  Margaret Member Username: Margaret Post Number: 229 Registered: 06-2007 |
has anyone on this forum ever experienced a Great Lakes cruise? I'm curious about taking one, and whether such a cruise could be taken from Detroit. | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 516 Registered: 02-2006 |
I think that is America's best interior asset. Let me know what you turn up on cruises. <313> | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2821 Registered: 10-2003 |
I haven't been on one. None originate or stop in Detroit. They currently stop in Windsor. That may change in the future. There are plans for a cruise ship terminal near the Ren-Cen. | ||
Blueidone Member Username: Blueidone Post Number: 150 Registered: 03-2007 |
Closest thing I have been on is the ferry from Ludington to Milwaukee. Nice ride if you like being on the water, which I do. | ||
Umcs Member Username: Umcs Post Number: 264 Registered: 06-2007 |
I think the Columbia or something used to run as a cruise ship but if I recall, it's been cancelled going forward. The Princess still does dinner cruises out of Detroit though. I've heard from friends they are nice. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1588 Registered: 11-2003 |
I thought I read an article a few weeks back that one the ships that has been running Great Lakes cruises the past couple years is stopping due to problems being able to run in the receding water in Great Lakes harbors. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 3204 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've been on the Ovation. That's pretty nice, but it's just a dinner boat like the River Princess. Takes you up past Belle Isle, then back past the bridge, and that's it. Dinner and music and drinks and dancing. | ||
Jeduncan Member Username: Jeduncan Post Number: 150 Registered: 11-2006 |
I've only been on the Detroit Princess. I'll say, though, that it was a pretty cool dinner cruise. Great food, live music, decent drink prices. The view of the riverfront is pretty cool, too. Well worth the money. Check it out sometime | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 839 Registered: 08-2007 |
I went on the Christopher Columbus, Hapag Lloyd's lake cruiser. We left Chicago and went up through the straits and over to Manitoulin, then back up the St. Marys and into Lake Superior. Our stops were Little Current, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Marquette, and Traverse City, where we landed on the morning of 9/11/2001. We returned to Chicago where fortunately we had round trip train tickets to get home. We went through the St. Mary's and the locks at night. I stayed up to watch and it was wonderful. Going under the Mackinac Bridge was really interesting. Our stops were pretty short, just a few hours in each town. The ship was beautiful, small compared to the big cruise ships. Three decks for passengers, one dining room. The food was good, the entertainment was interesting, and the staff was wonderful. | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 840 Registered: 08-2007 |
They did say the Columbus would stop cruising after this year because of low lake levels. They were low when we went, too, and they could only get into the dock area at the Soo. For the rest we took a tender from the anchorage. By what I heard, they can't get into the dock at the Soo anymore. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 952 Registered: 10-2003 |
Not since a S.S. South American cruise in 1966. And speaking of the Georgian Bay Line, I found this concerning the finding of the wreck of the North American: www.questmarineservices.com/exploration/northAmerican.html (Message edited by douglasm on October 22, 2007) | ||
Flybydon Member Username: Flybydon Post Number: 182 Registered: 01-2005 |
http://www.greatlakescruising.com/  | ||
Margaret Member Username: Margaret Post Number: 232 Registered: 06-2007 |
I'm surprised the lake levels are down...I thought they were supposed to be getting higher? (duuuh)...this Great Lakes cruising sounds really neat! Gaz, that trip you took sounds great! I'm envious...according to the website, the Grand Mariner still is cruising, but mostly on Lake Michigan, it looks like. that would be so much fun. I would also like to try that Lake Michigan ferry. does anyone know how to get a good deal on one of these cruises? thanks for the posts... | ||
Margaret Member Username: Margaret Post Number: 233 Registered: 06-2007 |
I'm surprised the lake levels are down...I thought they were supposed to be getting higher? (duuuh)...this Great Lakes cruising sounds really neat! Gaz, that trip you took sounds great! I'm envious...according to the website, the Grand Mariner still is cruising, but mostly on Lake Michigan, it looks like. that would be so much fun. I would also like to try that Lake Michigan ferry. does anyone know how to get a good deal on one of these cruises? thanks for the posts... | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 276 Registered: 01-2007 |
If we don't have a cold winter that freezes the lakes, and a lot of snow in the Lk. Superior watershed, the cargo ships better be shipping feathers instead of iron ore. Massive amounts of water evaporate during the winter. And are replenished with the spring melt. | ||
Johnberk Member Username: Johnberk Post Number: 71 Registered: 11-2003 |
The low lake levels are a major problem. Lake Superior is at its lowest level since they started keeping records in 1918. There was an article in last Sunday's New York Times about this. | ||
C_p Member Username: C_p Post Number: 27 Registered: 11-2006 |
S S South American was a fantastic cruise, going up to Mackinac Island, Duluth, then to Buffalo, back when it was safe and reasonably affordable to enjoy the Great Lakes. I travelled many times as my aunt was the hostess on the South. Douglasm tried but it will not open. What is missing in that webaddress, as I would love to see something about the North. Please help | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 953 Registered: 10-2003 |
Basically what the website says is that the North American was found by a research team on Quest Marine's R/V Quest found the ship in about 250 feet of water, about 140 miles off the New England coast. It had sunk while under tow on September 13, 1967. Let's try posting the site again: www.questmarineservices.com/ex ploration/northAmerican.html In 1966, before the tourist season really got underway, Georgian Bay Lines ran high school senior trips from Detroit to Mackinac Island, and I was on one. It was a gorgeous trip (and so was the little blond from Mt. Morris High, but that's a different story), and it's too bad there isn't a way travel like that in those ships could be recreated. | ||
Downtown_dave Member Username: Downtown_dave Post Number: 207 Registered: 07-2005 |
A French cruise ship, Le Levant, experimented with carrying European travelers on Great Lakes cruises. I recall seeing it docked at Windsor and also Mackinac Island during its short run. It was a first-class beauty! Info is here: http://www.seaway.dot.gov/news /pr061099.html | ||
Gazhekwe Member Username: Gazhekwe Post Number: 860 Registered: 08-2007 |
It looks like the Great Lakes Cruise Company is planning on running cruises with the Grand Mariner next year. They don't run a bar or entertainment, so it is a little different. http://www.greatlakescruising. com/mariner-prince/index.php | ||
Downtown_dave Member Username: Downtown_dave Post Number: 208 Registered: 07-2005 |
From Crain's Detroit Business, (6/4/2007, Vol. 23 Issue 23, p1-23), the Grande Mariner cruise ship, owned and operated by the American Canadian Caribbean Line, will be the last of three ships to sail the Great Lakes in 2008. The ship can accommodate up to 100 passengers in each of its six sailings. (See http://www.accl-smallships.com /Cruise_Category.cfm?Category_ ID=4) According to Stephen Burnett, executive director of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, the lake's largest cruise vessel, MV Columbus, has to be dry-docked for repairs. |
