Cruising the Great Lakes

[DocF]

While there have been some attempts to revive this pleasant diversion in recent years, it ended when the Georgian Bay Line vessels were retired as they had wooden superstructures.

 

This is the former Goodrich Lines overnight boat in service for the Georgian Bay Line in 1945 (I think). Photo by Thomas Manse. [click thumbnail for larger view]

[Conte Di Savoia]

Cruises of the Great Lakes are still available through the Great Lakes Cruise Company at this web site: http://www.greatlakescruising.com. Back in 2005 I cruised them on Hapag Lloyd's C. Columbus, a German ship designed specifically for navigation of the Great Lakes and its locks. Unfortunatley they no longer make these cruises because the water level in the lakes has fallen below a safe level. Too bad because it is a very interesting trip.

[DocF]

This is not the same as the Georgian Bay Line and Canada Steamship Line and Canadian Pacific Line vessels. They ran every week and people seemed to really enjoy these old ships very much.

 

I remember having both the North American and the South American tied up at the Union Terminal Pier on Mackinac Island. It was in July and the island ferries were running as fast as they could. The two cruise ships made for a bit of a challenge.

 

Doc

[rkacruiser]

My very first cruise was aboard the South American: Detroit-Buffalo-Cleveland-Detroit. I was in my teens and found this to be a very exciting and enjoyable experience. Compared to the vessels of today, the South American would not be able to compete. But, in her own way, she was very classy. I remember a very narrow Promenade Deck with deck chairs, the dining room was down in the very lower deck of the ship with a bar that was nearby in a space that was part of the embarkation/debarkation area--not very elegant, as I recall. I recall an interior lounge, surrounded by cabins, where bingo was played. (Didn't win then, either.)

 

It was quite an experience and that trip along with a visit to the RMS Queen Mary on a sailing day in New York provided the "hook" that has kept me cruising when I am able.

[nybumpkin]

DH sailed on the South American on one leg (Cleveland-Detroit) of her last regular voyage, 1967. We have a wonderful print hanging over our fireplace of the South American sailing into Mackinac by the artist Michael Blaser - if you're into steamboats or Great Lakes art, check out his works. (We have another Blaser print of the Goodtime (I) sailing into Cleveland in the late 1930's.)

 

Inland Seas, the quarterly journal of the Great Lakes Historical Society, noted in its most recent issue that the Clelia II, a Bahamian-registered ship, is planning 2009 trips on the Great Lakes. I found an article about her visit last week to Thunder Bay at http://www.lakesuperiornews.com/News/ShipMovements/ShippingNews2009/CleliaIItovisitTBay/tabid/1401/Default.aspx

[DocF]

If this works, I will be putting up thumbnails of the North American at Mackinac Island and the South American running down the Detroit River. The first photo is from the early sixties, the second from 1954, and come from the Boatnerd.com website, a highly valuable resource.

 

Doc

[DocF]

Well, let us try once more.

 

Doc