Amazing fun and the sweetest, best crew: Daniel, Yvonne, and captain Cool J rocked it! A perfect balance between Architectural culture and a fun speed boat ride with beautiful views of the city. We felt save, entertained and also the music was great. Highly recommend! Thank you. read more

I have taken two or three tour river and lake cruises so I am very familiar with these tours. Awhile ago, I had found a great deal on Groupon.com so I thought what the heck. What a great find. I had called Sunday evening for a Monday's tour. They had availability for the 12:15pm tour so I grabbed it. The customer service agent emailed me the confirmation for the tour. So booking the tour is very painless. I had to pick up the actual ticket at ticket counter and then proceed to step into the entry line for the tour. Due to open seating, arrive early. I'm glad that I was able to sit next to the railing. Beware, if it a hot day, the seats are a "little warm" when you first sit down. The tour begins with a quick open ride on the lake. The boat's captain does open the throttle a bit; up to 30-40 mph which was fun. Then we proceed to go through the locks to begin the tour on the river. Grant, the tour guide, who was fantastic. He would point out various buildings as well as the history or the importance of the building. Once the Sears Tower is pointed out, the boat will start the second part of the tour - heading back to the lake, including through the locks. Once the boat reaches the open waters, the boat will again increase the speed boat again. The 75 minute cruise was well the cost. It's a great way to see the city by the water ways. I would highly recommend this tour. I'm looking forward trying the Extreme Speed Boat tour. read more

See all

Jake was very cool and funny. Made my trip. Very fast boat. I especially loved seeing Trump Tower and the Apple Store. There was definitely a lot of things I learned today about Chicago. read more

Jake was a great tour guide for our corp event. Lots of fun and very knowledgeable. Kept everyone's attention while providing funny anecdotea. read more

Staff was super friendly! We had a great boat ride on a Thursday evening for my friends birthday! Recommend it for family and date night!

Extremely disappointed in this "extreme" tour today. We went in the 3:30 PM tour. The pilot went in a boring straight line to each point. I have been on this 3 other times and this one today was absolutely not worth it. Normally they tell you how wet you're going to get because the boat pilot will do s-patterns and sharp turns and stops to create huge wakes to soak the people in the boat. My kids and I were really looking forward to an experience like that as it had been a few years since we did it last. Unfortunately today was not the day and lots of people on the boat were very disappointed, including myself and my kids. read more

Very disappointed in the lack of transparency and clarity with regards to their website and distinguishing between a regular cruise and their thrill ride. Friends told me all about their thrill ride and how great it was. I clicked on their thrill ride image on their website which took me to their availability calendar. I booked a time slot, showed up with my kids, only to find out afterwards that it was the regular ride that we booked. There were no drop down selections on the website denoted regular vs thrill ride. No one said anything when checking in. I asked a representative afterwards and they told me the red boat which does the thrill rides had been out of commission and just came back on line. Incredibly disappointed and shocked at how little transparency there is on the website about both options and how to pick the thrill ride. read more

I wanted to show off Chicago to a friend of mine who was visiting the U. S. and opted to take her out onto Lake Michigan. But wait, I also wanted her to see the fantastic Chicago Architecture from the Chicago River. So, I called up Sea Dog and inquired if they had such a combination tour. Guess what , they do have such a tour. It is called , somewhat misleadingly , " The Chicago River Architect tour" I informed the Agent that I wanted the River AND the Lake tour. He assured me that despite the misleading reference as a River tour, it was actually a combination River AND Lake excursion. So, I took a chance and sure enough , it was in fact a combination River AND Lake excursion. We started out on the Lake and hit top speed as we went up and down the lake front. Wheeeee. Tour personnel volunteered to take photos of the patrons while using the patron's cameras to do so. That was kind of them as some of us are not very good at taking selfies. After speeding up and down the Lake front we changed course and entered the Lock System to exit the lake and enter the river to tour the River front Architecture. As we slowly moved down the Chicago River we received an excellent history lesson by the tour guide on the sites and buildings being viewed. It was a 75 minute excursion for about $ 37.00 per person. Well worth the price for speeding up & down the lake front followed by an instructional tour of Chicago River Architecture. Great Lake front and River front views combined with informative history lesson. read more

Seadog Cruises - Chicago Architecture seen from the Seadog - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Took a family trip to the Navy Pier and decided to do a tour with the Seadog cruise. Our tour guide, Jake, was personable, knowledgeable and entertaining. Captain Swag and first mate Skunk were also great navigating the boat through the lake. In my daughter's words, they made it "the best day ever"! read more

Jamie has such wonderful customer service. Such a beautiful ride. With really good music.

Enjoyable ride out on Lake Michigan. Crew was great - Abby / swag / Austin we're great read more

Seadog Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

It was an amazing experience. I took my family from out of the states on this trip and they loved the architecture and especially the end of the trip... I forget the name of the "leader" of the pack but he was awesome, smart with the Chicago history in addition to humor. Jamie (shoutout to her!) helped me with the tickets and she was awesome, made the whole experience so much easier because there were 8 of us. I recommend this adventure to all of my friends and anyone who reads this. It was awesome! read more

Loved this boat! Albert was funny and great a great tour! The Chicago skyline is amazing and would 100% recommend this cruise. read more

Seadog Cruises - Chicago skyline - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We booked a cruise this last Friday. We were trying to book the 11:15 and they told us to was delayed until 11:45 which was perfectly fine with us. We walked around and when we got back at 11:25 we saw the boat leaving. When we ask we were told the group that was supposed to be on to said they were running late and that's why it was going to be delayed but they ended up getting there on time. Instead of waiting for the people they sold 11:45 tickets to they decided to go ahead and go without us. That was pretty disappointing to us because we were really looking forward to the cruise before we heading back home. They did refund is our money but still very disappointing when they knew they sold tickets to people and told them 11:45. read more

Me and My Son had a ball on The Seadog Lakefront Cruise boat ride. It was fun and such a great experience for the both of us. Great fun and memories. There was a long line but it moved quickly. Look forward to doing the speed Seadog Cruise. read more

Seadog Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

This was such a fun activity to do, we almost froze to death as the temperatures dropped to 3 degrees Celsius but our tour guide was such great fun and we had a good time. We went for the lake and river cruise, so got to see a bit of Lake Michigan and then went down the river. They have other options too (river cruise only, speedboat tour etc) but this was the only one available when we went. We were sitting towards the front and middle, didn't get wet at all. I would definitely recommend this tour. For 5 adults we paid around 200 USD for a 75 minute tour, you get to see a bit of the lake and then cruise along the river. I would suggest doing the boat cruise in the summer months, it was freezing when we went in October. read more

This was my third time in Chicago but I had never done any of the Chicago boat tours and figured it was time. I looked at the various options and decided that the architectural tour was the one for me, rather than the fireworks or party cruises, as I wanted to see and learn about Chicago's marvelous buildings. After looking at the reviews (and prices) for the main boat tour companies, Seadog and another popular company were the two I was deciding between. In the end I chose Seadog as they also include a 10-minute lake speed ride at the end of the tour. I booked the last tour of the day, the 7:15 pm, so that I could catch the sunset too. It was my birthday that day and this seemed like a really nice and special way to end the day's celebrations. I could not have made a better choice! Going down the river in the middle of all those majestic buildings was a really magical experience. And the speed ride on the lake at the end was the cherry on top -- we got to see the majestic Chicago skyline under a beautiful sunset, and that gorgeous and impressive image is forever etched into my mind! Our guide, Anna, was awesome and explained in great detail the history and fun facts of each building. There was a lot of information given about each building so even hardcore history buffs would really enjoy this tour. As for me, I was too in awe with looking at the buildings to remember all that info, but even so, Anna made the stories so entertaining and lively that, a week later, I still remember a lot of interesting details. Tip: The building across the Seadog boats in Navy Pier has a variety of food options if you're hungry before or after the tour. I recommend the Garrett Popcorn shop -- if you've never tried it, you're in for a treat! read more

Seadog Cruises - The majestic Chicago skyline at sunset - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Unbelievable experience. Would highly recommend the fireworks tour.staff were soo friendly and the host Jake was really funny.Made the tour well worth it read more

Amazing tour. Jake was great. Yvonne and captain swag were unreal too! Would definetly recommend.

So fun and entertaining! Plus you get the history of Chi-Town and the River's many uses throughout history

Seadog Cruises offered a fun, informative 40 minute jaunt around the Chicago Skyline. Our Captain Swag and Steve and narrator Chopper were funny, friendly and very helpful. We has a group of 15 including three wheelchairs. They helped get the chairs up and down the ramps and couldn't have made our party feel more special. Very fun for the kids and with a tiny bit of spray to cool us off! read more

Amazing experience, jake, capt swag and cool J were spectacular. Fast fun and informative. This trio is highly recommended.

I took the 75 minute River and Lake Architecture Tour on one of the coolest days this summer. It was well worth it though. There was a small crowd on the boat for the tour, so there were plenty of choices in seats. The tour was impressive. Even with an overcast sky and bouts of rain sprinkles, the skyline was magnificent. As we veered out onto the lake, we had a small speedboat segment. I got soaked! I love every minute of it! The lake breeze along with the detailed tour guide was a perfect combination. As we entered the lock system to enter the River, we were inundated with historical tidbits about the Chicago River, Lake Michigan and Chicago. After our wait to cruise the river, we saw all of the great sights of Chicago and were given detailed descriptions of the most fascinating facts of each building. As a native Chicagoan (okay, fine...the suburbs), it was a once in a lifetime experience to see the city you've known all of your life as a tourist. 15/10 would love to do this again. P.S. Andy is amazing. All of his knowledge and storytelling was an additional bonus to an already spectacular tour. read more

Seadog Cruises - Scene from Seadog Cruises Architectural Tour - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

Excellent. Interesting and entertaining tour from Jake. I've been on a few architectural tours on the river, this one is a good balance between the architectural information and entertainment. Good guide, music and a zippy little ride at the end. read more

To be honest, I was scared about choosing the Extreme Thrill Ride. I get slight motion sickness from rollercoaster rides but I figured since we had done the regular river tour through Wendella already...we were curious to try something different with Seadog Cruises. Although we can't say that this ride is for everyone as it does get pretty extreme...I have to say that it was one of the best experiences from our entire 4-day trip in Chicago. It was so, so fun!! So in the beginning, the captain takes us on a gentle ride along Michigan Lake in the beginning and slowly begins to speed up the boat. I'm thinking, "Is that it?" Then all of a sudden, you hear the funny, autotuned T-pain music playing, and you see your boat going at high speeds and turning full 360-degree spins. Splashes. Sharp twists and turns. And lots of laughing and cheering. This ride was intense but so incredibly fun that I literally wanted to go on it again. We got a little wet as we sat closer to the front, but the captain and the assistant warned us a few times that we'd get more wet if we sat further in the back, so we refrained (others didn't!). One thing we were mandated to do was to keep our seatbelts on, which makes sense because you could easily lose your balance and jump off the boat during the twists and turns. I had my phone out during the ride; there was no fear that I'd drop it but I made sure to record my videos with both hands. However, I decided to put my phone away after some time and just throw my hands out in the air and cheer on with the group. Not to mention the incredible view of the postcard skyline...I just couldn't stop swooning over this beautiful city. We had a fantastic experience at Seadog Cruises and I'd give more stars if I could! Sooooo worth it! Make sure to dress warm and layer up!! read more

Seadog Cruises - 10/10 would do again. - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I was a tourist today, along with my sister, parents, and 4 year-old daughter. We went to Navy Pier and the grand finale of our visit was a 30 minute lakefront tour with Seadog Cruises. Shout-out to Captain Dolan, Victor and Tita for an amusing and fun ride. This was perfect as it gave us just the right amount of time on the water with some fun stories and education thrown in. We were on the yellow boat and aside from my daughter being a bit cold, had an awesome experience! Definitely recommend this as a great way to get in some time on the water and sight seeing in a very fun, energetic environment. This was an extrememly memorable experience for us all. I highly recommend it! read more

Absolutely recommended the extreme tour for anyone that wants to see the skyline while pumping their adrenaline! Staff were very friendly and attentive. Ps you'll get a little but its worth it! read more

Seadog Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

The sunset speedboat tour on the lake is definitely worth it. I only wish it lasted longer.

We opted for the 75 minute lake and river tour. Overall the tour was great. Boat was well maintained, they offered everyone bottled water, the tour guide (Maui) was energetic and informative, and the views are great. What they don't tell you is for at least 15-20 minutes of your tour, you are "stuck" in the lock to get between the lake and river. This could be a cool feature for some, but in the future is rather spend more time jetting around the lake. The tour starts out with a very short jet boat ride around the lake. Then you enter the lock and sit there (possibly in the sun) and not moving for what seemed like an endless amount of time. Once lowered to the river, you do get spectacular views of the city and informative insight into the architecture. It was very enjoyable. Then back through the locks and the tour is over. Everyone in our group agreed that we assumed there would be more time spent "jetting" around the lake and wish we got to do it again at the end instead of the end being a other trip through the lock. Overall, I recommend the trip. We reserved online about 3 hours before out tour. Maui was a great guide to have. read more

Seadog Cruises - View from the river - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This is so that Abby, Captain Swag, and grammy award winner LL Cool J can have free snacks

All these years living in Chicago, I never have ridden those iconic red and yellow jet propulsion boats. Accompany a friend and three little ones, the staff (Tia) was really careful with the kiddos. We did the lakefront 30 minute ride as the boys wanted to ride on the boat. Architectural tour was too long for these boys and they'd melt down in one quarter of the 75 minute excursion. They were too short for the extreme tour. Since school is out, there were a ton of people there on a Friday. Tours go out on the hour for the 30 minute rides. The rear of boat, you may get splashed, but the warn you as you board the vessel. Small kid friendly, I recommend if you need to distract them while getting a bit of skyline tour information from the tour leader. read more

See all

AMAZINGGGGG!! So much fun!!! We did the Extreme ride and it was so much fun. Just to know: FRONT- you don't get very wet if at all.. MIDDLE- at your own risk.. might get something. Closer to the rail the wetter. BACK- YOURE WET!!!! TAKE HATS OFF!! And hold on to sunglasses!!! WILL DO AGAIN!!! read more

Seadog Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The extreme boat ride is one of the best I have ever been on. Like the other reviewer, I was a bit wary bc I also get motion sickness and have had some lower back issues. However, this ride is worth it in terms of fun and price. You will wish you could go on again! Pro Tip: Pancho or not .... if you don't mind wearing someone else, usually there are some in the exit line where previous rides deposit theirs. It's just went and used. Or you can just brave it out bc walking around Navy Pier will dry you off in a short amount of time. read more

I have been on other architecture cruises in Chicago and SeaDog was not great but was good..the best part was the quick but not so fast speed boat ride on Lake Michigan followed by the trip thru Chicago river in downtown.. The guide was good but I think the other cruises provided more information during the architecture tour..We did spend alot of time waiting for the River locks to open and close which was not an issue with the other tours and this in turn eats into the tour time as well.. If in Navy Pier i would recommend going with these if not there are other options that start from River front and are better.. read more

This cruise was so much fun! I found last minute Groupons for the 75 minute River + Lake cruise. It sounds like a long time but time goes by so fast and you learn so much through their extremely knowledgeable guides. They first take you far into the lake so you can get a beautiful view of the city by the water. The reflection is amazing, pictures don't do justice to the sight. We went during the night so the lights reflecting off the buildings and into the water was breathtaking. (They go pretty fast so it might be a bit chilly- I'd recommend a light sweater.) After chilling out in the lake, they'll start making a way towards the beginning of the river. You'll be chilling near the entrance for a good 15-20 minutes until the gate opens, but during this time you're free to ask any questions to the guide and/or guide will be speaking about random facts and statistics. (Supposedly, not many cruises/tours do the river part for this reason... not many like waiting) - but time seemed to go by quickly. How much facts our guide was spewing was incredible. Really. Idk how he did it. We learned so much about the city and the various buildings along the river- very fascinating stuff!! (No sarcasm) My family and I enjoyed it very much. The river architecture part is soo worth it. Next time, I want to try this cruise during the day! read more

See all

I grew up taking the Seadog with my grandparents every summer, but had not been on in 15+ years. My friends and I were looking for fun activity to do during the COVID-19 pandemic, and decided to book online. Check-in was very easy, and the staff ensured that everyone kept their masks on and practiced social distancing on the boat. We brought my dog and she loved it too! Pro-tip: They offer a discount when you bring your dog! Our guide Lucious was very kind, knowledgeable, and energetic. If I could give more than 5-stars, I would! I had even more fun than I remembered having when I was little! read more

Seadog Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

I took an awsome ride on the SeaDog Thrill cruise! ...I am physical disabled that uses a wheelchair. The staff at Chicago Navy Pier SeaDog was so kind to me and excellent customer service!! ...Princess Jamie showed me compassion and care the whole ride...She made me made feel like... just because you have a disability. Does not mean you can't have fun and enjoy life!! I can not forget to mention the other amazing Staff Swagg Princess Jamie Cool J Andy Took really good care of me!!....Thank you so much on making sure my experience on the SeaDog Thrill cruise was amazing!!! read more

What an amazing trip! My daughter loved the river tour and lake speed ride! A big shout-out to Andy our tour guide who kept us laughing, Captain Princess for a very smooth ride and Gator for keeping us safe through the locks. Highly recommend!!!! read more

See all

FIRST OFF OUR TOUR GUIDE TRISTAN WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! I really enjoyed our 30 min boat ride. the tour guide was knowledgeable and funny and the boat driver was very skilled. while we were not aware prior, one on the boat they made it very clear that we were likely to get wet which was fine. it was a solid 30 mins of fun facts and hilarious jokes. also, if you are on the heavier side, they do require seatbelts. but two things, 1. the seats are wide and cushioned so they are very comfortable and 2. they offer seatbelt extenders. absolutely loved the staff and service that we received while getting tickets, waiting in line, boarding/de boarding, and everything else. would 100% recommend. read more

The tour was great! Jake was our guide and he was informative and very funny. All of the people that I had contact with while in line or on the boat were very nice and professional. I had a lot of fun. read more