Spirit Of Chicago - Awful!

We went on this trip as an alternative to standing on a baking hot beach to watch the air and water show. I was hoping to get some great pictures, as i hadn't been to the show for years and was excited by their claim on the web site "will give you one of the best seats for the Annual Chicago Air & Water Show." After getting over the sticker shock, the $49.90 base price actually comes out at $65 including taxes and "fees" and the additional $49 to guarantee a window table, we were excited.

We arrived and got on board easy enough, only to notice that it was pretty empty and we would have had a window table anyway, and secondly, even the non window tables were pretty friggin close! Ripoff number 1!

The food was limited and average at best. We were amongst the first to board and it was already mostly cold. A selection of chicken something, beef something and some sides, and that was about it. Brunch at the Hancock is about $50 without the rip "fees" and is 100 times better. Ripoff number 2!

We were offered drinks, water, tea, coffee or iced tea, but no soda. You could get a refillable Pepsi product for the bargain basement price of $3.50. Ripoff number 3!

Still, it all would be worth it for the air and water show right, ....right????? NO, WRONG! We were a LONG, LONG way out, one of their sister ships was at least 1/2 mile closer, but we could barely see the specks on the horizon, unless they happened to fly over us. We were at the "site" to watch the show for maybe 45 minutes and didn't see much, not their fault as such as they don't run the show, but certainly they were way too far away to see anything water show wise, and like I mentioned the air show was mostly specks on the horizon of the city. I actually had to go ask the captain to move closer, which he did, marginally, on the way back to the pier. Ripoff number 4!

The boat itself was OK, though we had paper table cloths and both the high chair and booster seat given to us were filthy, and had to be cleaned, lord knows when was the last time they were even wiped down. The salt shaker was so wet inside it was almost solid. Little things I know, but they all speak to the general care and attention to detail of this company. There was no baby changing facilities in the bathrooms.

Last, but by no means least, there was the entertainment. Provided by the "singing servers", which might explain their lack of attention to their actual patrons. They all seemed to studying music or arts and were all invited to sing, or in most cases, shout, for the audience. They truly were terrible, and the audience would have been better served with some pub karaoke!