Bateaux London offer plenty of choices for dining cruises along the river Thames including lunch, Sunday lunch jazz, afternoon tea and dinner cruises.

I have already enjoyed a Bateaux London Afternoon Tea Cruise and a Bateaux London Dinner Cruise so I was thrilled to return to try a lunch cruise as this really is the restaurant with the best views.

Harmony or Symphony

The lunch cruise is available on a choice of vessels.

The Harmony can accommodate over 100 diners and has a large upper observation deck. The Symphony is London's largest restaurant cruise vessel and has glass and sides and roof so everyone gets a great view.

I tried the lunch cruise on the Symphony with my seven year old daughter who loves a cruise as much as I do. Children over four years old are welcome and there's a child rate for four to twelve year olds.

Timing

There is 30 minutes allocated to boarding and it is a very simple check-in at the Reception area where you are given your ticket with your table number as everyone has allocated seating which takes away a lot of stress.

The lunch cruise lasts for one and a half hours and the three course meal is timed to perfection to fit the time available without anyone feeling rushed.

Food and Drink

The Bateaux London Lunch Cruise is a three course meal with a vegetarian option available. Children are welcome but there isn't a separate children's menu.

When you are walked to your table there is a menu ready for you to read and staff are soon with you to take your order.

There is also half a bottle of wine included in the set price, which you order once seated, and half a bottle of water, which is already on the table. At the end of the meal, fairtrade tea and coffee is also served.

The dishes are beautifully presented and all were delicious. I tried the veggie options and my daughter had the standard menu and we both ate it all happily. You can see more photos of the dishes on my Facebook Page.

Recorded Commentary

As the cruise passes so many iconic London landmarks it's great to know there is a recorded commentary. It's nicely timed so waiting staff can get on with their job and the commentary has breaks so you can dine and chat to your companions too. I found it sometimes more detailed that most people will need but for someone geeky like me who likes dates it was really helpful. London's history includes a lot of grim stuff so I shouldn't really have been surprised how often death and murder was mentioned but I did wonder if it was right for the situation.

Aside from the commentary, there was also some non-offensive background music which helped with the upbeat feeling.

The Route

We took a quick visit to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament before doing a graceful turn and cruised past the London Eye and the South Bank. We saw Tate Modern, The Shard, and went under Tower Bridge towards Canary Wharf and then turned around to make sure we saw the sights on the other side such as the Tower of London.

Official Website:www.bateauxlondon.com

You can book tickets for the Thames Lunch Cruise through Viator.

Bateaux London has a sister operation in Paris, Bateaux Parisiens.

Disclosure: The company provided free access to this service for review purposes. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

See more recommendations and reviews for London Thames River Cruises.