WOW! What a wonderful experience my husband and I had at the Captain Merry. We enjoyed our anniversary dinner there and were treated like royalty. Our waiter and the bartender were very friendly and aware of our every need. The food was very flavorful and served in wonderful timing. I enjoyed a filet and my husband dined on antelope. We ended up spending over three hours there because of the great experience we had. After dinner, the bartender even took us on a tour of some of the guest rooms. All the rooms were very large and fancy. I would highly recommend staying here, as well and dining here in the future.

We spent a weekend and had a wonderful time. The Egyptian and Mediterranean Suites were beautifully appointed, with great attention to detail. The beds were comfortable in both rooms. It was quiet and private, and the in-room whirlpools were amazing. We had breakfast served in our rooms both mornings, which were tasty. Our two dinners in the dining room were delicious. All staff were friendly, professional, and welcoming. We're already planning a return visit!

My wife and I have dined at the Captain Merry a few times in the past. After our recent experiences, we will never go back. What was once an elegant, formal dining retreat has now become, lazy, sloppy and disheveled. It is disappointing that this place has taken such a nose dive, and I hope that they will be able to come out of it. One thing for sure, we won't wait around to see if they work out the kinks. This place has really taken a turn for the worse.

My husband and I have been planning a weekend trip to stay at the Captain Merry for months in advance. We have stayed at many fine places in Galena before, and decided it was time to finally check out the "infamous Captain Merry" that we had heard so much about.
Our experience was greatly disappointing, maybe we were expecting too much, but everything that we had heard before our stay indicated that this was a "world class resort" and a "five star experience". Let me tell you, it is nothing of this sort.
First when we arrived for our check in, nobody was present at the front desk. After waiting and wandering, we finally tracked someone down to help us, but they appeared to not really know what they were doing. I have never been to a place where there was no one to greet you. I have even stayed at some cheap motels during my travels, and have never experienced anything like it.
We did like our guest room, and it provided to be our sanctuary for the rest of our horrible weekend. However, our room was extremely noisy, between the trains, cars from the highway, construction outside and groups of people walking through the hallways. We hoped that a nice dinner and spa would salvage our feelings of disappointment and save our trip. Again, this wasn't what it was all cracked up to be.
Dinner was incredibly expensive, it took forever to arrive, and our waiter was unattentive and rude. The food was good, and was obviously very high quality, but the ambience discredited our experience. I expected a much higher level of service, especially from what I have been hearing for all this time. It seemed as if they could benefit from training their staff on the elements of fine dining and service, because this was an area where it was definitely lacking.
Our time at the spa was the only saving grace. Luckily there was somebody at the desk to greet us, and we began to feel a little bit better. The spa staff was friendly and helpful, but extremely busy and overwhelmed. We did enjoy our treatments, but it seemed rushed, chaotic and unorganized.
Our overall concensus is that the Captain Merry is an establishment that poses as a fine resort, but lacks all the the components to make it so. Mainly by providing adequate service and having people available to make you feel welcome. We felt during our entire stay that we were a nuisance, and the staff and the owners would have preferred if we were not there at all. It is apparent that a lot of money was spent foolishly on creating the resort, but nothing of value was actually set into place. There is no warmth, ambience or service standards at all. If you ask me, they should have spent less money on the renovations and invested more in hiring enough staff to accomodate their guests.