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Discover natural wonders: from outstanding beauty to historic cities and a deep connection to nature, the Great Lakes are an undiscovered treasure, boasting stunning national parks best explored via tranquil kayaking and hiking. This area is also rich in culture, with world-class museums, vibrant cities and areas steeped in First Nations traditions.

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Highlights of great lakes cruises.

America’s Great Lakes are a little-known, unspoiled wonderland, boasting diverse natural beauty, scenic wildlife and some of the most interesting cities in North America. Over 750 miles across with 10,000 miles of coastline, the Great Lakes cover an area twice as large as Pennsylvania. Glide silently by kayak past otters in Georgian Bay, hear the roar of Niagara Falls, hike through verdant old forests or visit Canada’s prominent museums to marvel at art inspired by these shores. Here are some highlights you may experience during your journey:

• Explore the largest freshwater ecosystem on earth—the Great Lakes
• Watch for wildlife, from bald eagles to moose, bears and beavers
• Hike through stunning forests in this pristine environment
• Learn about Canada’s colonial past and the St. Lawrence River
• Kayak in stunning Georgian Bay—a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
• View the world-class collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum
• Explore tranquil, scenic Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
• Transit engineering marvels like the Welland Canal and Soo Locks

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Michigan’s cruise ship season begins with 665-foot Viking Octantis

• Updated: May. 01, 2023, 12:43 p.m. |
• Published: May. 01, 2023, 10:22 a.m.

The 665-foot Viking Octantis cruise ship docks at the Detroit Riverwalk near Hart Plaza in Detroit on Monday, May 1, 2023. The ship's arrival kicks off the 2023 cruise season in Michigan. Edward Pevos | [email protected]

• Justine Lofton | [email protected]

DETROIT – Michigan’s cruise ship season kicks off today with the Viking Octantis docking in Detroit before continuing north along the state’s eastern shoreline.

The luxurious, 665-foot ship is docked on the Detroit River along the Detroit Riverwalk near Hart Plaza today, May 1. It will depart up the river this afternoon.

RELATED: A video tour on board the largest cruise ship ever to sail Great Lakes

Viking Octantis made its Great Lakes debut in 2022. It’s the largest cruise ship to sail the Great Lakes in the modern era. However, it will soon share that title with its identical sister, Viking Polaris, which makes its Great Lakes debut on May 3 with its first call on Toronto, Ontario. The new ship will arrive in Detroit for the first time on May 30.

RELATED: Giant Great Lakes cruise ship to be joined by twin this spring

The 2023 season promises to be the busiest yet with 11 ships expected to make hundreds of calls on Michigan’s ports. The season runs from May through October. Michigan’s ports of call include Detroit, Mackinac Island, Alpena, Escanaba, Houghton, Marquette and Muskegon.

RELATED: ‘We didn’t find them, they found us:’ Mackinac Island is most popular Michigan cruise ship port

Later today, the Octantis will continue northeast on the Detroit River, across Lake St. Clair, up the St. Clair River and into Lake Huron where it will continue north. Its next stop is Alpena tomorrow, May 2.

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Travel the Great Lakes on a floating mansion with new Viking cruise ships

Now you can experience the Great Lakes while cruising on a luxurious floating mansion with Viking's new line of cruise ships.

The Viking Octantis, the company's brand new expedition ship, made its first stop in Detroit on Tuesday, kicking off its tourism in the Great Lakes.

“The Viking Octantis and her sister ship, the Viking Polaris, have been designed for discovery—to enable our guests to explore the world’s most pristine destinations in comfort and in the most responsible way possible,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking in a release.

With Great Lakes cruises between eight and 16 days, passengers can see sights throughout the region.

The Great Lakes Collection tour includes stops in Detroit, Niagara Falls, Mackinac Island, and Thunder Bay, among others, on the 15-day cruise.

Prices for Great Lakes cruises range from $5,995 to $13,995.

More: After 2 years of COVID-19, the cruise industry is enjoying a spring thaw

The Viking Octantis houses 378 guests on the grand 665-foot-long boat.

"The largest and most modern ship in the Great Lakes, the Viking Octantis represents Viking’s significant investment in tourism for the region," a news release said. "The ship will explore itineraries throughout the Great Lakes with ports of call in Canada and the United States this spring, summer and fall. In 2023, the Viking Octantis will be joined by its identical sister ship, the Viking Polaris for additional exploration."

With spacious cabins, large windows lining the exterior, upscale restaurants, a pool and a spa, Viking said it wants you to experience the world from a new lens — as long as you don't get seasick.

Contact Emma Stein: [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @_emmastein.

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Take a vacation on the Great Lakes on this new cruise ship

DETROIT, Mich. -- A brand-new cruise ship docked in Detroit on Tuesday morning as part of an inaugural Great Lakes cruise with Viking Cruises.

The all-new Viking Octantis docked at the Nicholson Terminal on Tuesday morning, WXYZ reported.

RELATED: Cruise bookings on the rise, AAA says

The ship is a Polar Class 6 and is a brand-new expedition ship built to explore remote destinations.

Viking offers several Great Lakes cruises, with the longest lasting 15 days going from Toronto, Ontario to Duluth, Minn.

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Viking Octantis makes its Great Lakes maiden voyage

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (WLUC) - The largest passenger vessel to navigate the Great Lakes, the Viking Octantis, is making its way around Michigan for the first time.

The 665-foot cruise ship started its journey in Toronto with a final destination of Milwaukee. The ship allows up to 378 passengers with 256 crew members.

The boat docked in Detroit on Tuesday, May 3 and passengers came to shore in Alpena, Mich. on Wednesday.

Mackinac Island residents shared photos of the cruise ship on social media near the island Thursday morning.

Viking Cruises are offering four different routes through the Great Lakes, with trips ranging from 8-15 days. Though none of the cruises take off from Michigan ports, there will be many stops in Michigan cities along the way. On the eight-day expedition from Thunder Bay to Milwaukee, the Octantis will stop in Houghton.

The Octantis is expected to stop in Houghton for the first time on June 1, 2022, according to the expedition itinerary .

You can track the Octantis here .

Copyright 2022 WLUC. All rights reserved.

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Alpena becomes a cruise ship destination.

Courtesy Photo The Viking Octantis, which makes regular visits to Alpena, is seen in this undated photo.

ALPENA — Viking cruise ships anchored in Thunder Bay and their passengers enjoying a day in Alpena have become common occurrences over the last several years.

This year, Viking has increased the number of times it will port in Alpena during its Great Lakes cruises, which Alpena officials say helps to market the city to the outside world and bolster the bottom line of area small businesses.

Viking began making Alpena a part of its Great Lakes tour package in 2022 with only nine stops, but feedback from passengers pushed the company to bump that total to 20 in 2023.

This year, Viking is pushing that total to 26 stops, which will increase the exposure Alpena attractions and area businesses will receive.

Jeff Gray, superintendent of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, said cruise ships usually house just a touch under 400 passengers for each stop. Many take a shuttle boat to shore and partake in prearranged excursions offered in Northeast Michigan and shop and sample local food and drink options.

Gray said passengers take glass-bottom boat tours to see the shipwrecks in Thunder Bay, visit area lighthouses, go charter fishing, and participate in other activities.

He said the ships usually offer an excursion called Cheers to Alpena, during which passengers visit local breweries and wineries.

A walking tour of downtown Alpena will also be offered this year.

Gray said the feedback Viking has received about Alpena has been overwhelmingly positive and that is a primary reason more visits have been added.

He said Northeast Michigan benefits from the stops in several ways, which could help the area in the short and long term.

He said the money passengers spend in town bolsters local businesses and promotes Alpena and everything it has to offer around the globe. He added that Viking told him that Alpena has been the highest-rated stop on the cruise.

“It is amazing to hear the response about Alpena from the passengers and the crews,” Gray said. “This is making Alpena known worldwide, and, hopefully, some of these people return to stay a few days, move here, or maybe open a business here. Many of these visitors have been all over the world and the fact that they love Northeast Michigan says a lot. I think it can do more to bring more people in by car, bus, or by plane.”

Mary Beth Stutzman, president and CEO of the Alpena Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that, although the passengers don’t spend the night in Alpena, their spending habits provide a bump to the local economy. She said research shows the average cruise passenger spends approximately $80 if they get off the boat and are allowed to circulate through the area.

That means, if 300 passengers come ashore from the ship each time it ports this year, those passengers would pump an extra $624,000 into the local economy.

Stutzman said that, not only is that money welcome, but the experiences the passengers have could be even more beneficial.

“The word-of-mouth that these passengers take home with them can also inspire future travel to the region,” she said. “These activities are awareness-generating, meaning the good word about the Alpena region continues to be shared long after the passengers are headed to their next port of call.”

Anne Gentry, executive director for the Alpena Downtown Development Authority, said businesses now see a bump in revenue from the cruise ship.

She said that, in 2022, the first year Viking added Alpena to its itinerary, downtown businesses didn’t notice a significant jump in the number of people coming into the stores or an increase in sales. She said that shifted last year, when more stops were added and transportation was provided to passengers by having golf carts move them from behind the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, where the visitors get off of the shuttle boat, to downtown.

“There was a definite improvement last year from the previous year and businesses have told me they noticed a big difference in foot traffic, and I think the effort to provide transportation downtown helped a lot,” Gentry said. “There were golf carts, Thunder Bay Transportation (Authority) had shuttles, and there was more of an effort from organizers to get people to the heart of downtown. I think, by adding more stops, and more people, it will be even more helpful, especially when it is in the early season when it is kind of slow.”

Gray said the first cruise ship will arrive on April 29 and the final visit will be on Oct. 4. Those dates are typically just before business and events amp up in Alpena and after they wind down.

Viking has two cruise ships for its Great Lakes Tours, the Polaris and the Octantis, and each will anchor in the bay because they are too large to port in the Thunder Bay River or at the harbor.

It is not uncommon for residents and visitors to gather along the shoreline to snap a photo of the large ships.

Viking Great Lake cruises can be booked on Viking’s website and can range in price from about $5,000 to more than $10,000, depending on the length of the cruise and the type of accommodations people choose.

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Houghton MI (Michigan)

Cruise port schedule, live map, terminals, news.

Region Canada and USA Rivers

Local Time 2024-04-25 20:51

Houghton is a Lake Superior cruise port and city in the USA's Michigan state (Houghton County ) with population around 8,000. The town is on the Keweenaw Peninsula and Portage Lake (Keweenaw Waterway). Larger cruise vessels anchor outside Dollar Bay (Portage Lake) and transport/ferry their passengers to the town (Bridgeview Park) via the ship's tender boats.

The only road across Portage Lake is Highway US 41 via Houghton-Hancock Bridge (aka Portage Lake Lift Bridge). The Bridge is movable (vertical-lift bridge), with its middle section being lifted (from 4 ft over the water to 100 ft / 30 m bridge clearance, above waterline) to allow ships and riverboats to pass underneath. The Portage Lake Bridge was opened in 1959, has length 500 ft (150 m), 2 decks (each with 4 lanes) and weight ~43 tons, ranking it the world's heaviest double-deck lift bridge.

Keweenaw Waterway is an altered waterway cutting across Keweenaw Peninsula and separating Copper Island from mainland Michigan. In the mid-19th century, the natural waterway (small river) was dredged to an artificial canal (min-depth 25 ft / 7,6 m). The expansion allowed access to large bulk cargo ships to the Keweenaw Peninsula's copper mines and also supply boats to reach Houghton and Hancock. The waterway is also known as Portage Canal, Portage Lake, Portage River.

The region is popular among tourists for the Keweenaw Water Trail (loop marine route around-through the Peninsula) that during summer months allows water sports activities like canoeing, kayaking, paddling. The full marine route can be covered in 6-8 days (depending on wind conditions). As part of this route, Copper Island's circumnavigation (passing through Portage Lake Canal) is also very popular. During winter, the region's most popular sports are ATV and snowmobiling. The scenic Bill Nicholls Trail (ATV and snowmobiling multi-use trail) has length ~41 mi (65 km) and runs between Houghton and Mass City on the former Copper Range Railroad.

In 2022, Viking Cruises USA (via the brand Viking Expeditions) started its Great Lakes seasonal program. The ship deployment is for one-way itineraries (between homeports Toronto, Thunder Bay, Milwaukee) and includes regular visits to ports and destinations in Canada's Ontario state ( Thunder Bay , Toronto , Welland Canal, Niagara Falls, Point Pelee NP) and the USA's Minnesota-Michigan-Wisconsin states ( Detroit MI , Alpena MI , Mackinac Island MI in Lake Huron , Apostle Islands MI, Houghton MI, Traverse City MI , Milwaukee WI on Lake Michigan , Duluth MN ).

All Viking Great Lakes cruises feature passing through Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie (Lake Superior - Lake Huron transition). The 8-day voyages are themed "Niagara and the Great Lakes" (from Toronto to Milwaukee), "Undiscovered Great Lakes" (from Thunder Bay to Milwaukee) and "Great Lakes Explorer" (from Milwaukee to Thunder Bay).

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Detroit gets its first Great Lakes cruise ship docking for 2023 on Monday

(WXYZ) — The Port of Detroit got its first cruise ship of the 2023 season on Monday as the 665-foot Viking Octantis docked in the morning.

According to the Port of Detroit, the Octantis docked around 8 a.m. and is set to leave at 2 p.m., but not before passengers have a chance to explore the city.

A record number of cruises are expected to dock in Detroit this year as part of a growing Great Lakes cruise industry.

Last year, there were a record 52 cruise ships that docked in Detroit, and according to Cruise the Great Lakes and the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, there will be 67 cruise ships docking during the season.

David Lorenz, the vice president of Travel Michigan, said Cruise the Great Lakes met in Montreal earlier this year to look at the ships that planned to sail the Great Lakes this year. According to Lorenz, they have all the ships they had last year, and a new ship – the Hanseatic Inspiration.

The ships have a variety of routes on the Great Lakes with stops in Michigan including Detroit, Mackinac Island, Muskegon, Sault Ste. Marie and more.

When they stop in Detroit, the team from Visit Detroit works with the Port Authority to provide a welcome for passengers on the dock.

Passengers from the cruises have a variety of options to explore metro Detroit while they're in the area, with locations like The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, the Motown Museum and more.

"Most people from all around the U.S., places like Texas and California, they've heard about places like Michigan, but they might not know the real story about pure Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes region. So when they come here, they get this two-nation destination experience pretty unique," Lorenz said. "They get to see that people in our region are really friendly and they see this freshwater experience, which not many cruisers around the world really get to see."

The cruise industry doesn't just benefit Michigan and Detroit – it also helps other cities along the Great Lakes like Cleveland and Milwaukee.

According to the Port of Detroit, the cruise ships will continue to dock in the city throughout the summer and last until mid-October.

In all, there will be nine cruises in May, nine in June, 12 in July, 15 in August, 17 in September and five in October. That doesn't include the dinner cruises along the river that use the Port of Detroit.

According to Lorenz, the future of cruising on the Great Lakes is bright, and he thinks the initial visit to Detroit will bring people back.

He also said they're hoping to lure some ships to start and stop their journeys in Detroit in the future.

"I think what you're going to find is that the Port of Detroit is going to continue to make accommodations so that they can lure additional ships, including some of these bigger ships like the Hanseatic Inspiration," he said. "You're going to be able to see more and more ships here. And I tell you, we're going to all benefit from that initial visit because people are going to be able to see Detroit."

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Aboard a Great Lakes cruise: European elegance meets Midwestern humility

Shown are photos from aboard the Viking Octantis and from its port stops on the Great Lakes Explorer Cruise in June of 2022. Nic Antaya / Special to The Detroit News

Aboard the Viking Octantis — An elderly woman was hiking along the Georgian Bay in Ontario when she reached a boulder. Slightly embarrassed but afraid of slipping, she got on all fours and crawled across it.

One hour earlier, the retired college administrator had been on a ship whose culture radiated from its posh furnishings to scholarly lectures to gourmet meals. Now, she was sliding down granite on her backside.

It was a theme that played out time and again during the second Great Lakes voyage of the Viking Octantis, a luxury cruise ship.

Cruise lines have discovered the Great Lakes. Its vessels have sailed the waterways on and off since the 1920s, but not like this year. The Octantis is one of nine cruise ships on the lakes this summer, four for the first time.

A seven-day journey from Milwaukee to Thunder Bay in Ontario wasn’t one trip but two. It was European elegance meeting Midwest humility. It was one excursion on the ship and a different one off it. It was Dorothy leaving technicolor Oz and arriving in black-and-white Kansas.

"We had a great time," said Kari Jones, 58, of Las Vegas. "The ship and crew were spectacular. The food was top-notch. The chef was wonderful."

The Octantis may have been a bigger tourist attraction than the places it visited. At various points, it was greeted by people clutching cameras or binoculars from kayaks, deck boats and tour boats.

Before reaching the Soo Locks, it appeared to be followed by a shiny bird that flew straight up and down. It turned out to be a camera drone.

Greeting the boat's arrival in Killarney, Ontario, was Bill Fuller of nearby Sudbury, who admired its slender shape.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “People are pretty excited. We’ve never had anything like it before.”

Some passengers experienced culture shock as they left the Octantis and went ashore.

The small, rural ports in Michigan and Canada had a sameness to them and offered limited activities, they said. Three of the five stops were in the Georgian Bay in Ontario, two just 10 miles apart. It was like a weeklong nature trip where the scenery rarely changed.

Even Mackinac Island, Michigan’s most auspicious resort, was eclipsed by the ship. The workers at the Grand Hotel and Fort Mackinac appeared dull compared to the hypervigilant crew of the vessel.

It wasn’t that the island’s service was bad, said passengers. It was just that, after being in a floating cocoon where everything was done for them, they came ashore with certain, er, expectations.

“Our guide apologized. He said there was nothing to do,” said Suzi Rockett, 74, of Sherman Oaks, California.

But that didn’t stop her from enjoying herself.

“We’re very happy,” she said. “I don’t want to go home.”

The 7-day journey from Milwaukee to Thunder Bay wasn’t one trip but two. It was European elegance meeting Midwest humility. It was one excursion on the ship and a different one off it.

SEMINAR AT SEA

The voyage in June began and ended at industrial ports in Milwaukee and Thunder Bay. The size of docks and depth of the water limit where the ship can moor.

In Milwaukee, that meant beginning a luxury cruise amid a water treatment plant, mountains of road salt and the waft of fertilizer.

The Octantis, which has six decks and is 665 feet long, was nearly full. Its 310 passengers (378 capacity) were mostly retired, well-off and well-educated.

The demographic wasn’t a coincidence. Viking sees itself as an anti-cruise-ship cruise ship, and prides itself on what it isn’t. There were no kids and no karaoke, no waterslide and no Electric Slide. It offered a more refined cruise without the cheese. A younger person might say without the fun. 

Viking tries to appeal to the academic-minded. It had lectures, workshops, documentaries, presentations and guided tours. Think of it as a seminar at sea with expensive wine.

Carl and Robin Smith of Martinsville, Virginia, thought about it as just about perfect.

“We’ve gotten great treatment,” said Carl, 72, a retired rehabilitation manager for a hospital. “We like the smaller ships. There are fewer passengers. It’s more intimate.”

The new vessel was designed for Antarctica, and sailing on it sometimes felt like a trip there. The photos, artifacts and books onboard were focused on the South Pole.

On the eve of the trip, Viking founder and chairman Tor Hagen gave a 90-minute presentation to a gaggle of travel writers and bloggers.

He talked more about the Octantis’ maiden voyage — to Antarctica in January — than the one it was about to make to the Great Lakes. Photos projected onto a screen showed the South Pole journey.

With its white hull and darkened windows, the boat even looks like a snow-draped mountain in Antarctica.

AWASH IN LUXURY

Viking may see itself as an anti-cruise-ship cruise ship, but it isn’t anti-comfort.

It provided 24-hour room service, heated bathroom floors and three indoor-outdoor pools with different temperatures. It even had a six-seat submarine that gave rides.

The hot-and-cold spa featured cranberry body scrubs and massages on warm quartz pebbles. Snow fell in one room, making one resist the urge to build a snowman in summer.

The cabins, which all face the water, have Wi-Fi and wide windows whose top lowers down, creating a private balcony.

The ship has a library, fitness room, an infinity pool, an expedition room that has digital maps and other information about local sites, and a glass-walled auditorium for lectures or entertainment.

Lunch and dinner, which came with complimentary beer and wine, was provided by a buffet, a sushi bar, an Italian restaurant, an upscale eatery with multiple-course meals and a grill where steaks, fish and chicken were made to order.

Mary Ulmer, 72, of Villa Hills, Kentucky, liked that she didn't have to travel far to enjoy the amenities.

"I can wake up every day without having to pack a suitcase," she said.

The ship rarely felt like it was moving. Not even Lake Superior, known for its peevishness, disturbed the ride.

Fin stabilizers allowed the vessel to glide gently over wakes while U-tank stabilizers reduced rolling by 50% when it was stationary, said its pilot, Capt. Hakan Gustafsson.

All the deluxe convenience came with a deluxe fee. Prices for a cabin ranged from $13,000 to $34,000 for the week.

Dale and Mary Andringa of Mitchellville, Iowa, bathed in the opulence.

They stayed in the 1,238-square-foot owner’s suite with its library, dining room and a private veranda with a garden and hot tub.

They toured the ship with its officers and ate dinner with them. They had priority reservations at the spa and premier restaurants. They were welcomed aboard with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne. They had entrée to the kitchen and its ice cream maker.

“I have to admit I do like it,” said Dale, 72, a retired internist. “I like being treated like a VIP.”

Mary, also 72, visited 80 countries for her former job as chief executive of Vermeer Corp., a prominent farming equipment maker based in Pella, Iowa. Now she prefers to travel at a more leisurely pace.

She once rode a bike across Italy and the couple spent one Christmas in Prague, visiting a cathedral and being serenaded by Christmas carolers. Upcoming is a culinary cruise with three other couples on a barge in the south of France.

But what Mary likes best about Viking isn’t the plenitude, it’s the firm’s scholarly approach toward travel.

“You’re always learning something, which is different. We love nature and history,” she said.

HUNDREDS OF CREWMEMBERS

The Octantis had nearly as many crewmembers as passengers, 256 to 310, and their only jobs seemed to be ensuring the passengers’ delight.

The stewards, waiters and bartenders were cheerful in the morning, afternoon and night. No one could possibly have been this happy to perform menial tasks all day long but their enthusiasm appeared to never waver. Neither did their memories as they memorized passengers’ names after the first day.

It wasn’t part of his job, but one gregarious bartender, Emrah Ercelik of Turkey, entertained drinkers by flipping a bottle of wine behind his back, catching it on his curled forearm and then balancing it on his extended arm.

“That’s how I got this,” he said, pointing to a scar on his forehead.

It was hard to tell if he was kidding.

During one of the stops in the Georgian Bay, a tender boat returning from the shore at the end of the day was delayed because a passenger was missing. Staffers later learned the guest had returned to the ship earlier.

After the tender finally returned, one of the passengers complained to the vessel’s guest services about the hour-long wait. The department proceeded to call each of the 30 guests on the tender to discuss their experience and apologize as if they were the ones who had lodged the complaint.

All the attention can sometimes be a bit too much, allowed Dale Andringa.

“I would say their service is overwhelming, almost too much so,” he said.

IN SEARCH OF NATURE

Other Viking cruises in the Great Lakes stop at Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto, but this trip didn’t include any big cities. It traveled through three of the Great Lakes: Michigan, Huron and Superior.

Besides Mackinac Island, the biggest tourist draws were sailing under the Mackinac Bridge and the slow-motion passage through the Soo Locks.

The focal point was the Georgian Bay, which is on the eastern side of Lake Huron. The three days were dominated by hikes on its rocky terrain and explorations of the rugged coast by the ship’s smaller vessels.

Unsurprisingly, given the first year of the excursions, there were growing pains. A bus taking Viking passengers to a hiking trail got lost, they said.

During another hike, in Killarney, a group of elderly passengers struggled to climb the sides of outcroppings. A woman tried to shush her constantly cursing husband.

“It’s those god---- little things that get me,” he said about holes in the ground.

The group of 40, moving at different speeds, eventually broke into three parts, stretching over several hundred yards. One of the groups wandered off the path.

The three guides ran up and down the trail, helping the elderly over the most precarious spots. Younger hikers also assisted their older compatriots.  

The driver of the bus that brought the hikers to the trail told one passenger, Dan Moehle, that he knew how the tour could be improved, including offering easier hikes for its most elderly travelers.

“He had a lot of ideas,” said Moehle, 64, a retired newspaper executive from Sarasota, Florida. “But he said they won’t listen to him, that’s he’s just an employee.”

At Octantis’ next port of call, 10 miles west, another hike was much easier.

Still, some passengers were disappointed. During their three days in the Georgian Bay, birders had seen few birds while budding botanists had spied few flowers.

Local guide Beth Armstrong told hikers the woods contained white-tail deer, coyotes, porcupines, moose and black bears.

“That’s why I love to show this magical place,” she said about the Chikanishing Trail.

But the only animal anyone spotted was a beaver swimming down a creek along the path.

When hikers reached the peak, they took photos of the bay. Invariably their cameras pointed toward the Octantis. Indeed, it was often the most stunning sight at the sleepy ports.

A FRIENDLY BUNCH

Each night aboard the Octantis, Michigan Mike regaled passengers with jokes at the Explorers’ Lounge, one of the ship’s five bars.

He knew everything that happened onboard and on shore that day. He was a good source of gossip, describing how a passenger had gotten sick on an inflatable boat and was treated by another passenger who was a doctor.

But Mike Matti, 52, wasn’t one of Viking’s entertainers. He was a passenger.

He was a middle school teacher who lived in Michigan for 45 years and now works in Peoria, Arizona, as a textbook consultant for McGraw Hill.

Socializing was a big part of the cruise and Matti was a champion schmoozer. He seemed to know half the passengers and just as many crewmembers.

“I was getting ready to leave,” he told a group of travel writers who entered the bar and broke into smiles upon spotting him. “Looks like I’m staying awhile.”

Before the ship stopped at Mackinac Island, several people asked Matti for the best place to buy fudge.

At the bar, between songs by a folk duo from Ukraine and Georgia (the country, not the state), Matti’s booming voice filled the room. The writers laughed at his self-deprecating observations.

LIFESTYLE LOST AFTER CRUISE

Once the cruise and its cornucopia of comfort was over, it didn’t take long for the real world to come a'callin'.

Many ship passengers arrived at Thunder Bay International Airport to find their Air Canada flights delayed by staff shortages and skyrocketing demand. They finally reached their destinations only to learn their luggage had not. Some finally retrieved their bags only to discover they had COVID, thereby completing the trifecta.

Jones, the ship passenger from Las Vegas, avoided the disease but not the Air Canada hellscape. Her flight was changed to the following day, and after waiting in line for hours, she was told the airlines would not put her up in a hotel.

With all the hotels booked because of a convention, she shelled out $500 for two rooms far from the airport for her husband and sister. And then the airlines lost their luggage.

But Jones said she had no regrets about the Octantis. 

"It's a beautiful ship," she said. "The expeditions were fun. It was a good trip."

[email protected]

(313) 223-4186

Twitter: @prima_donnelly

Viking cruise cabins and suites: A guide to everything you want to know

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Is a balcony something you can’t live without when staying in a cabin on a cruise ship? If so, Viking could be your line.

Viking is one of the only cruise brands in the world that offers a balcony with every cabin on every ocean ship it operates — even the least expensive, smallest cabins. That’s something that even the most upscale of Viking’s ocean cruise rivals — including Oceania Cruises , Azamara , Seabourn , Silversea Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises — can’t say.

Viking’s ocean ships also offer a large number of suites, many of which are quite spacious. If you’re looking for a room that is big and open on an ocean cruise (and are willing to pay extra for it), Viking has plenty of options.

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Viking also offers many balcony cabins and suites on its river ships — something that isn’t always the case in the river cruise business, where space on vessels is at a premium. However, unlike its ocean ships, Viking’s river ships aren’t all-balcony-cabin vessels. Some can have as many as 25 cabins per ship that are below the waterline and have windows high in the walls.

Still, even on Viking’s river ships, most cabins are balcony cabins.

A Viking cabin primer

Cruising regulars know that most cruise ships offer cabins in four broad categories: windowless “inside” cabins, ocean-view cabins, balcony cabins and suites.

As noted above, though, you’ll only find the latter two types of cabins on Viking ocean ships. Viking currently operates nine traditional ocean ships aimed at the English-speaking market and two oceangoing expedition ships. Every single passenger room on all 11 of the vessels is either a balcony cabin or a suite with a balcony. As previously mentioned, that’s highly unusual in the cruise business.

Viking is also known for a relatively simple-to-understand array of subcategories of rooms within its balcony-cabin and suite categories. Unlike some cruise brands such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, which offer as many as 36 different sub-types of cabins, Viking’s ocean ships offer just six.

The bottom line is that you’ll be much less flummoxed when trying to choose the perfect cabin for you on a Viking ocean ship than when trying to choose a cabin on most other vessels.

Related: The ultimate guide to choosing a cruise ship cabin

When it comes to size, even the smallest cabins on Viking’s ocean ships are large by cruise ship standards at 270 square feet, and the largest suites measure nearly 1,500 square feet.

Design-wise, Viking cabins and suites across all categories are modern and elegant in an understated sort of way, with Scandinavian-influenced furnishings and decor that tie to the Norwegian heritage of the company’s founder.

You’ll find beds topped with crisp, white duvets and Scandinavian throws, comfortable contemporary sofas and chairs in neutral tones, and light wood desks and side tables that combine to offer a residential feel in bedroom areas. Soothing, minimalist colors — think creams, grays and lighter blues — are the order of the day.

Bathrooms in Viking cabins are serene, modernist escapes with luxurious travertine marble-lined walls; Scandinavian-influenced, wood-veneered vanities; shiny white sinks; and chrome fixtures.

Viking is an upscale line — some might even call it a luxury line, though Viking doesn’t market itself that way — and Viking cabins and suites have a lot of thoughtful and elegant touches, from sumptuous bedding that envelops you to heated floors in bathrooms. The rooms aren’t overly flashy, though.

Instead, they are eminently functional, with storage in all the right places, lots of outlets for charging your devices and lighting right where you need it. We love the reading lights built into the fabric headboards of beds, which come in addition to the lamps on bedside tables. You won’t have trouble seeing the pages of the Viking Daily activity newsletter while lying in a Viking cabin bed.

Related: The best destinations you can visit on a Viking cruise

Other little touches in Viking cabins that show the line’s attention to functionality include the large and clear lettering on the Freyja toiletries that you’ll find in every Viking cabin bathroom. The toiletries were specifically designed with bigger and clearer lettering than is common for toiletries so that the line’s older customers (Viking’s core market is in the 55- to the 75-year-old range) would have no trouble differentiating the body wash from the shampoo.

In a similar nod to functionality and ease of use, Viking had the remote controls for cabin televisions specially designed so they would only have a few buttons.

Balcony cabins on Viking cruise ships

Viking keeps it simple with the array of balcony cabins on its ocean ships. The line’s nine traditional ocean vessels aimed at the English-speaking market each have 418 balcony cabins that can be broken down into three categories:

• 42 Veranda Staterooms (10% of the total).
• 272 Deluxe Veranda Staterooms (65% of the total).
• 104 Penthouse Veranda Staterooms (25% of the total).

The first two categories, Veranda Staterooms and Deluxe Veranda Staterooms, are the same size at 270 square feet (a figure that includes balcony space). They basically look the same. However, the Deluxe Veranda Staterooms, which cost more, have better locations on the ships and come with more amenities and services. These extra amenities and services include:

• Earlier access to shore excursion reservations (67 days in advance of sailing versus 60 days).
• Priority access to spa treatment bookings (60 days in advance).
• One guaranteed priority reservation at every alternative restaurant on board, which can be made 60 days in advance of sailing.
• Binoculars in the room.
• Coffee machines with premium coffee and tea selections in the room.
• A traditional, super-soft Norwegian Marius-weave blanket for use in the room.

Passengers staying in Deluxe Veranda Staterooms can also access their rooms one hour earlier on embarkation day than those staying in Veranda Staterooms.

Both of the first two categories of balcony cabins come with minibars stocked with complimentary soft drinks, water and snacks. In the case of Deluxe Veranda Staterooms, staff replenishes these minibars once per day.

Penthouse Veranda Staterooms offer more space than the latter two categories, at 338 square feet, plus additional amenities and services, including:

• Priority shore excursion reservations that can be made 77 days in advance of sailing.
• Two guaranteed priority reservations at each alternative restaurant on board, which can be made 70 days in advance.
• Priority spa treatment bookings that can be made 70 days in advance.
• Minibars that include complimentary alcoholic beverages as well as soft drinks, water and snacks (replenished once daily).
• Complimentary clothes pressing and shoeshine services.
• A welcome bottle of Champagne.
• Earlier access to cabins on embarkation day.

Viking’s two expedition ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, also have three categories of balcony cabins with a similar array of amenities and services. Named Nordic Balcony, Deluxe Nordic Balcony and Nordic Penthouse, the cabins of these three categories are slightly smaller than the cabins of the three balcony cabin categories on the traditional Viking ocean ships at 215, 215 and 269 square feet, respectively. They also have a different type of balcony that makes them feel more spacious than their square footage suggests.

Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris have what some in the cruise industry call an “infinite veranda” — a balcony-like space created by a window wall that opens from the top down. Viking calls them Nordic balconies.

Related: How to get a free or cheap cruise ship cabin upgrade

The majority of Viking river ships, known as Viking Longships, have 61 balcony cabins broken down into two categories: 205-square-foot Veranda Staterooms and 135-square-foot French Balcony Staterooms.

The latter has doors that open onto simple balustrades and not full balconies that you can step onto. This feature is known as a French balcony or Juliet balcony (a nod to the balcony of this type made famous in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”). Technically, these French balconies are balconies, even if they’re not quite as satisfying as a balcony with space to lounge.

Including the French balcony cabins, nearly 75% of the cabins on Viking’s Longships have balconies.

Viking also offers smaller versions of its Longships that have fewer balcony cabins, as well as a few different types of river ships with varying numbers of balcony cabins.

Suites on Viking cruise ships

The suite choices on Viking ships also are relatively easy to understand. On Viking’s traditional ocean ships, there are 47 suites broken down into three categories:

• 32 Penthouse Junior Suites.
• 14 Explorer Suites.
• One Owner’s Suite.

The Penthouse Junior Suites measure 405 square feet, including their balcony space, and come with such extra amenities and services as:

• Priority shore excursion reservations that can be made 87 days in advance of sailing.
• Three guaranteed priority reservations at each alternative restaurant, which can be booked 80 days in advance.
• Priority spa treatment bookings that can be made 80 days in advance.
• Minibars with complimentary alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, water and snacks.
• Complimentary laundry, dry cleaning, pressing and shoeshine services.

In addition to a bed area, Penthouse Junior Suites have a large sitting area with a sofa, coffee table and chairs, and a separate television. The bathrooms are large, too.

Life starts really getting good in the 14 Explorer Suites on Viking’s traditional ocean ships. They range in size from 757 to 1,163 square feet, including balcony space, and bring even more enhanced amenities and services.

Related: The ultimate guide to Viking ships and itineraries

Each of the Explorer Suites is a two-room complex with a well-appointed living and dining area complete with a table that seats four people. Very large master bathrooms feature a double-sink vanity, a spacious glass-enclosed shower and a bathtub (something you won’t find in any of the lesser cabin categories on the vessels).

The Owner’s Suites, of which there is just one on each traditional Viking ocean vessel, are truly sprawling and impressive complexes that measure 1,448 square feet. They are true owner’s suites in that they are used by Viking founder and chairman Torstein Hagen when he sails on the ships, and they feature some of his personal mementos, including family pictures.

Related: 7 reasons you should splurge on a suite for your next cruise

Each of the Owner’s Suites has a separate bedroom, living room, dining area that seats six people and master bathroom that includes a sauna with a glass wall facing the ocean.

In addition, each of the complexes has a boardroom with a long table that seats 12 people for meetings and catered dinner parties. There’s an adjacent pantry that can be used by staff serving room service or catering hosted events. Among other personal touches related to Hagen, the company founder, are book, wine and music collections that he curated for the rooms.

Viking’s two oceangoing expedition ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, also have three categories of suites:

• Nordic Junior Suites (322 square feet).
• Explorer Suites (548 square feet).
• Owner’s Suites (1,238 square feet).

The typical Viking river ship has nine suites broken down into two categories — 275-square-foot Veranda Suites and 445-square-foot Explorers Suites.

Bottom line

Viking operates ships with a very easy-to-understand array of cabins, unlike some of its competitors.

Every passenger room on its ocean ships is a balcony cabin or a suite, something that is unusual in the cruise world, and these cabins break down into just a few subcategories. This makes the process of booking a room on a Viking vessel relatively simple compared to booking a room on many other ships.

Design-wise, Viking’s cabins are relatively upscale, with soothing, Scandinavian-influenced decor and lots of luxury touches like heated floors in bathrooms.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• 15 ways cruisers waste money
• 12 best cruises for people who never want to grow up
• What to pack for a cruise

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Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.