Cenacle Retreat and Conference Center

For a retreat/​conference center it is okay. No private bathrooms, slow Internet access that blocks streaming video, streaming music and app stores. The beds are regular twins which is to short for me. The food is mediocre at best. It is located in the Lincoln Park area and that is nice as there is lots of places to eat and a nice neighborhood to walk in. It is also close to Lake Michigan. The conference rooms are decent but not elaborate. The place seems quite dated and not sure I’d return.

Great location for your spiritual retreat. Excellent location. Ask for the top floor with the skyscape view.
Hall bathrooms — just so you know.

Excellent hospitality.

I loved my time at the Cenacle

I attended a conference here a few months ago. I agree with the other review in saying that it is a little dated, but it is a religious retreat center, so keep that in mind.
The center offers single and double occupancy rooms. I stayed in a single which had a twin bed, a desk, a closet, and a sink. There are two rooms per floor that have their own bathroom. Otherwise, you have to share a public one. I didn’t run into any problems sharing a bathroom, mostly because I showered at night and got ready in my room, so I didn’t have to wait to use anything. Not sure how it was in the morning, though. I personally would have liked to have my own bathroom because I get up in the middle of the night and having to walk through a long, lit corridor made it hard to get back to sleep. Also, due to a freak heat wave, there was no air in the rooms, so it was pretty hot. Mid-​week, the air was finally turned on.
I assumed there would be no TVs since this is a retreat center, but I was a little disappointed that Internet access was so expensive ($ 8/​day). For a conference center, it should be expected that people will need to have access to the Internet for work-​related things.
The food that was served was excellent. We had several people in our group with dietary restrictions and the kitchen staff adhered to that wonderfully. Tons of healthy options.
The conference rooms themselves were nice. We used a large one for our big group meetings and also had access to smaller rooms for side discussions. The staff was great. We had a few people from out of the country who wanted to make phone calls home to check in. The Cenacle does not have phones in the rooms or anywhere in the building for that matter, but the director set up a phone in a conference room so that those people could call home. I thought that was really great for them to do.
Overall, we had a good experience. There are some things that could have been different, as listed above, but it was a very nice center in the city for small groups like us to stay and meet.

The place seems kind of dated, but is clean and has some large rooms to use for meetings or retreats. I did go outside and walk around and it felt quiet and peaceful.
One thing that really bothered me was the woman who buzzed me into the building. When I came in to get my name tag, she would not continue to assist me until I repeated my greeting to her satisfaction. I don’t know if she didn’t hear it the first time I said good morning, but the way to treat people even if they are rude to you (which I wasn’t) isn’t to pointedly say good morning to them and refuse to help them until they do the same to you.