Cruise ships are expected to start traveling around the Great Lakes again in 2022, with increased health and safety measures for passengers, staff and port communities. PhotoL Supplied by Viking Cruises

From CBC News • Thunder Bay • February 21, 2022 

The cruise ship industry on the Great Lakes appears poised for a strong return in 2022. That's according to Stephen Burnett, executive director of the Great Lakes Cruise Association.

"The tourism industry generally is coming to grips with the fact that they have to find a way of operating safely for the welfare of their guests and their employees and their community," he said. The industry has learned a lot since COVID-19 outbreaks at the start of the pandemic in early 2020.

Cruise ships haven't sailed the Great Lakes since 2019, before the start of the pandemic. The Canadian Government lifted a cruise ship ban in Canadian waters in late 2021.

Burnett estimates there could be more than 20,000 passengers this season — if the pandemic doesn't force cancellations. It's an increase of 40 per cent from the last season, in 2019.

He added that passenger interest is high and tourism businesses are very optimistic about the 2022 season, but the top concern they keep hearing is how they'll keep COVID-19 away from cruise ships and the ports they visit.

Safe approach to cruising

Steps have been taken to increase the safety of passengers, crews and shore communities, and Burnett said a safe approach is the only way cruising will succeed this year.

"There's considerable vigilance here," he said. "Nobody wants the industry to fail, so the best interests of community, crew and guests are very much at the beginning of everything that we do," he said.

There are now vaccine requirements, regular testing and temperature checking on board.

"You cannot get on a cruise ship to cruise without proving that you are vaccinated," Burnett said. "While you're on that ship, you will be continually checked by a heat-sensing device, which will record your temperature every time you get on and off the ship."

There is also a strong focus on hygiene on board — both personal hygiene and structural hygiene (surfaces) on cruise ships. Plus there are now capacity restrictions which will ensure ships are not overcrowded.

Burnett said that cruise ships will also respect whatever protocols and procedures each port community has that the boat docks in.

"They are the host community and we are the visitors, nothing less would be acceptable."

Dawn Madahbee Leach understands the need to balance out concerns with health and safety with stimulating the local economy.

She is the general manager at Waubetek, an economic development agency on Birch Island, which helps Indigenous entrepreneurs access funding, and also delivers support to First Nations businesses.

That agency played a big role in connecting First Nation communities around Manitoulin Island with the cruise ship industry when it first started traveling through the Great Lakes region. Businesses at various port communities offered shore visits for cultural attractions. 

"The tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the [Manitoulin] region," Madahbee Leach said.

Initially, a circle of elders developed cultural integrity guidelines to ensure that Indigenous people weren't exploited and that sacred Indigenous cultural practices, like ceremonies, weren't sold to visitors.

When the pandemic hit the tourism sector, it took a big hit. People were discouraged from traveling, and many First Nation communities discouraged visitors during that time to help protect vulnerable elders in their respective communities.

But now tourism operators and connecting businesses are preparing for the 2022 season, and are especially looking forward to the economic dollars visitors will bring to their communities

Madahbee Leach said she understands business owners are anxious to get back to normal and bring in some much needed revenue, but that needs to be balanced with the health and safety of communities.

"Any kind of group travel is very difficult during this time," she said. "If you have visitors from other regions that may have high incidence of the coronavirus, that would be of great concern because we want to protect our [First Nation] people," she said.

Burnett is particularly excited for the Lake Superior North Shore Inside Passage starting in the Summer of 2022. The new excursion includes port stops in Terrace Bay, Schreiber, Rossport, and Red Rock in northwestern Ontario.

"It's possible for a cruise ship to thread its way through those islands on the inside passage as it were, and bring some economic development to the communities," he said, explaining that expedition ships use a device called dynamic positioning to moor in a bay.

To see the original story and read related reporting, follow this link to the CBC Thunder Bay News website. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/great-lakes-cruise-ships-return-2022-1.6300920