Finally travellers are realising the potential of lake cruising

The chilly Great Lakes of North America are seeing record cruise-ship visitors. It seems these vast waterways have become an interesting niche cruising hotspot.

You think cruise ships are everywhere? So they are, and yet enormous regions with impressive cruise potential go almost overlooked.

Previously, I’ve charted growing interest in Indonesia and Africa. Now North America’s Great Lakes have swung into the spotlight.

Great Lakes cruising has a long history but fizzled in the 1960s. Only a new 2022 marine customs agreement between the United States and Canada revived the scene.

This region of North America has 16,000 kilometres of coastline and big, interesting cities such as Detroit, Chicago and Toronto. Yet it also features remote wilderness, especially on the upper reaches of lakes Superior and Michigan.

Among other Great Lakes highlights are the granite islands of Georgian Bay, Fathom Five National Marine Park, a shipwreck off Alpena, the 19th century engineering marvel of Soo Locks, and the big one: Niagara Falls.

Finally, travellers are taking notice. In 2023 cruise-passenger numbers jumped 20 per cent. In 2025, they surged another 10 per cent, according to Cruise the Great Lakes, a regional partnership.

The number of cruise-passenger visits is 150,000. That’s small fry, but the trend is firmly upwards, with encouraging port towns looking to attract more visitors, and more ships sailing the Great Lakes and offering increasingly diverse itineraries.

The game changer was the arrival of the big international line Viking in 2022. Its two 378-guest expedition ships Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris now regularly sail there.

Viking has several new itineraries, including the Great Lakes Collection which visits all five lakes on a 15-day itinerary from Toronto to Duluth in Minnesota, and an eight-day Great Lakes Treasures itinerary roundtrip from Milwaukee that visits ports new to Viking such as Chicago.

Last year the newly created Victory Cruise Lines launched two ships that sailed 36 departures, many from its Chicago base. Another small American line, Pearl Seas Cruises, has four Great Lakes itineraries, including one that sails onwards down the St Lawrence Seaway to Quebec City.

Last year Ponant sailed Great Lakes itineraries on two ships, Le Bellot and Le Champlain, and looks set to make further commitments, having become a member of Cruise the Great Lakes. In 2026, the company is offering seven- or eight-night cruises between Milwaukee and Toronto (or the reverse) in partnership with Smithsonian Journeys for a deep dive into regional history and culture.

Other cruise companies offering Great Lakes itineraries include Tauck (the American company best known for river cruising), German’s luxury company Hapag-Lloyd, and Canadian company St Lawrence Cruise Lines, which has one small ship grandly named Canadian Empress.

Meanwhile, British company Noble Caledonia has an unusual 19-night itinerary in September 2026 from London to Milwaukee that links the Great Lakes to the wider cruise world.

Last year, cruise ships made over 700 port visits in the Great Lakes, a 30 per cent increase on 2024. The number of ports on itineraries is steadily increasing, as are shore-excursion offerings, which is bound to snowball more interest.

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