Cruise ships head for upper lakes in '09: operator to stop in Thunder Bay, Manitoulin.

Smaller cruise ships scheduled to ply the upper Great Lakes in 2009 maybe the start of a new trend in adventure cruising.

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Thunder Bay and Little Current on Manitoulin Island will be ports of call next year for the 100-passenger M/V Clelia II.

The vessel's New York-based operator, Travel Dynamics International, is launching a Great Lakes tour of ports between Duluth, Minnesota and Toronto.

With low water levels appearing to be here to stay, tour operators are looking at smaller vessels with shallower draft, says Thunder Bay tourism manager Paul Pepe.

Pepe says next year's arrival of the Clelia II "marks a shift in the types of cruise ships we're going after."

Last year, low water levels and security issues with U.S. Homeland Security officials resulted in Hapag-Lloyd pulling its larger 423-passenger line M/V Columbus off the lakes after 10 years.

The Clelia II is an expedition-type vessel that will be able to access small inlets and bays.

Pepe says it provides new opportunities geared to an experiential, learning-type of excursion. "We see an interesting future with great potential to promote the Great Lakes in a whole new way."

The operator specializes in small ship cruising in South America, Africa, the Mediterranean and Antartica.

Pepe says these size of ships should allow greater access for tourists to get into smaller parts.

The Clelia II is one of two new cruise ships arriving in 2009. Another operator, Pearl Sea Coastal Cruises, is running 214-berth cruise ship.

The Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, of which the City of Thunder Bay is a member, is identifying new itineraries to promote the biological, cultural and geological diversity of the lakes to cruise ship and tour operators.

The coalition and Cruise Ontario is organizing a "familiarization tour" this summer for U.S. and overseas operators to view the landscape and visit the port communities. The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund gave $20,000 to support the tour expected to take place in early to mid-June with visits to Parry Sound, Little Current on Manitoulin, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.

A handful of operators will be be flown aboard a chartered aircraft to view the coastline and into smaller communities to check out local attractions and port services.

Pepe says in the past, day tours of Thunder Bay have been popular with cruise ship visitors to Fort William Historic Park, Founder's Pioneer Museum, Eagle Canyon Bridge, the casino, the Finnish shopping district and scenic flights over the city.

But with Ottawa's announcement last fall of the creation of a national marine conservation area on Lake Superior, there's an opportunity to market the north shore of Lake Superior, from Thunder Cape to the Slate Islands, to these types of new excursions.

"We see the smaller ships as having a bright future for the lakes," says Pepe.

Tourism Sault Ste. Marie executive director Ian McMillan agrees.

"Once its started and people experience it, it will only grow. These ships are perfect for the Great Lakes."

McMillan, who serves as co-chair of Cruising Ontario, says these two smaller luxury liners will attract a more upscale traveller wanting a unique, hands-on experience, such as kayaking.

McMillan says a major selling point of Great Lakes cruises is its variety of attractions, both urban and remote backcountry. "On any given day you could be in a large city of eight million people like Chicago, the next day you're on a wilderness train tour in Sault Ste. Marie."

Beside adapting to low water levels, security is a whole new challenge to be tackled because of U.S. Homeland Security concerns about cruise ships zig-zagging between U.S. and Canadian ports.

Fortunately, McMillan says, coalition staff will be working well in advance of 2009 to ensure Canadian port workers dealing directly with the cruise ships have some kind of security clearance.

"It's something we need to address and comes to grips with because it becomes an impediment to getting new ships onto the lakes."

Lock tour excursion boats in the Sault must have special electronic tracking equipment installed as demanded by the U.S. government.

And in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, port and longshore workers are getting security background checks under the U. S. Transportation Worker Identification Credential program.

The program ensures that anyone who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a security threat.

www.visitthunderbay.com

www.saulttourism.com

www.greatlakescruisingcoalition.com

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business