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| The Pearl Mist is the first cruise ship I've ever seen sailing on the Great Lakes. Having never seen a ship of this shape and size on the lakes, it caught my eye immediately. |
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| The Pearl Mist passing Pyramid Point. I counted five passes...it might have been more. |
And it was seen docked at Mackinac Island.
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| This photo was taken by a friend of mine the day before I spotted the Pearl Mist in the Manitou Passage. I can't believe how short the Arnold Dock looks! |
With a little research I discovered that this is the Pearl Mist and is a part of the fleet belonging to the Great Lakes Cruise Company. We've not seen anything quite like this on the west side of the state...I'm not sure they've even seen this before on Mackinac Island (and they get A LOT of tourism!). What a neat experience to be able to see the Great Lakes from this viewpoint!
The Great Lakes Cruise Company has been around since 1999. I've vaguely heard of great lakes cruise ships but didn't pay much attention until my friend posted her photo from Mackinac Island. When I saw it sailing through the Manitou Passage I knew it had to be the same ship. I saw it take five passes and assumed it was sailing up and down the Sleeping Bear coast...looking at the ship track on marinetraffic.com was rather humorous because of the zigzag pattern it created.
This past Monday another cruise ship popped up on marinetraffic.com, the MV Hamburg.
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| The German cruise ship MV Hamburg was seen in the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay on Monday. It's not owned by the Great Lakes Cruise Company. Definitely a unique sight! (photo: www.upnorthlive.com) |
According to Upnorthlive.com, the German ship MV Hamburg brought visitors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all first time visitors to the Great Lakes Region. They left from Montreal, Canada on October 10 for their eighteen-day cruise, which will also stop at Mackinac Island. They picked a perfect time to cruise up here, if you ask me...the colors are beautiful this time of year!
Two different cruise ships owned by two different companies...it looks like large-scale pleasure cruising is becoming a thing on the Great Lakes. How fun would it be able to board one in TC?
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