Why Great Lakes Cruises Should Be on Every North American’s Travel Radar
One of the most surprising things about seeing North America is how easy it is to overlook the Great Lakes. We dream of Tuscany, Kyoto, and Cape Town, yet miss the deep pleasures of our own inland seas. With Great Lakes cruises you have a chance to explore eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in style. Spanning the world’s largest freshwater system, these inland seas are a vast, shimmering invitation to discover the heart and soul of two countries we think we know.
I was born into a family that traveled. We never missed an opportunity to run off somewhere. “Faraway places with strange-sounding names” were always a draw. Into the mix was an uncle, by marriage, who forever preached the gospel of “Seeing America First.” I gave him every excuse not to. My job would take me across the continent, north, south, east and west. And it did.
But looking back, most of my travel involved airports, overnights in chain hotels, days in conference rooms where lunch was brought in. With few exceptions, I saw about as much North America as you can see out of windows on the way to the airport. So, it should come as no surprise that the Great Lakes never appeared on my travel radar. That all changed this year. And I am so glad it did.
And here’s the secret: you don’t need to white-knuckle your way down I-75 or drag your roll-aboard across endless airport terminals to explore them. You can cruise. In style. And when you do, you’ll see a side of America and Canada that’s charmingly under-touristed, surprisingly sophisticated, and gloriously relaxed.
Superb Cruises on the Five Great Lakes
From the art deco grandeur of Detroit to the Victorian whimsy of Mackinac Island, from Toronto’s worldly buzz to the raw majesty of Niagara Falls, the ports of the Great Lakes deliver a medley of culture, history, and natural beauty that’s hard to match. Cleveland is having a moment. Milwaukee is cooler than you think. And Sault Ste. Marie? Just wait until you see what they’ve done with the locks.
Built in 1887, historic Grand Hotel of Mackanac Island has been the backdrop of 1947-musical comedy This Time for Keeps (starring Jimmy Durante and Esther Williams) and 1980 film Somwhere in Time (starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.) Photos courtesy of Monte Mathews.
This isn’t your grandparents’ idea of a cruise — though they might’ve had it right. Today’s Great Lakes voyages blend luxury and leisure with the kind of slow travel that lets you actually feel a place. You sip your morning coffee as your ship glides past forested coastlines and lighthouses. You disembark in towns you’ve only read about — or never even heard of — and come back with a deeper sense of your own backyard.
Let the Europeans have the Mediterranean. We have our own inland Riviera.
Timelessly Elegant Cruising
A closer look at Victory I and Cabin 408 on board. Photo courtesy of Monte Mathews.
Let’s begin where we began — aboard Victory Cruise Lines‘ newly reincarnated Victory I, our actual introduction to cruising the Great Lakes. She’s a classic beauty, all polished brass, gleaming woodwork, and a sense of timeless style that evokes the elegance of a bygone era. Carrying just 190 passengers, Victory I sails like a private yacht — one with top-tier cuisine, attentive service, and nightly entertainment that ranges from Broadway to blues. We sailed from Toronto to Chicago, which sounds like a straight shot on a map, but in reality, it was a deeply layered immersion into the region’s natural grandeur and historic intrigue.
Victory I, and her twin Victory II, have had more lives than a cat. Built in 2001 to resemble 19th-century coastal steamers, they’ve operated under several names, all while maintaining their stately proportions and intimate charm. At 286-feet long and five-decks high, they’re the perfect scale for this kind of travel, small enough to slide into charming harbors like Mackinac Island or Sault Ste. Marie, yet spacious enough for full-deck cocktail hours as Lake Superior melts into the horizon.
Expedition Elegance
While Victory delivers vintage allure with American spirit, Viking Octantis is a modern marvel. Launched in 2022, Octantis brought Scandinavian elegance and high-concept exploration to these inland waters. With a sleek, minimalist design and spaces that breathe: floor-to-ceiling windows, airy lounges, and cabins so well thought out they feel like sanctuaries. Viking Cruises brings its famously loyal clientele something radically new: expedition cruising on freshwater.
Octantis doesn’t just take you somewhere, it teaches you something while you’re there. Onboard scientists and researchers are a fixture — not a feature — aboard Viking’s expedition fleet. There’s a working science lab onboard, for heaven’s sake. Want to learn how to photograph a bald eagle mid-flight? They’ve got a lecture for that. Fancy kayaking past remote shoreline you’d never reach by land. They’ll outfit you and guide the way. Viking Octantis redefines what it means to engage with a destination, and does so with the spa, dining, and wine program you’d expect from a brand that’s become synonymous with stylish cruising.
Haute Lakes Cruising
And then there’s the dark horse: Hapag-Lloyd’s Hanseatic Inspiration, a ship so suave, she’d probably wear diamond studs if she could. This German-engineered beauty sails under an ethos of true expedition luxury, a sort of “Haute Adventure.” The Hanseatic Inspiration is as comfortable navigating the polar ice caps as she is slipping into Georgian Bay. With a mere 230 guests on board and an expedition team of naturalists, marine biologists, and historians, this is the cruise line for those who crave substance with their style. I loved this ship!
Inspiration’s design is all about connection to the water, to the landscape, and to the experience. Glass balconies fold outward from your stateroom to create observation decks. A bow lounge at the front of the ship gives guests a Captain’s-eye view of the voyage. Even the tender boats are literally elevated and lowered from a retractable marina platform that puts you gently into the water to explore the shallows and shores up close.
And while Hapag-Lloyd might be German, English is spoken on board, and the service is warm without being overbearing. The food? European fine dining at its most refined, with caviar one night and local lake trout the next. It’s a floating five-star hotel that just so happens to take you through some of the most overlooked and unexpectedly jaw-dropping corners of the continent.
How to Choose the Right Great Lakes Cruise for You
So which line is right for you? That depends. Victory is all American charm and lakeside nostalgia. Viking is smart, sleek, and geared toward the intellectually curious. And Hanseatic Inspiration is the platinum card of small ship cruising.
But really, this isn’t a competition. It’s a celebration. The Great Lakes are finally having their moment. And whether you explore them wrapped in classic luxury, Scandinavian cool, or German precision, one thing’s for sure: you’ll come away wondering why on earth it took you so long to discover this inland Riviera hiding in plain sight.
