City Lights Cruises

Where do I begin?
I bought 6 tickets last year at a fair at a discounted price, because the agent said it was a promotion. Little did we know the company was going out of business and I’m stuck with these worthless pieces of paper. I called the number and found out that party cruises is the company that will honor the tickets, but there are additional costs of $ 40/​ticket. The cruise spends most of the time on the Chicago river as opposed to Lake Michigan. Personally, I think this is a scam! Buyers beware! People please stay with reputable cruise lines that leave from Navy pier and always read the fine print.

Ok…
The Cruise itself was ok. The people that worked on the ship were nice and helpful, the food was edible and we all seemed to have atleast a decent time. Some had much more fun than others but all seemed to enjoy themselves. I have lived in Chicago (Born and raised) almost all of my life (40 years) except for some time that i left because of a job transfer (BIG mistake).Anyhow… I LOVE the view from the lake. It‘s Beautiful and if you go day and night it look so different. It also looks really cool with clouds and storms rolling in or on a Bright sunny day. So the ride, Music, Drinks, Food and people that work on the Boat were all good.
Now for the Bad. You have already read it 30 times or so but the way this company does their pricing/​Tickets is ridiculous! It‘s way more expensive than you could even imagine. once they get you down there, they may as well just take your wallet. Their Discount tickets are NOT discounts at all. Infact, they may be the ONLY discount tickets that actually give the Business a «Discount!» IF only the Owners/​Management were as decent and cool as the People that work for them it would have been Great. Just be upfront with people and knock off the scam! This is Chicago Not Vegas or Disney World!!! People expect to be ripped of when Mickey mouse appears or slot machines are ringing but here??? Not so much and because of the way you do business, your ripping people off. Word gets out and you will Lose eventually. JUST READ.

I took my family on this cruise December 29^th, 2012 which was the last day of the season for this cruise ship. We took the 3:00 PM cruise.
The morning of the cruise I ventured into the Unilocal reviews and saw all the 1 star reviews. Many folks commented that they would have given zero if possible. I was nervous but hopeful.
We were the 1^st people in line when we arrived at 10 minutes to 2:00 PM. You have to check in with the young ladies coordinating the cruise and then wait outside in line. the ladies were very nice and explained everything we needed to know. It is a 1^st come policy to table seating so waiting in line outside the boat is necessary. If it were summertime the outside wait would have been more pleasant.
I’m going to rate this for 2 purposes. The 1^st purpose is to inform the readers. The 2^nd purpose is to provide constructive feedback that the lines might be able to use to raise their ratings and provide an even better experience for their customers.
The good: The service was good. The food was good. The drinks were decent… not weak but not too strong. The music was by request in the beginning and after dinner turned into dance music and was for the most part pretty good. The cruise was comfortable. The ship is about ¹⁄₃ the size of the Oddysey II which made the ride a little wavy at times but no problems. The upper deck (3^rd) provides for some beautiful views.
Observations/​suggestions: During the winter months it would be great if you could encourage a coffee /​hot chocolate vendor to take a cart out there to sell drinks to those waiting in line. It would make it much more tolerable.
The purchase process for ticket IS VERY DECEIVING. I get how it works and why they do it but the communication is wrong. The $ 15.00 discount tickets are not discount tickets. They alone provide no value. The $ 15 goes to the marketer and/​or fundraiser and really is not applied to the real cost of the ticket at all. Be honest and forthright about this or change the way you sell tickets. The current policy clearly pisses people off.
Although the food was ok the desert (cookie) should have been a little more imaginative. How about a hot brownie with a small scoop of ice cream etc.
There should have been 2 bartenders on the 2^nd level.
Dinner music should have been dinner music. Make it a little classy while we eat.
The tables were so closely packed together that you could not get out of your chair without making others do the same. Get smaller tables or less tables as it felt like a fire trap.
Dance floor was crowded but no complaints… it’s a smaller boat… everyone who wanted to get out there seemed to get out there with no problem :-)
What to wear… clue us all in. Put us on the same page. If it doesn’t matter that’s OK but tell us. We read the website and brochure and it sounds like we should dress up a bit. Set the expectation.
Summary: We had a great time. People we met on the cruise were nice and the folks working on the cruise were nice as well.
To the cruise lines: Set expectations correctly and maintain them. This goes for the purchase process and a suggested dress code. Provide some way for those waiting in line during the cold season to get some warmth. Lastly, be a little more imaginative with desert. A nice desert can make up for a mediocre dinner… think chocolate for the ladies.
Cheers :-)

Complete and utter scam! Do not waste your money! I bought «discounted» tickets for the cruise and told that after paying $ 30+ for two tickets, I would have to pay another $ 14 per person to book the cruise… I even asked and got it in writing. I was set, right?
When I went to book, I was told it was going to be another $ 80…and 4 drinks (I can’t imagine how much they would charge for those!) far from the $ 14 that I had in writing on the receipt. I objected, told them about my receipt, etc. etc.
They told me these tickets are from promoters and they cannot be held accountable for their promoters not being truthful… really? You should be concerned, they are representing YOUR business. I was told to call and complain to the promoter but that I would not get my money back («the promoter has it, we haven’t seen any of that money you paid for the original tickets» they told me… yeah right!). They would not honor what the promoter stated (again, «not responsible for what they told you»).
Such utter BS. This is a scam. Luckily I am only out $ 30+ but don’t get suckered into this. If I could give it less than one star, I would. I never used my tickets (lucky them, they sell sell sell tickets that are never redeemed). Shame.

Total crap. I feel bad that my parents wasted their hard earned money on this for a gift. If you see this guy selling these tickets on the street punch him in the face for me.

Where do I begin?! Hey City Lights Cruises Management! Listen up. Take some good advice:
1. Prohibit smoking! It ruined our outing. People were smoking everywhere — and some were smoking cigars!
2. Add some lights to the outside decks. We couldnt see what we were eating or where we were walking.
3. Offer desserts, not just cookies.
4. Get closer to the fireworks. We thought we would have a good view of the fireworks from the cruise, but we could see the fireworks better when we just stood on the Pier.
5. Don’t make everyone stand in line for 30 minutes to get a decent seat.
6. Have the DJ play more variety. After 3 hours, we got REALLY sick of Latin music and hip hop. If you don’t already notice, most of the crowd is over 30, so play music from the 70’s and 80’s!

Ticket Scam (2) $ 15 ticket HIDDEN FEES: (2) $ 36 fee (Docking fee and 2 drink Min @ $ 1‘4 a drink) $ 25 parking at navy pier Thats $ 127 to stand in line to get dried out food, bad music and a boat full off pissed off people who got scammed. It felt like a prison ship. Couldn’t wait to get off. How dare you City Lights!

I unfortunately cannot give this more than a 2-​star review because of the ticket purchasing process, like others have mentioned. I wasn’t even the one that purchased the tickets, which is what made me upset. I would never have fallen for their ticket «scam», but my mother did. She told me that she got these really cheap cruise tickets ($ 15 each), and was excited to take us out. I asked what the cruise was called and immediately looked it up, and saw all these negative reviewed. Sure enough, when she went to reserve the tickets, she was told she had to pay a «docking fee» of $ 23 a person plus a mandatory 2-​drink ticket fee of $ 22 per person. So, ultimately the tickets cost $ 60 a person.
Unfortunately, if the tickets were just listed as $ 60 a person and were marketed as coming with 2 free drinks and a buffet dinner, I would have given this a higher rating. I think everyone just feels scammed with the added charges, and you could feel that on the cruise. For example, after my 2 drinks, I ordered just an ice water from the bartender, and at least 2 people came up to me, asking me where I got the water, and if it was free! Clearly, everyone was worried about having to buy more drinks on board and stuff.
Ok, so now let’s get to the cruise itself:
Food: creamy chicken, dry beef, pesto pasta with marinara sauce, bread rolls and cookies. You go up for the buffet dinner by ticket color group. Luckily my party had the first color group called, but others waited for more than 30 minutes before they got called up to eat.
We were on the Kaman cruise boat, which had 4 levels. The top or Sky deck was nice. Only 2 of 4 floors were air conditioned, which was only a problem because we went on a 90+ degree night. There was a DJ who took requests on one level, but you could dance on any level. The music was okay– I guess the people who requested music had a good time, but I would have preferred to just listen to top music chosen by an experienced DJ. Most people seemed to have a good time, and there were plenty of dancers.
We went on a Wednesday night, which as everyone knows is when they do fireworks on the lake, so that was a plus, and it really was beautiful to experience it from the boat.
Overall, if no one had told me how much the tickets cost, and I just went on the cruise, I would have had a better time and would have given a higher rating.
To the business owners, I encourage you to read these reviews and think about how charging all these extra charges makes people feel about their overall experience. I would not recommend this to anyone because of this.

Thank goodness I did not purchase this full price. I purchased two tickets for $ 30. The lady told me up front that there would be a departing fee of $ 14 and a 2 drink min. per person. I figured that was cool. Do not be deceived…
Depending on what time you take the trip depends on the extra fees which they add on for you. So if you go on a day cruise (anything before 7pm) the addt. fee per person is $ 36 + $ 2 processing fee. If it is after 7pm it is MUCH more.
So basically I paid $ 52/​person.
We did the day cruise. Food was mediocre. Its not a real buffet because you can not go back for more. You have a meal ticket and go up once and only once. Desert sucked. The drink tickets were enough for us and people were even giving theres a way because some people just dont drink that much. Music was fun but the DJ did not get the crowd going for the entire cruise. We also had a hard time hearing anyone in the microphone. The DJ did take requests.
Luckily my boyfriend and I know how to have a good time together and will dance anywhere so we enjoyed just being together, dancing, and being silly.
But dont expect any sort of glamor on this boat. It is rented chairs that are not cute at all, no décor or flare on the boat. For the day cruise there were two levels. Outside or inside. Outside had white outdoor chairs. Nothing fancy. And inside had the ones I described above.
Pass on this deal. Its not worth it unless you just want a way to get out on the river and Lake Michigan. But then Id just recommend an architecture tour.

I gave this 5 stars because I know I would have been the only one to have done so. and by doing this you will have read this far. Don’t take my word for it.
BUYER BEWARE !! If you have a cell phone google it yourself. Keywords: city lights cruises reviews. From coast to coast people are outraged! If you already purchased infamous «discounted tickets» cut your losses and do not go!

By far one of the biggest scams I have ever heard of. At my university there was a special «tickets for $ 15». I bought four and got two free.
Then the sales woman told me that all I’d have to pay extra for was a $ 14 boarding fee and two drinks so I thought hmmm not too bad.
What she failed to mention was that you have to pay this so called fee when you reserve your tickets online as well as the drink fee that is in all $ 36 PER PERSON.
How in the world are two drinks worth $ 22!!! They don’t even know what drinks I’ll order and already they’re charging me such an absurdly high drink fee.
It’s absolutely ridiculous, they scam you like crazy and to top it off the tickets are non-​refundable. It wouldn’t be half as bad if I didn’t read the terrible reviews as well, but the fee cost more than my ticket. Definitely never buying tickets at my university again.

Total crappy ripoff. They were selling «discounted» tickets on the street, and we bought three. When we went online to book the cruise, the website adds to each ticket a $ 36 departure fee, plus $ 22 in drink fees. Right. My 12-​year-​old is going to have an $ 11 glass of soda? I don’t think so.
Given my experience, as well as the horrible ones you all had when you were actually on this ship of fools, City Lights Cruises should be put out of business.

When I went on the City Lights the actual cruise was fun. The food wasn’t bad and the group that I went with had a good time.
The problem came in when I got my ticket at Sam’s Club for a discount. The tickets along with the website is a little deceiving. A lot of impt info is in very small print and/​or left out.
There also was a lot of hidden fee that they do not tell you that you have to pay for. I had a boarding fee, departure fee and a fuel tax fee added on to my bill. I think they can make the terms a little bit clearer.
I tried calling a customer service rep, but every time I called the line just kept ringing… and yes it was during their business hours.
I sensed a red flag before I purchased my tickets and I will admit that I should have waited before I bought them and trusted my gut, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt.
I understand that they do have a terms and condition page, but I still think they left out vital information that will make customers more aware of where their money is going.

I got some tickets on discount – real discount, not hit with a stack of fees like others here – so I did not feel as cheated as others did.
Why I like this cruise – we got to hang out on a boat and have a few drinks and chat, watching the city skyline go by. Again, worth it IF you got your tickets as a true discount.
What I would have been FURIOUS about if I’d actually paid full-​price:
1. Staff is rude. We didn’t know we had to check in first, so when we went to get on the boat, a woman snapped at us, «You have the wrong tickets!» Not, please check in first, not, you have to give your tickets to the person checking you in and get boarding tickets, just that we were in the wrong. (I do not believe the adage that «the customer is always right.» But you never, EVER begin the customer service experience by barking at them that they are wrong. Not if you want to keep them as customers.) We figured the other bit out with the help of a different employee. Generally, they seemed more interested in talking to each other than acknowledging the customers.
2. Do not go on this cruise for the food. It is edible and you will be less hungry after you eat, but that’s all I can say about it. Everybody else’s review is true: «Buffet» means you stand in a long line and get served too-​small portions of unseasoned, inexpertly prepared food. Eat at one of the Navy Pier restaurants before boarding or after disembarking.
3. You get two drink tickets, but if you want better than well drinks, you have to pay an upgrade charge. The bartender on our boat was clueless about drinks – one of our party ordered a call brand scotch, and she told him she didn’t have it and offered a blended whiskey instead (???). Then she asked him what he mean when he ordered his drink «neat.» Any other question we asked her was answered with a blank stare.
Evidently the tickets are an $ 80.00 dollar value, but I cannot begin to guess what is worth $ 80.00 here. If you actually have to pay for this, forget it.

I would have been ticked if I paid full price, but I got our tickets off of buywithme, so paid half price. I didn’t get hit with any extra fees the way some people did.
Since seats are not assigned on board, people started lining up about an hour before boarding started. That was annoying. The «buffet» was called by ticket color, but the lines were so massive, even with spacing it out some, that it took a LONG time to get food. I expect a buffet to be all-​you-​can-​eat, and you choose your portions, but that was not the case. You are served, and your choices are yes, or no. The food wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. We were on a Saturday night fireworks cruise, supposedly with an «upgraded» menu. Rolls, salad, italian sausage, alfredo chicken, noodles, and a cookie or a brownie. Eh. It was fine. But you better not want seconds.
The music was about what I would have expected — wedding-​style standard music. I expected it to be a younger crowd than it was. My husband and I are in our mid-30’s, and we were among the younger people there. It was a lot of couples from the ‘burbs in their 40’s and up.
While I LOVE my husband’s company, and LOVE being alone with him, I think this would have been more fun with a larger group perhaps?
I wouldn’t pay full price for this, but if another half=price deal comes along, I may give it another shot.

I actually had a better experience then most on this cruise. My cousin was given the tickets as a gift from her boss so that 8 of us could go on the cruise and we had no problems with being asked to pay extra fees or anything like that.
The cruise boat itself was definitely filled to capacity as we couldn’t even all sit together because all the tables were taken. I felt kind of bad for my cousin because I think she thought it was going to be kind of a party boat or booze cruise type of thing. There was maybe two other groups in their 20s, but other then that a lot of older couples including a lot of senior citizen couples. The bartender was nice but I heard the drinks weren’t strong so I ended up sticking with wine for my two drink tickets. He filled the glass ALL the way up and it was tasty so I felt satisfied on drinks.
The food however had it’s good points and it’s bad points. The good — The chicken with alfredo sauce was actually very tasty! I was very scared after reading all the reviews so it was surprisingly good. You got a little bit of salad, a piece of bread, they scooped out noodles, they scooped out sauce, and then you got to take a cookie for dessert. That leads me to the bad. This was a one time deal and you couldn’t go back for seconds. I have been on other dinner cruises and they always mean buffet when they say buffet… ie all you can eat. Thank goodness we didn’t pay $ 80 like many others did for this or I would be none too happy! My poor friend Shima was starving and planned on taking two plates. Sadly, the plate nazi would only allow her the one plate… and the noodles nazi, as well as the sauce nazi only allowed one ladle of each. She commented it felt like we were in prison. Maybe the extremely long line that wrapped around the dining room added to the feeling of a jail meal.
We ventured up to the top of the boat which had amazing city views and definitely was romantic! It was quite chilly but we still enjoyed ourselves up there. The dance floor was a bust. Full of people who should be banned from shaking their groove things, so we bypassed it. :P
This is something I wouldn’t do again unless another friend had free tickets from somewhere. I would never pay for it and definitely would advise against couples going for a romantic time. But if it’s free-​hey, you can get some cute pictures out of it on the observation deck. :)

City Lights Cruises is a colossal disappointment and business practices are unethical. You’re not going to have a good time when you find out you’ve been scammed.
City Lights usually has a booth in various Chicago street festivals. They rope you in by telling you that each ticket is $ 15, which is a $ 60 value. Online it is $ 80. I was informed that I had to pay a departure fee, which brought the tickets up to $ 30, which still wasn’t bad. However, when you book the reservation, they charge you an extra $ 36 per ticket for the departure fee and 2 drink tickets. I did skeptically ask the rep at the festival, «Is there anything else I need to know?», she said no. I was seething at this point.
So I go with 4 fabulous friends, but never again will I use this company again. They boarded late and departed late. The crowd were a bunch of tourists, mainly middle aged, and many families. I felt like I was in an 80’s wedding. The music was like that as well.
The food was awful. Chicken breast in some bland cream sauce, pasta with watery marinara, salad with iceberg lettuce, and a dry cookie for dessert. When they call your color ticket to get in line for the buffet, it’s a mad house, like cattle getting corralled for feeding time. People had no etiquette with the line as well.
The good thing about the wine was that they fill up your glass, but the bartender was uninterested in her job.
Being on a boat with drinks and friends were the only positives of the excursion, but we probably would’ve had a nicer time hanging out in a restaurant.
The Odyssey and Spirit of Chicago are much better cruises.

City Lights Cruises is everything the previous reviewers have described. The person who runs this should probably take a course in business, with a concentration in business ETHICS. They definitely, no doubt about it, falsely advertise. My friend had purchased some tickets for what she thought would cost only $ 30 or so but they require a two drink minimum, which you have to prepay as part of the tickets, so that tacked on another $ 20 for a total of $ 50 for the tickets. We ended up paying more than what we were expecting because they get you with these hidden obligatory fees.
The whole crowd on this cruise was totally cheesy. I mean, imagine cheesy tourist and multiply that times 100. Their website says «dress to impress», so naturally, we did. And any excuse these days to dress up, I’ll use it to get the most out of my cute summer outfits before the season is over. Other people were wearing just the most heinous things: tourists with baggy mom jeans and tennis shoes, tourists with cargo shorts and mandles, one girl was basically wearing a shirt as a dress that barely covered her ass, and finally, more tourists in baseball caps with Chicago plastered all over the front. I mean, come ON people, if Stacey London were on that ship she would make everyone strip, minus us, and throw their nasty clothes overboard. So disturbing.
So not only did these tourists have no idea how to dress, the whole demographic was tourists basically, so no young single people (like us) but instead, old people and families with small children. Not my idea of a fun booze cruise if you ask me.
The music was totally cheese ball. It was like being at a wedding in the 80’s or a bar mitzvah. They played the typical wedding songs (ymca, electric slide, etc.) so not personally my cup of tea.
Also, the food was less than mediocre. It was also very much organized as a wedding buffet would be, where only certain groups can approach the buffet at a time. Thank god we were in the first group. They had rolls, salad, pasta, chicken and a cookie. It was all very plain and so-​so. Nothing special to speak of. And they served you, so you couldn’t grab like 10 rolls or tons of pasta, They were definitely monitoring how much food you took. Whatevs.
In general, I’m shocked this place is still in business. They are located right on navy pier, which is tourist trap central, so most of these people probably just buy the tickets while they’re out, without doing any prior research on Unilocal to see how horrible they really are.
I would highly not recommend them. The only reason I was not miserable on this cruise was because it was pretty comical, great people watching, and I was with some of my very good friends, where we just relaxed, had a few glasses of wine, and admired the beautiful city skyline from the lake.

I did not want to give one star but I guess that’s the minimum. I wanted to give a negative star.
These people are liars and cheats. I agree with everyone who had a bad experience. We paid for the tickets AND the $ 36 for the 2 beverages and departure tax and could have paid less just as a regular buy.
The food was gross and they gave us foam plates and plastic forks and spoons. The buffet was for only one serving per person and the food was like garbage. The staff was very rude and underpaid (I can tell).
The manager was a cheapo too.
PLEASE read these reviews and save your money. Do not go to this cruise.

RUN AWAY!!! SAVE YOUR MONEY! SUCH A SCAM!
In case you are blind and haven’t read the other posts on this page these people are SHADY. I bought a few pre-​paid tickets from them at a discounted rate thinking it was a good deal. Then I tried to use them and every single date that was eligible was booked/​sold out or it was a «special» fireworks/​champagne/​bullshit cruise night where you had to pay an upgrade fee. THEN, on top of it all they charge you ~$ 36 in «departure fees» if you can settle on a date. WTF.
FORGET IT. You are better off going on one of those Shoreline boat tours. They aren’t shady, no hidden fees, and yes, they have booze too. City Lights Cruises is SHADY. I’m surprised this business hasn’t tanked. Here’s to hoping.