The Mystic Blue Fireworks & Dinner Cruise In Chicago was Not Worth the Price

When planning my August 2008 trip to Chicago, I was pretty excited when I found out all the different cruises you could take from Navy Pier. At first I was planning to do a sight seeing tour, but after more research a Dinner Cruise sounded the best. I usually love dinner cruises because you get the combination of food, entertainment and sight seeing. I found two cruises that offered dinner AND fireworks on Saturday night and this sounded great. The first boat offering this was the Spirit of Chicago, the second was the Mystic Blue. After some research I found that both were ran by the same company and both offered basically the exact same package - same price, same path and similar menus. The only difference was that Spirit of Chicago recommended dressing up where as Mystic Blue said Casual Clothing. Therefore, I choose the Mystic Blue based on that reason since everything else was the same.

The Price
I was a little overwhelmed by the price of the cruise at $87 a person, especially when you finish checking out and they add in all kinds of fees and taxes. I've been on many other nice dinner cruises that did not cost nearly that much. I paid the extra $20 up front for the boarding photo but did not try for any of the other special offers since they were two expensive (i.e. $40 to guarantee sitting by a window).

Boarding
The boarding process took awhile. Boarding began right on time at 7:45, and we were near the start of the line. However when they say they leave at 8:30, they mean it... the boat was boarding this entire time as we just sat there and waited. They take a photo of each group upon boarding (the one I had already paid for). My only problem with this aspect was that it was already pretty dark outside, so in our photo you can't even see the water behind us making me wonder - what's the point?

The Boat
Upon arrival, the boat looked pretty big, but not as big as other dinner cruises I have been on. We were sent down to the bottom level and as soon as I hit those stairs I was already annoyed. I've never had to eat on a bottom level of a dinner cruise. Usually the tables are set up mid to high level. The bottom level held about 150 people (or so the DJ told us). The second and third levels were smaller and one had a wedding reception going on. Then there is a small observational deck on the 3rd level and a bigger deck on a 4th level. Even though the DJ had stated there is "plenty of seating" on the observational decks, this was not the case. There was maybe 12-15 tables and 20-25 chairs. I had expected there to be enough chairs for the majority of the people so we could all sit and watch the fireworks.

My Problems
At first, I had no major problems, other then being annoyed about being sent below. The salad bar was ready upon arrival so we dug in while everyone was boarding. Slowly though, my problems begin to surface. First one was the noise of the floor we were on. There were two parties on our level and as more and more people came down those stairs, the noise level went up and up to the point where we couldn't even enjoy talking. Once again, I've been on many dinner cruises before and never had a problem with the noise before. It did not feel like the nice relaxing cruise I had expected.

Then it was 8:30, time for the boat to leave, and we were long done with our salad. My second problem was... when is the food coming? We saw them slowly setting out the dinner for a long time. Our plan was to eat dinner and then head upstairs to the observational deck, but it seemed like they wanted to delay the food in order to stretch out your cruise time. Plus, our waiter hardly ever came back so we didn't know what was going on or how long it would be.

My third problem came while waiting for the food. Once we started moving, I realized our table at the back of the boat must have been directly above whatever they use to turn the boat. Usually that's not a big deal. Usually the boat turns, you vibrate for a minute, then the boat goes straight for awhile and you don't feel anything. HOWEVER, on the Mystic Blue the boat turned, and turned, and turned forever. The boat turned at very slow speeds, went straight for a very short time, then turned and turned and turned again. Our seats were vibrating the whole time. This combined with the normal sway of the boat was making me sick. I wanted dinner to come even more because I thought the food would make me feel better.

Dinner FINALLY came and I grabbed some mashed potatoes, a slice of fish, some beans and a bun. I felt better standing up where the food was because it was in the middle of the boat, however as soon as I sat down and felt the vibration at our table again, I started to feel sick again. I basically ate mashed potatoes, tried to eat a piece of the fish (which was cold) and told my husband that I was ready to go up as soon as he was done. What a waste! I paid all that for a dinner cruise and I could barely even eat.

Sitting on the Observational Deck, I did feel a lot better. It really was just being in that vibration that made it awful. We pulled up chairs next to the edge so that we could have a good view of the fireworks, and it's a good thing we did because soon the crowd piled up and most everyone was forced to stand due to the limited seating. After the fireworks stopped and the crowd cleared, I was feeling better so we decided to go down and get dessert. Once again I filled my plate, went to our table (by the way, you can really only sit at your own table as all the others are assigned to someone else), and after eating just a bit of cake I felt bad again. We went up to the top for the remainder of the cruise.

The Hours and the View
The cruise was just too long. The fireworks ended at about 10:35 and then we are stuck on this boat, hardly moving, for another hour. I did not think it was necessary to have the cruise going for an hour after the fireworks. My suggestion would be to have the cruise start an hour earlier so that you could be on the boat before sunset and actually get a few nice snapshots. Because the sun had set before the cruise even left, all we could do is try to get pictures of the lighted up landscape - which is pretty hard with a regular digital camera. I would have much preferred an earlier start and getting back to the pier right after the fireworks ended.

The fireworks themselves were not that spectacular. Even though people around us were ooohhhing and aaahhhing a lot, I've seen plenty of fireworks displays this year that were better and longer. I'm sure Navy Pier keeps it short because they do this once or twice a week all summer and fall, so I can't fault them for that, just saying it's not worth taking a cruise to see them. Next time I'd just go to the local beach and watch them from there.

My Advice
In the future, I would never go on any dinner cruise leaving from the Navy Pier. The slow moving boats really don't go very far and because they are moving so slow, you are more likely to get sick. Most dinner cruises go a lot farther distance, but on this cruise you basically saw the same view the entire time - that's no fun if you ask me. I am not saying I wouldn't go on this or another boat for a daytime sight seeing tour from the pier - but I would never do the dinner cruises again. I still love dinner cruises and will continue to try them out in other locations, but just not in Chicago. There just isn't enough to see that you can't see from the top of the Ferris Wheel. Good Luck in your vacation planning!