Offshore Adventures

We booked a 6 person sailing trip for 2 hours and we had a blast! The directions were clear, the cruise started on time and our captain was hilarious. We enjoyed hooking up our phone to the built in speakers and they even had a cooler full of ice waiting. Highly recommend!

My wife and I had interest in sailing, and found a Groupon to use for her 30^th birthday. The day was absolutely beautiful and perfect for sailing. Captain Bill is an excellent mariner and sailor! He was informative not only with sailing but also with Chicago history too, funny and kind. Bill involved us in the responsibilities too with the sails and steering the boat. It was a great experience and we look forward to doing it again. We did a 3pm sail, but would enjoy sunset next time.

If I could give negative stars I would!!!
I had a bought a voucher thru living social — booked a cruise for ⁵⁄₂₁. Then I got injured a few days before the cruise date, Messed up my knee, looking like I’ll need surgery to fix it. Contacted them via email to let them know. Was told they have a 7 day cancellation policy. Which is understandable, but life happens and they should be flexible. I contacted the and just didn’t show up so they could have resold the seats. I wasn’t able to go because of an Medical issue, not that I just wanted to reschedule. Then they marked my living social used and called me the day on the cruise. The same lady, Ann that answered my email earlier, well the first one, she didn’t bother to reply to my second one.
I think this is poor customer service and will be telling everyone I know about how they treat customers with emergencies! They need to understand that things happen and work with people. I will be disputing this through living social to get my money back!
Dina Chamblee

Been renting from this group for a few years now and have never had a bad time. The captain’s are all very professional as well as the rezzie staff. Rick and Anne are both great. This is one of the coolest ways to see the city and if you split the 199 $ deal between 6 peeps, its really not bad for 2 hours on the lake. About $ 33 each for the mathematically challenged when you have 6 in your party and since its BYOB, thats all you will spend. (except dont forget to toss a tip to the Cap!). I would def rather be on a boat with 5 of my friends and a captain taking care of us then be on some over crowded tourist affair with a cash bar and some dude on a microphone making bad jokes. 5 stars all day. Cant wait till next season!

Anne is amazing!!! Great charter. Wonderful sailing experience. Captain felt like she was one of our best friends for years.

We love Offshore Adventures and we love Captain Anne! We are a group of 6 and originally found out about OA through Groupon. Now we have made this an annual tradition! With the Groupon the 6 person cruise is also very affordable.
The weather plays a huge part, but even on a foggy year we still had a great time on the boat. We bring lots of wine, cheese, crackers, etc. and plug in our playlist and are ready to go. We always have a lot of fun, and get great views of the city (aka Instagram worthy photos) as a bonus. We have done daytime and nighttime cruises and I would suggest trying both!
Obviously there are times when the cruise has to be cancelled due to weather. this happened to us this past May and we had to reschedule. However we have had an easy enough time rescheduling both times this has happened and one can’t expect Offshore Adventures, or even the amazing Captain Anne, to control the weather. Something to keep in mind if you’re just visiting Chicago.

RUDEST CUSTOMER SERVICE REP EVER!
Made reservations for 4 & we were in jeopardy of being late because we could not find out how to get there. So I call & I let the reservations rep know, but instead of being helpful and giving us some type of direction, the rep replies «we sent directions to your email». Mind you, I’m not the one who booked the reservations so how would I know that? Seems like the rep was too busy being negative Nancy to be helpful. She told us that the captain can not hold the boat for us because there were 2 others waiting. Ok, so in my mind I figure with her lack of assistance, we’re not going to make it, so I ended the call with ok, I understand, thanks for your help (if you can call it that). At the time of our reservations, she calls back and my mom answers the phone. She tells my mom «everyone else was able to find it», and continues to be rude and disrespectful to my mom. Never have I ever had a customer service rep CALL ME to be rude. We were genuinely lost and we may have been able to make it with a little positively and guidance seeing how Google maps kept telling us we where 5 minutes away. We would rather forfeit our reservations anyways than to have to tolerate a Debbie Downer anyways.

A group of friends and I have been taking 2 trips with Offshore each summer for 3 years now and absolutely LOVE it! We have a great time out on the boat and wish we could spend all day out there. The captains are all super accommodating, fun, knowledgeable and professional — shout out to Captain Ann, our fav! We’ve never had a single bad experience and thoroughly look forward to our trips each year. We’ve even discussed doing a third trip in the fall. Highly recommend Offshore if you’re looking for something fun to do in the summer in Chicago.

At least have the curtosy to show up at your pier when you have customers paid up.35 $ special event parking, and my whole day wasted because you’re too lazy to show up!
SORRY THERE’S NO WAY TO GIVE ZERO STARS

Finding this place by foot is a bit hard but once you do it’s so worth it! Captain Rick was lovely– informative but not too chatty and let us relax and enjoy the night. We took the sunset cruise from 8−10pm and it was really beautiful. I would definitely go again. What a perfect date night. Captain Rick played soft like chill music and we had a great night. There was another couple on the boat and they were lovely too. Large boat with tons of moving space. Beautiful city views!

Scheduled cruise for July 17^th. Policy states, there is a 1 week cancellation policy. Called 1 week prior to find, all of office was on vacation for the entire week. Sent an email as well. Heard back day prior to cruise via email. I said I would need to reschedule. On the day of the cruise our cruise vouchers (from Groupon) were marked as redeemed. Because they were marked as redeemed, Groupon needs to go through different process to credit. (which we did not even originally want, just wanted to reschedule).
Not a great way to do business.

Awesome afternoon on the lake. Could not have been any easier to book and find. Three boats went out at our time. We had six guests plus our captain Bill. The captain was very knowledgeable about anything water related from Chicago’s water sanitation supply to bird life to boat racing ! Fun fun afternoon would highly recommend.

I originally scheduled this cruise last year (2014). By the time I scheduled the cruise, I was looking at a September date to sail. The day of, I received a call indicating there were rip tides in Lake Michigan. We were advised to select a different date. Due to how late in the season it was and our group’s scheduling constraints, we were advised to push the cruise off until 2015.
We then chose a July date in 2015. The day of, we experienced torrential downpours, so I called Offshore’s main number to see if we were still on. They have a very long voicemail message, which is probably helpful if you are finding out info, but trying to contact them directly is a fool’s errand. I left two voicemails after listening to the same 5 minute outgoing message. I wrote 2 emails to their main email address and happened to notice I missed a call from a 773 number. I listened to the voicemail and it was Rick, our captain. I called the number back and it went to voicemail. The voicemail said «Michael» versus Rick. Additionally, after I didn’t hear back, I called the number again. Some woman answered and seemed upset I was looking for a Rick.
Meanwhile, the rain kept coming. Chicago was in a flash flood warning and a tornado watch, yet I couldn’t figure out what was happening with my cruise. When the rain wouldn’t let up, I called it. I said it’s not worth our safety to go out on Lake Michigan.
My friends agreed. I was going to try for a refund.
Well at about 4:31 or so, Rick called again from the same number I had been calling, to see where we were. I told him I had a ridiculous time contacting Offshore. We decided to call it because he didn’t answer the phone number he called from when I called. He seemed agitated: «Well I called you an hour ago…» to which I responded that when I tried him back, I didn’t get a number that seemed to be associated with him.
I asked for a refund for the cruise. We had tried twice, very unsuccessfully. He said I had to take it up with Groupon directly.
The best part? Somehow Offshore marked my Groupon from last year as «Redeemed.» How I am supposed to get a refund is beyond me. It’s a good business model you have there. Buyer beware is right.

We had an unforeseen circumstance that happened to us the first time we booked with Offshore Adventures, but we were able to re-​schedule and had an AMAZING experience cruising with them. Ann was our captain and went above and beyond to make sure we were having a good time. She made sure everyone was happy, answered all of our questions, even offered if any of us wanted to try and learn how to sail when we were far enough from all the other boats, which was definitely a plus. She made sure to check on us if we were too quiet to find out if we were feeling ok or getting sea sick. She had a smile on her face the whole time and a positive attitude that made the whole difference! I definitely recommend Offshore Adventures and will not hesitate to cruise with them again in the future!
PS: Make sure you leave a nice tip to your captain if they are like Ann and go above and beyond to make sure you are having a great time! ;)

The weather was absolutely perfect when we went so that was a nice bonus, the prettiest view I’ve seen of this city so far. however it wasn’t very windy and our captain kept apologizing every few minutes that we had to use the motor, even though we were having a great time. We plan on going again with friends and drinks, and hoping for wind

Great day out on the water! Rick took a group of 5 of us out on a 11:30 cruise. Rick was very personable and a class act. Don’t look anywhere else book here and have a blast!

I do not often write negative reviews but my experience with this company has been AWFUL!
My boyfriend had booked a sailboat for 6 people back in May, and the day of the outing, we received a phone call saying that due to weather, our trip was being cancelled. It DID NOT rain a single drop that day, however it was during a Blackhhawks playoff game, so we were weary…
Anyways, upon asking to reschedule, we were told there were no available dates until September and we could not be refunded… We rescheduled for today, September 21^st.
This morning we received a phone call, again, saying that due to thunderstorms, our trip had been cancelled for a second time. Once again, it DID NOT rain! When we called and asked for a refund they said they do not refund based on weather cancellations and we explained how the weather has been fine both times and they still said no. Now the only date they gave us was for a Tuesday in October… we cannot do this as I am in class. They said if not, we can reschedule for NEXT YEAR!
This is by far, the most god awful costumer service we have ever experienced… honestly HORRIBLE! They are refusing to refund us, despite the fact that both times, they have cancelled, not us!
I know that they will just continue to claim it was the weather but at this point, any company with morals and decency would offer us a refund.

We had the pleasure of enjoying one of the most perfect summer nights out on the water with captain Matt. He was so nice and was willing to answer all our questions and even tell some great stories.
We had a groupon for the private 8 pm cruise. Please know that for it to be «private» you should bring 6 people. If you bring any less you might be sharing a boat with someone else.
Overall everyone we dealt with at Offshore was pleasant. We would definitely do this again and recommend this company to friends and family. Thank you for a great evening.

I used an Amazon coupon and got a reallly good deal for a 2 hour «private“cruise for 2. The weather was crazy all day with rain falling off and on. It finally stopped raining at the the time we went out for the cruise. We had Captain Bill and he was great. Told us a lot of great stories and facts. We booked an 8:00 PM cruise and had a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline. We even stayed out a bit longer than the 2 hours. A perfect night.
Now the only reason I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 is the misleading «private» that was on my voucher. We wound up sharing the boat with 4 others. No big deal as they were nice people. But when I see the word «private» it means just that. Private. So make sure you understand this if you do book with them. Would I recommend them or use them again? Yes I would. But I would get a verification of what I am getting next time.

Our group of 6 purchased the two hour cruise for Saturday, August 9, 2014. We arrived and met Captain Rick. Such a gorgeous day, 80 degrees with a mild wind and sunny. We boarded the boat and were told that the water was too choppy to exit the harbor and we wouldn’t even be able to actually sail! For two hour we motored around the harbor. What a waste.