Splendour of the Great Lakes Small Ship Cruise – 04 Jul 2022

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto is the Canada’s largest metropolis, lying on the shore of Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. Toronto is considered the cultural, entertainment, and financial capital of the nation. The city is also the seat of the Ontario government.

Toronto is a sprawling multicultural city, with some sixty significant minorities. There is a wide diversity of restaurants and you’ll see highrise buildings side by side with neo-Gothic and Art Deco architecture and

exciting performing-arts and nightlife scenes.

Downtown and midtown boast most of the city’s best attractions, the most celebrated of them all is the CN Tower, the world’s tallest free-standing structure. Next door lies the modern hump of the SkyDome sports stadium. The city’s other attractions

include the Art Gallery of Ontario, which possesses a first-rate selection of Canadian painting, and the Royal Ontario Museum, where pride of place goes to the Chinese collection.

The Thomson Gallery

and Bata Shoe Museum are also worth a visit. The Toronto Gallery of Inuit Art, the Victorian gentility of Spadina House and the replica of Fort York, the colonial settlement where Toronto began, are also worth a look.

Things to See & Do

* Ontario Science Centre * Harbourfront * Paramount Canada’s Wonderland * CN Tower and the Rogers Centre * Royal Ontario Museum

Cruise Season – May – Nov Currency –

Canadian dollar (C$) Language – English and French Land Area –

629.91 km²

Population – 4,500,000 Electricity –

2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below

Time – GMT minus five

hours International Country Telephone Code –

1

Port Location – Cruise ships dock at Toronto’s International Marine Passenger Terminal in Toronto Harbor, adjacent to the downtown area.

Transport Links – Pearson International Airport

is serviced by most major international carriers and is located in the northwest corner of Metro Toronto, approximately 45 minutes drive from downtown. Greyhound provides transportation from most major Northeast cities and Toronto is situated along a primary VIA Rail corridor. Trains travel both east towards Montreal and westwards towards Western Ontario.

Toronto has a well maintained and effective public transportation system. You can get pretty well anywhere you want in the main part of the city with the subway / streetcars / buses.

Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada

Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie. It is a culturally diverse city with world-class museums and cultural events, professional sports and amusement parks, and the most golf courses per capita in the United States. The city is comprised of the Downtown, East Side and West Side districts.

Five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland is University Circle, a 550-acre (2.2 km2) concentration of cultural, educational, and medical institutions, including the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Severance Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Western Reserve Historical Society. Cleveland is home to the I. M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the Lake Erie waterfront at North Coast Harbor downtown. Neighboring attractions include Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Steamship Mather Museum, and the USS Cod, a World War II submarine.

Things to see and do

*

Lake Erie *

University Circle *

The Terminal Building and the Old Arcade *

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

*

Great Lakes Science Center

General Information

Cruise Season – May – Nov Currency –

United States

Dollar (USD) Language –

English Population – 396,900 approx

Land Area – 200.9 km²

Electricity – 2 perpendicular flat pins US style or with a round pin below Time – GMT minus five hours International Country Telephone Code – + 1

Port Location – The port of Cleveland is located at the Cuyahoga River mouth.

Transport Links – Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Ohio’s largest and Cleveland’s main airport is located on the west side of the city. The airport is served by most of the major domestic airlines, and it is one of United Airlines’ U.S. hubs as well

Cleveland is served by Amtrak with a station located on the north end of downtown (near Cleveland Browns Stadium).

Greyhound offers passenger bus service from many U.S. cities. Buses arrive and depart from Greyhound’s Art Deco station in downtown Cleveland. Megabus is a low-cost bus company offering service to Cleveland from Chicago, Toledo, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Akron, and Pittsburgh.

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and a major port city on the Detroit River. It is a large city made up of a number of distinct districts. Downtown is on the riverfront, so the rest of the city expands north, east, and west from downtown. The Cultural Center, home to most of the city’s museums, is just north of downtown, in Midtown.

Downtown Detroit is unique – an International Riverfront, ornate buildings, sculptures, fountains, the nation’s second largest theater district, and one of the nation’s largest collection of pre-depression era skyscrapers.

The Midtown-New Center is the city’s cultural center, home to several world class museums and galleries. The area is also home to some great 1920s architecture. It is probably the most unique destination in Detroit.

Things to See & Do

* Downtown Renaissance Center * Historic neighborhoods – Corktown, Greektowne etc. * Detroit Institute of the Arts * Eastern Market * Downtown riverfront promenade

General information

Cruise Season – May – October Currency – United States Dollar (USD) Language – English Land Area – 138.8 km² Population – 713,777 approx Electricity – 2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below Time – GMT minus five hours International Country Telephone Code – 1

Port Location – The Upper Detroit river dock is located at the Rivard Plaza dock (Renaissance Center, downtown Detroit) or for cruises of the lower Detroit River, Bishop Park dock in Wyandotte.

Transport Links –

Detroit Metro Airport is in Romulus, about 20 minutes west of the city proper. The airport is a major Delta hub and operational headquarters, so it offers direct flights to and from a variety of cities, from Seattle to Osaka.

Buslines offering service to and from Chicago include Greyhound and Megabus.

Amtrak train services run to and Chicago (5 – 6 Hours).

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five great lakes of North America.

Little Current, Manitoulin Island

Cruise Season – May – Nov Currency – Canadian dollar (C$) Language – English and French Electricity – 2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below

Time – GMT minus five hours International Country Telephone Code –

Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, USA

Sault Sainte Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River. The city is quite isolated, within the Upper Peninsula.

Visitors to Sault Sainte Marie can see ships pass through the Soo Locks, where international commerce ships make their way between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. The Soo Locks, the world’s largest system of locks, including the largest lock in the Western Hemisphere: it has been a major feature of Sault St. Marie since the first major lock was built in the mid-19th century.

Things to see and do

* Edison-Soo Hydro-electric Power House

* Alford Park – watch ships go by * Brady Park – tourist information centre * Soo Locks

* The River of History Museum

General information

Cruise Season – May – Nov Currency – US Dollar (US$) Language – English Land Area

– 38.4 sq. km’s Population – 14,150 approx Electricity – 2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below Time –

GMT minus five hours International Country Telephone Code –

1

Travel Links –

Commercial airline service is provided to the city by the Chippewa County International Airport in Kinross, about 20 miles (32 km) south. Smaller general aviation aircraft also use the Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Airport about twenty two miles south of town.

The Sugar Island Ferry provides automobile and passenger access between Sault Ste. Marie and Sugar Island.

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac Island is an island and resort area covering 3.8 square miles (9.8 km2) in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. The island is the location of Mackinac Island State Park, which covers approximately 80 percent of the island and includes Fort Mackinac as well as portions of the island’s historic downtown and harbor.

Things to see and do

* Fort Mackinac

* Historic downtown area * Mackinac Island fudge * Biddle House * Village and harbor

General information

Cruise Season – May – Sept Currency – US Dollar (US$) Language – English Land Area

– 9.78 sq. km’s Population – 495 approx Electricity – 2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below Time –

GMT minus five hours International Country Telephone Code –

1

Transport Links – The island can be reached by private boat, by ferry, by small aircraft, and in the winter, by snowmobile over an ice road. The airport has a 3,500-foot (1,070 m) paved runway, and charter air service from the mainland is available.

In the summer tourist season, ferry service is available from Arnold Transit Company, Shepler’s Ferry, and Star Line Ferry to shuttle visitors to the island from St. Ignace and Mackinaw City.

Chicago, USA

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. It is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. Chicago boasts world-class museums of art and science, miles of sandy beaches, huge parks and public art, and perhaps the finest downtown collection of modern architecture in the world.

Downtown Chicago is the place for work and play, with shopping, skyscrapers, big theaters, and the city’s most famous travel sights. Amongst the many attractions are Museum Campus, Navy Pier, Chicago Cultural Centre, Magnificient Mile and State Street.

The Chicago Park District consists of 552 parks with over 7,300 acres (3,000 ha) of municipal parkland, as well as 33 sand beaches, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons, and 10 bird and wildlife gardens.

Things to See & Do

* Downtown area

* Museum Campus * Navy Pier * Chinatown * Millennium Park

General information

Cruise Season – May – October Currency –

United States Dollar (USD) Language – English Land Area – 588.4 km²

Population – 2,853,114 approx

Electricity – 2 perpendicular flat pins USA style or with a round pin below Time – GMT minus six hours International Country Telephone Code – 1

Port Location – The port of Chicago is located in South Chicago on Lake Michigan.

Travel Links – Chicago is served by O’Hare International Airport (17 miles northwest of downtown) and Midway Airport (10 miles southwest of downtown).

Chicago is serviced by Greyhound buses and by Amtrak rail services.