31st Street Harbor, the Chicago Harbors

Besides having filthy bathroom floors, and no one around ever, they locked us out of our dock, bathroom facilities etc the night before we were scheduled to leave. I called security and instead of helping me (lone woman and a sick dog at 1:00am) he tried to blame the situation on me saying we must not have paid for this night (we paid for 3 nights and this was the third night). I finally was able to wake my husband to come let us in. 31st street marina costs as much as the marinas downtown. I don’t know their cleanliness or staff, but at least you would be closer to everything!

Cruising over from Muskegon and upon arriving we found the Marina folks were very friendly and helpful. A lot of Police presence around but I never saw issues. It is a party location. The music never stops. That's not bad if you are there to "party". Lack of WiFi was a setback for work related communication. The price was a little on the high side for coming in very late on a Thursday and leaving early Sunday morning. But we had a great time and made friends with our dock mates. A very strange situation was observed that I should bring up. We booked a week out and was assigned slip F72. The wind was strong when we arrived, so we docked in slip F73. I called the office in the morning to convey this, and they said F73 was fine because, NO ONE was in F72 or F73. Friday afternoon, a boater pulled up and said they were assigned F73, so I offered to move to F72 as I was originally assigned. But the boater was friendly and went into F70. Friday Evening another boater pulled into F72 (my originally assigned slip). We became friends and he told me that he was assigned F72 a week ago as well. With all that said, it all worked out, but a little confusing on slip assignments. We will return again next year.

Prime location, great Chicago downtown view and access to all the attractions. This supposed to be great marina , but is not. Men’s bathrooms are disgusting. Showers don’t work. I stayed there over the weekend and I would describe bathrooms as biohazard. Bathrooms are easy accessible for general public. I also noticed that there is drugs and Alcohol problems. Marina is located at pier 31 park. There is a heavy Chicago police presence but it looks like it does not help much.

Overall, the stay fine and uneventful. Everyone we met around us was very nice and the passing dock hands and personnel were friendly and courteous, as well. It did seem, though, that some slip users had their music a bit loud, throughout the evening and early night but maybe that's just the way it is. I was disappointed to learn that the launch ramps are normally closed on Saturdays and Sundays and this Friday, probably due to the anticipated volume of people for the Air and Water Show. We've been coming to 31st Harbor since it opened in 2012 for the Air and Water Show, arriving on Friday and departing on Sunday. I spoke to a couple of workers there and at Burnham and all said that in light of gun violence, the decision was made to close the ramps. I can totally understand the reason for this and it shows 31st Harbor is looking out for its users and guests. Thankfully, our alternate launch and retrieval plans worked. One thing I would suggest is posting the closure schedule, in bold and in red at the top of your web page, much like the July closure notice. I never scrolled down to the bottom of the page and just assumed the ramps would be open as in years past. I only found this out after posing an unrelated question in the Dockwa app about launching, in general. The person who replied alerted me. We enjoyed our meals and drinks at Salerno's! So next year, weather permitting, of course, plan on seeing us again! Jeff and Cindy McIntyre

Great place to dock. When you book the rental though, they don't tell you that you cannot launch at 31st until a couple of days prior to the reservation date. So we had to launch at Burnham and come back to 31st. We would have originally just booked at Burnham if we knew.

Only stay if absolutely necessary. All of the rental party boats depart this marina. The boat next to us never left the dock and had a constant stream of young party goers until 3am.

Love the stay!! Dock D was awesome, the boaters there were all welcoming and helpful.. would love more stays, please send coupons or specials.

The reservation process was easy and fast. The facilities are clean.

Nice marina, bathrooms could be cleaner, and guest wifi would be welcome.

The experience was great! It was our first time traveling away from our home harbor. The staff was very supportive; assisting with a few items we forgot to bring. The on-site electrician was readily available and everyone did everything with a smile. We will definitely be back!

Great! Had a great weekend!

Very nice harbor and friendly staff

Too long Of a walk to get to an Uber pick up. Need golf carts for transient boat arrivals.

Thank you so much, this was great!

We recently spent 2 nights on G dock at this marina. We really enjoyed it. Everything was in good shape. The bathrooms and showers were very nice. Also FREE laundry is available in both the mens and women's restrooms. The docks are secured by locked gates. Our only disappointment was they did not have wi-fi. We would stay here again.

Very nice marina! Very family oriented, friendly atmosphere! The restrooms/showers were clean and well maintained. Gina and the rest of the harbor staff were very nice and helpful! Would definitely come back!

Good place. Busy and loud but it was Labor Day weekend so the party was on! Great staff.

Probay one of the better marinas in Chicago. Excellent piers and docks. A bit loud on Friday nights but everyone respected the 11pm quiet time. Good bathrooms ... showers need some work. Met some great people of all colors. All-in-all, we were pleased and enjoyed our stay.

The worst ever, rented a slip for 2 days and had pay for an extra day because the ramp is closed on Sundays . Parking is a complete issue no parking pass to even purchase with slip so you to have pray you find a park within half a mile. Never anyone to talk to who is in charge or knows anything. You have to pay just to get your boat out of the water. No where to leave your trailer, overnight, period. Did i mention parking, if you get lucky enough to park in the garage you have to pay every time you come back. I can go on for days about this poorly ran facility. I am here as i type trying to get my boat out of the water the site said 9am somewhere(been here since 8am), talked to emergency security because he is the only person who has answered the phone now he tells the guy is on his way he'll be here at ten. Maybe you can have a better experience, now that you know some of the obstacles you're facing.

Loud noise from sun up to sun down all weekend long. Bathrooms cleaned once a day. A lot of foot traffic through the marina. Even though we never felt unsafe or had an issue, we would not come back here again. This was not our first choice and we were warned about the activities of the Marina. People swimming in the marina was a concern for electrocution. No signage about not swimming in a marina. Children not wearing PFD when requiring by Illinois law. Accidents waiting to happen here at 31 Marina.

31'st St Harbor Marina has excellent facilities and secure, gated docks and restrooms. We stayed there 6 days in August. Location is an easy Uber/ Lyft into the City. Marina office has ice and a few amenities. Marina does not have WiFi. Only real drawback is there is absolutely no enforcement of rowdy behavior- - - (1) Jet skis actively waking boats at their slips as the jet skis leave the harbor (our Russian friends on G Dock)- somewhat annoying. (2) Marina full time residents blasting music so loud it was shaking our boat with boozy parties from 4:30 pm till midnight. - Really annoying and really unacceptable. Last night there, we had to change slips at 9:30 pm on a Monday night, as the music and speaker base at the boat next store was so loud, we could not function on our boat. If you are looking for Party Central with very loud music and boozy parties till the wee hours, this is your marina. If you want a quiet tie up to go explore the city, look to the other Chicago marinas.

First and foremost, staff at the Marina are awesome! Pat and Phylis as well as Gina in the past have been a tremendous help. Marina is very well kept with great security. Unfortunately, Chicago Marinas are hard to navigate for transient boaters that enjoy launching and staying for a weekend. Launching on 31st street is near impossible (can only launch from this marina Monday thru Friday...and better not plan on leaving Sunday!)In addition to taking the trailer to the Marshalling yard if we plan on spending the weekend on the boat. We had to launch from Burnham harbor to get to the Marina. The Marshalling yard is a good 10 minute walk from the marina. The walk to the marshalling yard from the 31st Marina can be scary, especially as you get near the yard as there is very poor visibility from that street. I was happy to see a patrol car parked near the entrance to the Marshalling yard when I went there this weekend, If it werent for these challanges, we would give the harbor a perfect score. My family and I will continue to be customers to this Marina as the staff at the Marina have no control of the rules for the Chicago harbors. Hopefully the city hears the many concerns and helps somehow.

Great experience and just overall a great place to visit

The docks, bathrooms, pool, and harbor master and staff were top notch. The night time security did little to enforce noise during quiet hours. Loud music played and partying continued until 4am both nights. We won't be returning until we hear that harbor rules are enforced at night.

Was absolutely beautiful

Not great. Our assigned 50' slip was occupied by an 18 foot wakeboard boat tied across two 50' slips. It took two phone calls and an hour to get reassigned. Twice during our week stay , the gate code was inactivated. We were not allowed parking on the Air show weekend. I cannot believe you cannot get a guest pass parking spot if you are staying at the marina.

on Friday we hadsmall craft warnings and I decided not to bring the boat up from Indiana I called 31st street and they told me to contact you who told me to review 31st cancellation policy same tjing for Saturday so I never went to 31st harbor and apparently paid for noyhing

Nice new harbor, totally protected, great location, daily fee pool, friendly staff. Beach right there. Restaurant. Lakefront bike/ walking trail, jet ski rentals. All right there. Would be a great spot for seasonal or transient stay, a short Uber into the city or museums. Boat ramp is excellent but only about 6 trailer parking spots which makes no sense. Fortunately they seem to have an arrangement with a facility near McCormick for overflow trailer parking, not sure what that costs. Also there’s an indoor parking garage for cars, which does get full but there’s another large parking lot a short walk across the bridge over Lake shore Drive. Overall pretty good set up esp for Chicago.

31st Street Harbor was very convenient and nice. We always look forward to spending a weekend there.

The staff at 31st street could care less about responding to dockwa messages. Waste of time.

Everything was good, for the most part. 2 stars deducted because I was forced to pay $27 to pull my boat out of the water at the end of my stay. Launch fees are completely understandable but I’ve never been charged to pull my boat out of the water.

Thank you to 31st Marina TEAM.....Awesome in helping us out and keeping everything clean and orderly..Coming back soon

The facility is good overall, but the people in the office do not seem to have a handle on how to operate their own system. There was no indication of my reservation until a told them i made it through Dockwa. Also they gave me a code for the gate and restrooms which twice did not work. Then the code was declined after midnight on the day i was to leave, so couldn’t get to my boat at 1 am until i found a security guard who could open the gate, then in the morning they did not reinstate it, instead having an office attendant come with me to open it. Finally, two slips down from mine, for all three days there was a pile of cans, filters and a large bowl filled with used engine oil sitting on the dock-with no boat in that slip. A potential environmental mess if not disposed of properly right away.

Beautiful marina but very large if you need to walk from one end to another. And wonderful if you are a 20 something who loves rap and hip hop music blaring. Not our thing. But, clean, secure and great docks.

I was very upset that three employees one of which was a manager who thought it was a wonderful idea to come and wake everyone on our boat up this morning around 9am. We docked the boat yesterday for a little holiday fun with friends and family. We enjoy grilled outside of the dock last night which was fine. We enjoyed the bar until it closed and then rented divy bikes and ventured the city. Then came back and now went to sleep. The manager and the other employees claimed they woke us up due to complaints. The thing is we weren’t even at the dock for the most of the time we were even in the city. They woke up four people on a holiday. I don’t appreciate but the profiling the African American manager projected. We payed for the reservation and we were extremely respectful during our entire stay. Asked us to check out reservation and after I showed it to him via on my cell phone in an email. I explained to the gentlemen that I made the reservation in for my friends name, the one I booked for us to stay. I explained that I spoke with a girl in th office yesterday due to not receiving all of the information via email with confirmation and such details. The African American gentleman; He explained we needed to leave very very soon. Which I stated that it was not until eleven or so. It’s a holiday and usually people like to sleep on their Days off and I am one of those people. I believe that profiling is just ridiculous. I hope they found the people making the ruckus. I did not appreciate how rude the African American gentle treated me nor the other guest. We had every right to be docked as it was paid for. Being rude, and ignorant to patrons especially on a holiday should most definitely be addressed. I would never in a million years treat anyone with such disrespect especially not at my place of work. Being pleasant, respectful, and generally a non bias genuine human is is extremely important in the business place and with any sort of Customer service. If someone says having a bad day, or personal issues they should not bring them into the work place and certainly not take it out on customers. Being a manager is not about abusing power just because you have a little, and definitely not due so and teach other employees to act in such a manner. Thank you for your time! Regards, J. In reference to reservation XJ5BW7R3 at 31st Street Harbor, the Chicago Harbors.

No wifi as advertised. Bathrooms were new but disgusting-not clean. Staff was very unwilling to talk with us and not helpful at all. They were In a hurry to get back on cell phone and watch Netflix. If you would like a table to eat at the restaurant you must pay 20.00 to sit and eat.

Easy people to work with. VERY CLEAN!!!! Great location

Very nice marina. Was emailed a code for the door and showers the day of the trip and everything was nice. The walk we had was a little bit far from the bathrooms but we all could use a little extra exercise. Wish they would had a parking pass with the boat pass but it all worked out

The facility was very nice however communication was extremely poor and frustrating. We weren't informed of a $27.00 launch fee nor we're we informed in advance that we would have to pay $25.00 per day to park. In addition, when we arrived on Saturday, there was no parking available to us at the marina and we had to wait about an hour to finally get into the garage to park. Just a really crappy way to do business.

Very nice marina. The people om the dock were very friendly and helpful. Nice amenities. We will be back.

Very nice marina. Everything was new and clean. Location was good. Just a short Uber ($20) up to the middle of downtown Chicago. Had a nice pool on site, but it was a $10 charge. The pool is literally right on J dock. The marina is huge, so if you are traveling with friends, make sure you are on the same dock.

Very nice marina! Lots of nice wide slips, showers, laundry facilities and pool. We have stayed at 3 Chicago marinas this week and this is definitely the best one yet minus its location. It's not very safe to leave the marina by land. Customer service is a little better than the others but we still had to call repeatedly to get slip assignments and then when we did get here, one of them was occupied.

As usual it's a great getaway. People very pleasant and Harbor Master always keeps a tight ship. Had a choice to stay at other close marinas but last minute stayed there do to the people that run it. Top notch people. Thank you