Anita Dee Yacht Charters

We did the Wednesday Night Sunset, Happy Hour, & Firework Cruise for a Unilocal event. It was fun. We enjoyed the company we had and the fire work show. Cocktails were good $ 8 per drink it’s okay but I felt it was expensive. I wish they also sold or offer some food with it like cheese and crackers but it was a free event for us so I can’t complain too much.

Thanks Unilocal Chicago! This was my first Unilocal elite event and it was pretty fun. Thankfully, we had a perfect night for a little cocktail cruise action. There are several bars aboard and I’m sure they are making some good coin! Drinks are not cheap but they are not ridiculously high either. The cruise doesn’t go out that far and circles around navy pier but you can’t beat the city views. The music was awesome and it’s the best way to see the fireworks. I’d go again and bring my out of town friends for sure. Thanks again to Unilocal!!!

The staff was excellent and the music that was played was great, and worked out well with our event. I really appreciated the staff and their hard work with making our event as awesome as, possible.

My new husband and I hosted a cruise the day after our wedding on the Anita Dee I Saturday, May 7^th. We had a lot of out of town guests and thought it would be a nice way for them to see the city from a different perspective. We booked a two hour cruise that went down the river, so that everyone could check out the awesome architecture the city has to offer.
When we were booking the event, Colleen assisted us. She was great and made sure the day went exactly as planned. The day of staff: Ryan (our Captain), Steve and Chris (our crew) and Shelly (our bartender) executed everything perfectly. All our guests were amazed with the level of service and professionalism they carried throughout the event. We had a couple late arrivals (some guests that had too much fun the night before), and Ryan was more than accommodating with waiting a couple extra minutes to depart.
As an experience, our guests were more than impressed by the cruise. It was a great thank you for those that travelled so far to be with us on our special day and for those that are local. Most of our guest that live in Chicago have never taken a cruise or other tour down the river, they really enjoyed it. Also their kids LOVED it. It was a great way to end our wedding weekend. I highly recommend others to do the same!

Anita Dee… More like Anita Mechanic! I paid over 120 dollars for a Memorial Day night cruise on Lake Michigan. The boat broke down and was stuck at the dock the entire time. I contacted the organizer for a refund and they refused. They are trying to give people 50% off a future cruise. Even if I lived in Chicago, like I would give these people more of my money or step foot on their broke ass boat. I understand that mechanical issues happen, but it is their responsibility to maintain the boat and they should have offered the passengers at least a partial refund.

Went on this yacht for a private event.
It was a nice night. We lined up around 7pm and stamped our way onto the ship. There are three different levels with indoor and outdoor options. Bars are on each level including the top deck. We had a large group of 300 or so and the line to the bars were long for the first hour or so. Slowly the lines cleared up and we were able to get to the drinks faster.
The first level has washrooms, a piano, tall boy tables, and a separate indoor/​outdoor viewing seated area behind the bar. If you walk outside from this area, the back of the boat, you can walk down the side of the boat to the bow of the boat. This is a great area to get a view of the city once you are out on the lake.
The middle level has washrooms as well with a bar and a dance floor. This is where they had the DJ set up but not too many people brought their dancing shoes that night. The music was loud enough and or amplified to the upper level of the boat so people were able to get the nice view of the skyline, the fireworks, etc., while also dancing to music.
The top of the boat is huge and this is where most of the partygoers gathered. We were a large group so it became pretty busy on the top. Even so, there was still some space to dance and camp out with a group of people. There was a bar outside on this top level as well.
Good service and quality experience. It took us a while to get out of the river to the lake due to some water traffic. I am guessing this is not normal but it didn’t ruin the night. Can’t compare to any other options but this was a nice night on the lake.

I was definitely not impressed. We went on the 3^rd of July for my friends birthday on the Anita Dee II. We were told to arrive at 9:45 and the boat would leave at 10:30. Turns out we didn’t start boarding until 10:30. Then we sat and didn’t move for probably another hour. The wait for the bars were ridiculous and was in the middle of the dance floor. 1 bartender really??? The upper deck had no music because the speakers sounded like they were blown out, same with the bottom floor. We were also not a fan of the dj. It was nice to view the city, but I was expecting more for my money. I don’t know if it was due to the holiday or what but I will not be going back.

I held my wedding reception on the Anita Dee II on June 27, 2015. My fiancé and I looked at many different venues in both Michigan and in Chicago and could not be happier that we chose the Anita Dee II for our reception venue.
The Anita Dee Staff are wonderful. We first met the director of Marketing/​Business Development back in September to discuss using the yacht as our wedding ceremony and reception venue. Marc was wonderful. He made sure that this venue would be perfect for what I wanted without pressuring me into a contract. I really liked this as many other venues tried to pressure me into signing a contract the day that I toured the venue. Marc held my date and made sure that I had time to make sure this was the perfect location for our venue. Marc was also very responsive to all of my questions and concerns. Marc provided me with a list of preferred vendors to use on the yacht and ALL of the recommendations were great. I liked that I did not have to use these vendors. However, almost all of my vendors were from the preferred vendor list provided by the Anita Dee II.
During my wedding planning process, I decided to just have my reception on the yacht and have my wedding in a nearby church as this was important to my family. The Anita Dee staff made this change very easy. As my wedding approached, I was contacted by my event coordinator from the yacht, Colleen. Colleen was AMAZING! She answered all of my questions and allowed me to the yacht numerous times prior to the wedding to go over the details of my wedding. On the day of the wedding she was right there making sure everything was perfect and did EVERYTHING that was asked of her. Whether it was for the yacht to change course or to assist me in the bridal suite, she was right there making sure things were perfect.
I would HIGHLY recommend the Anita Dee II for a wedding or any other type of event. The yacht is beautiful and the staff are great!

Loud.

Well this cruise doesn’t go out far. It’s fun of you bring friends. Otherwise it’s lame.

Most of the stars in this rating come from the views you get of the city once you’re out in the Lake. The rest of the experience isn’t so A-​OK. I’ll recount the way things play out on a typical cruise so you can make your own judgement.
Firstly, the address is hard to pinpoint, even for cabbies, so do your research on that beforehand, lest the boat sail without you. Once you find the right boat, you wait in a decently-​long line to board. Airport-​grade security is administered on all passengers before boarding. Once you’re aboard, there’s a reasonable amount of space to move around in across the multiple decks. The top deck is the most crowded, so if that’s your thing, head on up.
We waited at least 30 minutes past the advertised departure time before getting underway. That’s probably the fault of the lock and dam, but still that’s a lot of standing and waiting. What do you do while you wait? Drink, most likely. Drinks are pricey, as you might expect, and sneaking your own aboard is out due to the pat-​down/​wanding you’ll get. However, with multiple bars aboard, you’ll never want for drink, if you have the cash or plastic.
The lock/​dam is interesting if you’ve never seen one operate before, and sailing up and down the shore offers outstanding views of the skyline. On that basis alone, I would recommend the charter, but I will be hunting for another boat when next I need my fix of Chicago at night.

Was not impressed at all, even at the $ 13 Cocktail Cruise Groupon price. The boat is small, not enough seats for everyone (although props for having a bar on each floor), and the cruise doesn’t even leave the break wall. Your view is pretty much navy pier and the half of the top «observation deck» level that is taken up by a non-​functional mini helicopter.
The drinks are mediocre and what they don’t tell you before boarding is that you HAVE to buy drink tickets, even on the boat. The bar tenders only take tickets. So do buy them outside the boat to save $ 1…if you go… which you shouldn’t.

Private Event Rating. We had a small fundraiser with about 150 people on a Saturday afternoon. I would highly recommend Anita Dee II for this kind of event.
Staff — Wonderful to work with. Paul, Colleen and the gentleman we worked with on the day of were all great. I found them very responsive to our requests and showed flexibility when we needed it.
Boat — The boat was nice, what you would expect for a large commercial style yacht. The top deck was great with the helicopter. One piece of advice, if you want a serious sound system, I would suggest hiring a DJ that can provide some of their own speakers. With all of the wind and noise from the city, the speakers get drowned out easily.
Overall we had a great experience and hope to book another party on Anita Dee II next year.

It was perfect! My mom came into town from Michigan and I had the day off of work so we wanted to do something fun. We found the Architectural Tour online and purchased our tickets right away. We took my 11 year old son in hopes we could all enjoy the views. We did! The guide was great! He was very fun and personable. The tour was an hour and it was awesome… fun facts and information that I will remember. The ride was beautiful and I am so glad we went! The crew was so friendly and I couldn’t help but notice how clean the yacht was… it smelled very clean as well. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND going on this tour! It was a wonderful way to spend some time with my family.

I took Anita Dee Yacht Charters’ Architecture Tour while I was on a business trip in Chicago this past week. I took the tour on the spur of the moment but I am so glad I did! The tour lasted about an hour and I got to see some incredible examples of Chicago’s rich and diverse architecture. Mike, our guide, was a lifelong native of the area and not only provided us with some great insights and background on the buildings we saw, but shared some very interesting insights and history on Chicago. He also threw in some comedy as well, to make it a really enjoyable experience. The rest of the staff was very friendly, courteous, and professional. I was even greeted by the Captain who wanted to make sure I would have a great tour.
I believe that Anita Dee has just started offering this architecture tour. I would highly recommend that you take the tour. It’s fun, informative and had some great photo opportunities! Definitely bring your camera!

Yesterday I used the Groupon for the Monday Night Sunset Cocktail Cruise aboard the Anita Dee II Yacht. What a nice night to go out on a boat cruise! The weather was perfect. My bad for assuming at least one or two cocktails would be included cause they weren’t. I guess I just implied that from the name of the event and thought our tickets would include at least one drink.
The boat itself was nice. There were 3 levels and of course we race to get a seat on the top level. There’s a helicopter on the top deck, which makes for nice picture taking. LOL. We could faintly hear music playing downstairs and question why we couldn’t really hear the music on the top deck. We wanted to get the party started. We were told that the DJ didn’t bring all the right equipment and we would have to go down to the lower deck to hear it. We chose enjoying the view over the music, but now I wish we hadn’t. We went downstairs towards the last 10 minutes of the cruise and the DJ music was on point and playing every song I wanted to hear… next time I guess.
The only food that was served on board was some really nasty pizza. The drink though was pretty good. I went with the rum punch. Very sweet and just the way I like it. The views were amazing towards the end as we circled around Navy Pier and got to view the magnificent Chicago skyline. I think I would like to give the whole boat cruise thing another try, but perhaps next time on a smaller intimate boat with music on all levels.

Don’t do it. We had this boat for a private event and it was definitely not a good decision. Very few of us could fit inside (they only let us in the middle floor, since they were setting up a show on the bottom floor) so most of us got put onto the top deck, which would’ve been fine had it not been cold and the deck not been wet from recent rain. The DJ was fine and the food was okay, although you had to stand right next to a speaker to order anything from the bar. The show, which we were later allowed downstairs for, was absolutely horrible and a waste of my time.
By far not worth the money.

Its the worst thing you can do for nye! Very boring, not good food, and the dj sucks! There is not even enough seating for everyone on the cruise… the windows were so foggy that you could not enjoy the view and no dj on bottom floor. At least if you go to a bad club you can leave but once you are stuck on a yatch your whole nye is ruined. Very expensive for cheese and cheap drinks, no table and weird crowd.
What a mistake! I would never do this for. nye again its a complete rip off.

We decided to have a work outing with our office on a fall evening: someone suggested a boat tour on the lake, and it turned out to be one of the best things we have done! Beautiful sunset and cloud patterns, great views of the city going back and forth between the north beaches and museum park as the sun set. We went on a weeknight (Monday) that had a very low rate of under $ 20. We had dinner before: this is key since the food served appeared to be overpriced for lower quality. Drinks were slightly expensive too as expected and there was a bit of a line but there was no rush to go anywhere.

Very nice yacht as I was able to check it out via
Of course the best part was the upper deck with the nice, comfy seating all around. There is a helicopter on the top deck as well which is probably just a prop and not a functioning chopper. There was a bar on each floor, but the upper deck was where you needed to be to see the awesome view that we call the Chicago skyline. The drink of choice seemed to be coconut rum with pineapple juice… I had about 6 in the span of 2.5 hours. The 2^nd floor has a dance floor where everyone was jamming to some old school/​new school tunes.
I always love being on a boat and I would definitely check out Anita Dee again