ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A luxury cruise ship docked at the Port of Rochester, marking the first time in decades a cruise ship has stopped in the city. The ship is part of American Cruise Lines’ nine-day Great Lakes cruise from Syracuse to Buffalo. The ship docked locally is the American Patriot and was built just last year.
News10NBC’s Adelisa Badzic spoke with passengers at the Port of Rochester. “This is the first time in decades there’s been a cruise ship on the Great Lakes stopping here in Rochester, so it’s a really exciting day,” said Rachel Laber Pulvino, the Vice President of communications with Visit Rochester.
The cruise is sold out with about 130 passengers on board. Laura Geesaman, from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, said she didn’t know much about Rochester before arriving.
“I did not know anything about Rochester. No, only that I grew up in New York,” Geesaman said. “But if you went to Rochester, that was where it was going to be freezing. So really cold. If you wanted to be snowed in all the time.”
While in Rochester, groups visited popular attractions including the George Eastman Museum.
Judy and Jim Newman came all the from Michigan. Judy shared her thoughts on the museum.
“It was interesting. We’ve had that type of thing in Michigan, too. But this is much bigger and you don’t get the time to investigate it very much,” Newman said.
“It’s just basically going through, taking a tour through it and stopping. The gal gave information about where we were at in the trail, but it’s very interesting.”
American Cruise Lines has set up three itineraries from May through August. The cruise takes guests from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie as part of the Great Lakes and Thousand Islands cruise. The ship will leave for Niagara Falls at 10 p.m.
Tickets for the excursion start at $8,395, with the most expensive option costing more than $14,000. If you’re interested in tickets, you can visit the cruise lines website here: American Patriot | Modern Great Lakes Cruise Ship
Many Rochester natives who came to see the ship said this brings back memories of the ‘fast ferry’, which brought services from Rochester to Toronto.
