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

Had a great stay, staff was very helpful and nice.

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.

Great! I'll be coming back again...

Great home port Marina. Super helpful staff. Wonderful amenities.

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.