Chicago architecture cruise season opens

Tickets are on sale for Chicago's architecture cruise, which starts running again for the season beginning May 3.

The 90-minute tour, organized by the nonprofit Chicago Architecture Foundation, highlights 53 historic and architecturally significant sites including the Trump Tower, Merchandise Mart, 333 W. Wacker, the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Tower, the Sears Tower, River City, Marina City and the site of the Spire.

The cruise also includes significant buildings, sites and developments along the North Branch of the Chicago River such as The Montgomery, formerly the world headquarters for Montgomery Ward; the Chicago Tribune printing press plant; Goose Island; Kinzie Park development; Riverbend and the clustered glass River Cottages.

The cruises take place on Chicago's First Lady Cruises 1920s-style yachts. They depart from the lower level and southeast corner of the Michigan Avenue Bridge at Wacker Drive, just north of Millennium Park. (Look for a blue awning.)

The season runs through Nov. 23. Tickets are available from 312-902-1500 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/rivercruise. The print-at-home option allows quicker check-in for passengers at the dock. Tickets are $28 a person weekdays and $30 weekends and holidays. They can also be bought at the dock or at the Chicago Architecture Foundation shop at 224 S. Michigan Ave.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation has offered the cruise since 1983. The guides are all volunteers, and what they say on the tours changes with new developments and construction around the city. "They do not have a script," added spokeswoman Susan Ross. "They are so well-educated, they are extemporaneous."