island star dinner cruise kingston

The Island Star Dinner and a Show Cruise featuring On the Road Again with Cliff Edwards

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September 28, 2021 • 5:40 pm

The Island Star

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1000 Reasons to Choose a Kingston 1000 Islands Cruise

By margaret coughlin.

If you are a proud Kingstonian anxious to showcase your city to friends, don’t hesitate to suggest a Kingston 1000 Islands Boat Cruise . A wide variety of lunch, dinner, sightseeing and charter tours is offered between now and October 31, but there is no time like the present!

I recently experienced an idyllic three-hour luncheon cruise on the Island Star, one of the three unique 1000 Islands Cruise ships. The weather was perfect, the meal was delicious and the entertainment was outstanding. The theme was Mardi Gras, so guests got into the spirit by donning sparkly top-hats, glittery shades and colourful beads. When musician Spencer Evans and his trio weren’t belting out a mix of jazz, zydeco, Cajun and R&B  that would do New Orleans proud, he was regaling us with interesting facts about the 1000 Islands area.

An amuse-bouche of skewered chorizo and shrimp set the culinary tone for the afternoon. From the four entrée choices on the Island Star lunch menu, I selected the chicken chasseur and was not disappointed. My companion raved about the fresh Atlantic salmon skewers and we both enjoyed the Caprese salad and delectable cake. Amazingly, all of this bounty is prepared fresh (no microwave, no heat lamp on board!) in a galley that would appear to measure less than a hundred square feet. Dinner cruises on the Island Star offer a different, equally appealing menu. Lunches on Kingston 1000 Islands cruises are more casual affairs while the vest and bow ties sported by the serving staff at dinner raise the bar a notch.

Between courses, guests initiated several impromptu Conga-line circuits of the dining area. Musician Spencer joined in; at other times, to the delight of the diners close by, he played his clarinet while standing on a chair.

On this particular day, there was a lunch cruise on the Island Queen as well. This ship, a Mississippi paddle-wheeler, offers its own lunch and dinner buffet menu. At several points during the three-hour tour, the passengers on the decks of the Island Queen were visible to us on the Island Star. They were clearly having as good a time as we were.

The third member of the Island fleet is the Island Belle, a replica St. Lawrence Steamer. The three vessels offer varying degrees of accessibility, with the Island Star being the most accessible. Captain Lee of the Island Star told me that the fleet is in the third year of a five-year plan to “green” the operation by introducing electric motors.

The Mardi Gras cruise was a total delight. Although that ship has sailed, there are many more special themed events scheduled over the next four months, including several wine-tasting cruises, a beer-tasting cruise, a comedy cruise and a dozen music events ranging from gospel to big band to disco to blues to The Beatles and beyond. Can you imagine a more beautiful setting for Thanksgiving lunch or dinner, when the scenery along the St. Lawrence will be spectacular? But don’t wait; today is a beautiful day and any day is a good day for you to be part of a Kingston 1000 Island Cruise.

Step aboard a 1000 Islands cruise in Kingston today 

Explore kingston’s nautical calamities and iconic waterfront with blue world marine adventures, 5 must-visit kingston beaches.

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Thousand Islands Cruise From Kingston (Our Boat Tour Experience)

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Choosing A Thousand Islands Cruise From Kingston Can Be Tough!

Want to explore the famous Thousand Islands region in the Saint Lawrence River? Great idea!

This beautiful region is a piece of classic “Canadiana” and – as a simple day trip from Kingston – there’s no better way to explore it than by water on an island cruise!

As a refresher, the 1000 Islands are a geographically and historically significant area of the St. Lawrence shared between Ontario (Canada) and New York State (United States).

That said, there are a few cruises to choose from and it can be confusing to find the best island cruise for you. Some cruises offer breakfast or dinner while others vary by tour boat prices and lengths.

Being Kingston locals for several years, we did the 3 Hour Thousand Islands Riverboat Cruise from Kingston . Eric had already done the Kingston sunset cruise, but Lisa hadn’t been out on the water yet.

So, in this guide, you’ll see what we experienced and get an overview of different 1000 Island boat tours available that leave from Kingston. If you want to leave from Gananoque, you can check here for Gananoque Boat Line . You can even tour from the USA with Uncle Sam Boat Tours.

* Friendly Disclosure: We paid for the boat tour we did ourselves – this is not a sponsored post .

Table of Contents

Thousand Islands Cruise – Boat Tour Options

If you know the kind of boat tour you’re looking for, feel free to jump ahead and click through to learn more below.

Be sure to make note of the specific details, the reviews, addresses, how to book, etc. All you have to do is book the one you like and show up to the waterfront!

• For the Classic 3 Hour Thousand Islands Cruise (We Did This) – Check Out This Boat Tour
• For the 1.5-Hour Discovery Cruise – Check Out This Boat Tour
• For a Sunset Dinner Cruise – Check Out This Site

Below, you’ll find more details about the above boat cruise tours so keep reading to make the right decision for you and your group!

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Classic 3 Hour Thousand Island Riverboat Tour (Our Tour)

If you want to experience the 1000 Islands, the cruise that we did is probably the best bet.

This cruise explored an area called The Admiralty Islands (which was beautiful) and is entirely sightseeing so you don’t get off the boat. Tour times for this longer tour are 10:30 am and 2:00 pm. We did the 10:30 am.

There is also no meal included – but you get live entertainment and amazing views of the historic waterway.

This tour also comes with audio commentary (which is really interesting) in English and there are audio guides available for Spanish, Chinese, English, French, German, and Japanese!

Overall, we really liked our tour – it was well organized and enjoyable. There’s a shop on-board where you can buy alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, and even snacks/food like popcorn.

This tour can actually be done with a breakfast or brunch add-on but this is a different ticket altogether.

You can read about our sightseeing tour in more detail below – we’ve included LOTS of photos so you can get see what we saw on tour!

⇒ Check out the exact sightseeing cruise we went on here

Kingston & 1000 Islands: 1.5-Hour Discovery Cruise

If you’re short on time but want to get out on the Kingston waterfront, you can always do a 1.5 Hour Kingston Discovery Cruise. This cruise is on a smaller boat than the Island Queen (what we took) called the Island Belle.

To compare, this cruise focuses much more heavily on Kingston and not so much on seeing the Islands. The tour covers the rich history of Canada’s first capital city and the waterways that shaped our nation – which is admittedly very interesting!

Since the cruise is shorter, they offer more times throughout the day. You can book to leave at 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm, or 5:00 pm. The 5:00 pm wouldn’t be quite at sunset but close enough and certainly not as hot as midday!

This tour also comes with audio commentary in English and audio guides for Spanish, Chinese, English, French, German, and Japanese!

⇒ Check the times to book your 1.5 Hour Island Discovery Cruise

Sunset Dinner Cruise

If you’re keen to have a meal and experience the sunset on the water, you can book a sunset dinner cruise. These cruises make use of the long, flat, glass-domed roof boat called the Island Star.

Cruises are 3 hours long and tables by the windows book up in advance so be sure to lock in your cruise if you know you want this option!

⇒ Check the prices and times here

Our Thousand Islands Cruise Experience

Since there are quite a few options, we went on a boat tour to show you exactly what it’s like.

The tour itself is run through Kingston Destination Group – the same group that runs the Tourist Information Centre downtown in Confederation Park and handles lots of Kingston tourism tours/activities like the famous Kingston Trolley Tour .

Overall, we really liked our tour. We knew it was sightseeing which meant 3 hours of sailing around in the sunshine and learning about stuff. That worked perfectly for us – and many others on the boat also enjoyed the tour!

We booked the boat cruise through GetYourGuide (a really good travel company) because the official tour booking website used to be very outdated.

That said, you can also book in person when you get to Kingston. However, the summer months are VERY busy in Kingston so some of these tours might sell out if you wait.

Personal advice: If you know the day you want to cruise, we’d suggest booking in advance.

After having booked online, we just walked up to the Kingston ticket pavilion before the cruise, showed the email voucher we got and received our paper tour tickets. Simple.

If you want to learn more about the tour and/or booking process, you can check out our boat tour here .

What You’ll Need For This Boat Tour

If you do end up on this sightseeing cruise, here’s a shortlist of the things you might want to have with you for a great day on the water. Some of these items are weather dependent, but in general:

• A hat – with a string to stay around the neck in wind
• A windbreaker jacket (in the spring or fall)
• A water bottle
• Hair tie (if you have longer hair)
• Seasickness pills (it’s not too rough, though)

Thousand Islands Cruise Itinerary

So, to give you a better idea of exactly what we experienced on our island cruise, here’s a detailed breakdown of the day.

The boat tour was advertised as 3 hours long and it ended up being a little longer (by about 10 minutes) because the boat had to slow down in the high water around the islands.

Pick-up/Drop-off

We started our day at the Kingston waterfront. If you are unfamiliar with Kingston, head for the massive building called Kingston City Hall.

On the side that faces the water, you will see a large green park called Confederation Basin/Park. This is the park full of attractions and the Kingston Tourist Information Centre.

In the water, (that’s Lake Ontario), you’ll see many small boats at the Kingston waterfront docks. Looking at the water, look left and you will see the large tour boats (you physically cannot miss them) and the round ticket pavilion that says “BOAT TOURS” on the side.

The address for this ticket office and island cruise boat pier is: 1 Brock St, Kingston, ON K7L 2Z1, Canada

The tour boats leave from this above address and NOT where you catch the ferry to Wolfe Island – which is located at Barrack St, Kingston, ON K7K 2X9, Canada.

As expected, we went into the office, exchanged our online voucher for paper tickets, and walked to the nearby pier where a line was forming to get on the boat.

We were 30 minutes early and it’s wise to be early so you get good seats on the boat and so you aren’t running down the dock as it sails away!

We got our tickets checked, got a souvenir photo taken, and climbed aboard. We immediately went to the top deck where it’s open to the sun and the air but you can sit on the first deck (shown above) or the second deck for some shade and still have amazing views.

At the end of the day, the boat returned to this exact spot on the pier. We got off, thanked the crew, had a look at our souvenir photo (didn’t buy it but honestly ALMOST did), and walked downtown for dinner and a drink!

Heading For The Thousand Islands From Kingston

Once we pushed off from the pier, they went over safety procedures thoroughly which was really good. With that many people aboard it was good to know there was a plan in place if things went bad out on the water.

The entertainer introduced himself – he was an older gentleman who played classic tunes on both a banjo and a guitar.

He was hooked up to the loudspeaker so he could wander the decks and take requests from people. He was really good – and provided some comedic commentary.

Heading out of the Kingston waterfront, the entertainer shared time with the audio guide which was a narration over the loudspeakers.

The guide was actually really interesting and shared historical dates, locations of events, shipwrecks, famous battles, you name it! We learned a ton in the first leg of the trip.

We passed Wolfe Island and left Kingston behind as we headed up the Saint Lawrence. The cottages/homes on the shore were lovely and the whole area, in general, is just really, really pretty.

It was the perfect day weather-wise, too. We actually went inside for a bit because we didn’t want to get TOO much sun!

If you want, you can grab a snack or a drink at either “shop” they have on both the first and second interior decks. Families with kids were snacking on popcorn and some people even cracked a bottle of wine or a beer.

We didn’t buy anything so we don’t know about prices – but many people took advantage of the food and drinks for purchase.

Arriving At The Thousand Islands

After about an hour we arrived at the edge of the Thousand Islands. It does take a bit to actually get there but the ride was lovely (and lively) so we didn’t mind.

On this cruise, you learn all about the island chain – and explore a region of islands called the Admiralty Islands.

We learned that different parts of the islands were named by different people or groups and so that’s why there are different naming conventions all through the region! In any case, the Admiralty Islands were lovely.

Touring The Thousand Islands

Once “in” the islands, the boat started weaving between big ones, small ones, etc. The audio commentary started up and provided the names of the important islands and the history of it.

Usually, there was a historic cottage or building on it built by someone from “back in the day” – each with a small story attached.

The fact that basically every island had a short story attached made the experience so much richer. If they said “here’s a bunch of islands” it would have been pretty but boring.

However, learning the names and getting a sense of the history of the area was very worth the trip… and we just scratched the surface!

It was also easy to see the islands and snap photos from any of the decks so don’t feel like you have to stand at the top the whole time.

The large port windows make for excellent photo-taking spots – and these seats are closer to the bar and the snacks!

At one point, we could even see the waterfront of Gananoque in the distance. The small town – being even closer to the actual islands – is also rich with history.

We’ll write about Gananoque on this site soon because even Eric hasn’t explored the town in-depth yet!

Returning To Kingston

Once we zigzagged around the islands for a while, we left the grouping of islands to enter the big river again. And back to Kingston we went.

The entertainer started up again to play a few songs and take requests – and we enjoyed the sunshine and snapped as many photos as we could.

Eventually, you start to recognize the Martello Towers (the stone towers with red tops built by the British) and know that you are back in the waters near Kingston.

You actually learn more on the way back but not as much from the audio commentary as heading out for the day.

Once we got back – as we mentioned above – it was great to see Kingston from the water for a change and snapped lots of photos.

We docked, waited not too long to get off, had a look at our souvenir photo, and went downtown for a drink! The captain and crew were there to see us off and it was a great way to end the day.

Related Articles

If you are hanging around Kingston (or travelling to Kingston from Toronto ), check out these other posts for trip planning – we know LOTS about the historic city!

• Things to Do and See in Kingston
• Great Restaurants + Bars & Pubs in Kingston
• Awesome Kingston Breweries to Visit
• Coffee Shops in Kingston You Should Try
• Where to Stay in Kingston

And there you have it – our experience on a Thousand Islands cruise from Kingston. What do you think? Have you been on any of these boat tours before?

We honestly really liked the boat tour we went on . That said, let us know how your island cruise goes – we’re always interested in hearing about the best experiences Ontario has to offer!

As always, Keep exploring, eh? -E&L

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Eric Wychopen

Hi, we're Eric and Lisa - an Ontario-born Canadian and a German! After settling in Ontario together, we realized that there is lots more to explore in this beautiful Canadian province! On Ontario Away, we as well as local contributors cover everything from cities and hikes to wineries, attractions, accommodations, and more.

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A sunset cruise in the Thousand Islands: An unforgettable travel experience

“You really can find unique experiences close to home,” says Sarah Deacon, the marketing coordinator for Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises

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If headlines about overcrowded airports and inflated airline and hotel prices have you rethinking your long-haul travel plans, consider staying closer to home this summer by visiting an overlooked gem that sits between the country’s two largest cities and the nation’s capital.

That place is the Thousand Islands (1,864 islands to be exact), a magnificent stretch of the St. Lawrence River rich with natural beauty and Canadian history that has been attracting visitors from around the world for generations, but because it’s in their own backyard some Canadians forget that it’s there.

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“These famous islands are situated right here in our own backyard,” says Sarah Deacon, the marketing coordinator for Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises. “It’s nice to know that you can do something really unique that is only a couple of hours drive away that doesn’t require you to plan a big, fancy vacation.”

Deacon says there’s no better way to experience the Thousand Islands than from on board a three-hour sunset dinner cruise which offers magical views of the islands as the sun goes down. Guests are treated to a three-course dinner service and live entertainment as the scenery changes.

“The light cast over the islands is so dramatic at sunset, you’re seeing everything in a warm glow, a much different vibe than it is during the daytime. It’s such a cool experience,” says Deacon.

Like their name suggests, Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises sets sail to the islands from Kingston, Ontario, a compact yet vibrant city located halfway between Montreal and Toronto with a charming downtown that is full of historic buildings, fine restaurants and a dynamic arts and culture scene. Recognized as the largest city to border the Thousand Islands region, Kingston has plenty to see, do and discover.

As the ship pulls out of Kingston harbour, guests experience scenic views from the water of the city’s historic landmarks, including the imposing walls of Fort Henry. From there, the cruise heads down the river into a maze of islands known as the Admiralty group. Some of the islands are several kilometres across while others are no bigger than a rocky outcrop. Because the channels are so narrow, passengers get close-up views of the historic summer estates and unique mansions that have been built on many of the islands.

The Sunset Dinner Cruise experience takes place aboard the Island Star, the glass-topped dining ship in Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises’ fleet that has been likened to a floating restaurant. Each party is given its own table, but if you’d like to reserve a window table, you can obtain a premium ticket. Deacon notes that there is always opportunity to get up and enjoy the scenery from the ship’s outside deck between courses and since it is a glass-top boat there’s no such thing as a bad view from any table. She adds that because the interior of the ship is on one level, the dinner cruise is wheelchair accessible.

“A lot of Kingstonians have real pride in the dinner cruise so it’s a big thing for them to take their visiting friends and family out to see this area.”

A cruise through the Thousand Islands is best enjoyed as part of a longer stay in Kingston, Ontario and guests can take advantage of the province’s staycation tax credit that allows residents to recoup up 20 per cent of their accommodation expenses if they vacation within the province.

Guests can also take advantage of a discounted packages that combines a Kingston 1000 Islands Cruise with a Kingston Trolley Tours ticket . One-hour guided tours let visitors discover more than three-hundred years of the city’s history from the comfort of a red trolley. There’s also an exciting 90-minute Ghost and Mystery Trolley Tour in the evening that takes passengers through notorious neighbourhoods that played a haunting role in Kingston’s past.

“With tourism opening back up, it’s time again to celebrate summer with friends and family.  It’s a nice feeling to once again be able to offer the experiences that made us who we are today,” says Deacon who observed with pride that Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises has been sailing the St. Lawrence River since 1976.

To set sail on a Kingston 1000 Islands Cruise this summer, visit https://www.1000islandscruises.ca/ .

This story was created by Content Works , Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises.

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• Dining Cruises
• Lunch Cruise

A lunch reservation offers a beautiful view of the 1000 Islands. Enjoy a three-course lunch prepared fresh and served to your table. Lunch Cruises sail daily in  the Spring (April 22-June 29) and in the Fall (Sept 5-Oct 29) .

Enjoy a Relaxing Lunch

Set sail aboard the Island Queen with a delicious meal and panoramic views. Lunch in the 1000 Islands is scenic and entertaining; enjoy live music and live-hosted commentary about the region as you sail past small cottage islands and grand estates. This cruise includes a three-course plated lunch .

Upgrade to a Premium Table

Enjoy the ultimate lunch cruise dining experience by upgrading your reservation to a Lunch Cruise with a Premium Table. A Premium reservation offers a guaranteed window table for your party and a specialty appetizer in addition to your meal. This experience is available for an additional $20+hst per guest. Only a select number of Premium tickets are available. Book early to guarantee your reservation.

All tickets are non-refundable. Changes to your reservation can be made with 24h advanced notice.

Infant ticket does not include a meal. This cruise remains in Canadian waters, no passport required.

The Island Queen Awaits!

Set sail for the 1000 Islands on a 3 hour Heart of the Islands Lunch Cruise.

Live musical entertainment will set the tone for the perfect 1000 Islands experience.

A full service bar serving wine, cocktails and beer is available on board for purchase.

A three-course plated lunch is included on this cruise. See the menu .

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Hop on the Kingston Trolley to explore more of Kingston. Enjoy a live-guided tour through downtown highlighting National Historic Sites and visitor attractions like Fort Henry, Queen's University and Kingston Penitentiary.

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