Why not the Great Lakes?

[tripman]

This past summer, my wife and I decided to take a different kind of vacation. Cruise or Disney have been what we've done the last 4 years. This time we drove to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We are from the Detroit area, so it was all a road trip. We went to several cities on the lakes. Mackinaw Island, Copper Harbor, Munising, and I was blown away by how nice it all was. The scenery, the atmosphere, etc, were just so cool. There were times though in the various cities where it felt like a cruise ship port city. In fact, Mackinaw Island even had a Del Sol...doesn't get much more cruise ship port-ish than that.

 

There are several cities that border the lakes that would be great ports. Chicago, Cleveland, Windsor, Toronto, and the smaller places like Mackinaw, Copper Harbor, even some places on the northern coast of Canada.

 

When we were in Mackinaw Island, we saw an enormous freighter sail by, doing some reasearch I found those are generally about the same length and width of a large cruise ship. Well, turns out that those ships on the great lakes are actually trapped, they are called Lakers, they can't get past Niagara I believe. (I think it is really interesting that they build such large ships just for the lakes). But there are several other smaller ships that CAN and DO get from the ocean to the lakes, and I believe there are several smaller convential cruise ships that could make it into the great lakes as well.

 

I guess my main question is, why not have Great Lakes cruises? There are more than enough places of interest. There are several Canadian cities, so the international port of call requirement would be met.

 

It doesn't seem all that different than a New England cruise. It would open it up to lots of people who can afford a cruise, but gets rid of the hassle of traveling to Florida (or wherever).

 

Maybe there is something I haven't thought of as to why it wouldn't work. I'd sure do it.

 

Any thoughts?

[cruiseco]

My first cruise was in 1965 on the Georgian Bay Lines' SS South American from Buffalo to Duluth. We had a great time. Here's a link to a promotional film from back then:

 

http://www.glmi.org/webcast/archive/southpromo.htm

 

I think those ships were about right for that trip -- smaller, just a few hundred passengers. I can't imagine 3000 passengers getting off on Mackinac Island or Houghton or Sault Ste. Marie without completely overrunning the place.

 

It's definitely a short season -- similar to what happens with Alaska so the cruise line would have to be able to reposition to warmer areas for most of the year.

 

There are ships that do this type of itinerary. Here's some:

 

http://www.greatlakescruising.com/

[carlmm]

The German ship Columbus of Hapag-Lloyd used to do the Great Lakes every year but will not do anymore after this year.

Reasons I have heard are twofold:

- The water height became less over the last years thus creating some problems.

- The US regulations became more and more prohibitive. Passengers had to go through long immigration procedures at every port. The crew was not even allowed to leave the ship at all. And so on.

[DanJ]

There are few ships that come to Montreal because of the bridges in Quebec City, and those that come to Montreal I don't think can fit under the Montreal bridges to get to Lake Ontario. I don't beleive there are any ships in the main lines that can fit through the Welland Canal to get from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The locks are only 80 feet wide, which is a few feet narrower than the R-ships (Tahitian Princess, Oceana ships etc). I would love to do a cruise of the Great Lakes. The small lines that do cruises around here charge a small mint for them though LOL.

[NCTribeFan]

Wow! Now I'm really sorry I didn't know about the MV Columbus. I wonder what's going to happen to her.

 

It really is a short season on the Lakes, though. Before I moved away, I had a few friends who owned pleasure boats. It was an incredibly expensive hobby considering how few weeks they were able to actually spend out on Lake Erie.

 

Put-in-Bay as a port of call! Now that would be fun (unless it's mellowed greatly in the past couple of decades!).

 

After all those years in Cleveland, though, I prefer to head south for those warm, tropical breezes. Despite the heat and humidity in the midwest in mid-summer, all my brain seems to remember is the horrible cold, snow, and concrete-grey skies. Brrrrr.

[nybumpkin]

My first cruise was in 1965 on the Georgian Bay Lines' SS South American from Buffalo to Duluth. We had a great time. Here's a link to a promotional film from back then:

 

http://www.glmi.org/webcast/archive/southpromo.htm

 

I think those ships were about right for that trip -- smaller, just a few hundred passengers. I can't imagine 3000 passengers getting off on Mackinac Island or Houghton or Sault Ste. Marie without completely overrunning the place.

 

It's definitely a short season -- similar to what happens with Alaska so the cruise line would have to be able to reposition to warmer areas for most of the year.

 

There are ships that do this type of itinerary. Here's some:

 

http://www.greatlakescruising.com/

Thank you for posting that link to the Georgian Bay promo! My husband sailed the Cleveland-Detroit leg of the South American's last voyage in 1967 and always loved her - we have a Michael Blaser print of her arriving in Mackanac hanging in our living room (along with prints of the Seeandbee and the Goodtime). I'd love to see some of the smaller ships on a Great Lakes itinerary; one of American Cruise Lines' ships docked not far from us on her Hudson River itinerary this fall, seems like a ship along those lines would do well on the Great Lakes.