Muskegon MI (Michigan)

Muskegon is a Lake Muskegon cruise port and city in Michigan USA (Muskegon County) with population around 40,000. Spreading around its harbor, Muskegon is popular for tourism benefiting from its free public beaches (spreading ~26 mi / 42 km), historic architecture, walkability and easy parking, and offering outdoor activities like camping, biking, fishing, sailing, recreational boating, kitesurfing, lake cruise tours.

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).

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).

Muskegon Ferry Terminal on Muskegon Lake is directly linked to two highways - US-31 (connecting to the cities Grand Haven, Holland, and Traverse City) and I-96 (connecting to the cities Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit). The high-speed catamaran ferry Lake Express (2004-built, IMO 9329253) is a car-and-passenger ferryboat serving the Lake Michigan route between Michigan-Wisconsin (Muskegon-Milwaukee) with a crossing time of ~2,5 hours.

On cruise shore excursions (via bus tours) are visited Lake Michigan's nature parks and trails (Muskegon State Park, Hoffmaster State Park), Winter Sports Complex (part of the Muskegon Park/offers outdoor activities like ice skating, ice fishing, cross-country skiing).

Approx 5 mi / 7 km south of the city's CBD is the Muskegon County Airport. It serves regularly scheduled flights to Chicago Illinois (by Southern Airways Express) as well as seasonal charter flights linking Muskegon with Atlantic City New Jersey (by iAero Airways/fka Swift Air).

Besides the tourism industry, the city's economy is also based on manufacturing (ADAC Automotive, Howmet Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Aerospace, GE Aviation, Anderson Global Inc, Brunswick Corporation, Cannon-Muskegon Corporation, Kaydon Corporation, Knoll Inc, Mahle Group, SAF-Holland), retail shopping (Meijer, Wesco), communications (L3 Technologies), healthcare, administrative services.

Michigan's Adventure - the state's largest amusement (sized 250 acres / 101 hectares / 1 km2) with a total of 37 rides and includes the aquapark WildWater Adventure (fitted with 7 roller coasters). Michigan's Adventure is halfway between Muskegon and Whitehall.

Muskegon MI is popular for its annual festivals and music events held in June (Taste of Muskegon, Lakeshore Art Festival), July (WeDiscover, Motorcycle Rally), and during the summer (Burning Foot Beer at Pere Marquette Beach, Park Parties at Hackley Park).

At the cruise ship dock (Heritage Landing) are held The Unity Christian Music Festival and The Michigan Irish Music Festival.

Following the COVID crisis, in 2022 the Port handled 16 cruise ship calls, increasing to 19 in 2023.