Lee’s Ford Resort Marina

We stayed at Lee’s Ford Marina, in cabin 1 for an «extended weekend». I have two good things to say: 1) It was clean when we checked in and 2) The beds and pillows are very comfortable. Other than that, not much good to say. Cabin 1 sleeps ten people, but we only had 8 people in our group… Including two children under 8 years old. We got there, and were not-​so-​pleasantly surprised to find *four* bath towels in the entire cabin — two towels per bathroom. Luckily, housekeeping dropped off *three* clean towels before we all took showers the next day. No rhyme or reason to how the management has this organized. I had brought three towels from home, so my family had towels, b but it was disappointing that the «resort» was so ill-​prepared for its guests. Housekeeping asks guests to put dirty towels in a plastic bag (re-​used from the one and only towel drop-​off) and leave it for them to pick up. Guests are required to take all the bedding off of the beds and pillows, and place them in the shower, or they will be charged extra. Never in my life have I been to a «resort» where guests have to do more of the housekeeping than the housekeeping staff. Also, there is no broom, and there is a hanger for an ironing board, but no ironing board or iron.
The marina is okay, but the water appears to be oily, and is definitely not fit to swim in. The swimming pool is small.
If you come here with more than two people and want to take advantage of the kitchen, be prepared to bring your own pots, pans, cutlery and other kitchen gadgets like can openers, slotted spoons, colanders, etc. The supplied teflon pans are VERY small and *cheap*, none larger than 8″. There is no way anyone could cook a meal for more than 2 people with what is in the kitchen at Lee’s Ford.
The day before we were scheduled to check out, we received a call from the front desk, telling us that we needed to check out *right then*. ??? Really? You book people for four nights, charge them $ 860, and then kick them out after three days? That’s pretty awful. I have yet to address this with the management there, but I plan to. I will update this review with the outcome of my conversation.
Anyway, we made the best of it and stayed in London, KY that night, but it was an additional $ 150 for six of us to stay at Baymont Inn and Suites. We could have stayed here, with better amenities, for about ¼ of what it cost to stay at Lee’s Ford. Our rate for our night at Baymont is $ 76, and we have four towels in one room!

This review is for the actual marina, not the Harbor Restaurant & Tavern that is above the marina. Please note: this review is by a slip owner, which does offer more amenities than a visitor
We recently purchased a new boat that we can now sleep on (yay for boat camping!). Our original plan was to just trailer it whenever we wanted to use it, being able to put our boat into whatever body of water we felt like exploring. However, our first time taking the new boat out, we quickly realized this was much different than our smaller ski boat that we used to have. Our first time taking the boat out, we put it in Lake Cumberland, which was our first time on LC. We fell in love with it and decided that’s where we would slip our boat. We did launch our boat from Lees Ford and really liked it but thought we needed to check out a couple other marinas before decided. We knew we wanted to stay on the East side of the lake since it seems quieter than around the State Dock area and it’s also closer to Lexington. We checked our Burnside and Conley Bottom. We really liked the store at Conley Bottom but ultimately chose Lees Ford because of the transportation they offer around the marina (golf cart taxis from your boat to the store, or from the lower parking lot to your boat. Also a shuttle down from the upper lots and the restaurant down to the boat ramp) and the proximity to Somerset. LFM also provides complimentary waste pumpouts where Conley Bottom charges (slip owners are given vouchers for 3 complimentary pumpouts). We couldn’t be happier with our decision. Now all we have to do is load up some clothes and perishable food items and we’re on the boat in about 1.5hrs. And no more launching the boat… and we can drive our more fuel efficient car instead of the gas guzzling boat towing Yukon. We also like that we have the option of sleeping on the boat out on the lake somewhere or just in our covered slip.
Pros:
transportation options around the marina & up to the restaurant
free waste tank pumpouts
$ 100 in Harbor Bucks for the restaurant
An abundance of friendly staff, always someone available to help.
Marina is kept nice and tidy
Beer is now sold in the store, as well being on tap. And they’re serving pizza!
Live entertainment on the «in season» weekends.
Slip owner events scheduled all year long.
Sense of community
Family friendly and not «too» wild & crazy.
Slip rates are reasonable
Super close to shopping and restaurants in Somerset.
Cons:
The $ 100 in Harbor Bucks are in $ 5 increments, which can only be used one per visit. :(
The marina store is okay but could be a lot better. Wish they offered more grocery items. Not a huge selection.
If you’re looking to keep your boat slipped somewhere, I highly recommend Lees Ford Marina.

Took my parents there for Mother’s Day. Big mistake. Slow service. 10 dollars for mushrooms. The house salad was pathetic. 50 cents worth of veggies. Potato skins were just potato slices with cheese on them. Not at all worth it. Never again.

I travel for a living.
Typically when I drop this tidbit of info, that I am in fact, spending someone else’s money and therefore may be generous, I get treated like a queen.
I asked to sit outside, they told me I could go on the smoking deck off the bar, not the nice dining deck as it was a slow tuesday or wednesday night. Between the humidity and the smokers, I had to go sit inside as I would have been too nauseous to consume their infamous grouper fish.
Meal was good, got a full pint of bourbon barrel (yes, not a 6oz serving!) for $ 3 since i was there for some sort of happy hour. I would have had another, if the waitress hadn’t just plopped down my check halfway through the meal.

Horrible management for boat rentals. We spent over $ 300 to rent a pontoon boat for the day, and 30 minutes after leaving the marina it broke down. The boat was replaced about an hour later, however when we voiced our disappointment afterwards we were charged for a nick in the propeller even though the boat never went near the land and we certainly didn’t hit anything.

Lee’s Ford is a great place for boating, fishing, and docking your boats. We have enjoyed spending our R & R time here for the majority of the year for the past 3 years. Especially enjoy the friendly staff at the marina, our dock neighbors are enjoyable, marina conveniences of shuttle bus, taxi’s and trash pick up are an added bonus.
The perfect twist for everyone is the Harbor Restaurant for anyone to shuttle to the restaurant when the cook wants a day off or just a simple appetizer and cool cocktail!