I have to admit I was torn on whether or not/how to review this one. If you’ve been a regular reader of the blog, you might immediately notice the lack of photos (which will eventually make sense). But I do feel like my job as someone who enjoys a good food & fun experience is to help you make the best of your time and resources. So let’s dive into our Sunquest Dinner Cruise mini-review for today’s blog post.
Sunquest Dinner Cruise (Destin, Fl) Review
The Basics
The dinner cruise is towards the 30a side of Destin. They have several cruises a week with a “fireworks” show on certain days in the summer. The cruise lasts for 3 hours and they do share the full menu ahead online. The base price starts around $90 with an additional 20% gratuity to be paid at the end of your trip.
Additional things like appetizers and beverages are available to be ordered on board.
The Booking Experience
We normally book ahead, but this time we ended up booking on the day because schedules and the weather have been a bit crazy. Because it was my birthday experience, I didn’t book for us. But my best friend had notes.
If you’re booking on the day, and even online, they do ask about dietary restrictions. They are happy to “accommodate” them. But my bestie made a small request that turned into a bit of a communication struggle.
There are a few special options that you can add to your order. It’s quite popular to do this excursion for a celebration. So everything from champagne to flowers to open bar add ons are listed.
My best friend, more so than I do, has excellent taste in wine. She asked to swap the La Marca Prosecco add-on for the champagne option, with the idea that they would trade out the bottle that was waiting on the table instead (knowing it would be a price upgrade).
Same Day Booking
She called directly to book because it was a same day booking so she had directly spoken to someone to ask about her request. They said they would check.
You receive both a text and email confirmation where you can ask questions or in our case, double check they were actually able to accommodate her swap.
After several hours of attempting to get a response via text (they answered the first but apparently the latter ones didn’t come through), she called and they said actually they couldn’t do it but would already put one on her tab at the bar.
But our waiter seemed to find this odd because usually they are happy to accommodate such requests.
Of course, this is not a big deal as they were prepared to provide what she had requested, and it was a menu item we could have just ordered had we arrived more on time. But the back and forth and extra effort required was something she flagged to note for our post.
Which leads me to. . .
The Parking Confusion/Debacle
I am the kind of person, as is evident on this blog, that likes to have thorough information for an experience. And I will 1000% take responsibility for my part in this. But the way parking options are communicated leaves a lot to be desired.
If you’re only looking on the website, it’s not enough so thankfully they do give you a bit more in your confirmation email.
But needing to walk ½ a mile from the car was not something I prepared myself well enough for.
*I will say it’s my fault for not assuming that we WOULD have to walk so far. I was too much of an optimist on this one, and I paid for it with a barefoot walk*
As far as we could see, your parking options were the resort (which is a still a walk and I’m not sure how it would work), at the Marina, which was incredibly packed or at Baytown Wharf. The directions say Baytown Village though, which adds to the confusion.
However, given the time of year (summer, the week after July 4th), parking is most likely to be scarce. And if you’re close enough to arrange to be dropped off, it’s worth it.
“Valet” Parking
We landed on “valeting” the car at Baytown Wharf because it was really the only option we had to park.
But their version of “valet” is that they park if and run you back your keys. So really, we just paid to have a space for our car. This is really only relevant if you’re short on time and hoping to jump out after dropping off your car.
It’s worth noting that without the help of the security guard, we would have been hopelessly lost. The signage for Baytown Wharf parking is absolutely confusing. You can valet your car, but where you would practically think you can valet said full. But it was just for that small lot.
The other option to valet is inside the parking garage, but then there was a sign that said parking garage full.
Are you starting to see the debacle?
I would have loved to see a valet option at the marina that would have worked for both our dinner cruise or the restaurant and/or a shuttle option to get you to the boat. Because had we not paid for valet, I’m not sure where we would have parked. Probably on the other side of Hotel Effie?
Either way, if you decide to book, prepare to arrive even earlier than expected and to walk.
How Sunquest Accommodates Dietary Requests
If you’ve navigated any kind of dietary restrictions, you’ll know that this experience isn’t exclusive to the Sunquest Dinner Cruise. But it’s definitely something I’ll be mindful to question more going forward.
When you ask for a meal to be free of something, they aren’t really adding anything worthy of taking it’s place. If you’re gluten free, you might be safe. But if you need to be dairy free, you might struggle with this one.
Now I’ve been able to add a touch of dairy back into my diet over the last few years which was my saving grace. It’s also not uncommon for people to confuse dairy free with meat free which made all 3 meals feel a little underwhelming initially.
The traditional wedge salad with whatever cheese based dressing. Also, an iceberg wedge, pickled onions and bacon bits was just the wedge. It has pickled onions and an oil based herb dressing for me.
The crab cake meal with rice and asparagus came with a lemon wedge in the place of the white wine sauce. We ended up asking for a side of it for me to add on because quite frankly, the meal was too dry without it and rather flavorless.
The dessert for everyone not needing dairy free was cheesecake. For me, it was a small bowl of fruit.
All of which was fine, but if I was needing to be strict, it would have been quite the let down.
Time On The Boat & The Fireworks “Show”
I think it’s important to remember that at the top of the list of what you’re paying for is time on the boat. And if you consider this, the price and experience make sense.
We got to watch a lovely set sunset, snap some cute photos and do something different with our night.
If you’re “vip” you have access to the boat’s second level deck before the rest of the people dining below can come up. This is also the deck we had dinner on and it gave us a lovely view.
But for the fireworks show, you’ll need to go to the top (3rd) deck. Really, it’s more so a mini fireworks show. It’s a 6ish minute display put on by Baytown Wharf that you’ll see as they come in during the last 15 minutes to dock the boat.
However, it’s a low-key way to experience something that is normally crowded and was enjoyable enough to watch.
I would not say this is a wheelchair friendly experience.
Do I think the Sunquest Dinner Cruise was worth it? I think it depends on what you’re looking to experience. We saw everyone from couple to families with kids enjoying their evening aboard. The staff was lovely. So it might certainly be worth your time and dime.
For now, I’ll let you decide. Until next time. Xoxo, Savvy
