For my birthday this year, David and I decided to take a day trip to St. Louis. We’ve been there before a couple of times separately, but I’ve always wanted to ride the tram to the top of the Arch and see a little more than what I have before. Since it’s only a three-and-a-half-hour drive from home, we were able to have basically a full 24 hours there, not including driving time. We stayed at the hotel inside Union Station, which you can read about, here, in my other post!
Skyline Dinner Cruise | The Gateway Arch
When I was looking at the St. Louis website to see what else there was to do there, I came across the Skyline Dinner Cruise which actually just started operating again. The description said it was perfect for celebrating special occasions so I thought it would be something slightly formal (keep that in mind for later) and the food would be pretty good. But honestly, I set my expectations way too high. Considering it was $54 per person, I didn’t think it would be the highest quality considering it’s not just the food we’re paying for but also the crew, the boat, the maintenance, the fuel, etc. I never expected the quality to be worse than the Hyvee kitchen food though. It was honestly awful.
But let me back up. I’ll start with the beginning when we thought we had gotten scammed because there was no boat or crew to be seen when we got there.
The instructions for retrieving the tickets said to arrive 30 minutes before the scheduled cruise time so that meant we needed to get there at 7:00 pm. We got there around 6:45 pm and it was raining so we thought it would get delayed a little. There were others walking up to the deck, but no crew members were anywhere in sight. We stayed in the car for about 20 minutes just waiting and watching to see if anyone came out or if the crowd shifted to another part of the dock.
The parking for this was also kind of weird. There were parking options downtown where you would then have to walk down to the dock or you could park right on the riverfront levee for a cash fee (no one was at the booth so we weren’t charged anything for parking this time). They warn that “Due to the slope of the levee, the paved pathways on the cobblestones leading to the Riverboats at the Gateway Arch are not ADA compliant“. We had never parked anywhere like this before so I was surprised the cars could just stay there that close to the water.
After waiting for a while it was almost 7:30 and still, nothing was happening. I started to think maybe it was a scam because seriously there was no activity and no crew member or employee to be seen anywhere and I thought all those other people had fallen for the scam too. But then I considered that I bought the tickets directly through the STL website, not a third party, so I started to worry less. Eventually, we saw some movement in the crowd and got out of the car to go get in line.
We had our picture taken close to the entrance even though David and I both thought “eh we’re not buying them but sure let’s just take the picture”. I didn’t think they would turn out good by any means. Little did I know we would in fact end up buying them and it would be the best picture we took all night. 😂
This was in part because our outfits didn’t match and if you know me, you know that I like coordinating outfits if it’s for a cool photo op or occasion. But, of course, the ONE TIME I didn’t ask David what he was planning to wear for the dinner, he didn’t pack with my outfit in mind. I wore a black jumpsuit from Express with black strap heels and David wore an army green t-shirt with khakis and a black Nike jacket…along with grey sneakers. Ugh. 🤦🏻♀️
We laughed about it soon after, but when he started getting ready at the hotel 5 minutes before we had to leave, I was so confused why he wasn’t changing out of that outfit and into something more dressy.
Since it was raining, I kept my jacket on for the picture. The picture was taken of us from the waist up so you couldn’t see basically any details of what we were wearing. It turned into a joke later on that out of any pictures we could’ve taken, I was the happiest with these random ones that were $35.
Now, onto the actual cruise.
Everyone had assigned seating which was nice. We had a whole table to ourselves and they had already set out the salads so we could start eating once we sat down. I was SO HUNGRY and expected a decent starter salad. Nothing too special but flavorful at least. Oh my gosh, it was the saddest thing ever and the bread on the side was bland, dry, and cold.
We chose the chicken for the main dish and it was OK, but very small and the mashed potatoes tasted like the quick microwaveable ones you get at the store. This time around, we got some warm bread to go with it, and trust me, I took advantage of it. Overall I ate 4 bread rolls…hehe.
Dessert was brought shortly after and again…sad. I got chocolate cake with strawberries and I saw other people got something different. We didn’t get to choose, they just brought out the desserts in no certain order. The cake was dry and just so bland. I hate to complain but I was so hungry and disappointed with the meal after it was over. 🙁
Although the food was bad, the live music was good. There was a two-man band that played while we boarded all the way up until we started getting off the boat. They played some classic hits and did shoutouts for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
The cruise lasted about an hour and a half. Once we got back and got our car we tried leaving through one end but it was closed off with cement blocks. So we turned around and drove past the entrance where we had gone through when we got there. Little did we know we would be blocked by a stalled train for 45 minutes until a police officer came and showed everyone a way out. It was a bumpy and sketchy way out, but nonetheless, it was a way out of there. Who knows how long we would’ve been stuck there had the cop not shown up.
That was basically it for the cruise. If it’s something you’re wanting to do I would recommend you not go with high expectations or a huge appetite. I definitely could’ve gone for some pizza or burgers afterward, but by the time we got back to the hotel, it was around 11 pm.
Tram Ride to the Top
There are LOTS of time slots available for booking when you look online for the Tram Ride to the Top of the Arch. We chose the 1:30 pm time slot on a Saturday and it wasn’t too packed. We wanted to give ourselves enough time to sleep in, check out of the hotel, and grab some breakfast/lunch before our reservation.
We parked in the same spot as we did the night before for the dinner cruise. Again, there was no one at the booth taking money or tickets so we didn’t have to pay for parking this time either.
When looking for the entrance, it’s easy to assume the Arch legs are where you go in from, but no. Walk up towards downtown and if you’re looking at the Arch with the river behind it, the entrance is right through the center and kind of under the grass. Hopefully, the pictures explain it better.
Before going into the exhibit, we had to go through an airport-style security area. Jackets, belts, wallets, bags, phones, basically everything that you would normally do at the airport applies here.
There’s a museum portion you can look at before going into the lobby where the gift shop, Tram Ride entrances, and food court are, but David and I aren’t too crazy about museums so we just skimmed it.
This sculpture was in the lobby and it compares the size of the Arch to the size of a school bus…so crazy how tall and big it is!
We waited about 15 minutes to get in line for our time slot. They’re pretty strict on not lingering around the area while you wait so as to not overcrowd the entrance which also acts as an exit. While we waited, we looked at some magnets in the gift shop since that’s what we like to get as a souvenir whenever we go somewhere new together.
Once it was our turn to go in, we watched a short 5-minute video as a group which explained some history and facts of the Arch and what to expect when going up there.
The actual ride to the top inside the tram was terrifying to me. All the pulleys and rotating and lifting freaked me out because I’m already scared of heights, but my mind always goes to the worst-case scenario. I couldn’t help but wonder how old all the machinery was and what it would take for one tram to stop working or even worse for all of it to collapse. It’s a very crowded space especially if you’re with the maximum capacity (5 I think?), but luckily it was just us two inside.
Once we were at the top, all was well. It’s so weird to think that looking out those tiny little windows didn’t scare me even though I knew how high up we were. But yet, the tram ride could’ve sent me into a straight-up panic attack.
After the Arch tour was over, we got in our car and started to head home. I wanted to go to Twisted Ranch but we were too full from eating donuts and random things from QT before going to the Arch so we decided to skip it. Maybe next time. 🤷🏻♀️
On one last note, we went to Pharaohs Donuts that morning thinking we’d get a little sugary breakfast in, but there were barely any donuts to choose from and the place was kind of hard to find. It blended into the background so much that I almost thought it was a pharmacy when we pulled up, but Maps said it was there so we looked harder.
Luckily they did have some donuts with sprinkles, which I love, but the pictures I had seen online were different from what we found so we decided to look for more food somewhere else. The brunch spots I had in mind were booked and I’m so indecisive we ended up at QT. At first, it was just to get gas for the drive back, but then we went inside and each ended up grabbing 3 food/drink items. Like I said before, very few things went as expected on this trip. 🙃
It was still fun though and on the way home, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant on the side of the highway. Turns out, that was the best meal we had all weekend! 😅
If you’re visiting St. Louis soon and want to go inside the Arch or see what else there is to do, click here! (Not an affiliate or commissionable link, just for your info)
