We did the fireworks cruise. It was nice. It was kind of like being on a roller coaster for 45 min! If you sit on the edge seats you will get wet FYI. It was a nice view of the city and they did give us a few random facts about the various buildings we saw. Kind of pricey but it inst hard to just Google a coupon code to save a few bucks. Bought the tickets in advanced and it was helpful because there was a bit of a line when we showed up 30 min before boarding. We really enjoyed ourselves. read more

My husband, 13 year old son and myself took the 30 minute lake cruise this morning. The boat was clean and well maintained. The crew, Philly Cheese, Guac and Captain Cat took great care of us and made for a memorable trip! We would highly recommend. read more

We went on the Lake & River Architectural Tour and it was very interesting. The boat was clean and comfortable. Staff was friendly and helpful. The only reason we didn't give 5 stars is because at the end...the staff were soliciting tips which felt a little awkward. read more

Seadog Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My boyfriend and I went on the Extreme Seadog ride it was so much fun. The crew was awesome we got some facts on Chicago but to many to the point where you were bored. It was so much fun we will be going again. read more

A must do if you visit the pier in Chicago! Take the EXTREME BOAT RIDE!!!! Fun staff fast moving and great music...

Took the fireworks tour on a Wednesday night. First, the negatives: long wait in line, the ride is quite cold, there were three spiders on the wall of the boat right behind us, and we sat right in front of the jet so we couldn't hear a thing, including the music, whenever the boat was going anywhere. Those first two don't bother me all that much, just listed for thoroughness. The last two were unique to our seating, so maybe if we had gotten in line ten minutes earlier (and sat farther forward) or ten minutes later (and been seated on the next boat) then this might have been a 5-star review. But overall it's pretty thrilling to speed over the lake, get great night pictures of the city from the water, learn about the city from the tour guide ("Over there you see a building spelled W-I-L-L-I-S, that's pronounced 'The Sears Tower.'"), and best of all to get an unobstructed view of the fireworks from the pier. I'd go again in a second, but I'd try to get a seat near the front of the boat. read more

A spur of the moment thing that my friends and I decided to do while walking back down the Navy Pier and I have to say it was pretty enjoyable. Luda was a good guide who made the trip a lot of fun who even took time to take pictures for everyone who wanted one while heading across the lake. Cool Information. A few funny jokes. $22 and 30 minutes well spent. read more

We just did this on our recent trip to Chicago. Total BLAST! The boat goes really fast, does spins, and gets you really wet. Our teenage daughter loved it too. Great family fun! read more

This boat ride is sure to get you pumped up.....they are known for getting you wet so if it's warm outside and your ready for a whole new outlook on the city of Chicago...go check out the Seadogs. A little tip I like to give....sit on the inside perimeter of the boat!!! Much better! haha! read more

Like many other reviewers, I bought the 2 architectural tour tickets through Groupon. With the summer waning but a perfectly timed out of town guest, I used them last weekend (Sept 11th). We had great sunshiny weather but with some haze. Julianna was our tour guide and hilariously corny. I will admit, the tour is not for the devote architecture junkies; the tour has many fun and entertaining stories about the different buildings but is not heavy on the architects and their styles etc. Its a great tour for someone who doesn't really care about architecture but likes to see the tall buildings. One of the things this company has going for it is the single deck and uncovered boats. Most complaints I've heard about boat tours is having something over you so you can't see up. With the single open deck, there are very few "bad" seats so you'll get to see what you paid money to see. on the flip side, that means you are exposed to the elements so either bring rain gear (if there is a chance of rain) or lather up in sun screen if you're fair skinned (like me) . . . ~2 hours out on the water left me pretty toasty. Bottom line: I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I would definitely buy the groupon again next year and I do think its worth the full price if you do the on-line reservations. read more

The tour with Jake was great. I have lived in Chicago for a year now and FINALLY decided to take an architectural tour. He made the experience great! Even with our small hiccup of a summer storm. Thanks Jake and the Seadog crew for making my summer night one to remember. read more

All seats, though the same price, are not equal! Do not sit on the right hand (facing forward, don't know my leeward & whatever) side of the boat. You will never see the skyline without a bunch of heads in your way. The opposite side of the boat was always on the skyline side while we were always "out to sea". Fireworks were great,. A bit too much open water, fast driving. 20 minutes of that & then wandering back & forth along shoreline would have been better. read more

$20 groupon for a 30 minute extreme thrill ride, would not pay more than that. Do not be fooled by the "extreme thrill ride" part. For the most part it's pretty mellow, a couple of splashes, a couple of turns here and there, but the view of Chicago is beautiful from out there. That is what made the boat worth it. read more

I had a Groupon for the 30-minute speedboat ride (not the extreme one) and it was worth the price ($12) but I don't think it would have been worth full price. Our guide said that if you like roller coasters, you'll like this ride but I didn't get the roller coaster experience at all. The 30 minutes breakdowns to 5 minutes out of and back into the canal at Navy Pier, 3-4 minute fast ride to the south, sit a few minutes, fast ride down to the north, site for a few more minutes, then fast ride back to Navy Pier. It would be better if they just did a fast ride because I think that's what people are paying for, if they wanted to see the sights, they would take another kind of tour. read more

I loved our architecture tour of Chicago! I can't remember our tour guide's name, but they did mention that he was the one that did all of the research for the tour. Needless to day, he knew his stuff. We went the day of the Chicago marathon in the afternoon after I ran it, and it was an awesome way to spend the day. We are able to sit and hang out. They don't serve drinks on board, but you are able to bring your own (alcoholic and non) on board, as long as it is not in a glass container. We were also taken out into the Lake for a few minutes, where were were able to get amazing views of the city skyline. It was a super touristy trip, but very worth it. I recommend it to people visiting the city, or just wanting to explore where you live a bit more. read more

This was fun! Cool architectural tour of the city and finishing off with some fast laps on lake michigan! Tour guide was your typical 'funny' guy. We scored a good groupon deal on this, otherwise we probably wouldn't have done it. read more

Fabulous tour. Our tour guide was fantastic, great outgoing personality.

It was a-okay. We are Chicago residents and often take visitors on the architectural cruise. This was our first time on Seadog. While it's nice to sit in a boat that is smaller, it gets rather boring when you can't walk around, take your time to see the sights, have the option of going inside when it's cold (like the Wendella boats) or get a drink. I also thought the guide, Justin, was a nice dude but had too many uninteresting anecdotes a boat full of foreign tourists could neither understand, due to his mumbly style of speaking, nor care for. We enjoyed it because our visitors did, but I would point you to the other cruises that allow you to have a better view, enjoy it yourself and actually get a cruise experience. This is a boat ride. read more

Both the architectural and EXTREME cruises are well-done. I recommend them for tourists and locals looking to try something new. The cruises are pricey, so wait for a deal to come along. read more

Amazing experience. Did the architecture tour with a friend visiting town. worth every penny, fun environment, great story telling, amazing facts about architecture. the tour team was very experienced and engaging. Maui was our tour guide and he was so funny, animated and interactive. Loved everything about it! read more

The Seadog extreme thrill ride was one of the most fun things I've done in the city. I'm looking forward to the River Architectural Tour and the Speedboat Ride! read more

The extreme cruise was a little under $40 per ride. It was a solid 30 minute ride as advertised. The captain was amazing and the ride was a blast. I'd easily pay double the price for that same ride. read more

Loved our tour guide, and I loved going fast. Nice to get outside of the city and look in. Fun and relaxing. If you can get a Groupon deal it's a little cheaper. read more

Grace was a great guide on the 3:15 Architecture Tour today. Very funny and intelligent. Highly recommend doing the full tour vs only the speedboat tour. read more

If I could rate this as a negative number I would as we drove over two hours only to find out that the Extreme Thrill Ride was closed for maintenance. I would think this is something that they would notify their customers by email or phone on when you have a reservation for such thing. Not only would I not recommend this to any of my friends or family but you couldn't pay me to go near that thing read more

This was great! We went on the architecture tour. Dan, our guide, was funny and informative. Highly recommend!

Not great, but not bad either. Staff was courteous. The guy who talked was pleasant and overall did a nice job. It irritated me that we were made to exit in a crowded line past pictures they had taken earlier that they were trying to sell. With taxes and fuel charges? came to over $40. So, not bad but I guess I wouldn't do it again . read more

I've been on a few different boat tours and this one was by far the best that Navy Pier has to offer. If you have a chance be sure to go on the tour lead by Brian, he is funny and takes no breaks when giving awesome information all throughout the Chicago river. What I really liked was he told you when to "get your cameras ready" and even offers to take pictures of your group with neat backdrops of the city. They Sea Dog gives you a "best of both worlds" tour with the Chicago river slow tour and then it ends with a wonderful boat ride out on Lake Michigan that really lets you see the entire skyline. I've lived close to Chicago for years, and visited the city countless times, but this really gave me a perspective of the city I will never forget. Thank you Sea dog for the awesome tour! read more

The tour guide was knowledgeable, energetic, and very helpful. Unfortunately, on this day, it was supposed to be windy with some fog in the evening, so my sister and I booked our tour for 11:15 am, which would have put us in the clearest part of the day. When we got our conformation email, we discovered we had been bumped to the 7:15 pm. We decided to stick it out even though it had become very foggy and much colder. Once we pulled out, the boat the captain said she would be cutting our tour short because of the fog (we would be skipping the lake part of the tour) and then promised a refund for those who wanted it since we could see nothing of the buildings we were touring and would be skipping the last section. Once we got off the boat after being able to see NONE of the buildings, I called to try and get a refund. I shouldn't have bothered though, since the best they could offer me was a 20% discount on the next tour I purchase. This is my vacation, and when I come o Chicago for another I will not be booking through Seadog. I can now describe a bit of Chicago archetecture but I have no idea what those buildings look like. read more

Seadog Cruises - This is what we saw of Chicago - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I loved everything about the boat ride I had with Seadog. The boat was awesome looking, had comfy seats, and it was a smooth ride. The guide was very nice and made everyone laugh. I was surprised with how smooth the boat was, even at a fast pace. Bonus: there was good music playing from the boat's speakers, and you could actually hear the music clearly at a reasonable level. However, I wish that all Seadog boat rides included an architectural tour on the Chicago river, because that's what I was expecting to get. The view from the city was amazing, though. I'd recommended everyone to take a cruise with Seadog at least once. read more

They changed the time of my scheduled tour and no notification was given. They were at least accommodating enough to change the type of cruise. read more

This Architecture and Lake Tour is the BEST! Our tour guide, Jake, did a fantastic job. He encouraged us to point out buildings we wanted to hear more about. He had lots of facts about the Chicago fire, how the city was rebuilt. This was my daughters second tour and she said each time the guides were fantastic. I highly recommend the Seadog Cruise - they make it fun~ Cindy in Boise, ID & Kayla from Chicago read more

Took the Extreme seadog thrill ride yesterday. Was a ton of fun! Got wet of course but have to expect that if going on this boat. Our guide "cuddles" was a blast! He was as entertaining as the ride. Had me laughing the whole trip. Only downside is its a little pricey. Cost $32 a person then they want $21 for the photo of your group when you get off the boat...which is optional of course. Great trip though! read more

The trip was great. The concept is cool and something new. The tour guide seemed very knowledgeable on everything but her liberal views. She must have said she hated Trump 50 times. I didn't pay to hear you about how you want to live in a socialist state. Other than that it was a good time. Keep politics and religion of the tour not the right place for it. read more

Went on may 26th. Ride was great but the tour guide was absolutely awful. Female named Dianna. Worst tour guide ever. Then when we got to stop and view the skyline she didnt really know about the buildings. Although she did know which was Trump tower. She had nothing but derogatory things to say about it and pointed it out of the skyline saying "That one right there is Trump tower. You can tell by all the black clouds around it because its all evil". I dont care who you're voting for, but I don't want to hear your uneducated political comments on a tour with my family. The ride was great as long as she wasnt talking! read more

Great tour with a great tour guide and crew. Shout out to the brilliant Mike, princess jamie and mo. Thanks guys.

(The 1-star is solely for the specific situation I'm about to describe; the actual boat tour was fantastic and deserves 5 stars.) I showed up 10 minutes before my departure time, as instructed, and I was told to get into a line that was roped off. As I was waiting there, I noticed other people boarding a boat, and I began to wonder if I was supposed to be on that boat as my departure time began to approach. I thought, oh maybe they got some VIP ticket that lets them get on the boat early or something, and continued to wait. But then they started to remove the platform onto that boat and loosening the ropes etc, so I got out of line and went to one of the employees, showed them my ticket, and asked if this boat that was leaving was the one I was supposed to be on. They said that it was, so then I asked the original guy who told me to get in line (he was also standing there) why he told me to get in the other line. His reply: "Wait, I thought you were with the other Asian people", referring to an Asian family standing in front of me in line. (I'm also Asian.) Never mind the fact that I did not speak one word with them, or make eye contact with them, or in any way associated with them - apparently, if you share the same skin color as others standing near you, then that means you're part of the same group, at least on the Sea Dog cruise. The actual ride itself was fantastic. But with employees like this, I'm never returning again. read more

I must say, at first I was very skeptical about this cruise line. When we first arrived to the boat an hour before our cruise, there wasn't any crew member or customer in sight. We walked around the pier and by the time we got back, the line was full and there were smiling faces on all crew members. We boarded the boat and found our seats. A few moments went by and we were greeted with the most enthusiastic member of the three, Maui. Captain red beard and co captain chopper were there as well doing a wonderful job. During the speed portion Maui was dancing to the music doing anything to put smiles on the customers faces, and he succeeded. He knew almost every building we passed, and an extent history lesson about each followed. Maui did an amazing job and I hope everyone gets to have an amazing experience just like I did. read more

The Seadog Haunted River Tour was pure awfulness! I'm sure the regular tour is fabulous, but the Halloween version is crap. The tour guide was dressed in a black ninja costume pretending to be some ghost, which was what we expected - in the description of the tour. Everything was eerie and cool until he started talking. He told us how he was the cause of everything that had ever gone wrong in the history of the world. I'm not really a believer in ghost stories, but when EVERY SINGLE one ends with "because I cursed them" I can no longer even pretend. $30 per ticket was certainly TOO much to pay for this atrocity. The only part of the trip that was remotely enjoyable was the end where we got to cruise around the harbor blasting music. Otherwise, it was 75 minutes of "is it over yet?" "somebody please push me into the water and put me out of my misery." read more

This is a great way to learn more information about Chicago! My friends and I did the 75 minute tour. Two of us were from this area and two were visiting from out of state. We all learned something new from the tour and had a great time on it; the staff was very knowledgeable and amusing! read more