The Mv Skansonia

I went to a 45th anniversary party on July 22nd and it was soooo wonderful! The Location was fabulous and the view of the city one of the best I've seen. I went to the buffet 3 times (not your normal buffet food) the cream cheese loaf thingy is to die for. I talked to the hosts daughter about the rental and she told how easy the caterers made everything for them and how nice and easy they were to work with. We actually sat out on the deck and watched the boats until long past the time supposed to be gone and everyone was so gracious and warm till the end. more

While it is true that the views from the Skansonia are lovely, I was less than impressed by the venue when attending a recent wedding. The seating area was small (there were perhaps 100 or 150 guests, about 50 of which were standing) and the food was less than stellar. The DJ was too cheesy to be believed, and the bartenders were less than competent (I asked for club soda and got tonic water on one occasion). All in all, the money you'd spend here (something like $42 per guest, with a minimum of 100 guests?) would be better spent elsewhere. more

The Skansonia is a historic ferry boat docked on Northlake way. It is used for different events including my wedding. It has a gorgeous view of downtown and the boat itself has a lot of old fashion charm. It isn't very big. We had about 150 people and that seemed about right, although I think they say you can have up to 200 or 250. It might be too crowded at 250 people. Our guests said the food was really good. I agree, but it is nice to hear that from guests (I don't know if I've ever complimented wedding food). They also have bartenders for hire and you supply the beverages. This was a fun way to personalize the reception by offering our favorite beverages, not to mention it saved us a ton of money. The people that run the venue run it a bit like a wedding factory. There isn't a lot of customization options. Mostly they told us how it was going to work. For the price and the view, we went with it. I did get a bit irritated at the end of our reception, because they started to clean up before everyone had left (I don't think it was after our rental time either). They said they had to get ready for another wedding that night. I thought it was a bit tacky. You might want to clarify that in your contract. I also know of a UW sorority that had a dance at this venue and everyone seemed to really like it. more