Baby Boomers Cruise Great Lakes
Down to the sea in small ships - traveling inland waters for seniors
Huge cruise ships and issues plaguing them not for you? Seniors travel the tropics, Lake Michigan or other Great Lakes in small ships. Read about one cruise line.
His great-granddad was a whaler on the Atlantic Ocean but Captain Luther H. Blount was more interested in sword fishing out of Nantucket. His career included the Merchant Marine, his family’s oyster business, established in 1812, and boat building. Blount passed away in 2006 at 90 years old, but he ran American Canadian Caribbean Line out of Rhode Island until his death. He rode a bike to work, across the huge expanse of shipyards, after sitting on his deck at home, watching the sun rise over the Atlantic each morning.
His cruise line operates small ship cruises up and down the Atlantic coast, into the Caribbean and through the Great Lakes. But most interesting are the cruises out of Chicago. Geared to a mature audience, summertime cruises sail from Chicago up Lake Michigan. It is doubtful you’ll find much to compare with the healthy-gourmet menus, the relaxed, laid back atmosphere, and the small ship’s ability to navigate where larger commercial vessels can’t go.
Keep in mind, if you decide to explore this idea that it isn’t luxury cruising, at all. No pools, maybe shuffle board, lots of fresh air, no movies and cabins that range from tiny, clean and comfortable, to roomy and pleasant.
This intriguing line, catering to the type of traveler who’s into L.L. Bean catalogs, photo-safaris, and casual site seeing, began when Captain Blount built a sword fishing boat in the 1950’s.
“Just like with whaling, there are cruise enthusiasts who want to stand up and look for the fins,” he explained. “I built a little boat to accommodate fin-watchers.”
“Pretty soon, someone came along and bought that boat. So I built one to hold more watchers – someone bought it and I put the money into a bigger one. Finally, I could sleep 18 or 20 people,” the Captain remembered.
In 1958, he discovered his boats could circumnavigate New England and the Maritime Provinces – his wife and kids were his crew and family friends his passengers.
The History of Luther’s Dream
“We still make that run around Nova Scotia – it was 18 to 20 days then,” Blount recalled a few years ago. “The last night, my wife put on quite a little dinner – one gentleman said ‘This was great – we never realized how much we’d like it. Let's do it again, but we think we should pay for it.’ And my kids said ‘yeah, Daddy, and you can pay us!’ And there it was.”
Back to the yard, where he built another boat -- with cabins, Pullman-style bunks and a dining room. In 1966 they ran to Nantucket and New England islands as the Nantucket Cruise Line.
“We took people up to Canadian Expo in ‘67 and went right up into the marina because we were small. He liked that flexibility. Thinking about locks on local rivers – he wanted to design a boat to take lots of people, in comfortable accommodations, through spaces tour boats couldn’t navigate.
Blount explained, “I designed a way to get under the bridges into the lakes. In those days everybody wanted to go through the Erie Canal. Our Niagara Prince, in 1994, could do the Erie all the way to Buffalo and through Chicago’s waterways. So we created the Chicago-New Orleans tour. We added the Great Lakes and Lake Superior later on.”
The innovative design of the small cruise ships allows the pilothouse to drop 7 feet when necessary to get under bridges. All masts and antennas fold down. The ships can make bow landings, meaning they run right up to a beach and land passengers in pretty, exotic little coves where others can’t even consider putting in.
Advice from the Captain
What advice would the Captain have given entrepreneurs? In business you have to have something reasonable and better to offer customer.
He said, “Like the guy who built the better mouse trap – it worked for us. And I never built a boat without money-in-hand. Companies go out on a limb. Get your money, then build your boat – you can’t lose.”
When he was well past 85, Luther Blount told me, “I just got home from the Bahamas – was in Belize at Christmas. I play the trombone -- bring a couple musicians along to entertain passengers. My trombone I got in 1940 - but now I play real good. I’ve played in the Providence Orchestra the last couple years.”
The line is down to 2 ships from the former 3. Just before his passing, Blount donated the Niagra Prince to universites in Rhode Island.
He believed the best part of small ship traveling is it’s like going on your friend’s yacht – people are homey, relaxed. You get to know crew and passengers and have fun every day.
With pride, he summed it up, chuckling, “Not fancy. We’re self-sufficient - we could stay four days in the wilderness of the Orinoco River without docking for supplies. We trade with Indians down there. But that’s another story.”
Here's a discussion about cruising.
MORE:
Photo Album of Small Ship Cruising
