Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is adding one of the more unusual itineraries in expedition cruising for 2027: two new voyages that connect all five Great Lakes with the St Lawrence River for the first time, aboard the expedition ship HANSEATIC inspiration.
The two 21-day sailings run between late August and September 2027, replacing three shorter itineraries after what the line describes as strong demand for longer, more in-depth trips.
A ship built for the job
The Great Lakes are a notoriously tricky cruising region — narrow channels, shallow inland waters and a chain of locks. HANSEATIC inspiration is one of the few expedition ships designed for it, with retractable bridge wings, a shallow draught and a slim hull.
That matters most on the Welland Canal between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, where eight locks and a height difference of almost 100 metres must be navigated in chambers barely 2.5 metres wider than the ship itself.
Wilderness and cities
The route runs from the urban Great Lakes shoreline — Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto — out to Lake Superior, the largest of the lakes, whose rugged, forested shores feel almost Nordic.
Along the way there are Zodiac cruises, hikes with the chance of spotting black bears and moose, the 30,000-island maze of Georgian Bay, and the French-Canadian character of Montreal and Quebec. Tadoussac, where the Saguenay Fjord meets the St Lawrence, is among Canada’s best whale-watching spots.
Why it matters for UK cruisers
This is a high-end expedition product, priced from €15,490 per person and sailing far from any UK departure port, so file it under bucket-list intelligence rather than a quick booking.
But the Great Lakes remain one of the genuinely under-sailed cruise regions in the world, and a single voyage taking in all five, plus the St Lawrence, is about as comprehensive as it currently gets.
Image: Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
