The experience on the Marina Jack was wonderful from the moment we stepped on to the moment we stepped off. The food was delicious and the views were beautiful. On a side note, my Mom uses a walker and we were accidentally seated upstairs. Carlos and Captain Jack came to the rescue and fixed the situation immediately. Carlos in particular ensured everything was great once we were seated and waiting for drinks...thanks for the great experience! read more

The Marina Jack II is a great place to take visiting friends, celebrate an event or just have a fun meal. The food is very good for Buffett food. The salad was fresh and the prime rib was perfectly cooked, not fatty, tender and delicious. The scalloped potato were tasty but a bit runny. The salmon was well done as were the vegetables too. Dessert was a nice selection of key lime pie, chocolate cake and cheesecake. All delicious. The only drawback is that some of the drinks were served in plastic glasses. The big draw is the boat ride around Sarasota harbor. read more

The lady with glasses at the front desk for check in is extremely rude to me.keep repeating her self no boarding till 1130 as i tryed to use the restrooms just out side the building throw the gift and check in shop.Me and my mother left throw front door and had to walk around to get to restrooms.many people where out side that where hanging out for boarding.She seems like she doesn't want to work with the public. read more

Food was amazing but service was awful. I went to this restaurant with my brother and mom after the gym so we were not dressed the part. However, never judge a book by its cover. I'm an attorney, my brother is a a doctor and my mom is an executive at a national co. I only say this because we were immediately judged. We heard the hostess ask the server if we could sit in his section. He also stopped by the table maybe a once after dropping the food. I would've ordered more wine but didn't get the chance. There are so many good seafood places here so don't waste your time with the service here. If you do go then our server was Rafael N. read more

Great time! Beautiful views , great service very attentive and helpful. We had 17 people and was relieved to find assigned tables. We were on the top floor beautiful boat clean and nice. Food was surprisingly yummy however they had prime rib which was a little hard to cut with a butter knife but the other food was delicious! The dessert was good too and we had a beautiful night. Would definitely do it again it was something different for a change. read more

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well, this won't be a nice review. Let's add this up, shall we? 1. Valet were jerks. 2. Wait staff extremely rude. 3. Prices are WAY over priced for the quality of service. So it's safe to say we didn't enjoy ourselves and we won't be back! Sad because the atmosphere is amazing since it's on the water and has a dock. Also, they have live music outside. but it doesn't matter, we won't go back here unless we have to for someone's birthday, but we'll try to deter them for sure! lol read more

I have to say the food is very good. Dinner is much more expensive than lunch. Should run you close to about $70 a person to go to dinner at Marina jacks II. However if you're expecting restaurant service on this cruise then you will be sorely disappointed. This is a buffet style dinner that is serve yourself. However it is all based on where you sit. If you sit on the upper deck you will have to wait until everyone on the lower deck has finished their turn at getting in line for the buffet. This was not explained to anyone on the ship prior to boarding. My wife who is very hungry got in line for the buffet and she was seated at the upper deck. Someone that worked there from the ship tapped her on the shoulder and told her to get out of line just before she was served. She felt quite embarrassed that the staff chose to make a scene and pull her out of line. This is not done ever to a customer at a buffets style dinners. They do not tell you that only the people closest to the buffet are allowed to eat first and that if you were sitting closer to the entrance of the restaurant that you need to wait your turn and get in line when they tell you that you can. It shouldn't matter whether the buffet dinner is on a boat or a restaurant. It was embarrassing for my wife and should not have happened. She was a paying customer and should not have been treated that way. Needless to say if we are ever to go back to Marina jacks Cruise we will make sure to sit on the lower deck next time. As for the service only expect good service if you are ordering a paid drink such as alcohol or any type of soda. When you buy your ticket gratuities are included and the cost of the meal which includes free coffee water or tea is free as well. The wait staff already know that they have earned their tip so they don't care about what your reaction is to the quality of the service they provide. read more

My wife and I booked a sunset Cruise. The food was great. When we arrived we were assigned a table. We arrived at our table and a party of 17 had already taken over including our table. We were supposed to be socially distance but drunk people that did not like their seats took ours and the staff just waited on them and ignored me and my wife. We reported it to management and was given a full refund. The staff on the the boat should have taken care of the problem . This group came on the boat intoxicated and had their way read more

Terrible experience - the food didn't come as ordered, and the worst - the fish was not fresh, I got sick later that day! Never will come to that place again! read more

oh my gosh. i am sitting outside on the patio with my family. we wanted a nice dinner out on the patio. they have a band and should be nice background music but they are playing with volume like a who concert. way too loud for background dinner music. miserable!!!! read more

We went on the dinner cruise for our friend's 50th birthday. First off, the boat was severely crowded. I was unable to move in my seat, stuck in between 2 people with someone else behind me. I could barely get out of my seat to get my food. It was also so warm and there was barely any air conditioning. If there was, I couldn't feel it! The wait staff was unable to keep up with the large amount of people on the boat. I could barely even get a glass of water. The food was fair at best, and buffet style. When I tried to contact the manager of the lunch/dinner cruises, she did not contact me back. I tried four times through their contact page on the website and I left a message on her voicemail. Finally, two days after I left the voicemail I decided to go see her in person. She completely disregarded my complaints, and told me that everyone else likes it. She also said that no one ever promised my friend one long table for her birthday party, which my friend still swears they did. We ended up sitting in three separate tables, and were unable to visit with each other because it was so crowded. She told me since I did not like it for personal reasons, she could not issue me a refund. She was very rude and did not take anything I said into account. I would recommend to chose alternate activities due to my this poor experience during AND after the dinner cruise! read more

The atmosphere was nice, the views were great. The wait staff and bartender were attentive and polite. The food was pretty good, however they only offered mashed potatoes and no rice option as stated in the menu. The meat could have been a little more done and I actually like medium rare, and this was more rare than my taste even. The lady that answers the phone to take reservations is the reason for my 3 star review though. She was very short with both me on the phone and almost downright rude as I asked questions to try and plan the best as we would have a baby with us for the evening. Overall the evening was enjoyable and the price seems fair. I would suggest making reservations in advance if you want particular seating. read more

I don't know why people sir and complain about the bad service. The service is amazing. I've been to 200,000 dollar weddings with derived not as good as this. Some people just can't be pleased. I was nervous about the Buffet style food.. I was wrong about that. The salmon, potatoes, and prime rib were on par with some of the best I've had. I'm telling you that you won't regret this one. Well worth it: read more

Gorgeous views and it's nice and long so by the time it's over you're ready to go. The food was not the best and also we were assigned seats on the bottom floor so it was hard to see the water. We had to get up and go somewhere else for good views so if you go request upstairs. Also I was thinking there was going to be live entertainment and there isn't ha so just an fyi there too. read more

We recently moved to Sarasota and are still in the exploratory stage...trying different restaurants, theatres, businesses and touristy things. For us the Marina Jack II cruise is a touristy thing. This is a lunch cruise so you combine eating, cruising and relaxing. Having done this in other cities, we had a good idea of what the experience would be like...it turned out to be quite nice. With one exception the staff were warm, welcoming, and friendly. The food was surprisingly very good ( yummy salmon and chicken Marsala) and the occasional narration of the sights was interesting. Well worth your time and money. (Don't let the grumpy woman who takes your reservation and who checks you in deter you) read more

Perfect for family gathering! Food delicious, service wonderful, ambience perfect Florida dining! Wonderful outting! Highly recommend.

Celebrated my Moms birthday....dinner was great, cruise was super nice. The houses in Sarasota are beautiful!

Went on the cruise had a lot of fun drinks were great service was great food was yummy not a big selection just prime rid and salmon but was cooked perfect sunset was marvelous had a great time read more

My husband and I thought this would be a good 40th anniversary outing but sadly we were wrong. Vegetables were hard, potatoes were good, salmon had no taste whatsoever (inedible) my husband loves salmon and he couldn't even eat it. Prime rib was fatty and tough. Desert was good except waitress was supposed to bring us coffee and a half hour later we finally got it after requesting a second time. They announced birthdays but never announced anniversaries. There was no narration to what you were seeing as you cruised. The sunset was pretty for the few minutes you got to see it. Actually a better view from the beach. The ride back was nice as you can view the Sarasota skyline after dark. They say online that they are following COVID protocols but not so much. No enforcement of masks wearing when moving around boat. Very dissapointing! I give it a 2 out of 10 and will never do it again! Save your $70 a person for a better meal elsewhere. read more

Our company had a celebration on the upper deck of the Marina Jack II. We all had a wonderful experience, everyone has been talking about the dinner cruise. The food was AMAZING and views were spectacular. read more

Fabulous experience all around. The food delicious and wait staff attentive. The Sunset Cruise provided a fun upbeat experience for a large or small group. Very romantic for couples too. Well worth the price. Don't miss this!! read more

We went on the cruise to celebrate a family member's birthday. It lasted 2 hours which seemed like the right amount of time for dinner and taking in the scenery. The ship was clean and seating was tight, but ok. Our table was on the top floor which gave a great view. Unfortunately, we were the last table to be called for the buffet. Dinner includes a salad, prime rib or salmon, mashed potatoes and vegetables. They ran out of salad, so our group had to split what was left between us and we were served the very last piece of the prime rib. The balsamic vinaigrette dressing was very good. The vegetables were a combination of green beans and cauliflower; however, the beans were very undercooked. The prime rib tasted good and that portion size was hearty. We pre-ordered a cake for the occasion, but were told there was only one cake on board, for another group. We then went to get dessert and they ran out. When I asked the server if they could bring out more she said that was all they had and smugly said "it's a buffet" - like what more do you expect. Soft drinks were an additional 2.50 per person. Coffee was served, but it was warm not hot. Overall, it was a decent meal and great scenery so I would go again. For the price, I would expect them to have enough food for everyone, so that part, along with the staff's attitude about it, were disappointing. read more

It's a whole lot of money for not much really. Our waiter was Gabe and he was great. There was a blonde girl and the guy serving the prime rib who were clearly over their jobs. They may be sick of doing this everyday but this was our first time so at least try and take it. We were seated on the main floor and ate relatively early in the trip but some people didn't eat till almost 8:00... They were not happy considering we started boarding a little after 6 so they waited 2 hours to eat! There has to be a quicker way to get everyone their food! We heard a brief welcome from the captain as we were departing and a thank you at the end but that was it. I thought it would've been nice to hear some commentary along the way.. Things like facts about some of the cool houses or the depth of the water or anything... Tons of people were asking questions.. They were asking their waiters or each other but somebody with some knowledge would've been great.... Don't waste your money... read more