Milwaukee WI (Lake Michigan, Wisconsin)

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).

Fur traders and French Catholic missionaries were the first Europeans in this 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.

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.

In 2014, Port Milwaukee handled a total of 2,4 million MT (metric tons) of shipped cargo. Regularly scheduled Lake Express ferries link the port with Muskegon (Michigan) across Lake Michigan. 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.