Accent Cruises, Vancouver

For years I wanted to do this and finally did. My mother went on them and always raved about it. We considered doing the New Years Eve Cruise so we got a Groupon price to the Carol Cruise to check it out. Well, we were more than disappointed and we won't be going on the New Year's Cruise. We were booked on the bigger boat and when we arrived it was changed to the smaller boat, Elegance. They refused to give us an explanation of the change. There was plenty of food, but it was lukewarm. The food was laced with pepper, and I've never in my lifetime have had such a peppery turkey dinner. It was overbearing! They need to sack the caterer and get "Gramma" to cook the turkey dinner! Then they announced they only had 14 desserts but offered the deserts to the children and offered the adults a coffee from the bar. I didn't really need the desert as my butt is wide enough! Don't know why they bothered to offer the coffee desert drink because they only put maybe 1/2 a shot of alcohol in the coffee, needless to say it was disappointing and they needed to make a profit. They pretty much did everything as advertised although the advertisement makes it sound wonderful. The only exception was the cruise was half an hour short. The windows fogged up so much you could barely see out of them. They really needed a dehumidifier. I did go out on the deck for a bit to see some of the lights. I was expecting more of a light show, but I guess my expectation was too high. Then we all sang Xmas Carols, the steward did his best to bring it about, and everyone participated. The Xmas music was played so low you could hardly hear it, so what was the point! Our disappointment began when we looked across at the larger boat and saw how nice it was decorated and it was roomy. As we where pulling away in our cheesy decorated and crowded little boat the disappointment lingered. We assumed because we paid through Groupon that we got what we paid for. Everyone else got the nice big boat....Well, for the Groupon price I guess we got our money's worth. But if that's how it is, then paying full price is totally not worth it. I've used Groupon before and got the "full treatment." Paying full price,...it's not worth it! With Groupon it's a night out to do something different and don't have any expectations because you'll be disappointed! It didn't match my mother's raves from over 10 years ago!

Place: The place is a bit old,not that clean,and too crowded. Service: The servers are not well trained to serve Food: This is the worst. Some of the carrots in the buttered carrots that they served does not look fresh to me,some looks rotten already. The salmon which I am expecting should be ok is over cooked. The chicken, its like they just took a frozen chicken, boiled it and put a sauce over it. The worst is the dessert. They served chocolate cake, it doesnt taste right. So i checked on it,they was mold on it! as in its green undrer the surface of the frosting. When I went to the server to show it, she told me its white chocolate!! Seriously?? I mean, i definitely know what I chocolate cake taste like, and the greenish thing in there definitely not white chocolate. We were totally disgusted. Not to mention that water for the tea & coffee, is brownisg in color. It's like when you use a container that hasn't been washed thoroughly. We ended up going to another restaurant to eat after the buffet cruise. We payed almost the same amount, but the food is amazing and worth the pay. I would not recommend this cruise to anyone. If you want to do a cruise, maybe try the Harbour Cruise, that one is great and everthing..

It is totally not worth it for the money. The only good thing about the trip was probably the scenery. It is under-staffed, tea took half an hour to prepare, and it was just a glass of hot water with a tea bag, which costs $2.5 extra. The buffet was very poor, about 5 selections including the salad. And the food was warm-coldish (especially if you are the last table to be called). The washrooms are shabby (no flushing) and the overall atmosphere is just soso, not anything that you would expect for the price you are paying. One other thing is that it is not heated up very well, if you are going in the winter, you probably will have to sit in your coats. It was a disappointing experience and I wouldn't recommend it.

The view was nice, although they don't have curtains or anything to dim the direct glare of the sun so at times it's extremely uncomfortable, but eventually the boat turns and the sun is glaring in other people's faces and not yours for a while. What we didn't like was the run-down state of the vessel, the staff or the food. Make no mistake, this is not an elegant experience. It's like Denny's, only much more expensive, colder food and worse carpet. The boat is understaffed, so it's slow to get drinks from the partial bar and the cranky staff are stressed and rushed. There's no drink list and the young girl serving has attitude, so just pick beer or wine, you won't feel comfortable asking her for details about what else is available. The radio/mic equipment was squealing and cracking from the one speaker in the main cabin. The ambiance is very plain and run-down, to say the least. If you have low expectations you'll have fun, but if you're expecting it to be nice and classy like the other cruises, you'll be disappointed. Dinner was the worst part by far. None of the staff were friendly (except perhaps in a very condescending, fake way where they don't make eye contact, etc) but the lady serving at the "buffet" was particularly cheerful. I never had a school lunch lady, but if I did, I think it would have been this lady. The pictures of food on their website are taken from other sites and don't represent the meal served. You have two choices of salad, I suggest the tossed because the Caesar has some kind of powdered cheese that has a bit of a white sugar texture and taste. The rubber chicken was literally cold, like, cooler than room temperature. The farmed salmon was, well, farmed. The tortellini was over-boiled and I'm pretty sure I have a jar of the pasta sauce served on it in my cupboard. The potatoes, and I'm quite serious about this, I think were leftover from the previous day. The dessert cake (no choice, not even whether to take it or not, it just gets thrown down on the table in front of you) was great! Very good cake! Excellent cake! So, I give the tour two stars. One for the fact that the cruise is surrounded by Vancouver, which is nice to look at, even from a boat that you're pretty sure might sink. The other star for the cake. Very good piece of cake, if it doesn't slide of the plate when it's thrown on your table! Pay $25 for the cruise, be sure to have a few drinks before you go and you should be fine, but don't pay the extra $35 for the meal. Go for a nice meal for half the price before or after, somewhere where the staff don't hate you and the food tastes good.