Cruise: Great Lakes, Saint John

The Great Lakes cruise industry will experience substantial capacity increase in 2014 with the entry of six quite different ships, including the brand new Pearl Seas Mist and the return of MS Hamburg. Port Saint John, now into its 25th cruise season, on September 23 greeted its two millionth cruise tourist – a guest aboard Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas.

Great Lakes Cruising 2014

The Great Lakes cruise industry will experience substantial capacity increase in 2014 with the entry of six quite different ships, including the brand new Pearl Seas Mist and the return of MS Hamburg. Altogether, they will offer 6,000 guest-berths, 52 departures and visit 67 ports.  

That information comes from the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, a binational (U.S./Canadian), not-for-profit advocacy group whose members include Great Lakes ports, cities, U.S. states and the province of Ontario.

Pearl Mist, operated by Pearl Seas Cruises of Guilford, Conn., is 335 feet long, offers 108 suites with outside balconies and can accommodate up to 210 cruise guests. Next year, it will sail six round-trip voyages between Toronto and Chicago. Planning is already underway for the 2015 season.

A German travel company, Plantours of Bremen, will operate the 420-guest capacity MS Hamburg on the Great Lakes in 2014. Formerly named C. Columbus and operated by Hapag Lloyd, MS Hamburg will cruise between Montreal, Toronto and Chicago with a mostly German clientele. 

Travel Dynamics will return to the Lakes for another season with the 138-guest capacity Yorktown, a U.S.-flag cruise ship that will operate 12 "enrichment cruises" in all five of the Great Lakes between May and October. 

Blount Small Ship Adventures, formerly American Caribbean Canadian Cruise Line (ACCL), operates a fleet fleet of 100-guest capacity, purpose built shallow draft vessels. Blount’s Grand Mariner and the Grand Caribe visit ports between Chicago, Toronto, Québec City and Kingston, Ontario, and along the Erie Canal between Lake Ontario and New York City.

St. Lawrence Cruise Line will operate the 64-guest capacity Canadian Empress on the St. Lawrence River between Kingston and Québec City, with intermediate visits to the Thousand Islands, Montreal and Ottawa. 

Saint John Welcomes Two Millionth Passenger

Port Saint John, now into its 25th cruise season, on September 23 greeted its two millionth cruise tourist – a guest aboard Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. 

"This is a milestone to be proud of, especially during our anniversary year," said Port Authority CEO Jim Quinn. "There's a reason we've seen two million passengers stop by our port: our community. Saint John is a truly unique place with unparalleled hospitality and our sense of community is what has continued to make us a destination."

The port authority marked the occasion by handing the two millionth guest, Kyle Rensle of Baltimore, a gift certificate for New Brunswick lobster and distributing 1,000 bottles of wild blueberry jam to cruise guests from Grandeur of the Seas. 

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