Unless you feel like purchasing the fleet? They made a good run at it, they lasted 2 years. They arrived Duluth for the 2nd and final time June 23, 2023 at 8:05:00 AM With a "boatload" of Tourists to explore our fair city. They sailed right up to the Port Terminal and docks at 08:20. The cargo discharged and went about their exploring the area, spending lots of money? At 16:45, same day, they all reboarded and the ship departed the Port Terminal dock, heading for the Duluth Entry. They sailed out of Duluth with a gloomy weather for the final farewell. At 17:07 they bid us farewell with a Captains Salute. Thunder Bay was their next destination.
BY JIMMY LOVRIEN - DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE DULUTH — A cruise ship company will end its Great Lakes voyages at the end of the season. American Queen Voyages will finish the 2023 cruise season on the Great Lakes, then sell its Ocean Navigator and Ocean Voyager ships as it focuses instead on its other cruises along rivers and in Alaska. “While our bookings for the Great Lakes cruises have been strong and our itineraries have been well received by our guests, we decided to make this shift to refocus on what our travelers have come to know and love us for, and to continue to improve the customer experience on our river and Alaska itineraries for the 2024 season,” the company said in a statement to the News Tribune. “The inability to operate Ocean Navigator and Ocean Voyager for 12 months of the year has created extended off-season operational costs, which outweigh the benefits to achieve our overall business success.” Contributed / American Queen Voyages American Queen Voyages’ cruise ship Ocean Navigator has visited Duluth twice this year. Both the Navigator and Voyager are 286 feet long and have a capacity of 202 passengers and 84 crew members. Asked if there were any potential buyers for the vessels, the company said: “It is premature to speculate on potential buyers as the announcement was just made this week to our trusted travel partners.” The company will run both ships through the final scheduled voyages in October and November. American Queen Voyages began sailing on the Great Lakes since 2019 and its ships have occasionally stopped in Duluth after the port began seeing cruise ships again in 2022. The Ocean Navigator made a port call in Duluth on June 9 and 23 this year. It will not stop in Duluth again this year, the company said. Several cruise ship companies now make Duluth a regular stop. According to Visit Duluth’s 2023 cruise schedule, Viking Cruises’ Octantis and Polaris ships are expected to make seven combined stops in Duluth this year and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Hanseatic Inspiration will have two stops in Duluth. Pearl Seas Cruises has several stops scheduled for Duluth in 2024 and 2025, according to its website.
