Eagle Bluff Resort

It was our first time floating on the Illinois river and we were a little nervous, especially with two young kids. We did extensive research on the best resort to float and the findings were inconclusive. We blindly picked Eagle Bluff and we are pleased that it turned out well. ALL the staffs we encountered were down to earth. A big thank you to Jeremy for making our experience a pleasant one. He is friendly, polite, and made us feel at ease from the beginning to the end. He drove us to the launching site and during the drive, left the door open for air conditioning. Our daughter was not used to a moving vehicle with open doors. He saw that and closed the doors to ease her mind. Very observant and thoughtful on his part, a big plus!
He was there at the end of our six miles trip to greet us as well.
The raft and oars that were provided were in good condition. The vests have seen better days. Maybe wipe down at end of business day? The women’s bathroom was clean. Shower stalls available. Make sure to bring soap & towels.
The fee was reasonable for rental and trasnport. $ 25 per person and half price for children.
The water level was perfect for floating and there were many areas to pull over and enjoy a picnic or let the kids swim, wade, and observe the school of fish in the shallow water. The water was clear to where you can see the bottom. Make sure the kids wear swim shoes. There were many flat stones. Our kids had a blast skipping stones across the river! Next time we will bring nerf or water toys for them!
Nice clean area overlooking the river if you choose to camp overnight.
Thank you Eagle Bluff for the hospitality and making it a great first experience for us! We had so much fun, we are planning another trip before the kids go back to school. Definitely an annual trip with friends and families!

Please read this if you’re considering renting a cabin… River Cabin is the one we rented. 6 kids and 2 adults. Cabin rents for $ 225 a night but since we came on Sunday to float Monday they agreed to rent it at «Gavin’s Cabin» price of $ 195 a night. I was happy about that. Even though taxes are included in the float prices, they aren’t in the cabin prices. Total for 2 nights was $ 418. We were charged $ 518.75 up front just to make the reservation. $ 100 non refundable float deposit. The owner Leslie called me Sunday morning to tell me that only adults would be allowed on the river because of the level. (7 ft.) When I asked what my options were since we lived 3 hours away and had spent almost a grand planning for this trip for the kids she promptly told me, and I quote «You don’t really have any options. It’s non refundable and there’s nothing wrong with the cabin so you can still stay in it whether you get to float or not. There’s a really great Indian Museum in Tahlequah you can check out and lots of other things to do.» Since we spent so much money and time we took our chances and went. Checking in was odd. Kids were between 8 – 12 but they all had to sign the waiver of liability themselves. They insisted. We get to the cabin and the river is close. Good location. Then we go in…
The first thing that I did was gag. The place smelled so bad. It was a mix of bug spray, mold and egg farts as the kids put it. There were 5 sets of bunk beds spread out against the walls as advertised. Ripped plastic covers on them. Rickety as can be. Hospital or prison style mattresses. Good enough for kids I suppose. The one room had a small bed with another plastic mattress and ripped cover. When we went into the bathroom it was straight out of a horror movie. Smelled like a fresh dump and continued for the next 2 days. Water from every spigot smelled exactly the same. I’ve never seen such a high concentration of humongous spiders and crickets and centipede/​caterpillar looking things in my life. Let’s not forget flies. Oh ya, hope you’re not afraid of wasps and yellow jackets and bumble bees. The front porch is riddled with them. The nests are all over the bricks out front.
The kids wouldn’t even shower or use any dishes that were rinsed in the water because of how bad it smelled. I finally showered day 2 because I decided it had to be grosser to not after the river. Speaking of that, after the river when we got back the electricity was out. A guy was there waiting to let us know and gave us a piece of paper with the electric company’s phone number. Said he was gonna head home and it should be back on soon. It was several hours. No ac or lights in July. Fun.
The place had not seen a vacuum in months, no cleaners for counters or anything else and everything smelled to high heavens. I had to purchase cleaner from the Illinois River Store. I don’t know if there were more dead bugs laying around or creepy crawlies. This was my 1^st time renting a cabin in my 10 years of coming to the river. I’ve seen less bugs tent camping. It was a nightmare.
Monday, float day. .we go to the office at 1. Cashier tells us we will be doing the 6 mile. We reserved for 12. She calls Leslie the owner who tells her no way a d we must do 6. Had to be there by 12 noon for 12 mile. The staff had no options. After loading the bus my husband went back in and called the owner and asked again. She argued with him about the time and said «if you’re not in by 6pm I’m charging your card a whole bunch of money.» When he asked for explanation she said she would charge us an additional $ 100 if we were 1 minute after 6pm. We were happy about the small victory. Got back around 5 but beached about 1 minute away from the landing until 6 so the kids could play. Made sure we were back on time. By the time we checked out we had paid $ 620 total. When I started figuring it didn’t come out right. The website says kids up to 12 are half price. That’s per raft and there’s a 3 adult minimum. Who has 3 adults?! It’s usually parents and kids if you have kids. Either way they ended up giving us a $ 43 refund for overcharging. We won’t ever stay there again nor recommend them. A little customer service goes a long way. Arrowhead is the best. War Eagle owner is just as rude. They are nice til they get your money. Then you’re just an annoyance for a day or two. I felt it my duty to share with others. The River Cabin is a dilapidated, dirty, awful smelling horror house full of bugs and old broken fixtures and furniture. Tents would’ve been much nicer.

They talk about the ‘bubbles’ bathhouse how nice it is… WRONG! THe pictures on the website must have been taken right after renovation, because they were gross AND they are only open during office hours. which sucks. Also right next to us, two young kids brought 2 pit bulls that got loose from the leash and went after a older dog there, which was terrifying and makes me ask, ‘why is aggressive dogs allowed at the camping site’? Would not return here…

Found out August is almost the perfect time of year to go. We stayed on the family side and it was pretty chill and quiet. You could still hear the party side but it wasn’t that bad. I was really impressed by the security guards walking around the whole day checking on people. Over all it was a great trip and Eagle Bluff is pretty much the best place to stay on the river.

Ok I wish I had read reviews before booking ugh. First reserving a cabin and booking rafting over phone was a bit difficult and they seemed unaware of availability and dates… I’m leaving 2 stars because cabin was 1 star but rafting was like 3 stars for my experience
We head there and the website address and directions are wrong and phone directions are worse.
Due to bad weather we checked in and rafted with no wait
We rented a cabin for $ 225 a night. The lock on door didn’t work, there was graffiti all over walls. It seriously looked like a run down house in the hood. NOT A CABIN. It’s not clean, furniture is really old and dirty. Bathroom smelled bad like urine. All beds were gross and covered in plastic and there were seriously 100’s of flies and a large spider inside. The kitchen is green counters and really old with dishes and old food in cabinets. We almost left because we couldn’t sleep there. No bedding is provided so bring your own.
Rafting however was a good experience and we paid $ 125 for 2 adults and 3 kids.
We will never stay here again. Camping may be a better experience and the public showers weren’t bad but bathrooms… Ewww

THIEVES! Find somewhere else to float! We made reservations for 9 in the morning, stood in line to check in until after 10, and then were overcharged by $ 90! The whole place was chaos and no one seemed to know what they were doing, I was shocked at how disorganized and dysfunctional everything was. When I contacted them to request a receipt for the trip I was told «oops, we overcharged you, but don’t worry, we’ve applied it to your account for next time; sorry we don’t do refunds…»!!! Save yourself and go somewhere else!

Such awful service. We have never been there… got lost because the address on the website is WRONG. BTW, if you go, it’s on Scenic Hwy 10. (You’re welcome) Anyway, we called this place five times. Five times some different air head teen answered the phone not having any idea how to explain the directions to us outside of, «Turn at the Pizza Hut and then at the slide.» They did not know what damn street they were on!
We rented one of their cabins. Super bad idea. It was GROSS. The stove was literally (I am not kidding) from the 1040’s. They advertise cable and flat screens, they were there but they didn’t work. We called for help. They came and said, «Well heck, I don’t know what’s wrong.» and left. The couches were serious 1970s garage sale crap and it states there are three rooms with beds, there are three areas with beds, and ZERO doors!
There were flies everywhere! The outdoor furniture was broken but still out there to use.
One good point… the air conditioner worked.
Never ever will these people get my money.

Avoid this place at all costs. I called to cancel a trip planned next weekend and they refused to give a refund. I made the reservation over the phone and was never told about a «no refund» policy. Luckily, I used my discover and was able to dispute the charge. Management is unreasonable and I would highly recommend going to arrowhead or war eagle instead.

The ONLY reason not giving 5 stars is that the only experience I have had is with the raft rental — and it was fantastic. The person that took my reservation was quite helpful, the staff on-​site were friendly and courteous. The only less than outstanding thing I can say is that when I tried to call them on a Saturday during busy season right when we were supposed to be there (but had taken a wrong turn) I reached an answering machine. However due to a lengthy, slow moving line the time we were scheduled to be there and the time we actually checked in was not a problem.
There are lots of float rental places on the Illinois River but Eagle Bluff rocked my aqua socks off.