You do not need admission to Epcot to do the cruise. The boats depart from the marina at a hotel outside the park gates (usually the Yacht Club) and will enter the park boundary through a channel and park under a bridge. It is not possible for you to disembark the boat inside the park, so they do not require admission. The boat will return your party to the marina after the show.
There are only a couple of boat types available for this cruise. They are all driven by a Disney captain, the cost of which is included in the cruise cost. Most of the time you will be on a pontoon boat which will seat up to ten people. You can also reserve the Breathless for this, which is the ChrisCraft boat, and seats up to six. If you are using the Breathless and have all six people participating, then the per-person cost is a little over $49 not including gratuity (total boat cost comes to a little under $300 with tax). The pontoon boats, since they will hold more people, come out to $29-34 per person including tax but not including gratuity, assuming all ten seats are used.
When I book one with extra space, I generally divide the cost including standard gratuity by ten, and ask those joining us to contribute that amount per person. For example, I have a wishes cruise to share on April 25, total cost including standard gratuity is $400, so I put it out at $40 a head.
Generally, I 'talk' to our fellow cruisers in the weeks leading up to the trip via e-mail, and we meet at the dock on the night of the cruise. When you book your reservation, Disney will give you the appropriate marina telephone number and ask that you call at 14 days out to confirm pickup date and time, and after I make that call I send an e-mail to fellow cruisers to give them the confirmed information and my last name so the marina personnel can help them find the right boat if they have trouble locating us.
So now looking for anyone else that would like to join us... still have room for 3 people 
