Chicago Lake/River Cruises (Evening)
 

My daughter's in-laws are going to be visiting from Ireland in a couple of weeks. My husband and I would like to take them on one of the evening lake/river cruises the first weekend in October, but know very little about them. What's the best company? Are the dinner cruises good?

My daughter and SIL plan to take them on the CAF cruise during the day at some point during their visit. So this would be purely for the view of the city at night from the lake.

Thanks! :)

I've taken cruises both during the day and in the evening. The evening one was in December for a Christmas party. Because it was freezing cold we couldn't stand on the deck, and when you're inside, the lights inside the cabin reflect on the windows and make it difficult to see out to the city. So...that was my night-time experience, not so great. But hopefully the weather in October would be better so you can stand outside. I did like the day cruise much better, but it was a gorgeous sunny day in July. The food was disappointing on both cruises, not bad, but not as good as you'd hope for the price. Maybe others will weigh in with more encouraging stories! Sorry, I don't remember the names of the cruise companies.

Thanks, bniemand! Of course, in Chicago you never know what you're going to get weather-wise. But I'm hoping we might luck out and still have decent weather that weekend. However, I appreciate your sharing your experiences. It makes me realize maybe we'd better hold off on definite plans until we have a better idea of the weather.

Many years ago (probably over 20!) I did one of the evening cruises that just went out onto the lake and back, no dinner. Maybe we'd be better off doing one of those and then having dinner elsewhere?

That's a good idea to dinner elsewhere. If I remember correctly, the evening dinner cruise was $75 per person. For that price I can think of 50 other places in the city with better food :)

Good point, bniemand!

Can anyone else recommend a company they particularly liked? Or steer me away from one they didn't?

It looks like Wendella has already stopped their sunset cruises for this season. But Shoreline has an 8:30 Fall Fireworks Cruise that Saturday. Anyone know anything about it? I'm wondering how much danger there is that it will sell out if we don't book soon.

Wow, you weren't kidding about how expensive the dinner ones are, bniemand! The ones I just looked at were over $100 pp!

Sorry, to elaborate on my question in the last post... Does anyone know whether this is something we can wait and book the day of, when we know how the weather will be? Or, since they seem to only do one a week, will it be sold out?

Actually, it looks like they do it twice a week. Guess I'll try to call the company and ask whether they sell out. And what our options are if we buy the tickets and the weather is really bad. Seems to me I've read that Navy Pier does the fireworks regardless of the weather?

We recently took a Wendella river and lake night tour--the one we took left at 8:45. It is different from the sunset tour and takes 90 minutes; however it will be repetitive on the river of some of the AFI tour. Since we took the AFI tour a number of years ago, it was not an issue.

Thanks, SAB. Actually it was, in part, your mention in your TR of taking a cruise that made me realize I'd better start looking into this. I was hoping you might respond with some info on which tour you took.

I'll check to see whether that Wendella tour is also finished for the season (or will be by 10/3). But, as you pointed out, since they're planning to do the CAF tour, there may some repetition. I really like the sound of the fireworks tour. Just can't decide whether to go ahead and book it now, with no way of knowing how the weather will be. Obviously, that's a chance you take at any time of year. But I think even more so that late.

But I was glad to read in your report how much you enjoyed the view of the city from the lake. I think that would be a pretty impressive thing to share with my daughter's in-laws.

The view from the Lake was lovely and going through the lock to and from the Lake was very interesting. As I said in my TR I used to live in Chicago and even though I had been on the Lake in small boats before, even at night; it is such a different skyline now that the tour was really worth it. It looks as though Wendella still has the tour, but the last one is now 7pm not 8:45. The 90 min fall fireworks tour was not offered last week, if it had been I think we would have chosen it. Since it starts on the 18th, it would be a good bet that it will still be going on 10/3 (weather permitting).

Thanks again, SAB. The one Shoreline offers is definitely scheduled for October 3rd, but is 45 minutes. Is Wendella offering one too? I'll have to go back and check their website again.

Yup, and its a 90 min lake trip.

Found it! And it is scheduled for 10/3. I know this isn't the tour you took and that the one you did take probably sailed every night rather than just Friday and Saturday. But did you buy your tickets ahead of time?

Thanks again, SAB!

If you decide to take a night cruise be sure to take something warm to wear. It gets really cold out on the water.

Good advice, cheribob! Considering how chilly it was last night in our living room, by then, on the water, we may need our heavy coats!

Regardless of what the temperature is, IMHO, you don't want to be out on one of these cruises when the lake is choppy.

Also sounds like good advice, exiledprincess! So would you suggest waiting until the day of to purchase tickets?

We just bought our tix in the am--but I have no idea how popular the fireworks trip is or whether it is a good idea to buy them in advance. Given weather considerations I would probably risk waiting until the am.

Thanks again for your help and advice, SAB. I think that's probably what we're going to do.

CAPH52, if I were trying to impress visitors, I would only either take them out on the Odyssey or charter a private sailboat (especially if you have several in your party) and have dinner elsewhere, or do a moonlight picnic on the sailboat.

Take a look at Odyssey's Full Moon Sunset Dinner Cruise on Sunday, Oct. 4th which is just under $80 pp. They also have a $50 discount dinner discount shown on their website, but you'd have to read the terms to see if it would apply here.

You can charter sailboats out of Belmont Harbor. Remember, you are paying for the entire boat and skipper; and I think that the base rate is usually for up to 6 passengers, which is the legal limit for charters (and there is usually a minimum amount of time you must charter - perhaps 3 hour minimum?). So if the hourly rate is $150 (on a weekend) x 3 hours for 6 passengers, that would be $75/passenger, not including tip. They may or probably have discounts on weekdays (Monday through Thursday, that is) as well.

Usually you only have to make a smaller deposit to reserve a charter sailboat. And I believe that if there is bad weather (where you cannot sail) that the charter company may refund all (or practically all) of the deposit.

Thanks for that info, exhiledprincess. I'm going to look into the Sunday cruise because it sounds very good. But I have a feeling it won't work for us. Part of the reason for this is to entertain them that Saturday night when my daughter has to work. And, while I think she may have to work Sunday evening as well, my husband has very early Monday mornings...

The boat rental sounds very interesting but is a little more than I really want to get into. I suspect we'll wind up sticking with the Fall Cruise and dinner elsewhere. But I do appreciate the info!

You're very welcome. I thought from your above post that there were going to be 6 in your party (you, your husband, your daughter, SIL and in-laws). When there are that many in a party, getting a charter is practically about the same amount dollarwise as purchasing 6 tickets for another boat cruise.

And it's really much nicer than sharing some communal table or confined area with a bunch of strangers.

I've been on practically all of the cruises. That's not to say that I've been on most of them because I personally chose to do so. A few of them were because of work-related functions (but those were *only* on chartered yachts or on the Odyssey) and a couple I got horn-swaggled into going because another person got the tickets.

IMHO, you certainly get what you pay for in this arena.

I thought I'd pull this back up to say that this past Saturday wound up being too cold and wet for a cruise. We opted instead to take them to Garfield Park Conservatory in the afternoon. They're avid gardeners and seemed to really enjoy the Conservatory.

Thanks again for all of your help. Especially those of you who suggested waiting to purchase tickets! :)

Glad you found an enjoyable excursion for your guests.