BB Riverboats

The Ohio River has always been a highway. For the Shawnee and other nations who called this valley home, and whose ancestral ties to the region run deep before their removal westward, the river was a route of travel and trade long before any city stood on its banks. Later it carried flatboats, steamboats, and barges, and the settlements that became Cincinnati and Newport grew up because of it.

By the 1800s Cincinnati was a booming river city nicknamed the Queen City, and the Ohio was crowded with paddlewheel steamboats hauling goods and passengers between Pittsburgh and the Mississippi. The riverboat cruises of today are a living echo of that steamboat age, keeping the sound of a paddlewheel and the rhythm of the river alive for travelers.

BB Riverboats runs a small fleet with the look and feel of traditional riverboats, offering everything from short daytime sightseeing runs to leisurely lunch and dinner cruises and seasonal themed outings. On a sightseeing cruise the captain narrates the passing landmarks, from the bridges to the ballparks and the historic riverfront neighborhoods on both banks.

The dinner cruises are the signature experience, pairing a meal aboard with the slow drift of the river and, after dark, the lights of Cincinnati reflected on the water. Holiday and special-event cruises fill out the calendar, and the boats operate on a seasonal schedule that runs fullest through the warm months.

The dock sits right beside Newport on the Levee, a riverfront district of restaurants, shops, and entertainment that makes it easy to build a whole afternoon and evening around a cruise. The Newport Aquarium is next door, and the pedestrian Purple People Bridge crosses the Ohio nearby, so you can walk from Kentucky to Ohio and back.

Newport itself has a long, colorful history as a river town, and the modern Levee development gave its waterfront new life. Between the boats, the bridges, and the two skylines facing each other across the water, this stretch of the Ohio is one of the liveliest spots in Northern Kentucky.

Spring opens the cruising season as the weather warms, a pleasant time to be on the water before the summer crowds.

Summer is the busiest and fullest stretch, with long evenings ideal for dinner cruises under a late sunset.

Fall brings crisp air and, along the wooded stretches of the river, a run of autumn color from the deck.

Winter narrows the schedule, though holiday cruises light up the season with special outings on the cold river.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.