Lake Cumberland State Dock

Today, I was out driving around with my hubby, Tony and daughter, Noël. We even took her baby, Sammy (her doggie) with us. We had stopped earlier at Rockhouse Natural Arch in Creelsboro, and followed route 55 to 127 to get back into Tennessee.
We came upon the Lake Cumberland State Resort Park and followed the signs into the park 6 miles to the State Dock. This lake is huge and it was so dag on busy. but from the overlook perch it was awesome to view.
It looks like they had a speed boat race yesterday because they were pulling several out of the water and towing out of the park. I would love to back here and watch a speedboat race, that would be so fascinating.
This is a lovely park with camping, cottage rental, a swimming pool, putt putt, several lodges, tennis courts, playgrounds and picnic areas. Very nice park and free to explore the many hiking trails.

This dock is really nice and the shop on the dock is nice. We stopped here to get gas while we were out on the lake and browsed the shop while they were pumping the gas. The shop was clean and had a lot of clothes and food and supplies. The bathrooms were nice and clean.

With 13 other guys in a bachelor party we rented the MEGA CAT 1000 (the biggest houseboat in the fleet) for 3 nights in August.
The state dock facility itself is nice and well-​outfitted. There are plenty of people around to help you load and unload.
The boat itself was pretty insane. Pictures do not do it justice. It is huge and well-​appointed and it’ll be sparkling clean when you board it.
Negatives:
— Parking and securing this behemoth is NOT easy and if you don’t do it correctly you run the risk of having the boat swing to the side and hit another boat, or have your props run aground. When we took the boat over we were only given about 30 seconds of instruction on how to do it. We were woefully unprepared and it was only due to some dumb luck that we didn’t damage anything.
— Not enough rope was supplied to tie off to some of the shoreline with far-​away trees.
— One of the refrigerators barely worked
— They supplied a broom to help keep the floor clean. What really would have helped would be a mop since the floor inevitably gets wet
So a 4.5 star review really, but the MEGA CAT did not disappoint.

My boyfriend and I went here at what I would consider to be a bit of an off-​season time for camping. There were quite a few RV’s there, but there were only about three other tent campsites, all spread out pretty far. The grounds are very pretty, but we felt a little bit lonely, due to the spread of the other campsites. The bathrooms are really. freaking. creepy. We’re definitely planning on going back in the spring/​summer, though, because it’s very close to the lake and has a lot of cool amenities that are available during those times.

State Dock desperately needs to train some of its employees on customer service skills. I had some concerns when I read someone’s post onTripAdvisor that State Dock considers you just a number, and boy, were they right! When talking with the boating staff this week, I expressed my disappointment in one of their rules/​processes, and one of their reps said, «Well, it’s not like we’re hurting for business» — as though I didn’t matter because they had other people to take my place. Go to Jamestown Marina — they have better pricing, very nice boats, and will bend over backwards to make you happy!

We went houseboating with 3 other families from a Monday through a Friday in August, 2011. Great trip for families, especially if your children are a little older (we had pre-​teens and teens). State Dock is THE première houseboating rental facility on beautiful Lake Cumberland. Customer service (and answering our many questions) before our trip were great. The boat itself (Cat Daddy 900) was beautiful and exceeded our expectations in size and quality. During the trip, we had an issue with our sewage holding tank. We were told that it would hold for our 4-​day trip. In reality, we woke up in the middle of the evening (after 1.5 days) to a stench. We investigated and called at 1:30am, and they sent someone out to us in the morning to check it out. Our tank was full and so we went to another dock to have it emptied. By the time we left after 4 days, it was starting to smell again. State Dock was very good at compensating us the $ 50 emptying charge (from the other dock) and also gave us $ 250 back for our troubles. We were pleased with how they graciously took care of us. In talking to the manager, though, he wasn’t surprised that we filled up so quickly (with 15 people on our boat), but in the next breath, he told us that it should’ve held for 4 days, which was a little confusing. Our only wish was that we would’ve been «warned» that if it started smelling, etc. that we might have to make a trip back on Day 2 or so to empty at State Dock. This wouldn’t have been a problem. We could’ve stuck closer to the marina on Day 2 and wouldn’t have been so concerned at 1:30am, having to wake up and call them. I would definitely recommend taking a houseboating trip and using State Dock to anyone considering it.