Hilton Head Dinner Cruises, Sunset to Fireworks

Which Dinner Cruise Is Right for You

• A sit-down dinner with a view: the Sunset Dinner Cruise from Harbour Town, the island’s classic, with a plated meal and a bar.

• Something livelier, and good with kids: Island Head’s hibachi dinner cruise, cooked on deck in front of you.

• A feast: a Lowcountry boil cruise, or the boat to Daufuskie for deviled crab on the Old Daufuskie Crab Company’s deck.

• Just your group: a private dinner on a yacht, or any private charter that stops at a waterfront restaurant.

The Hilton Head Sunset Dinner Cruise

Vagabond Cruise’s Sunset Dinner Cruise is the dinner cruise most people mean on Hilton Head. It leaves the Harbour Town marina in Sea Pines on the Spirit of Harbour Town, a 74-foot boat that is heated and air-conditioned, and lasts two hours: out early enough for the sunset over Calibogue Sound and back after dark to the lights of Harbour Town. Dolphins often come along.

Dinner is four courses from the Sea Pines Resort’s chefs: a salad, a choice of pork, mahi mahi, chicken or pasta, rolls and a choice of two desserts, with a children’s menu. You choose a table in the climate-controlled cabin with windows all round, or outside on the shaded upper deck. It costs $89.95 for adults and $50 for children, infants free, and drinks from the full bar are extra. It runs year-round. Unless you are staying in Sea Pines, the gate fee is $10 a day for a car.

• Dinner With the Dolphins: the early-bird version, 4:30 to 6 p.m. in June, July and August, in daylight the whole way, from $69.95.

• Candlelight Dinner Cruise: in the fall, leaving just after sunset, with candlelit tables, from $79.95.

• Brunch and lunch: a Sunday brunch cruise and a Lowcountry lunch buffet cruise, each 90 minutes, from $69.95.

• Holidays: Valentine’s Day (from $99.95), Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day brunches, and Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve dinner cruises.

Hibachi Dinner Cruise in Hilton Head

Island Head’s Hibachi Dinner Cruise leaves Broad Creek Marina on a custom catamaran for two hours, with early and sunset departures. Chefs cook steak, chicken, shrimp, vegetables and fried rice on the grill on board, served with a salad, and there is a bar with local beer and wine. It is $109.99 for adults, $69.99 for children 12 and under, and $19.99 for infants, who do not get a meal. Outside Hilton Head also books private sunset hibachi dinner cruises for one group.

Lowcountry Boil Dinner Cruises

A Lowcountry boil is shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes cooked together and piled on the table. Island Head serves one on a two-hour sunset cruise from Broad Creek Marina for $109.99 an adult, and Outside Hilton Head runs a Lowcountry boil dinner cruise from Shelter Cove Marina.

Dinner by Boat on Daufuskie Island

Daufuskie has no bridge, so dinner there starts with a boat ride. Vagabond’s Daufuskie Island Dinner Cruise leaves Harbour Town for the half-hour crossing to Freeport Marina and gives you two hours at the Old Daufuskie Crab Company, whose deviled crab is the thing to order. Dinner is paid separately at the restaurant. From May through August, Island Head runs a similar Wednesday-to-Saturday trip from Broad Creek Marina. More on the island: Daufuskie Island.

Private Dinner Cruises

For a dinner with only your own group on board, Salt Shaker’s sunset dinner cruise is a chef-prepared meal on a crewed motor yacht on Calibogue Sound, $4,900 for the boat. The cheaper way is any private charter that docks for dinner at a waterfront restaurant, such as Hudson’s or Skull Creek Boathouse: Island Head does this from $225 an hour for up to 14. The rest of the island’s private boats are on our Hilton Head boat charters guide.

Hilton Head Fireworks Cruises

On Tuesday nights from June to August, Shelter Cove Harbour sets off fireworks over the harbour, and the best seat is on the water. Vagabond’s Fireworks Dinner Cruise sails from Harbour Town with dinner on board ($89.95 for adults, $55 for children). Outside Hilton Head, Captain Mark’s and the smaller boats at Shelter Cove run fireworks trips without dinner, and private charters such as Salt Shaker, Salt Marsh Sailing and Island Time anchor off the harbour for the show. There are extra fireworks cruises on the Fourth of July. More on the shows: Hilton Head fireworks.

Happy Hour and Cocktail Cruises

If you want drinks and a sunset rather than a meal, the Salty Dog Cruise is a 90-minute happy hour and sunset trip around Calibogue Sound from the Salty Dog’s marina in Sea Pines, for adults 21 and over.