If you want a truly unique dinner cruise experience, the Spirit of Chicago offers a Thanksgiving Dinner cruise featuring Walnut crusted turkey breast, orange glazed ham and slow braised center cut sirloin. There are also two after Thanksgiving Champagne brunch and dinner cruises available on November 27th. There are few other small ship cruise lines that offer this level of dining, or trips as late into the fall as the Spirit of Chicago offers.

For those who like the night, the Spirit of Chicago offers a midnight moonlight cruise. This Lakes cruise includes a professional DJ, cash bar and light hors d’oeuvres. Sorry, this cruise is adults only (over 21) and you must be able to show a valid photo ID before boarding.

Another cruise offering is the Sweetest Day Dinner cruise which is offered October 17th. Offering live music, champagne and memorable views of the Sweetest Day fireworks, this cruise promises to be a winner. Fireworks cruises are always popular among dinner and evening cruisers and small cruise ships offer an outstanding platform for viewing fireworks unobstructed by either buildings or milling crowds. The Spirit of Chicago offers an upper level observation deck as well as several open patios on the other decks and should allow excellent viewing.

Fireworks cruises are available on the Spirit of Chicago on the fourth of July, Sweetest Day and News Years Eve. Since many Great Lakes cruise ships are closed for business during the winter season, this makes the Spirit of Chicago exceptional as it offers cruises most of the year.

The spirit of Chicago offers three dining decks and an observation deck and has a reported capacity of 572 passengers. They will take single passengers, small groups or even large group charters that occupy one or more decks. The decks are open and spacious and appear well lighted. The ship departs from Navy pier and the cruise provider reports that ample parking is available at the Navy Pier parking lot. There is also a continuous running (and free to ride) trolley that carries passengers from the parking a lot along Navy pier.

There is a dress code of sorts for the dinner cruises, so be certain to check with the cruise providers for exact recommendations. These cruises are generally not shirt and tie affairs, but the cruise line prefers passengers on the dinner cruises be a little more dressy. There are also enhancements you can add to your cruise to make to more memorable. These include private tables, balloons, roses, appetizer plates, open bar, champagne, wine, souvenir glasses, photographs, guaranteed window seats and other perks that add to the experience of a Great Lakes cruise on this small ship.

There are several different varieties of cabins available on the Grande Mariner. Some open onto the outside deck and some open onto an inside corridor. Cabins are available with two lower berths or with upper and lower berths. A few cabins have both a double lower berth and a single upper berth. As this ship is smaller than the competing Clelia II and a bit more austere, the cabins are also smaller and less luxurious.

With that difference noted, there are some features of the Grande Mariner that the Clelia II cannot match. One is the bow ramp which allows passengers to simply walk off the ship without the need to worry about jetties and docks. Another is the extremely shallow draft of the ship, which allows it to enter shallow coastal waters where other ships dare not go.

There are also two launches, one of which has a glass bottom. Glass bottomed boats are somewhat of a rarity in Great Lakes tours, and they offer an excellent opportunity to explore sunken ships, rock formations and to view the numerous species of fresh water fish that inhabit the Lakes. The Grande Mariner has a large dining room on the main deck and an auditorium/lounge on the second deck that can accommodate all passengers.

This small ship cruise on The Grande Mariner embarks from Chicago with stops at Holland, Michigan, Manistee, Michigan, Mackinaw Island, Michigan, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin before returning to Chicago. There are seven different waterways that the ship passes through to reach these ports and some terrific scenery.

The published prices for the 2010 Grande Mariner Lake Michigan Getaway cruise run between $1800 and $2200 depending on the cabin choice. There is an additional port charge of $100 that is also shown. Cruise dates begin June and end in late July. This could be the perfect Great Lakes cruise and one of only a few on Lake Michigan. On a small ship cruise like this, there is always the chance for adventure in the small and large port cities where the ship calls and as Great Lakes cruises go, this one offers as nice a selection of ports as any other.

The festival includes schooner rides, of course, and also features artisans, musicians, live pirate re-enactments, displays, and education exhibits. The Welcome, a replica of a British armed sloop from the War of 1812 will be giving cannon demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday beginning at 12 noon. There is also a pirate and pancake breakfast for those who rise early on Saturday.

Tickets are $5 for adults and children. For the price of admission, children are also given 5 free tickets for carnival games. The tickets get you admission to the festival and tours of the three ships that are docked. It appears that the sloop Welcome and the schooner Madeline are among the three docked ships.

The ships on display will include those from the Maritime Heritage Alliance, including: the Welcome, an armed sloop, the Champion, a cutter, the Madeline a schooner and the Arcturos and the Gracie L.

Inland Seas Education Association will also be present and will show off their ship the Inland Seas. Bay Sail from Bay City will arrive with their ship Appledore V. And, Pier Wisconsin will show the ship S/V Denis Sullivan.

That should be enough schooners for almost anyone, but there is always the possibility of other ships dropping in for the festivities. Traverse Bay is also the home of another tall ship, the Manitou which may be on hand, but is not listed on the official roster for this season.

Schooner rides will be offered for $40 starting at 10am. Great Lakes cruises on schooners are all considered small ship cruises. Compare the 50 to 100 passenger sizes of these schooners against the 500 plus passenger sizes of ocean going cruise ships and it is easy to see why these are rated as small ship cruises. Even so, these schooners are not the small little sailboats that you see coasting across the lake. These are vessels large enough to carry passengers in comfort and safety. They are well worth coming to see and are an excellent educational experience for teens, tweens and youngers.

For those unfamiliar with Traverse City, it is located in the Northeastern corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The city sits on the south shore of Grand Traverse bay, which has played the role of one of the more important ports in the lower peninsula for many years. This is the location the Great Lakes Maritime Academy and the port for the State of Michigan, a 160 foot ship the school maintains and uses for educational training cruises.

If you’ve given any thought to a Great Lakes cruise, a schooner cruise, a tall ship cruise or just a small ship cruise and you are anywhere near Traverse City Michigan, you might want to visit this event. If you miss it this year, mark your calendar and catch it next year. All of the proceeds go to helping preserve these fine ships and the history that goes with them. A history that belongs not only to all of us, but to our children as well.

If Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore sounds like an ideal opportunity for a Great Lakes cruise, you would be in agreement with the operators of Pictured Rocks Cruises, Inc. They offer 2 ½ to 3 hour cruises along the 42 mile shore of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The company has been in operation over 50 years and in that time has carried thousands of passengers, both local and tourist. Locals often take this short cruise as they say the rocks are best viewed from the water.

There are 3 cruises available. The Regular Cruise, the Sunset Cruise and the Spray Falls cruise. The sunset cruise is just at dusk and is usually the last cruise of the day. The Spray Falls cruise adds a trip to Spray Falls.

These specialty Great Lakes cruises open in mid-May and Close in Mid-October. Fees for summer of 2009 are listed as $33 each for adults and $10 for children 6 to 12. Pictured Rocks Cruises, Inc also advertises and onsite kennel service for those who travel with their pets.

The port at Manistee began in the 1840s when Europeans first arrived and began logging operations. Michigan in general supplied a large amount of lumber to neighboring states and a lot of Michigan lumber wound up in Ohio after the great fire. Manistee had a hand in producing and shipping that lumber and the port at Manistee was a major employment center.

Today, there are 57 buildings in Manistee that are considered historically valuable and are part of the tour.

Manistee also is the home of the Lake Bluff Audubon Center. The center is located on 76 acres that fronts on Lake Michigan and is set up as an arboreum with specimens of many different trees and also boasts two State Champions, a Sycamore Maple and a Giant Sequoia.

There are a number of restaurants available in Manistee and the downtown port area has a large number of shops available.

This would be a good place to have a comfortable pair of walking shoes as there is a great number of things worth seeing in this Lake Michigan port city. Several Great Lakes Cruise lines make calls at Manistee, but this is not just another port for Great Lakes cruises. Manistee is a city worth visiting anytime you are in Michigan.

This year, Detroit has begun construction of a new docking terminal to help handle the arrival of Great Lakes cruise ships and the influx of cruise travelers that they bring. The facility is expected to be completed by 2010. The facility will handle ships as large as 420 passengers and tourists will disembark downtown within sight of the famed Renaissance Center.

Other port cities and towns along the shores of the Great Lakes are also planning improvements to their docking terminals, or trying to find ways to lure the ships from the various Great Lakes cruise lines to stop. Most cruise lines schedule their itineraries one to two years in advance, so there is a good possibility that some of these other towns may also get a chance to host visiting cruise liners in the future.

There are many things these towns can offer to Great Lakes cruise passengers in the line of shore excursions, especially if the towns decide to target cruise passengers with their offerings. Agri-tours, golf tours, lighthouse tours, historical tours, museum tours and simply scenery tours should be available at almost every stop. The Great Lakes Basin has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and a massive amount of wildlife. In addition, there is world class fishing and golf courses that people travel across the country to reach. The farming throughout this region is state of the art and extensive and all of the metropolitan areas and even some of the smaller cities offer major museums.

Great Lakes cruises are a growing business that can offer many things to many people. New docking terminals like the one being constructed at Detroit will allow the Great Lakes basin to be better explored by tourists and local alike as these terminals will also handle smaller craft.

Centuries ago Mackinac Island was recognized by the natives as a holy place, a place to meet and bury their most important and honored chiefs. The first Europeans visited the island in the 1600s. These were explorers, missionaries and fur traders, the famed “Voyageurs” of that era.

Today, Great Lakes cruise ships regularly stop and let passengers visit and tour the island fort along with the host of local shops and businesses that line the main street. There is also ferry service available from the mainland for those who want to visit but have no interest in cruising the Great Lakes. There are several ferry services available and both luxury cruise ships and local ferries regularly stop here.

Mackinac Island is non-motorized, meaning that motorized vehicles are restricted to emergency uses only. So Great Lakes cruisers should plan to walk or rent bicycles, horses, or catch a buggy ride, all of which are readily available on the island.

Great Lakes cruise passengers will find that besides touring the fort or shopping, there is always a trip to sample the world famous Mackinac Island Fudge which is made fresh daily in an island shop. The historic areas of town also host regular demonstrations of early American crafts, and Great Lakes cruisers might find the tour of the island’s reputedly haunted locations interesting.

If passengers haven’t had enough of cruising the Great Lakes, there are higher observation points where one can look down on the harbor area and watch the flow of Great Lakes cruise ships and local ferries as they bring passengers on and off the island.

Then there is the butterfly house. Many people don’t know that the 3rd oldest live butterfly exhibit in the country is located on Mackinac Island. This is an 1800 square foot tropical garden filled with hundreds of different butterflies. A butterfly house is odd thing to find in a Northern climate, and Mackinaw Island is perhaps an even odder location to find it, but this is an exhibit that is well worth the visit. It’s this type of unique flavor that makes Great Lakes Cruises different from any others.

Great Lakes cruisers will find there are four very small malls on the island and a number of other shops. None of these are large stores, and most of them are only open seasonally. The thing to remember about this place is that it closes for the winter and the only way to reach the mainland after the lakes freeze over is by snowmobile.  As with all other ports on the Great Lakes, Summer belongs to cruising the Great Lakes and winter belongs to the more exotic luxury cruises.