Milwaukee WI (Wisconsin, Lake Michigan)

Milwaukee WI is a Lake Michigan cruise port and city, ranked by population (around 595,000) state's biggest and Midwestern USA's 5th-largest (after Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, Detroit). The city is on Lake Michigan's western shore and is also the main economic and cultural center of Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha Metro (total population over 2 million).

Being one of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan has surface area (22300 mi2/58000 km2), water volume (1180 mi3/4900 km3) max depth (925 ft/282 m), cities in Illinois (Chicago), Indiana (Gary), Wisconsin (Green Bay, Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine) and Michigan (Muskegon, Traverse City).

In 2014, Port Milwaukee handled a total of 2,4 million MT (metric tons) of shipped cargoes. Regularly scheduled Lake Express ferries link the port with Muskegon (Michigan) across Lake Michigan. The high-speed catamaran ferry Lake Express (2004-built, IMO 9329253) is a car-and-passenger ferryboat serving the Lake Michigan route Wisconsin-Michigan (Milwaukee-Muskegon) with a crossing time of ~2,5 hours.

Milwaukee Port's cruising season runs June through October, with annual around 5-6 visiting vessels. In 2018, the cruise port handled 5 vessels and ~3200 passengers. In 2019 were handled 10 cruise ships.

In mid-December 2020, the Port signed an agreement for homeporting the cruise ship MS Pearl Mist for 9 years (2021 through 2030), with an option for the small cruise company Pearl Seas Management LLC (USA-based, operating with its brand "Pearl Seas Cruises") to extend the service through 2040. The exclusive deal provides the company with priority docking rights at Milwaukee's downtown dock located east of Discovery World, Pier Wisconsin. The deal guaranteed the cruise ship Pearl Mist to use Pier Wisconsin as homeport (for turnaround operations / roundtrips) at least 5 times per year. The ship is required to provide minimum annual rents of USD 42100 (starting in 2021), which must gradually increase to USD 50000 (by 2026) and USD 60000 (by 2036). MS Pearl Mist's itinerary includes Port Milwaukee as debarkation port (for westward Great Lakes voyages) end embarkation port (for eastward sailings).

In 2022, Viking Expeditions started a seasonal Great Lakes cruise program with one ship deployment and one-ways (8-day itineraries) between homeports Toronto, Thunder Bay ON and Milwaukee WI. After debarkation in Thunder Bay, passengers return to Milwaukee by air, and the cruise ship embarks another group of travelers (flown to Thunder Bay) for the return voyage (via Duluth MN) to Milwaukee. The boat was scheduled to stay in homeport overnight (for ~48 hours) on each call.

The 8-day voyages are themed "Niagara and the Great Lakes" (from Toronto to Milwaukee), "Undiscovered Great Lakes" (from Thunder Bay to Milwaukee) and "Great Lakes Explorer" (from Milwaukee to Thunder Bay). Viking Great Lakes cruises feature passing through Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie (Lake Superior - Lake Huron transition).

Currently, the largest by capacity Great Lakes cruise companies are Viking Cruises USA (Viking Octantis, Viking Polaris), AQV-American Queen Voyages (ships Ocean Navigator, Ocean Voyager), Pearl Seas Cruises (Pearl Mist), and the Canadian company St Lawrence Cruise Lines (Canadian Empress). Other travel brands that offer Great Lakes voyages are PONANT and Tauck (fleet).

Fur traders and French Catholic missionaries were the first Europeans in the Milwaukee area. The settlement was founded in 1818 by Solomon Juneau (Canadian explorer), and in 1846 was combined with two neighboring towns. In the 1840s here arrived numerous German and Polish immigrants.

The city's best-known tourist attractions include Milwaukee Riverwalk (waterfront promenade), Pier Wisconsin (cruise dock), Miller Park, Wisconsin Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Art Museum, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, modern buildings (in premium neighborhoods close to the lakefront), large nature parks (with facilities for picnics, BBQ grilling, sunbathing, ice-skating, disc golfing). The city has over 6100 hectares (61 km2) of parks and parkways.