My experience on the Philadelphia Belle

The old Philadelphia Belle

Here I am making history by being one of
the few who ever expereinced the Philadelphia Belle

Back in April I purchased a Groupon for a trip on the Philadelphia Belle. I used it to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Only because they were new did I refrain from writing a review of my experience, but now that they have sunk, I consider it fair game to talk about them.

First, the ship was nicely restored and the dining room was almost elegant. But there was trouble almost from the beginning.

The room was only half full so I expected service to be lightning quick. The starters came quickly but the drinks were slow. The appetizers came fast but they totally fouled up the dinner. The waiter was extremely apologetic and finally got it together.

The jazz combo was funny and didn’t mean to be. The singer had a great voice and the band was good, but it was obvious they had never worked together. The singer didn’t know all the  words to most of the songs and tried to cover it up with some creative scatting. She may have fooled some but we caught her in the act of faking it. 

Unfortunately, it all came apart in the end when she introduced the band but didn’t know their names. Caught you again. 

I can’t say that I was totally disappointed with the experience, but for the money, even with the Groupon discount, I wasn’t going back.

I called the Philadelphia Belle folks later that week to clarify how the discount was calculated and I was satisfied once they helped me do the math. I then asked to speak to someone to comment on my experience. 

The director of sales was very kind and apologized for their mishaps and even offered me another visit to the Philadelphia Belle compliments of him.

I really had expected to take him up on it during one of their lunch buffet cruises, but I waited too long. They capsized the business on July 21.

I’m not surprised the Philadelphia Belle didn’t survive but you’d think they would last at least through their first summer. 

I think they could have scaled down the ‘so-called’ first class accommodations and become a party boat for those with more modest means. But it does take a while to for a ship to turn when it’s already in the water.