City Cruises — Local services in Chicago

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE FOR LARGE GROUPS 9/28/19

Without a doubt the worst and most expensive (24 x $240/plate) event that I have ever hosted or attended. Let me provide a list issues and then possible solutions should you ever book with this group. I hosted a party of 24 friends for a birthday party along with the premium liquor package.

I would advise if inviting anyone with mobility issues, the ramp leading to and from the boat is about a 45 degree angle. The crew that helps with boarding helps those with limited mobility down the ramp, and provides a push from the rump for access up!

Upon arriving, the boat departs at 7:30pm, 24 people are seated a 3 tables of 8. The spacing of the tables does not allow one to get up with out those on the same side of the table standing and moving to the aisle. The gap between tables when seated is about 4 inches.

Although I paid for the premium bar package, neither the ticket booth, nor the single waiter (1 waiter / 24 = Horrible service) instructed our party how to take advantage of the package. By the time I greeted my guest and found the waiter many had already purchased their own drink.

It only gets more unbelievable (1 waiter/24 customers = horrible service)… The boat is great, but do not plan on having any meaningful discussions with your guest as the music was incredibly load. What may be my reference? The prior weekend I attended the Notre Dame/Georgia football game attended by 93,000 fans. During the game, they had fun showing the noise decibel level, often reaching 114db. LOUD! This game was nothing compared to the sound level in the boat. Deafening! What was the waiters response? “Sorry, we can not adjust music levels".

It gets more unbelievable...

Although we pushed off at 7:30pm, I observed that many other tables received deserts before our party had our appetizers (roughly 8:35pm), Dinner arrived starting at 9:00, while as the host, my dinner was delivered COLD at 9:22pm. Desert and our ability to sing happy birthday was provided at 9:40pm…Yes, the boat docked at 9:54. Have I mentioned, 1 waiter / 24 = Horrible service!

Although many of my guest had a nice time (I appreciate their indulgence through the abuse out of appreciation for my wife birthday), I can safely say that they were as amazed at the service as I was. And finally……….at 10:05 announcement YES, its TRUE……..they said “Please depart so that our team can clean up and go home”.

You can’t make this up! Really! By the time that we heard the final announcement to get off the boat, we just laughed. My observation, they have overstuffed this boat to allow for the ability to have a nice night! My advice? Go as a small group and don't pay for the bar package, its grossly expensive and probably a double dip in cost.

So sad, really an amazing concept, Chicago River at night is great, but the Odyssey River Crew just poorly executes.

FOLLOW-UP, after waiting for an appropriate response ; I appreciate the offer to host 4 of us again as a make up for the service issues above. But why drive 150 miles round trip for an event (River Cruise) that we have already attended and was poorly serviced? Why? Rather you could have/should have offered compensation reimbursement for either the bar package and or built in “Tip” for the services provided poorly! Again, River Cruises just don’t get it! A...

Over the past couple of years, my now-husband and I have attended more than a dozen weddings. While each was lovely, we knew we wanted to give our guests something truly unforgettable. When we took the Architecture River Cruise the year before, it instantly clicked - this was where we needed to celebrate. The backdrop of the city skyline, lit up against the river, was seriously breathtaking. The Odyssey boat, specifically, looks completely different than all of the other white boats on the river - it is entirely encased in glass. The day came together seamlessly. The food was really good (which everyone knows, feeding that many people at once, weddings don’t usually have the best food). But everything was delicious. The service was outstanding, and every detail was beautifully executed. Our coordinator, DJ, restaurant manager, and servers all went above and beyond to make sure the night flowed smoothly. Family and friends have not stopped gushing - we received countless compliments on how unique and breathtaking the boat was. Several friends and family members told us it was the best wedding they had ever been to. Towards the end of the night, my grandma turned to me and said “You are lucky you don’t have a sister, she would be very jealous at how high you’ve set the bar for a wedding.” Like any wedding, there were a couple of bumps along the way. Planning from out of state meant a few logistical challenges, such as when our tasting cruise had to be rescheduled after we had already booked travel. That said, City Cruises resolved the issue within 48 hours, and we were still able to enjoy the experience during our trip. We also learned some logistical details late in the process, like table size limits and the fact that tables and chairs couldn’t be removed from the boat or stored (we had a small guest count and this would have been nice, but we worked around it).. These are things that I think should be discussed before the contract (that being said - it would not have made a difference, we still would have booked the venue). But on the day itself, the decor was so beautiful that I didn’t even notice the extra tables, they did a great job of “hiding” them and getting them out of the way. All in all, we are absolutely over the moon with our decision to host our wedding here. The setting was extraordinary and the team delivered an experience we, and our guests, will cherish forever. If you want a truly unique Chicago wedding, I cannot imagine a...

UPDATE 3/8/24 - Please read my review, but I will say that City Cruises made it very easy to resolve this issue. They were easy to reach and open to listening about our problems, while saying they will work to resolve this for future guests. They also compensated us generously!

On Saturday, February 17th my girlfriend and I went to celebrate our anniversary with city cruises, in which we paid nearly $600 for the 1st class package. The food was great, the DJ was amazing, and our server was very nice and welcoming.

HOWEVER , we were not greeted with a glass of champagne as was supposedly meant to happen. Also, our package included an open bar which we asked our server about on two separate occasions for clarification. We were told it included everything up through their "premium" selection of beer, wine, and liquor. I ordered Maker's Mark whiskey multiple times and my girlfriend ordered a Kendall Jackson wine. Upon receiving the bill, it showed we had been charged for both of these drinks, totaling over $100 on top of the nearly $600 paid in advance. At no point was it indicated to us that we were ordering off of our open bar tab, nor was it indicated on the websites or physical menus what this entailed. We were both very disappointed that we had never been made aware of this, or that our drinks were considered "top shelf". (I would like to add that I have never seen Maker's Mark be considered a top shelf product). Overall, City Cruises provided nice service and great atmosphere but this soured my opinion on them greatly and I have to say that I do not recommend them to anyone until they accurately describe what their...