Navy Pier Marina — Attraction in Chicago

Located adjacent to Navy Pier in downtown Chicago, it’s a fun place to be. Navy Pier is a popular location with dozens of restaurants and shops, plus tourist attractions such as the giant Ferris wheel and other rides. It’s also within easy walking distance of five tour boat companies that do tours through the canals of Chicago, describing the history of the city and multiple buildings. The marina itself is very nice with very wide floating docks, excellent cleats, and excellent electric pedestals. They even have a doggie pee pad with bags and a hose available. The bathroom facilities are excellent. The men’s room has two showers: one large, with plenty of hooks and a chair, and the other that is about as small as is possible to allow a male adult to stand up. The marina, directly adjacent to a major tourist attraction, has excellent security. Wherever a human could possibly jump across to the dock, there are substantial fences, topped with sharp looking points. The electronic locks are top notch with six digit codes for opening. It may not be impossible to breach the security, but it would take some very serious effort. The marina is advertised as “all transient” dockage though there were several charter boats operating from the docks. Either way, there are a lot of transient slips. In doing the Loop, there are just a few “must stop” places. Liberty Landing in New York, is one of them. Navy Pier, in Chicago… is...

Incredibly well bult and maintained facility. The overall experience was very good. Call the dockmaster when you're about 10 minutes out to verify your reservation and slip number. Docking was a little difficult due the the ineffectiveness of the break walls but we managed fine. They did send 2 dockhands to help tie up. However, they were both inexperienced and didn't know how to properly tie off a dock cleat. I had to go back around and re-do the tie-off's. Electricity and water was plentiful. Gate code worked perfectly. We didn't use the facility to its entirety but we did take a look around and it was NICE! I wish we could have stayed longer.

My biggest complaint is how rough the water was during the day. This was not because people are motoring in and out of the marina. It's due to the traffic just outside the marina. I feel the break wall(s) that were installed are not sufficient, especially for those piers closest to the entrance. If you plan on spending any length of time at the marina, please ask for a dock as far into the marina as possible. This will help reduce the amount of rolling...

Totally ridiculous experience. I was out boating with my cousins and needed to be dropped off to care for my sick toddler. We pulled into the marina, I got off the boat, and we were there for maybe 30 seconds. As soon as I stepped onto the dock, two employees came up and told me I owed $50. Before I could even respond, they threatened that if I didn’t pay, they would write me a ticket. It wasn’t my boat, and none of us knew about this rule.

When I requested a refund and explained that I was only being dropped off to attend to my child, they told me they only allow free drop-offs in “true emergencies” — apparently a sick child doesn’t count. I contacted management and received no help. They insisted the rule is clearly stated on their website, but as a passenger who doesn’t boat often, I had no idea what “touch and go” means, and it’s only mentioned briefly there anyway.

Not impressed that they charged a random, non-boat owner $50 for standing on their dock for 30 seconds without using any facilities. Poor customer service, zero compassion, and an unfriendly attitude...