Urban Indiana

Great Lakes are once again a hot destination for cruise ships

The Viking Polaris sliced through the dawn June fog, entering the harbor without fanfare. No horn blasts to this Midwestern port city's landmark lift bridge. Onboard, all but a handful of cabins were dark as the 666-foot cruise ship ended its maiden Great Lakes voyage.

Cruise ships, which once thrived on these lakes before all but disappearing in the 1970s, are making a remarkable comeback on this inland sea, wooed by competing states. Marketed as "expedition cruising," the ships deliver tourists and their spending money to ports that for decades primarily served global markets with iron ore and wheat.

"The [global] cruise industry is fairly mature,' said Dave Gutheil, chief commercial officer of the Port of Cleveland. "There aren't a lot of new places to go."