Great Lakes Cruises

[hello]

Has anyone cruised the Great Lakes? Who did you use? The only line I seem to find info about is ACCL. Any other suggestions?

 

Thank you.

[dougnewmanatsea]

The closest thing that can be found to a traditional, large-ship cruise experience on the Great Lakes is Hapag-Lloyd's C. COLUMBUS, marketed in the US by Great Lakes Cruise Company.

[hello]

Thank you, Doug. I don't know why I thought that they had gone out of business a few years ago. Now, I have 2 sites to look at.

[robsvacation]

Here's a great site for cruising the great lakes:

 

http://www.cruisingthegreatlakes.org/

 

They list all the major ships and their itineraries. Too bad the Seaway and Welland cannel aren't built to panamax standards. I'd love to see a "SeaWayMax" cruise ship get built. There are lots of great ports ands some great beaches on the great lakes, it would be a fun way to spend a week in the sun without going to Florida.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I'd love to see a "SeaWayMax" cruise ship get built.

COLUMBUS C. is a Seawaymax ship. She's much shorter than the maximum length but like Panamax, Seawaymax generally refers to width.

 

CUNARD COUNTESS and CUNARD PRINCESS (now Majestic International Cruises' OCEAN COUNTESS and MSC's RHAPSODY) are also Seawaymax vessels.

[hello]

Thank you Doug and robsvacation, I need to gather more info for our cruise next summer!

[Druke I]

We had considered Hapag Lloyd's Columbus a couple years back, but thought it rather pricey. Haven't seen it advertised lately.

[hello]

Yes, Druke I, I agree -- the prices do seem VERY high, compared to other cruises. MV Columbus is actually the ship that we are looking at at. It seems to be one of the few ships that at least TOUCHES each lake. Their TORONTO TO CHICAGO September 2005 is $2100 for their cheaperst INSIDE! I did see a promotion for 2nd person half-price for this September, so I'm not sure if it might not be better to wait and see if any promotions come up for next year.

[robsvacation]

Host Doug

 

While I know it would be a bizzare looking passenger vessel, the Columus is only 473 feet long, 70 feet wide while the locks allow vessels up to 730 feet long and 78 feet wide. Add on a swing up bow (like they recently proposed for the renovated Enchantment of the Seas) and you might get a few extra feet in usable length.

[dougnewmanatsea]

While I know it would be a bizzare looking passenger vessel, the Columus is only 473 feet long, 70 feet wide while the locks allow vessels up to 730 feet long and 78 feet wide.

I know about the length, but to be honest I'm a bit confused about beam here.

 

C. COLUMBUS was built very specifically to be the maximum beam allowed - to the point where her bridge wings even retract. I'm sure if they could have made her wider, they'd have done so.

 

Length of course is a very different story and you're correct, not only would a 730 x 78 ft passenger ship look very odd, it would be quite "challenged" in other ways too. I'm no naval architect but I imagine it would not be too easy to design a decent oceangoing passenger ship to those dimensions.

 

Incidentally for those who are interested, my friend Stephan Giesen at Schiffsphoto.de has an excellent photo gallery of C. COLUMBUS here (captions in German only). She looks like a very nice vessel, with somewhat "different" but attractive interior decor which almost reminds me of the HAL ships (I don't much like all those reflective ceilings though, nor the grey-stained wood in one of the suites, but that's nitpicking).

 

One little thing that also attracts me to this ship is that she is one of the last in the world with fixed single-seating dining (the only others I can think of off the top of my head are CARONIA, soon to become SAGA RUBY, and her near-sister and future running-mate SAGA ROSE, which are open to the over-50 market only).

[robsvacation]

Host Doug

 

I got the lock dimentions off the Seaways's website and there are a number of freighters built to these exact dimentions, so I'm pretty sure I got the max dimentions right.

 

There must be all kinds of design issues when it comes to a passenger ship. I know the Columbus has the retractable bridge wings. The 8 feet less width may be a safety factor: I imagine that a freighter scraping it's sides on a lock would be less traumatic than a passenger ship taking out a window.

 

I know ship design has come far in the last 10 years, a few years back no one thought a panamax ship made sense. Who knows, maybe we'll see bigger ships on the lakes, but without gaming I highly doubt it.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I got the lock dimentions off the Seaways's website and there are a number of freighters built to these exact dimentions, so I'm pretty sure I got the max dimentions right.

I imagine you did, but there must be some other factor here. I'm pretty sure that if they could have built C. COLUMBUS eight feet wider, they'd have done it.

 

Who knows, maybe we'll see bigger ships on the lakes, but without gaming I highly doubt it.

Agreed. At this point it's really a niche market and I'm glad that Hapag-Lloyd serve it.

[hello]

Doug,

 

Thank you for Stephan's website. I was able to see all of the photo's, and had a good time trying to interpret everything. I also sent a note to Stephan thanking him for the photo's.

 

Robyn