Lake to Lake

Explore the beauty of North America’s great inland sea.

- J.D. BROWN AND MARGARET BACKENHEIMER

Beyond ocean cruising and river cruising lies a third form of mar-itime travel — lake cruising — and the Great Lakes of North America offer the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth for just such pleasures. Bordering the Canadian province of Ontario and eight American states, from Minnesota to New York, the Great Lakes’ system of five interconnected, land-encased gargantuan bodies of water holds more than one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. The shoreline is gigantic, too, measuring some 10,000 miles, studded with world-class natural, cultural, historic and urban sites. Nevertheless, far fewer major cruise lines venture here than into other major North American waterways such as the Mississippi River and the Alaskan coast.

The handful of major operators who do cruise the Great Lakes are each worth considering. All are fairly new to these waters and come with recently launched, state-of-the-art expedition ships. Though luxurious to a point, these vessels all are on the small side, carrying a few hundred rather than a few thousand passengers. The Great Lakes’ cruising season, also diminutive, runs May through September, with July the warmest and sunniest month and late August through early September the choice for leaf-peepers.