Cruise vacations are fun and for the most part safe, but like any other situation where many people are involved, following a few safety rules can keep the fun from turning sour.

First: personal safety. The old saying goes that there is safety in numbers, and this is true when cruising. Always cruise with someone you know, and when ashore always be in the company of the other persons in your party. Also, when ashore don’t split up unless the original group is large enough to allow smaller groups of more than one person.

Avoid getting overly involved with the locals, and never, ever leave your party to go with a local. The rule is no one leaves unless everyone goes together. Don’t walk on shore at night. When on shore, try to stay in busy, touristy areas and at night stay to well lighted areas. The idea is not to get caught in a situation that someone else may control. Separating from your party and walking alone day or night can quickly result in tragedy. (more…)

Many Great Lakes cruise lines offer guided tours at the various ports of call, and such tours offer as many advantages for the cruise line as there are for the passengers.

If you take the port tour, you don’t have to worry about what to do or where to go. Many people find this the most enjoyable part of a vacation, the ability to simply relax and let someone else show you the best that the port has to offer.

With a tour, you also don’t have to worry about getting lost in a strange town and maybe missing your ship’s departure time. That could be a real problem if you are caught someplace that doesn’t have an airport.

The tours are often by bus or other motor vehicle, which can save a lot of walking, and it means you might be able to see things that would otherwise be too far from the harbor. (more…)

No one in their right mind would want to miss their cruise ship. So one of the best tips around is to plan to arrive at the port where your cruise is scheduled to begin at least 1 day in advance.

The problem is that many people forget to consider the weather, traffic and other random events. Spring and fall in the Great Lakes area means the possibility of thunderstorms, which may delay air flights. Early spring and late fall can add icing and other hazards to air travel, which can also slow flights.

Driving is a common way to reach the port from which the cruise ship will depart, but many things can delay that drive. The period from about May 1st to November 1st is also noted for a lot of road construction in the Great Lakes area. Sometimes these “orange-cone-zones” can extend for several miles and tie-up traffic for 30 minutes or more. Link several of these work areas together over a long drive and you can enjoy a delay of a couple of hours or more. (more…)

Many people taking cruises for the first time, and even some who have cruised many times, seem perplexed about how to tip the stewards and other cruise line staff. What is the proper thing to do? Tip? Don’t tip? For that matter, how much extra money should cruisers bring for tips?

The answer varies depending on the cruise line and the type of cruise. Many of the larger cruise lines that run longer luxury cruises will place tips on the passenger’s account to be settled at the end of the voyage, allowing all tips to be paid at once and eliminating the need to carry a bunch of extra cash to hand out. Sometimes these cruise lines will even allow adjustments to the amount of the tip for individual crew members that the passengers believe have served them better rather than passing out a equal share. This enables the passengers themselves to determine which servers have provided the best service and therefore merit the most reward.

Another tactic when traveling on a cruise line that places tips on an account is to carry a little extra cash to hand to those people who provide good service. An extra twenty dollars or so given to the room steward at the start of the cruise can go a long way to helping ensure good service. (more…)

One of the marvels that you may see on a Great Lakes Cruise are the famous locks as Sault Ste. Marie. These locks join Lakes Superior and Huron by way of the St. Mary’s river which naturally connects the two lakes.

There is a 21 foot difference in height between the two lakes and because of a stretch of rapids, the river has never been navigable even by canoes. The first lock was originally constructed in 1797 on the Canadian side of the St. Mary’s River to allow small vessels to pass from lake to lake without the need to portage around the rapids. That lock was destroyed in the war of 1812. The United States built a lock of its own in 1855.

Once the economic value of the Soo Locks was discovered, they were rebuilt to allow much larger ships to pass. Today, ships of 1000 feet can pass through these world renowned locks these are ships so large that they cannot ever leave the Great Lakes because the locks located in the Welland Canal, which a ship would have to pass to reach the ocean, are only capable of handling ships roughly 3/4s the size of those at the Soo. (more…)