Great Lakes Cities

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I've never known much about the Great Lakes cruising industry. I think it's great that it's beginning to get traction. It will never be as big a thing as the main cruises (Alaska, Europe, Caribbean, etc) but I do think that it is an undervalued market that has a lot of room to grow.

yeah, it's never going to be a multi-billion dollar industry like the caribbean or mediterranean cruise businesses, but the great lakes offer a great opportunity for those looking for more unique and less mobbed cruise destinations. besides, not every one wants to sail on those MASSIVE ships with 5,000 of their best friends. the more intimate scale of a 300 passenger ship holds appeal for many people. and when you arrive at a port of call, you don't completely over-run the place with casts of thousands being belched out of the ship and swarming the area.

i've done the caribbean cruise thing on those massive ships in the past (not my choice), and the somewhat toxic aspect of how the ships taint whatever area they pull into to unload their human cargo was very apparent to me.

[the urban politician]

^ My experience wasn't bad. I did a Caribbean 6-night Disney Cruise and there was nothing toxic or overwhelming about it. Of course, our cruise wasn't full of drunk 20 something partiers or rabid overeaters.

I recommend a Disney Cruise--strongly--if you have a family.

[Steely Dan]

^ i've done the caribbean cruise thing twice now. both times were big giant family trips (40+ people) to celebrate anniversaries for my grandparents. they were fun because i was with all of my cousins, but cruising itself isn't really my cup of tea. at least not on those massive boats. i can see more appeal in something smaller and more mellow.

i can't imagine i'll ever go on another caribbean cruise (unless it's on somebody else's dime).



as part of our honeymoon, my wife and i did a week-long sea kayak adventure through the virgin islands with a guide.

sleeping on deserted island beaches, catching fish and lobsters from the reef and cooking them on the fire, free to go explore all kinds of lonely, isolated little coves, beaches, reefs, and lagoons.

now THAT is my cup of tea when it comes to caribbean "cruising".

[suburbanite]

I found the Mediterranean cruise on a much smaller boat exponentially more enjoyable than the Royal Caribbean which seems to exist primarily as a floating buffet.

Even then, in my opinion it's still a much inferior experience to traveling on your own schedule. Docking for one day in Messina, Malta, or Naples isn't enough time to see and do everything you want.

[10023]

Cruises are for people who don’t know how to travel properly.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I found the Mediterranean cruise on a much smaller boat exponentially more enjoyable than the Royal Caribbean which seems to exist primarily as a floating buffet.

Even then, in my opinion it's still a much inferior experience to traveling on your own schedule. Docking for one day in Messina, Malta, or Naples isn't enough time to see and do everything you want.

while i certainly agree with you, my vague understanding from what i have heard from others is that people primarily want to cruise to cruise and only secondarily want to see the sights.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by 10023

Cruises are for people who don’t know how to travel properly.

People who are sophisticated travelers can and do both believe it or not. They're totally different kinds of travel experiences. It's not an 'either or' thing. Sure you can gorge yourself at the all-you-can-eat trough halfway across the Caribbean if that's your thing or...you can just relax and enjoy some of these places most folks otherwise would never visit. I'd probably would have never visited the Bahamas, Belize, Honduras, the Caymans or Jamaica otherwise.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by JManc

I'd probably would have never visited the Bahamas, Belize, Honduras, the Caymans or Jamaica otherwise.

Likewise for me with Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Grand Turk, Costa Maya and Roatan (which is technically part of Honduras), Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria BC. Hell, I'd never even have gone to Seattle, Miami (briefly) or Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral if not for embarking/disembarking cruise ships.

Both cruises I did out of Florida and one out of Seattle, similar to Steely Dan's experience, included spending copious amounts of time family while travelling between ports.

[JManc]

Roatan, that's where I went as well. Amazing beaches; took some great photos and snorkeled in the coral reefs.

Been to Alaska and might go back in a few months or this fall but the only way to really get to Juneau is by ship.

[iheartthed]

A good Great Lakes cruise to me would be more analogous to an Alaskan cruise than to a Caribbean cruise. The big cities would only be a starting/ending point, but the draw will be the natural features, and off the beaten path places like Mackinac Island, Marquette, Lake Superior, plus the places around the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The ones I've looked up so far seem to mostly focus on points east of Mackinac Island, with big city ports of call in Toronto, Cleveland, and Detroit.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The ones I've looked up so far seem to mostly focus on points east of Mackinac Island, with big city ports of call in Toronto, Cleveland, and Detroit.

more of them will apparently be coming to chicago now as well, according to the tribune article that started this discussion.

here's the route for Victory's great lakes grand discovery cruise that departs from chicago.


source: https://www.victorycruiselines.com/g...SABEgJTDPD_BwE


and here's Pearl Seas' 11 day great lakes route tha departs from milwaukee.


source: https://www.pearlseascruises.com/Cru...d-georgian-bay


and here's USA River Cruise's grand great lakes tour that departs from chicago:


source: https://usarivercruises.com/cruise/g...-from-chicago/



lake superior doesn't seem to be on the map yet for great lakes cruising.

[JManc]

The only trouble I would see with a Great Lakes cruise industry would be the crush of tourists in some of these areas. Mackinac Island and Put-in-Bay seem quaint right now even if they're busy as it is in the on-season. But imagine hoards of fanny packs descending on them...

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by JManc

The only trouble I would see with a Great Lakes cruise industry would be the crush of tourists in some of these areas. Mackinac Island and Put-in-Bay seem quaint right now even if they're busy as it is in the on-season. But imagine hoards of fanny packs descending on them...

i already addressed that earlier in the thread. the ships that cruise the great lakes are in the 200-400 passenger range, a FAR cry from the 4,000+ passenger monsters down in the caribbean.

a ship with 300 passengers making a port of call at mackinac island is not going to come anywhere close to overwhelming the place.

[JManc]

Yeah, no one mentioned the Symphony of Seas sailing through the Straits of Mackinac. But these are more or less still quaint little areas with limited infrastructure (by choice) and a few hundred more tourists (that's assuming just one ship stops each day) could put a strain on things. I lived near towns in New York and New England that were analogous to these along the Great Lakes and they were choked with tourists.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

as part of our honeymoon, my wife and i did a week-long sea kayak adventure through the virgin islands with a guide.

sleeping on deserted island beaches, catching fish and lobsters from the reef and cooking them on the fire, free to go explore all kinds of lonely, isolated little coves, beaches, reefs, and lagoons.

now THAT is my cup of tea when it comes to caribbean "cruising".

^ To each their own, I guess. Sounds like too much work for me.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by JManc

Yeah, no one mentioned the Symphony of Seas sailing through the Straits of Mackinac. But these are more or less still quaint little areas with limited infrastructure (by choice) and a few hundred more tourists (that's assuming just one ship stops each day) could put a strain on things.

trust me, as someone who has spent a week or two on mackinac island every summer for the past 4 decades, 300 extra people on the island during the summer tourism season wouldn't even be noticed.

now, 4,500 extra people being unloaded onto the island by some massive "floating buffet", yeah, that would start to have some serious impacts, but that's not remotely on the table for great lakes cruising.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

trust me, as someone who has spent a week or two on mackinac island every summer for the past 4 decades, 300 extra people on the island wouldn't even be noticed.

That's good. Glad they are in a position to be able to take on more people. I hate to see places overrun and lose their character to chase a few more tourist dollars. Never been there and it's on my list. A place with no cars seems like a magical place.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by JManc

I hate to see places overrun and lose their character to chase a few more tourist dollars.

mackinac's character already is "summer tourism destination".

the island has a permanent population of ~500 people, but i've heard that on summer weekends the population swells as high as 25,000 people including all the day-trippers, tourists, cottagers, and summer workers.

300 extra people are not going to radically upset that balance.

[the urban politician]

As a person who grew up in Michigan and has known about M. Island all of my life, and who is fully aware that it is a popular destination for people in the Chicago area, I'm still bummed that I have yet to make it out there.

After this year's road trip to Cedar Point, Niagara, Toronto, SW coast Michigan (already planned) it is pretty much my #1 road trip next destination.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

mackinac's character already is "summer tourism destination".

the island has a permanent population of ~500 people, but i've heard that on summer weekends the population swells as high as 25,000 people including all the day-trippers, tourists, cottagers, and summer workers.

300 extra people are not going to radically upset that balance.

25 thousand? Shit, a fleet of Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships wouldn't make much of a dent I guess. Here I was thinking 'quaint'.