Should you choose City Cruises or Thames Clippers in London?

It's tough, as a visitor to London, to know all the sights without a Guide and a river cruise is a wonderful way to see many of the landmark attractions in London.

As City Cruises offers a commentary it would seem to be the best choice but, sadly, I tried this recently and can't recommend it. The live commentary is from Westminster Pier to Tower Pier (Houses of Parliament to Tower of London) and it's then a recorded commentary if you continue on to Greenwich.

The live commentary was read out with such a monotonous voice that it was hard not to be bored to sleep. The Guide only livened up as we approached Tower Pier so he could try to convince unsuspecting tourists that they should pay him for doing them a great service as he had gone beyond the realm of his job description. And, sadly, many people did put coins in the bucket he shook at them as they disembarked. I have reported this shameful behavior to City Cruises management but it seems little will change as staff are so used to earning this extra cash from tourists. (Here's a recording of their blatant lies to get money from passengers.)

The recorded commentary should have been an improvement but I couldn't hear it over the noise of the boat so it was completely pointless.

The Thames Clippers is a commuter service so aimed at Londoners and is considered another part of the public transport network and therefore there is no commentary provided.

The Thames Clippers has comfy seats and City Cruises has wooden seats.

Thames Clippers has free wifi and City Cruises has none. Both have a cafe.

When heading to Greenwich, City Cruises do not go faster after Tower Bridge which is another part of the fun of Thames Clippers as outside the Pool of London it's allowed to increase the speed.

Comparing a one day 'rover ticket', Thames Clippers is cheaper, has more destinations, and services run for more of the day. Put simply, if I had to choose I'd definitely go with Thames Clippers over City Cruises any day.