Milwaukee’s cruise ship season kicks off Monday, April 28 with the arrival of Viking Octantis, which will call at Port Milwaukee's Heavy Lift Dock on Jones Island.
This is the fourth year in a row that Octantis has opened the season here. The excursion vessel first arrived in Milwaukee, which serves as a turnaround and port of call for its cruises on the Great Lakes and beyond, in 2022.
That year, I took a cruise to show you the ship and some of its stops.
In 2023, Octantis’ sister ship Polaris also cruised the Great Lakes and called on Milwaukee. Hanseatic Inspiration also made its first stop here that year.
Port Milwaukee is expecting 22 visits from six vessels owned by five companies this year carrying about 11,000 passengers between late April and mid-October.
That's down slightly from last year's 27 visits by seven vessels, and an estimated 12,000-plus passengers.
In addition to Viking’s Octantis and Polaris, the Port expects the return of Pearl Seas’ Pearl Mist, among others.
Victory Cruise Lines returns this season after being away for seven years. Its Victory I ship has three turnaround visits scheduled here.
The Port will finally begin construction of its South Shore East cruise dock this spring and the dock is expected to be ready to welcome vessels at the start of the 2026 season, which is projected to bring about 18,500 passengers.
The financing package for the project was finalized when Mayor Cavalier Johnson included $5 million for the dock in his 2025 budget.
For now, in addition to the City of Milwaukee Heavy Lift Dock on Jones Island, cruise ships also dock at Pier Wisconsin, adjacent to Discovery World.
Last year, to help promote Milwaukee as a cruise ship destination, Port Milwaukee founded Milwaukee Cruise Collaborative with representatives from across the local hospitality industry to also plan and prepare for more visits by cruise ship passengers.
In 2023, a record nine vessels made 30 calls in Milwaukee, carrying 11,502 passengers.
Those numbers were down slightly over the previous year, when the Port set a record with 13,611 cruise passengers on eight ships making 33 calls.
“The Great Lakes cruise industry is a big contributor to our region’s tourism,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson in 2024. “Cruise passengers continue to see why Milwaukee is a highly desirable destination."
Cruise the Great Lakes estimates that 22,000 passengers will sail on Great Lakes cruises in 2025, up 10 percent over last year.
The economic impact of that is projected to exceed $230 million, up 15 percent over 2024.
You can keep track of the comings and goings of cruise ships and other vessels using the Port’s online vessel tracker, which you can find here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
