The reason I didn't rate this lower is that my wife enjoyed the evening and the weather was nearly perfect..
Reasons this excursion deserved this or a lower rating rating follow in no particular order:
1. Food was almost, but not quite, as good as what one would get at a small town Mom and Pop diner. When are two wedges of ice berg lettuce a ceaser salad? When served on the Odyssey. I grew up on a Kansas farm. The cut of beef ribs Odyssey served is known as pot roast there. At least Kansas chefs don't lather the meat with salty gravy. What's with that? Anywaym the desert was pretty good and the cookies we received upon disembarking were warm.
2. Cost for the evening was way too high. Excessively so. Before boarding I thought, "you get what you pay for" so this will be great. We didn't; it wasn't. I'll no longer consider a box seat at the Nats expensive.
3. Seated directly above the engine at the back of the boat insured neither the announcements nor the music could be heard. We heard an overly loud passanger's at the table next to us and another group completely across the dining room quite well.
4. What are we looking at? Who knows? Neither narration as we passed sites or a map of sites was provided. Why would I expect a cruise along the Potomac in Washington DC to be informative? Nothing to see here.
5. Where do we park? Who knows? No information appeared on the ticket vocher or along signage at the dock. Safeway down the street said another confused guest is within a half mile walk and only costs another $15. (See #2 above)
6, For $150 a pop, one might reasonably expect a "complimentary" photo of our boarding. Nope. But the picture could be had for another $40, We passed.
7. One might think coffee or tea would be offered with desert. Nope. Overall service was consistent with food, somewhere below mediocre. Who needs more than one glass of water anyway?
8. The boat doesn't go by the Lincoln Memorial, in its place we were treated to a night view of the MGM casino.
9. My wife is a generous soul and her presence kept me from going overboard and swimming ashore to National Airport. Plus my car was parked at Safeway.