aware of is they say there is coffee, tea, water, soft drinks and snacks available - but don't mention that only coffee, tea and little paper cups of water are included - other items cost extra.

Wonderful little trip down the Yarra River - commentary along the way.

A relaxing way to see the city and nice to see a different perspective. My three children and I enjoyed cruise along the Yarra

This was an informative for tourists in relation to the Yarra and surrounds on a casual cruise. Friendly staff made you feel welcome.

We took the river cruise in Melbourne. It was nice but nothing really special.

Great little tour, wouldn't recommend anything longer than the 40 minute version. No real interaction with anyone, just get on, listen to the recording, and that's it.

Lovely trip down the Yarra. Our captain although young was very knowledgeable & explained everything about the surrounds on our trip.

Excellent trip down river. Couldn't go upriver due to rowing on river.

Well organised. Friendly guides. Interesting commentary.

I thought i booked the big cruise. But i was experience a small one which is really good as not too many ppl and we enjoyed the time on deck.

Great guide. Excellent info. Do not make me add a minimum number of characters. That’s just dumb and limits participation.

Just a simple but nice way to spend an hour. We arrived that day and this cruise was such a chill way to see some of Melbourne and relax. They had a great music playlist so was fun. Informative and friendly.

You can’t hear the talk, due to a loud engine. Otherwise not a bad short journey. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

From start to finidh this was a great river trip. The booking and boarding were swifr and easy, the boat was nice and clean and we thotouhly enjoyef the commentary and the sights.

This excursion is a total waste of time and money. There is nothing to watch. Boat was Very below standard .

Good experience, boat was clean, friendly staff. Safe for family with kids. Easily accessible from flinders street station. Highly recommended.