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My question would be, 10 to 15 years from now, when the project is likely to be finished, would there be a chance the major cruise lines might look to run seasonal routes on the great lakes?
Chicago, Cleveland, Windsor Ont. Toronto, Montreal, Milwaukee, Detroit, and others. Lots of stops, lots of possible smaller stops.
10-15 years - I probably won't be here!
I suspect there is a market for cruises on the lakes. 9/11 seems to have stunted the number of ships coming over. That is rebounding though. And the amount of interest the marketing company that handles things on the lakes currently says customers would fill more ships if there were more of them here.
It’s a huge market.
I’m bias for Toronto though, my wife and I honeymooned up there. We have been trying to get back up there every year since, can’t seem to pull it off yet.
Investment just for larger cruise ships really does not seem justified.
As a personal observation, I would be horrified to think of Megaliners going through the Great Lakes debouching masses of tourists in excess of our capacity.
In any event, I would imagine any of the R ships or those not exceeding 40,000 tons could make the transit without any changes to the waterway.
The trip would have tremendous historic and scenic appeal, but I doubt that it would attract the large volumes of todays mass type cruise vacationers.
And again, the plans I'm reading about, though very early in the research phase, involve expanding all of the other channels needed to allow shipping through, that includes by name the Welland canal.
The intent of the expansion is for greater access by ocean going ships for trade and shipping. However I suspect as we continue to see the process move forward, somebody is going to connect a few dots.
I agree though, we are looking at a situation not unlike what some Alaskan ports have had to deal with. Big ships, too many people. Not that anybody would ever want to to go to Toledo on a cruise, but that area has no ability to deal with such a massive influx of people. You have to wonder about a port like Sandusky and Cedar Point. Would a port stop at a world class amusement park with a large and high-quality beach such as Cedar Point be in-line with a cruise itin? Cedar Point used to gain massive numbers of guests from lake cruise ships docking directly at the park. Yet the idea is appealing. You could actually tie such a "shore excusion" to a port stop in Cleveland though.
Then there is the Casino and ships stores issue. There are no international waters on the lakes. You are either in the US or Canada, and a step beyond that, you are either in one province or a state. Can Casinos open on the lakes, or does it depend on the state whose water you are in?
Yet the prospect of taking profitable ships directly to very large market centers, I can't see the chance being skipped by a lot of major cruise lines. What remains is to see if congressional delegates realize the opportunities and start making plays for port expansions and such. That won't come for years though. Then you will certainly have massive opposition from enviromental groups, which already exists directed towards the idea of expanding the channels at all.
I see it happen in other places like Bermuda where mothers wheel three decker kids ashore complete with Elton John glasses. I can well imagine directing the passengers to find the Indians. In most cases they are three hundred miles to the north. Sorry, but lets have the Seaway handle the smaller cruise ships it's capable of and avoid turning the area into a Coney Island.
Hold off purchasing that that cruise ticket on the Mega-giant of the Seas - Toronto to Chicago.
Indeed, this is something, at the earliest, would not see the light of day until more than ten years from now, even if the U.S. and our Canadian friends to the north agree on terms and costs.
I'm not booking tickets yet, but knowing how hard certain U.S. lobbies will fight against change to the PVSA, I'm curious if things did go through, would there be gains to be used to argue for it.
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