A 400 passenger cruise ship will dock at Port Milwaukee, on the west side of Jones Island, Sunday at 8 a.m., as the first stop in the United States during its two-week Great Lakes Tour.
The Hamburg is operated by Plantours, a Bremen, Germany-based cruise company. It last docked in Milwaukee in 2015 for a similar tour. Its passengers– mostly from Europe– will, for one day, tour the city and visit the Harley-Davidson Museum.
“The cruise industry has given indications that the Great Lakes is a growing market,” Jeff Fleming, marketing and public relations director at Port Milwaukee said. “Milwaukee is well positioned to receive cruise ship passengers.”
Upon the ship’s arrival, U.S. Customs officials will review all passengers’ travel documents, as Milwaukee is their first stop in the U.S. City of Milwaukee officials expect to welcome enough passengers to fill 10 buses that will tour them around the city.
A boat of the Hamburg’s size is the maximum sized ship that the Saint Lawrence Seaway could accommodate. Its unusual to have a ship as large as the Hamburg dock in Port Milwaukee, Fleming said.
Departing from Milwaukee at around 9 p.m., the Hamburg will visit Chicago and then, Traverse City, Mich., each for one day. Mackinac Island will be the cruise’s last stop in the U.S. before the Hamburg heads back to Canada, which is where the tour started.
