Seadog Cruises (Speedboat & Architecture Tours) — Attraction in Chicago

Poor customer communication and planning…

NOTE: This review is written without having experienced the cruise itself, but rather the point leading up to the cruise and unfortunate circumstance of missing out on what seems to be a great tourist attraction.

We were traveling through Chicago today prior to an international flight at O’Hare. We had some time to kill between arrival in Chicago and flight departure time so we decided we’d enjoy a Seadog Cruise. We travelled to Navy Pier and waited anxiously for the cruise time of 3:00 PM departure. When we arrived at the check in booth, we were told there was only one captain working that day and that they were stuck in the locks. As such, the cruise departure would be slightly delayed. Not a huge deal, we had about a half hour of comfortable wiggle room in our plans to get to O’Hare. We further waited and saw the captain approaching the dock around 3:05 PM, so not much of a delay. We returned to the check in booth, at which time we were told the 3:00 PM tour was going to be delayed until 4:00 PM due to rain so the seats could be cleaned off… It was only lightly drizzling, so this was strange, especially since there were warnings on the booking site that you should expect to get a little wet on the tour anyhow. In any case, a 4:00 PM departure was cutting too close into our plans to depart to O’Hare so we opted to get a refund on the trip. We were disappointed, but stuff happens and it was not completely unreasonable for them to further delay.

What happened next is what has us quite upset. We went inside Navy Pier to make one last stop with our now freed up half hour. 10 minutes later, approximately 3:15 PM, we looked out the window and noticed a Seadog cruise boat leaving the harbor with a group of people on it. Logic would obviously tell me this was the 3:00 PM cruise since they only had one captain, so on our way back West to catch transport to where our luggage was being stored, we decided to ask the check in booth what that was. We were told “they decided to leave anyways.” WHAT!?? How does a company make a plan to delay a trip to a specific time, let its guests know, then simply revert on that decision. Chicago is a tourist city and it is not uncommon for people to plan their trips hour-by-hour… It was extremely disappointing to see the boat cruise away right in front of us as we were left standing there having just exhausted a few hours of our day and nearly $100 in transportation cost to get to Navy Pier with the sole purpose of taking the cruise. Again, if it would not have left until 4:00 PM, then no big deal. But to tell the customer the cruise was delayed until 4:00 PM, then immediately change their mind is quite unprofessional. All the while when we were at the check in booth at the time of being told the cruise would be delayed until 4:00 PM, we even questioned why their reason of “wiping the seats” mattered. Well apparently we were just the unlucky customers because it seems they must have immediately thereafter polled the other customers standing with us and they let them overrule the Seadog Cruise delay decision.

I give a 1 star review because although I have no doubt the cruise is a great experience, I feel like we were hoodwinked in the most unfortunate way. Had we not seen the cruise drifting away and not known any better than to think it left at 4:00 PM, then I wouldn’t even be taking the time to write this. However, when it now feels like we wasted the afternoon with an opportunity missed by minutes due to horrible communication, I find myself unable to refrain from this review.

Would love to update this review in the future and give a better rating if we get the chance to return and ride on one of the cruises. However, for now it must remain at 1 star.

Hope others have a better experience, seems like...

I usually LOVE Seadog cruises. I have been on nearly a dozen in the last few years, I love bringing my out of town friends and family, and this is the only company I'll go with because of how fun it is. HOWEVER, I just finished one that unfortunately really changed my view of this. I hope someone sees this and responds so I can change it back to 5 stars. I'm terribly sad to say that our tour guide ROB really ruined our experience. I want to say nice things about him because I feel bad and he seemed nice but PLEASE don't let other people's wonderful tours be ruined by the Rob show. That's what it really felt like- like we were hostages at his own open mic show instead of an architecture tour. He spoke about a few buildings but skipped several that I was excited to hear about (the hot pocket building and the gold top building to name a few). He talked about sports and celebrities but mostly was just constantly trying to make the next corny joke or tell some personal story. There were plenty of times where a few moments of silence or the chance to mingle with our group would have been ideal but instead it was just more blabbing so loudly constantly in my ear. If Rob could please just give the tour people paid for that would be great but since it does not appear to be possible I really hope Seadog utilizes his work in a different position. A lot of what he said also made me uncomfortable. Just such a bummer and I really hope Seadog fixes this for...

Did not even get to experience the actual architectural tour.. we left the dock as normal and you could visually see storm clouds and rain heading towards us. It was activity raining about a few mins away over the city and lake. Instead of turning around they continued with the tour. We got out of navy pier into Lake Michigan and cruised for 10 mins before the rain caught up to us… they attempted to turn around heading back towards the storm and lost all visibility and couldn’t bring us back to the dock. The rain is soaking us.. we are stuck out on Lake Michigan. We spent 1.5 hrs on the lake chasing away from the storm and getting pelleted by rain and sprayed from the storm water coming over the boat. I’m not even kidding when I say everyone on that boat left tSOAKED! We all looked like we jumped into Lake Michigan. We had to buy clothes and shoes from the gift shop. It is extremely irresponsible to risk the safety of our lives and ruin the rest of the day. They said “ the storm was not on the radar” clearly you could see the rain with your eyes when we got out to the lake. We had time to turn around. You do not need a radar to make a judgment call to delay the tour and the let the storm pass. This was an unbelievable ...