Our cruise was canceled and we rcvd no notice, no email, no call so we were at Navy Pier and the day was wasted!
I was glad that a table was reserved for us. However, I've been on way more enjoyable Hornblower cruises. This was chaotic. The music and DJ too loud, blaring in our ears. The whole ship was too crowded. Every time the person (s) behind me left their table, I had to get up and move as their was no walkway space between the tables. Our server was erratic. We waited an hour for water, another hour for tea. Each time she returned saying she had to make the tea. She was also training 2 people. One tried to help at our table, but he wasn't English speaking, and did the opposite of what we asked. It was an uncomfortable, over-priced cruise. The basic cost was good, around $60.00. Then the price more than doubled for reasons I still don't understand, taxes and fees... to around $140.00. The food selection was just ok, but it, too, was unorganized. They opened the buffet and the entire ship of people converged on it all at once, and the help couldn't keep up. They were ru ni g out of things, with no time to replace them. No bread, butter, salad, pasta, etc. For a long time. The photographer came out with boxes of pictures to sort and put out on the table, but everybody ran up to the table grabbing pictures out of his hand, and going through the boxes of pictures, taking what they wanted. He was trying to watch them, but was overwhelmed. Too many people and no organized way of distribution or collecting money. Those who did decide to pay cash, just put their money on the table, which was huge, and he could hardly pick it up fast enough. While he was collecting from the left, people on the right were taking pictures or randomly putting money down and leaving. He didn't know who was who, or what was what. I felt very sorry for him, and for me, who was expecting a much better trip. They failed to tell us to plan for about a 25 minute walk to our ship, the Spirit of Chicago, as it was the last one, the furthest out on the pier, or almost the last one. That information would have been helpful. For one thing, I have so someone with mobility issues, the other is that we would have allotted more time for that walk and standing in line period. Overall, not a good experience.