Ducasse sur Seine review: Alain Ducasse's dinner cruise, menus and prices

An electric boat with a real kitchen on board

Ducasse sur Seine is an independent brand that carries Alain Ducasse's name and has nothing to do with the big Seine cruise companies. Its pitch fits in one line from the house itself: the first 100 % electric restaurant boat in Paris. The boat, which the website never names, was built by the Chantiers de la Haute Seine yard with the naval design studio Seine Design. It discharges no wastewater into the river, and with no diesel engine there is no noise and no vibration: you eat without the low hum that comes with most dinner boats.

The other difference is below deck. The kitchen sits on the lower level, with a team of 36 cooks and pastry chefs according to the company, and a cellar of around 1,000 bottles. The wine list runs to about a hundred labels, overseen by a head sommelier. In other words, this is not food reheated in a galley; it is cooked where you are sitting.

According to press reports, the boat is close to 40 m long and seats around 200 passengers. The company is very much still operating: its website and booking engine are live, with an up-to-date price list.

One thing it is not: a Michelin-starred boat. Ducasse sur Seine has no Michelin star. The starred boat on this quay is its neighbor, the Don Juan II. Our luxury dinner cruise page puts the two side by side.

Two sittings: lunch at 12:45 pm, dinner at 8:30 pm

Lunch leaves at 12:45 pm for 1 hour 45 minutes on the water. Dinner leaves at 8:30 pm for 2 hours, and the company says it ends its route at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The rest of the itinerary is not described on its website, and we are not going to make it up. Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before departure.

The company does not publish which days it sails. The booking calendar is the only reliable source, so check the exact date you want before you build an evening around it.

Lunch or dinner? Lunch is a lot cheaper and shows you the monuments in full daylight; in our view it is the best way into the house. Our Seine lunch and brunch cruises page compares it with the other lunches. Dinner sails in the dark for most of the year and finishes in front of the lit-up Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower sparkles for five minutes at the start of every hour after dark, until at least 11 pm; on some evenings, especially in summer, it carries on later — check the tower's website for the day. Nothing guarantees a sparkle at the moment you dock. The details are on our Eiffel Tower sparkle page.

Port Debilly: the address and how to get there

You board at 19 Port Debilly, in the 16th arrondissement, on the right bank, directly opposite the Eiffel Tower. The quay is next to the Pont d'Iéna, on the other side of the river from the Bateaux Parisiens and Vedettes de Paris piers. Do not mix them up: if you are standing at the foot of the tower, you still have to cross the Seine.

The Don Juan II also boards at Port Debilly, and one of the Bateaux Parisiens dinner pontoons is on the Debilly side too. Check the boat's name before you walk down to the water.

The easiest Métro stop is Trocadéro, on lines 6 and 9, or Iéna on line 9; guidebooks also suggest Passy (line 6), and buses 72 (Pont d'Iéna stop) and 82 (Varsovie stop). From Trocadéro you walk down through the gardens to the river in a few minutes, with the Eiffel Tower straight ahead. Our Seine piers guide shows where the quay sits along the river.

Ducasse sur Seine menu and prices

This is the price list shown by the company's booking engine. Prices are "from" figures and can change with the season and around holidays.

The key point: the base menus do not include drinks. At dinner, the wine-pairing menus cost €110 more, but at least you know the full bill before you board.

Our take: the €115 lunch is the sensible way to try the house, and the €285 dinner with pairing is the one that shows it at its best. The name of the "Nuit étoilée" ("starry night") menu has nothing to do with a Michelin star, which the boat does not have.

Dress code, the Michelin question and kids

The company says "smart attire will be required". For men, shorts, sportswear and open shoes are not accepted. Nothing is said about jeans; in our view, smart trousers and closed shoes avoid any discussion at the gangway.

On the star, let us be clear, because it comes up again and again: Ducasse sur Seine does not have a Michelin star. The star on this quay belongs to the Don Juan II, run by Yachts de Paris: five courses for €250 without drinks, Tuesday to Saturday only, with a dress code that rules out jeans and sneakers. It is not sold on our partner platforms either.

For children, the company publishes no policy at all: no kids' menu, no reduced price, no age rule. In our opinion this is not a meal designed for them. With kids, our family Seine cruise page has far better options. No music or entertainment is announced either: the boat is about calm and the table.

Booking and cancellation

You book only on the company's website, through its online booking engine. Ducasse sur Seine is not sold on any of our partner platforms: that is why there is no booking button or price comparison for this boat, and we earn nothing if you book with them.

Cancellation terms for individual bookings (up to ten people) are tiered. Up to 7 days before the cruise you can cancel free of charge, apart from a 3 % fee. Between 7 days and 72 hours, half the price is kept. Under 72 hours, or if you do not show up, you pay in full. For groups of eleven or more, a full refund (minus 3 %) is only possible up to 30 days out, then the deductions rise in steps.

That is more flexible than many floating restaurants, provided you can commit a week ahead. If your dates could still shift by a few days, a cancellable offer on a partner platform gives you more room.

Alternatives you can book online

Since no partner sells Ducasse sur Seine, here are the closest high-end Seine dinner cruises you can book right now, with the cancellation terms shown before you pay.

Maxim's sur Seine, at Port de Solférino below the Musée d'Orsay, is the closest in spirit: small boats, a three-course fine-dining menu and a glass of champagne, but with a pianist-singer, from roughly €145 to €165. The 8:30 pm dinner of Bateaux Parisiens, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, has top-tier packages (Premier, Premier Baie Vitrée) with drinks included and a window seat on the latter. The 8:30 pm dinner of Bateaux Mouches, at Pont de l'Alma, has its Excellence package with champagne and priority window seating. Check which package each listing actually sells.

Dinner

GetYourGuide75 minutes - 2 hoursOrsay · Solférino

Paris: Maxim's Dinner Cruise on the Seine with Live Music

4.5 (614)

from €165Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hoursEiffel Tower

Paris: 3-Course-Dinner Cruise on the Seine with live music

4.7 (8,948)

from €115Check dates

Dinner

GetYourGuide2.5 hoursPont de l'Alma

Paris: Bateaux Mouches® Dinner Cruise on the Seine River

4.5 (4,745)

from €114Check dates

Prices checked on October 17, 2026

For the Don Juan II, our partners do not sell the starred dinner; all you will find is a daytime Yachts de Paris "tea time" cruise, which has nothing in common with that dinner.

Who it suits, and who it doesn't

Ducasse sur Seine suits people for whom the food matters as much as the view: a birthday dinner, a business occasion, food lovers who want cooking done on board in a silent boat. Lunch works for visitors who want the Ducasse experience without the evening budget, and the monuments in daylight.

It suits you less if you want a party atmosphere: there is no music and no dance floor. It does not suit families with young children, since there is no published policy. And it is the wrong boat if you want a Michelin star: that one is on the Don Juan II. On a tighter budget, our guide to the best Seine dinner cruises lists options under €100.

Our Ducasse sur Seine review

We scored the boat on five criteria, against the other high-end dinner cruises in Paris. The fact that our partners do not sell it changes nothing about the evening itself, only about how you book.

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