The price for admission is very reasonable. A “passport” system has been created that will allow each visitor admission to the festival for all 4 days, plus 1 tour of each of the participating vessels (it does not appear that the Appledore cruises will be included as part of this admission price). The cost of the passport is advertised at $12 if purchased early and $15 if purchased after July 1. This works out to under $5 a day if you stay for all 4 days, which is much less than the cost of a movie ticket and even if you stay for only 1 day the cost is less than the cost of admission to an amusement park.

For those who want to visit the festivities, but don’t want to tour the ships a 1 day ticket can be purchased for $6.

What kind of festivities are there? Well, in addition to tours and rides, Tall Ship festivals usually include demonstrations, contests and theater presentations. Bay City is no different, and has contracted with the Ring of Steel Pirate School to offer stage performances, discuss sea-based crafts and demonstrate pirate games.

The International Maritime Music Festival will also be held during the Tall Ships Celebration, giving attendees the opportunity to listen to the music that was popular aboard these ships when they were still the world’s dominant form of international transportation.

The ships expected to arrive in the fleet, include the Amistad, a 129 foot Topsail Schooner based in New Haven, Connecticut; the Denis Sullivan, a 137 foot 3-Masted Schooner based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the HMS bounty, a 180 foot Full-Rigged ship sailing from Greenport, Long Island, New York; the Madeline, a 92 foot Gaff Topsail Schooner that calls Traverse City, Michigan its home; the Pathfinder, a 72 foot Bragantine from Toronto, Ontario, Canada; the Playfair, another Bragantine from Toronto with a length of 72 feet; the Pride of Baltimore II a 170 foot long Square Topsail Schooner from Baltimore, Maryland; the Roald Amundsen, a 165 foot Brig that will come all the way from Eckernforde, Germany; the Roseway, a 137 foot schooner from St, Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands; and the Appledore IV and Appledore V which are based in Bay City and will meet the fleet when it arrives.

The HMS Bounty and the Pride of Baltimore II each carry over 10,000 square feet of sail and the Roald Amundsen carries over 9,000 square feet. These are not the little sailboats you see on inland lakes, these are the real thing, ocean going ships now cruising the Great Lakes.

Lovers of Tall Ships and Great Lakes cruises will all find something of interest at the Bay City Tall Ship Celebration. Music, theater, history, art and a whole lot more are waiting for the cost of a $15 admission. This is only the 4th time in 10 years that Bay City has hosted such a festival, so it is not something to be missed.

At 77 feet long, the Red Witch is somewhat smaller than her more northern cousin the Manitou, which resides in Traverse City, Michigan. Still, even though she is a little bit smaller, the Red Witch will carry a respectable 49 passengers for a wonderful afternoon of fun.

The Red Witch is operated by Lakeshore Sail Charters out of Chicago, which also offers Great Lakes cruises on the Crescendo, a 36 foot Beneteau that carries up to 6 passengers.

You can take Great Lakes cruises on Red Witch one of three ways, you can charter the entire ship for your group event, or if you have a small group and you agree to share the ride with another small group, you can enjoy a lower rate. According to their website, a shared charter is priced at $600 for two hours in 2009 pricing. This covers up to 10 people and after that it is $50 for each additional passenger. If you want a 3 hour tour, the fee is $900 for the first 10 people and $65 per person after that. Tours include soft drinks, water and snacks. These rates are a significant discount over the regular rate which starts at over $1000 for the two hour tour if taken on a weekday.

The other way to get a ride on the Red Witch is to take advantage of one of the special events this small charter company offers. The Red Witch offers a few “ticketed” events every year, this means that individuals can buy a ticket to sail on these specially scheduled events. The events that Lakeshore Sail Charters schedules are Wednesday and Saturday fireworks cruises, Whale Watching/Happy Hour cruises, and Musical Mondays. Tickets start at $50 per person, which is cheap enough when compared to the charter rates.

Besides, anyone who has lived around the Great lakes, or knows anything about the Great Lakes will tell you that the Whale Watching/Happy Hour cruise must be very interesting indeed. Even if you don’t see any whales, I’m sure you will return happy, and if you do see a whale…well, I guess you will return even happier.

Like all sailing vessels, the Red Witch makes tours of an approximate length, and the actual time it takes for the cruise may vary slightly based on the wind and weather, but the fun will always be large. If you live somewhere in the vicinity of Chicago and you long for a schooner ride, you might consider taking your Great Lakes cruises on the Red Witch.

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.

First, consider seasickness. Individuals who are prone to motion sickness might want to consider cabins as close to the center of the ship as possible. The farther the cabin is from the center of ship, the more it will be affected as the ship rolls or pitches. Modern Great Lakes cruise liners are designed to minimize this movement and provide smooth sailing experiences, and the Lakes generally have much smaller waves than those found on the ocean, but many people still experience at least some motion sickness.

Light sleepers and late risers might want to consider the location of their cabins based on a diagram of the ship they intend to travel on. Locate the main hallways, stairwells, elevators, galley and anything else that might be noisy, and try to book a cabin away from these irritations. High traffic areas and areas where the crew concentrate and work may be busy early in the morning and late into the night. When finding the locations of these places, try to think in 3D. Is there something above or below your cabin that might make a difference?

Those who are a little claustrophobic might want a veranda cabin. There are now cruise liners on the Great Lakes that offer private verandas for all or most of their cabins. A veranda gives you a chance to step out of your room quickly if it begins to feel a bit tight, and it also gives the feeling that the cabin is much larger that it actually is.

This brings up the matter of cabin size. As a rule of thumb, Great Lakes tall ships tend to have smaller cabins than Great Lakes cruise liners, but when you read in a brochure that a cabin is 120 or 300 square feet it is difficult to picture in your mind exactly how big that is. How can you decide which size is best? Try matching something of known size against the size noted in the brochure. Almost anything of the right size can be used to help visualize the size of a cabin. A 1 car garage may be about 300 square feet. Many backyard decks are about 120 square feet. Look around and find something to help visualize the size of the room, it will help keep expectations in line and that will make a significant impact on cruise vacation fun.

Many couples have chosen to take a cruise for their first alone time after the wedding. Great Lakes cruises make a very viable option for such a cruise vacation. Great Lakes cruises come in a large number of flexible formats that can run from a few hours to more than a week. These can be intimate dinner cruises or luxury vacations.

Because the Great Lakes are surrounded by Canada and the United States, most people perceive them to be much safer than cruises that go overseas. You are always close to shore and generally in the ports of call you stop at everyone will speak English and accept U.S. or Canadian currency.

On a Great Lakes cruise, the honeymoon couple can be away from all of the stresses of life and yet still close to home. Far enough away that friends and family can’t reach them, yet no so far that they are completely out of reach in an emergency.

How about a tall ship cruise for a honeymoon? There are several options available on the Great Lakes, from short dinner or wine tasting trips that last a couple of hours to longer trips that may last a couple of days.

Or, maybe the choice is a luxury cruise on one of the luxury mini-yachts that cruise the Great Lakes carrying passengers on days and sometimes weeks long trips.

Without a doubt, anyone planning a honeymoon cruise should consider a Great Lakes cruise. While the ports of call aren’t as exotic as some in the Carribean or Hawaii, there also isn’t a long ocean transit to arrive at those ports. And, the Great Lakes provide some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. From rocky caves, to sandy beaches, to massive locks designed to pass ships, to the star touching skylines of cities like Toronto, Detroit and Chicago. A Great Lakes cruise can provide a honeymoon to dream over.

Great Lakes cruises can be had for under $100 a person if you are willing to cruise for under 1 day. Longer trips can be had for under $1000 and still longer trips might reach the $5000 mark. A lot depends on length of the trip and what you expect out of it.

A nice thing about Great Lakes cruises is the number and variety of small cruise operators running one to three boats and providing sightseeing tours of the shoreline. These tours are often centered around a scrumptious dinner, but there are also shipwreck tours, color tours, ice cream social tours, wine tasting tours, paddle wheeler tours, fireworks tours, waterfall tours, river tours and a host of others. Almost every port on the Great Lakes has at least one operator offering these short tours and some of the larger cities such as Chicago have many.

It is important to remember that even though these ships are smaller, they are still required to meet stringent US Coast Guard requirements for passenger vessels, which means they are inspected for safety on a regular basis.

Even longer Great Lakes cruises may be cheaper in direct comparison to ocean cruises because the ships are smaller and less costly to operate. And, while the ships are smaller, they are still luxurious mini-yachts.

Great Lakes cruise ships are different. They are smaller versions of their ocean going cousins, smaller so they can navigate the shallower waters of inlets and bays, but still large enough to be comfortable. The larger lakes liners typically run about 1/10th the size of their ocean going counterparts. With passenger lists under 200, it is often possible for passengers to come to know the crew on a first name basis. The smaller lakes liners may carry only a couple of dozen passengers as in the case of the schooner Manitou, which only has cabins for 24 passengers. With a group of passengers that small, most will come to know each other on a first name basis. The crews of these ships are highly trained and able seamen, and with such small passenger lists, they are usually able to take the time to answer questions.

Of course, much depends on which cruise line you choose, and which ship. The largest ship on the Great Lakes is usually about 400 passengers, and the smallest may be just a handful. The larger ship will offer more amenities–perhaps a ship’s store, a wider choice of meals, a licensed bar, a dance floor. On the other hand, the smaller ship may offer to take you beach combing in places that the larger ship wouldn’t dare enter, or it might have a wine tasting tour serving wine from local vineyards. Smaller ships have many niche markets they serve, and you are likely to find one that fits your needs and your pocketbook.

On a smaller ship you may be able to take a shorter tour, one that only lasts a couple of hours. Small tour operators are more likely to offer a couple of short, theme tours everyday. So, you might go wine tasting, or ice cream eating, or star gazing and be home the same day you left. That is less likely with the larger ships that need to make longer tours in order to pay the bills.

Great Lakes cruise ships may be smaller, but sometimes smaller is better.  It all depends what you are looking for in your cruise experience. Just don’t write the smaller craft off. Many people are reporting they like the little ships as well or better than the large ones.

Their ship is the Manitou, a 114-foot, 24-passenger schooner built in the 1980s. It is a replica of 1800s craft and was specifically built to carry passengers on Great Lakes cruises. The Manitou carries over 3000 square feet of sail and displaces 100 tons of water. Traverse Tall ship company offers two cruises aboard the Manitou per day–an afternoon cruise and an evening cruise. And what cruises they are!

Wednesday evenings are “entertainment nights” with music performed by the group “Song of the Lakes.”

If you like ice cream, you’ll love Monday and Friday afternoons when the tall ship Manitou hosts and ice cream tour of Grand Traverse Bay featuring “Moomer’s” ice cream. Moomer’s ice cream is handmade right in Traverse City by Moomer’s ice cream and dairy, and is reputedly some of the best in the country.

Wine Tasting Cruises. Two nights a week, you can sample various local wines while touring the bay.

If you yearn for a longer experience, the Manitou makes several 4 day cruises every year. For trips of this length, the ship will only carry the 24 passengers its staterooms will hold, so passengers should try to book passage early. The cost is advertised to be $685 per person, double accommodations. These are themed cruises and themes are: astronomy; wine tasting; chocolate and storytelling; and Music. Traverse Tall Ship Company requests that you board the ship for these 4 day excursions between 4-6pm the night before sailing. Minimum passenger age for these cruises is 12.

The Kajama is a 164-foot, 3 masted Schooner. Great Lakes Schooner Company claims that the Kajama cruise can only be duplicated in the Caribbean, and that may very well be true. While there is another tall ship cruise located in Traverse City, Michigan, USA, it is reported to lack a fully licensed bar. On that ship you are allowed to bring drinks on board and to pre-order, but a complete bar is unavailable.

Another interesting thing about the Kajama is that a Fireworks Tour is available. You can watch the fireworks in Toronto Harbor from the deck.

The Great Lakes Schooner Company also operates a steam powered paddle wheeler known as the Trillium, which is large enough to handle up to 500 guests. According to Great Lakes Schooner, the Trillium is the last steam operated paddle wheeler offering Great Lakes cruises. There is also a 97-foot schooner available for cruising the Great Lakes, and a 190 passenger conventional cruise ship that boasts an upper-level dance floor with a retractable roof.

Great Lakes Schooner Company typically offers two boarding times, one just after 12pm and an evening run that starts between six and seven. The company claims they are flexible with the times since their Great Lakes cruises are private.

If you are interested in having them host your Great Lakes cruise or other charter event, whether it is a wedding, company meeting or something else, you will want to contact them early and schedule your time. These are unique ships and you might have to hunt long and hard to duplicate these enjoyable and unique cruises.