Great Lakes Cities

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

A bicycle is considered a vehicle in most states. Riding a bike while drunk can result in a DUI, just like driving a car while drunk.

which is complete and utter bullshit, of course

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by pj3000

which is complete and utter bullshit, of course

Yes and no. People have been killed or disabled for life after being hit by cyclists.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

I've heard that the 1980 film "Somewhere in Time" has a cult following and some of the fans make the trek to the Grand Hotel. I kind of like that film. Wish your way back in time through self hypnosis.

yes, the movie still has a cult following, though now that it's approaching its 40th birthday, i think you'll find less enthusiasm for it in 2019 than you might have had in 1999.

although, the Grand Hotel still hosts an annual "Somewhere In Time" themed weekend, so some people are definitely still into it.


Grand Hotel:


source: me

[Steely Dan]

the first cruise ship of the season has docked in milwaukee:


source: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showt...#post159850424

[IrishIllini]

Was that shot taken on film? Looks decades old.

[Boisebro]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Was that shot taken on film? Looks decades old.

it's a screenshot from a video from jsonline.

[TownGuy]

Some of my favourite evenings on the Great Lakes are the calm ones, everything is still and glass like as far as the eye can see.

(Last week)

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

the first cruise ship of the season has docked in milwaukee:


source: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showt...#post159850424

Isn't there a multi-year initiative between Great Lakes cities to significantly boost the cruise ship industry? Apparently, it was far bigger many decades ago than it is today.

[Steely Dan]

Viking has announced that it will offer new cruise itineraries on the great lakes starting in 2022 with its new Expedition Class vessels.

i think these new viking expedition ships will be the largest cruise ships to ever sail the great lakes. 670' long and 30,000 tons.

that's still a very far cry from the bloated floating hotels that ply the caribbean, but still significantly bigger than the other cruise ships we've seen to date on the great lakes.


source: https://www.cleveland.com/business/2...cleveland.html

[homebucket]

Beautiful ship.

[Handro]

Wonder why no Chicago? Also those are crazy expensive, a 12 day cruise in Europe is like 3k, both Great Lakes options are 7k+...

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Handro

Wonder why no Chicago?

chicago can't hog all of the fun for itself.

give it time. if this first foray proves successful for viking, expect expansion.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Viking has announced that it will offer new cruise itineraries on the great lakes starting in 2022 with its new Expedition Class vessels.

i think these new viking expedition ships will be the largest cruise ships to ever sail the great lakes. 670' long and 30,000 tons.

that's still a very far cry from the bloated floating hotels that ply the caribbean, but still significantly bigger than the other cruise ships we've seen to date on the great lakes.


source: https://www.cleveland.com/business/2...cleveland.html

Is this the same 'Viking Line' that operates large ships between Finland and Sweden/Estonia? I'd certainly be interested in a cruise from Toronto to Chicago and back. Surely there are enough people on the Great Lakes to support something like this.

[austlar1]

deleted-irrelevant

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Is this the same 'Viking Line' that operates large ships between Finland and Sweden/Estonia?

viking cruises is most famous for their european river cruises. they've since branched out to become a global cruise line, but their niche is still in smaller-scaled, more specialty oriented cruising, and these new great lakes and polar expedition cruises certainly fit right into that mold. they don't operate any of those 5,000+ passenger beasts that sail the caribbean and the med. they sail in those waters too, but with much smaller ships. they're oriented towards the market that is looking for something a little different, and can afford to pay for it.

Originally Posted by isaidso

Surely there are enough people on the Great Lakes to support something like this.

a huge part of their clientele for these great lakes cruises will be wealthy europeans who are looking for something different, something off the beaten path.




btw, to put the size difference of this new viking ship into perspective, i looked up the sizes of some of the current ships that cruise the great lakes:

Victory I: 300' LOA/5,000 tons
Victory II: 300' LOA/5,000 tons
Pearl Mist: 325' LOA/5,100 tons
Hanseatic Inspiration: 470' LOA/15,000 tons

Viking Octantis: 670' LOA/30,000 tons


in terms of size, this is a whole other level of cruise ship, the likes of which the great lakes have never seen.

and considering the locks on the st. lawrence seaway/welland canal limit max. ship size to ~740' in length, this ship is getting pretty close to the maximum size cruise ship that could ever get into the great lakes. we'll never see anything substantively larger than this ship cruising on the great lakes.

[suburbanite]

That's an impressive cruise ship for the Great Lakes. I'll be keeping an eye out for it from my balcony.

Sure it will also do wonders to make Mackinac Island even more insane during the peak tourist season.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Sure it will also do wonders to make Mackinac Island even more insane during the peak tourist season.

for as physically large as this new Viking ship is, it only holds ~400 passengers, and that would be a small drop in the bucket on a summer weekend on mackinac island.

this would be nothing like one of those 6,000 passenger Royal Caribbean behemoths descending upon and completely overwhelming some small little caribbean port town.



anyway, check out this cool video of the new ship.

when we first heard about the cruise business picking up on the great lake several years ago, i didn't think we'd see a real cruise ship like this show up here so soon.

• Video Link

[The North One]

So I assume this is gonna stop at port Detroit in downtown making it the largest passenger ship ever to do so. Pretty neat.

But lord are cruise ships a colossal waste of human resources and environmentally destructive. I cannot imagine spending 6k on something like this when I can just drive to all these locations in a fraction of the time and fraction of the cost. But I guess I'm not the target market.

[JManc]

Viking and Royal Caribbean/ Carnival are not even on the same level. The latter two are floating buffets with drunks and water slides while Viking tends to be more about the sites and scenery. I've only been on Royal Caribbean a couple of times and it was ok and I was more impressed by the ship itself because it was a feat of engineering but would love to do this GL cruise (and a Detroit port of call would be cool) or Alaska. Those ships are small and lack the bells and whistles like the big ships.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by The North One

So I assume this is gonna stop at port Detroit in downtown making it the largest passenger ship ever to do so. Pretty neat.

But lord are cruise ships a colossal waste of human resources and environmentally destructive. I cannot imagine spending 6k on something like this when I can just drive to all these locations in a fraction of the time and fraction of the cost. But I guess I'm not the target market.

Ya I doubt you're going to find very many locals or even North Americans on these trips. Cruises probably suck to most of us because you can't do much with 1-2 days in a city. I'm sure my grandparents would find it easier to just take a European river cruise than try and coordinate travel from Amsterdam to Vienna to Budapest though.