Lake Erie To Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, of all the ports and attractions on a Great Lakes or St. Lawrence Seaway prowl (including Chicago, Quebec Urban center or Montreal), rates no. one on most travelers' bucket lists. So, when you ask, "Can I get to Niagara Falls on a prowl?" the reply is a resounding, "You bet!"

Getting There

Consider this: Niagara Falls forms a drop of 176 anxiety on the Niagara River every bit it flows from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. Your cruise ship, no matter how small or agile, won't be doing the actual sailing past, nor docking below the falls. As with shoreside visitors who flock to this natural wonder from either the Canadian (the majority of visitors choose this) or the U.S. side of the border, cruise passengers practice the same. You'll arrive at the site of the falls by land, on a motor coach.

While you're decorated snapping photos of the falls, your ship will be preparing to transit the Welland Canal, taking it from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario (or vice versa). Opened in 1829, the canal fabricated it possible for cargo ships to ship appurtenances from such ports as Cleveland and Detroit to Montreal, Quebec Metropolis and beyond. On the way to its destination, the send passes through viii locks and drops 326 feet going from lake to lake.

Your Visit

On a nine-night Chicago to Toronto cruise aboard the 202-passenger Victory Prowl Lines' Victory I, everyone onboard has the chance to tour the falls on the terminal full day of the prowl. Your morn at the falls begins when you pace off your ship on the Lake Erie side, in Port Colborne, Canada, and board a motorbus for a breathtaking ride past vineyards and grand winery estates to the falls.

3 distinct falls make up what we telephone call Niagara Falls. American Falls and Conjugal Veil Falls are found on the U.S. side, in New York State. Horseshoe Falls, the widest, nearly powerful and nigh spectacular of the three, is in Canada near the town of Niagara Falls and almost an hour's bulldoze from Toronto.

Bridal Veil Falls (Photo: Alexander Prokopenko/Shutterstock)

Your chance to get up-shut and personal with the falls volition be aboard a Hornblower sightseeing boat. Savor a thrilling, xx-minute ride through the Great Niagara Gorge, by Conjugal Veil Falls correct into the spray and thundering roar of Horseshoe Falls. Set to get wet. Even though you're given a plastic poncho to vesture, it can be so windy and misty, it's hard to keep yourself -- much less your camera -- covered and dry. On warmer days, it'due south a practiced idea to wear flip-flops or plastic sandals and pack a minor towel in your backpack or get out i on the bus.

Afterwards time at the falls and before returning to your ship, the tour might continue with lunch at an expanse winery like Chateau des Charmes. Following lunch and wine tasting, of course, yous'll have free time to explore Niagara-on-the-Lake, a charming, tree-lined Canadian town at the oral cavity of the Niagara River and on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Adept to Know

In years of high water levels in the lakes and falls, Hornblower boat tours could be temporarily halted or canceled for safety reasons. Luckily for cruisers, your ship's excursion guides will supplant the boat ride with another sightseeing bout. On the "Journey Behind the Falls," for example, you'll venture behind the mighty Horseshoe Falls. The tour begins with an lift ride 125 anxiety downwards and behind the falls. Y'all emerge via a series of tunnels on a viewing platform xiii stories beneath the crest of the falls. Is information technology wet? Oh yeah. That's why you lot're provided with a poncho. Along with this unusual vantage point, the thunder of h2o volition make a lasting impression.

In one case you render to your ship, the nighttime transit of the Welland Canal begins. Depending on freighter traffic, it can take nine to 12 hours to cruise through the eight locks.

Niagara Falls Cruise Lines

Other cruise lines offer tours to Niagara Falls during Great Lakes itineraries include Blount Small Ship Adventures and Pearl Seas Cruises. Together with Victory Cruise Lines, they offering multiple cruises in the Great Lakes during summer months. Two additional lines with fewer Great Lakes and Niagara Falls visits are French prowl line Ponant and German-based Hapag-Lloyd.