First Lady — Attraction in Chicago

I had a good time overall. I was almost late getting there because I left my print outs at home but the gentleman taking tickets told me that the ones I downloaded to my phone would have been fine, (however its not their standard policy, I guess because they dont scan them) so dont risk being late for your printouts.

Heres a few tips: this cruise is VERY kid friendly. It wasnt bad but there were quite a few kids running around and just being kids. Dont waste yoir time on the front of the boat, the best views are up top HANDS DOWN. Be sure to bring a sweater or something because it tends to be alot cooler once youre out in the middle of the lake.

There is a bar but the only snacks they have are chips, popcorn, cookies, brownies, and a couple popular candy bars like snickers so be sure to eat first or at least bring some trail mix or something.

If you were on the 3D fireworks cruise like me...save the glasses and enjoy the show without em. The music DOES NOT go with the fireworks, in fact we could barely even hear it once the fireworks started. Most of the people in my section were all jamming to the music blarring from the boat next to us.

If you sit anywhere there are lights on the boat you will be swarmed by bugs. We were in the very back next to the life vest and it was bug party! Mostly gnats and mosquito hawks so they dont really bother you, but they will fly or be blown in your face so be aware. Maybe some bug spray or a personal bug clip wouldnt hurt.

Also if you sit in the back it is very possible people will literally hang over you or hoover behind you trying to take pictures if you are on the end of the back row like us. I personally found it very annoying especially people standing there having a photoshoot. At one point my friend just stood up and movied his chair.

Overall it was a good experience but I will be better...

Took a work group on this cruise today and was a bit disappointed. I'm an avid fan of the architecture river tour, I do it every summer and highly recommend it to anyone visiting the city. We thought the Mercury tour would be better since it combined the river and lakefront. It was nice to show the group the harbor lock, but the tour fell flat. First we left a little later than our scheduled 4:15pm departure and the tour was supposed to be 90min, but the tour was over and we docked by 5:35pm. Second, the tour only goes about 3-4 blocks down the river and makes a u-turn to double back to the lake. While on the lake, there was a long break of just playing music, all while we were passing some of our most famous buildings. Subsequently, those of us on the tour from Chicago started pointing out the buildings for our guests, as the tour guide didn't resume the "tour" until much later. All in all it was fine, but having experienced this tour with several of the other boat companies, some of the others are much better - they cover more buildings and provide much more...

I booked out an entire Mercury Cruise Line boat for a private Chicago Architecture tour for my family and friends in the summer of 2019. They had very good rates compared to other competitors and allowed us to bring our own food and non-alcoholic drinks onto the boat. For their on site bar, we were given the option to let them charge our card or have our guests pay (we opted to charge our card for non-alcoholic drinks). This was a big deal since many other competitors require you to use their food vendors and the cost becomes quite high per person.

They had a capacity of 111 ppl for the boat we rented. It’s not a fancy ship but it had everything we needed, top deck had rows of seats and bottom deck had a few large tables and more seating (for the older members of the group that didn’t want to sit under the sun).

I appreciated their pricing, flexibility and responsiveness when organizing my event. I would recommend them for anyone who is considering booking out a...