Harbor Cruise or Locks Cruise? How to choose the best Argosy Cruises cruise for your Seattle Visit

This post is a sponsored post on behalf of Argosy Cruises and as always the thoughts in this post are always my own.

I recently had the chance to try out two fabulous Argosy Cruises with my family, the Harbor cruise and the Locks cruise. If you’re only in Seattle for a short time, how do you choose which sightseeing cruise is the best cruise for your day? 

Let’s start with the Argosy Cruises tour that takes you under bridges and through the Ballard Locks.

For this cruise, your tour either starts on the Seattle Waterfront or in South Lake Union and both are great areas to get an idea of how locals might also spend a day in our city. On the Seattle Waterfront you have easy access to Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium and all the shops and restaurants that line the downtown piers. In South Lake Union you can watch the seaplanes take off and land, learn about Seattle’s history at the MOHAI, check out the hidden bar beneath the Seattle Spheres or if you’re around on a weekend you might be able to tour the Seattle Spheres too.

My boys and I were on a weekday 3:25pm Argosy Locks tour that started in South Lake Union. We were able to find street parking right near the Kenmore Air lot and we only needed to pay for the hour because our spot only charged until 4pm. I think our total came to under $1 for parking which is pretty fantastic for Seattle-make sure you check all the signs near your parking spot if you choose to street park too, our city’s signs are notorious for being confusing, but sometimes that helps with landing a lucky spot as well.

The coolest thing about the Locks tour is that it takes you through the Ballard Locks

The Ballard Locks are like an elevator for boats-there is a difference in water level between the ocean water on Seattle’s Waterfront and the lake water in Lake Union and boats can travel through the locks to travel to and from these areas. You can even ride a kayak or canoe through the Ballard Locks too. But touring the Locks via one of the comfortable Argosy Cruises ships means that you have indoor and outdoor seating options and lots of space to view all the happenings around you. We could see everything from seals fishing near the salmon ladders to people crossing the bridges and other nearby boats going through the locks as well. (Here’s a link from my Instagram @helloterumi if you want to see a video of what you might see on the the Locks Cruise too.)

How long is the Argosy Cruises Locks Tour?

We arrived at the meeting spot for the Argosy Cruises Harbor tour about 30 minutes before our tour departed and then our boat ride was about 2 hours long. Because this tour is a one way tour, ours started at South Lake Union and ended at the Seattle Waterfront. We could choose to take a car-share, public transportation, rental bike/scooter or walk back to our parked car.

The weather was really nice and we like to walk so we walked up through Pike Place Market, through downtown and South Lake Union and back to our car. We spotted a new coffee shop on our way up the hill (Welcome to the neighborhood Pike St Coffee!) picked up dinner at Sizzle and Crunch (one of our Seattle favorite spots!) and the walk back took about an hour so it took us about four hours total to do the whole trip. 

If we had more time in our day before our tour we might have had lunch at Ba Bar or Cactus, spent some time at the MOHAI, and maybe grabbed a coffee and pastry at Fresh Flours. After the tour we might have spent time on the patio of the Fisherman’s Restaurant or we could have extended our route by walking along the waterfront to the Olympic Sculpture Park before connecting to the Market to MOHAI walking route. There are so many things to do in Seattle in both of these areas that we always run out of time before we run out of ideas.

And what is the Harbor Cruise with Argosy Cruises all about?

I originally thought that the Harbor cruise would be very similar to the last 45 minutes of the Locks Tour and I was completely wrong. My husband and I decided to take the last Harbor Cruise of the day and we went on the 5:25 Harbor Cruise that departs from the Seattle Waterfront. We decided to make this a bit of a date adventure-we biked from our home along the Expedia Bike Path, through Myrtle Edwards Park and the Sculpture Park to the Seattle Waterfront. We passed many rental bikes and scooters along the way if you’re thinking of doing a similar ride. 

We upgraded our tickets to be “First to Board” tickets. This is an additional 15 dollars per ticket and you might be able to do this with a CityPass ticket too. Upgrading the ticket gives you access to an undercover patio about 30 minutes before boarding, priority boarding so you can get the best seats and be first to the bar, 15% off bar drinks for the cruise and a 20% discount on a future Locks Cruise for up to 4 people (through December 2022 so you have a lot of time to come back)

What do you see on the Seattle Harbor Cruise?

We learned so much about our own city as we cruised away from the pier and south of Seattle towards where the cargo ships unload their containers. We even saw one of the giant cranes at work-this doesn’t happen all the time-it’s a working dock. And even after living in the city for nearly 20 years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this part of the city from the water. We also circled back and got some phenomenal views of the city as well. This is a great tour to take if you like to take photos-I could barely stop taking pictures. It was also neat to hear facts about the city that I didn’t know. Ryan was the same tour guide on both of the tours we took and he was very knowledgeable and current on everything going on in the city.

So which is the best Argosy tour to choose?

We enjoyed popcorn, mixed drinks (cocktails and non-alcoholic mixed drinks too), Ruby Jewel Ice cream sandwiches and clean bathrooms on both the tours we went on. Ultimately, I would pick my cruise based on the amount of time I had to spend-if I had 4 hours I would choose the Ballard locks tour, if I only had a short time and wanted to stay closer to downtown, I would pick the Harbor Cruise. I would also be tempted to do both tours now that I know what these tours are-it was really cool to float through the Locks and it was also really cool to see some of the cranes at work in Seattle Harbor. 

Do you ever do boat tours in your home city? Please feel free to message if you have questions about Seattle or these tours. (PS if you are a Washington Resident, there is a discount for you on the Argosy Cruises website too.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)