You Don’t Have To Leave Illinois To Enjoy Overnight Cruises
If you've been wanting to take a cruise but don't want to travel far to catch the boat, there are multiple-day trips that leave from Illinois.
Illinois Cruise Ships
I've traveled quite a bit in my life and am lucky enough to have experienced a lot of different things but the one thing that isn't on that list is going on a cruise. I'm not really sure why. I guess the opportunity hasn't come up very often.
READ MORE: A Bridge Over Lake Michigan Could Help Avoid Traffic Between Wisconsin and Michigan
I remember many years ago, a couple of my friends were going on a Caribbean cruise and invited me to go with them. The trip itself was fairly reasonable. The problem was the ship left from Florida. I had to figure out how to get there and back which wasn't cheap at the time.
I always knew there were boat rides out of Chicago. Mostly, from Navy Pier. Those are just short trips for just a couple of hours for sightseeing around the lakefront of the Windy City. I've done that plenty of times.
I recently found out you can actually take your cruise out of Chicago to the next level. There are fairly good-size ships that will guide you on multi-day overnight trips throughout the Great Lakes. You don't even have to leave Illinois to catch one.
There are several different trips you can take including trips to Toronto or on all five of the Great Lakes. You can go for a week or even up to fifteen days. I understand you won't be stopping at any tropical islands but there's still plenty to see and enjoy.
So next time, you're planning a vacation you might consider taking a cruise out of Navy Pier in Chicago. I bet it would be a really fun adventure for you and your whole family.
LOOK: 20 photos of shipwrecks from WWI and WWII
Gallery Credit: Elias Sorich