Thanksgiving - Gateway Clipper

Photo Credit: Dave Thurkins

We decided to do something special for Thanksgiving and made reservations on the Gateway Clipper, which is a boat that travels on the Pittsburgh rivers. It was pretty expensive ($45 a person) but you figure it's dinner and the boat tour so we decided to just go for it. Dave, Neil, and I went with my parents and got a table to ourselves.

I don't think I would do this again. With it being on a boat they are somewhat limited in the amount of food they can bring on, which limits variety. The food was decent (Neil especially liked the stuffing) and I will admit I am pretty picky and wished there was a little more selection. Thanksgiving just isn't my meal. The buffet line was weird. They had two buffets; one downstairs and one upstairs. We sat upstairs (reserved/assigned seating). The buffet downstairs moved much better because it was a straight line. The one upstairs had a U shaped layout, which was very awkward, especially if you wanted to skip something like the salad (when I got Neil's plate). In addition, at least upstairs, they didn't keep it stocked enough, especially the rolls. I went back 3 separate times just to get some rolls for our table since nobody had gotten any, and each time the basket was empty. I finally had to ask one of the workers for rolls and stood there and waited. As soon as she set them down (she let me get some out first since I asked), they pretty much disappeared. I guess you only really got them if you had good timing.

I love this picture of the two of us even if Neil isn't smiling
Photo Credit: Dave Thurkins

The boys really enjoyed themselves
(Dave may kill me for posting this one)

Also, the waitress wasn't up front about drinks, which were not included in the price. You could get a souvenir cup with a drink (mostly alcoholic but mine obviously was non-alcoholic) for something like $9.25 and that had unlimited free refills. But if you ordered just a soda it was $1.75 each for a very small glass. The waitress never told us that the refills weren't free even though my dad ordered a BUNCH of refills. You would think she would have mentioned that. We were in for a big surprise when we got our bill for drinks and saw how many diet coke's we were charged for. Next time it would make more sense just order the diet coke in a souvenir cup and get unlimited refills. (The souvenir cup was also larger.)

Photo Credit: Dave Thurkins

I said the negatives- the cruise itself was really nice. It was a bit cold but Neil loved being outside and it was snowing slightly, which made it feel seasonal. I would probably opt next time just for a sightseeing cruise instead of one serving a meal. They also had a DJ who played music and some of the kids were on the dance floor (buffet line was left set up so you had to walk/dance around it but there was room), dancing. Another small complaint there- he said he would take song requests. I requested Let It Go from Frozen and he said #1 it was too slow and #2 this wasn't the right crowd for it, that they have kid's cruises more for that purpose. He said he would try to play it at the end but he never did. There were little girls on the dance floor and I bet they would have loved to hear that song. But it's ok, we have it on our phones for Neil to listen to anyways. I just thought it would be a nice surprise for him to hear because he loves that song. (They also did play Happy from Despicable Me 2, which was nice.)

Photo Credit: Dave Thurkins