Article
The Great Lakes Are the New Hot Cruise Destination
October 7, 2025 4 Minute Read
Great Lakes cruising has the wind in its sails right now.
Last year the Port of Toronto welcomed 34 cruise ships for a total of 18,000 passengers. This year it is expecting 48 cruise ships bringing in over 20,000 visitors. In comparison, the port only received three cruise ships in 2020.
Rebecca Godfrey, who leads CBRE Tourism Consulting, has been diving into data on Great Lakes cruising as part of a study for Destination Northern Ontario, the tourism organization that oversees the area between the French River, the Ottawa River, the Manitoba border and Hudson Bay. Godfrey’s research will inform the organization’s efforts to grow tourism and ensure all forms of access are considered with tourism in mind in the province’s efforts to increase transportation options for Northern Ontario.
“The main objective is to ensure people can get to the destination to see all that Northern Ontario has to offer,” she says. “Great Lakes cruising can be part of the solution. It gets tourists to more remote destinations and has a huge economic impact on Great Lakes destinations, with visitors spending considerably higher than that of ocean-going cruises, and significant business and social benefits for communities along the way.”
Choose-Your-Own-Adventure
The number of Great Lakes cruises has been growing rapidly. Operators like Viking and Pearl Seas Cruises offer various voyages spanning one to two weeks and stopping in cities in Canada and the U.S. Ship capacity averages 300 passengers, with the biggest ships accommodating up to 385 people.
“This is not your typical cruise where thousands of people wait in line to get on or off the boat,” says Godfrey. “The Great Lakes cruises offer a more customized experience, as these are expedition vessels focusing on immersive experiences in the shoreline communities they visit. Although these cruises tend to be more expensive than many of the larger ocean-going liners, they feature high-end suites, guided tours off the beaten path and authentic Canadian experiences.
“It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure. One day you could take a private fishing charter and watch a chef cook up your own catch for a late lunch on Lake Superior, and the next you could take a hike along Lake Huron and learn about the local Anishinaabe heritage.”
Many of these cruises are Wi-Fi-enabled, giving passengers the opportunity to combine remote work and leisure to visit faraway places. “It makes some of Ontario’s smaller destinations more accessible and opens the door to cool new experiences,” Godfrey says.
Local Impact
Port communities around the Great Lakes have committed to increasing experiences for visitors since 2016. Turnaround destinations, where the cruises begin or end, are benefiting from the influx of tourists in their airports, hotels, restaurants and attractions when ships arrive. Thunder Bay, which boasts Northern Ontario’s largest port, received over 6,800 cruise passengers and crew in 2024, adding $4.3 million to the economy.
“Passengers on Great Lakes cruises spend five times more than the average cruise ship traveller,” explains Godfrey. “They already pay a lot of money for the boutique cruise experience so they’re generous in supporting the communities they visit.”
International Love
Great Lakes cruising has been particularly popular with international travellers. Data from The Great Lakes Cruise Association (GLCA) indicates that 66 voyages are projected for 2025, which could bring in nearly 200,000 visitors. This represents a 371% increase in voyages compared to 2023. “There is always a catch,” Godfrey says. “From my discussions with the GLCA, regulations and infrastructure will need to be updated to accommodate more passengers and bigger ships on the Great Lakes, so we can truly benefit from the economic and social spinoff they have the potential to generate.”
With cruise lines drawing guests predominantly from the UK, Germany and other parts of Europe, this gives communities and businesses along the Great Lakes the chance to tap into new demographics, including more domestic options.
“We have so many amazing domestic destinations that few Canadians are visiting,” says Godfrey. “But I have good reason to believe that the current focus on buying local and the renewed sense of national pride could lead to more domestic interest in Great Lakes cruising.”
Recent Insights
-
CBRE’s Jeremy Deeks and John Fisher helped relocate ATCO to a new office building in downtown Edmonton, one of the city’s largest and most impactful office relocations in over a decade.
-
CBRE has sold seniors residence The Hygate on Lexington in Waterloo, ON, to Sienna Senior Living Inc. for $93.3 million.
-
With AI it’s a case of overestimating impacts in the short term and underestimating impacts in the long term.
Stay In The Know
Subscribe today and join hundreds of professionals who get the latest blogs delivered straight to their inbox.