A new luxury cruise experience will soon put Upstate New York on the map for Great Lakes travel.<\/p>\n
American Cruise Lines<\/a> has announced its brand-new Great Lakes and Thousand Islands Cruise for 2026, part of a slate of all-American itineraries launching next year. The journey will take travelers through Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, two of the Great Lakes bordering Upstate New York. Lake Ontario<\/a> was ranked as the bluest lake in the world, while Lake Erie<\/a> was once named the best lake in the United States. <\/p>\n The nine-day cruise begins in Syracuse for a day. Guests are encouraged to visit the Erie Canal Museum and take in dinner downtown. Guests will then travel to Oswego to board the American Patriot, a 243-foot, five-deck ship built in Maryland earlier this year. The vessel can accommodate up to 130 passengers and offers an array of suites, lounges and viewing decks.<\/p>\n Cruises are currently scheduled to depart on May 22, May 29, June 5, and August 27, 2026, with additional dates expected for 2027. Prices, which include airfare, range from $8,675 per person to $14,025 for the Grand Suite. According to American Cruise Lines\u2019 website, many 2026 spots have already sold out.<\/p>\n The cruise\u2019s Upstate New York portion features several scenic and historical highlights.<\/p>\n Passengers will disembark in Clayton<\/a>, one of the best small town cultural scenes in the Thousand Islands<\/a> region, where excursions include sailing the St. Lawrence River, touring Boldt Castle<\/a>, taking a glass-bottom boat ride to view a shipwreck near Rock Island Lighthouse<\/a>, and visiting Coyote Moon Winery.<\/p>\n The itinerary continues to Rochester<\/a>, with optional visits to the Susan B. Anthony House & Museum<\/a>, the George Eastman Museum<\/a>, the mansion of Kodak\u2019s founder surrounded by landscaped gardens, and High Falls<\/a>, a dramatic 96-foot waterfall in the city\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n From there, the ship will sail through Canada\u2019s Welland Canal, stop in Niagara Falls<\/a>, and continue on to Buffalo<\/a>. Excursions include sweeping views from the Niagara Falls Observation Tower<\/a>, a Maid of the Mist boat ride into the heart of Horseshoe Falls, and a walk along the Cave of the Winds, where wooden walkways bring visitors just feet from Bridal Veil Falls.<\/p>\n In Buffalo, passengers can explore the city\u2019s acclaimed architecture<\/a>, including Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Darwin Martin House, or stroll along the redeveloped Outer Harbor<\/a> waterfront.<\/p>\n According to Buffalo News<\/a>, it remains unclear where the ship will dock in Buffalo. Construction on a planned cruise terminal at Slip 2 on the Outer Harbor has not yet begun and is not expected to be completed until 2027.<\/p>\n Victory Cruise Lines has also announced plans to include Buffalo on its Great Lakes itineraries starting that same year.<\/p>\n The Great Lakes and Thousand Islands Cruise will conclude in Cleveland, with visits to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Museum of Art. A reverse itinerary is available for folks wanting to start in Ohio and ending in Oswego. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new luxury cruise experience will soon put Upstate New York on the map for Great Lakes travel.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8291,8292,8293,1208,8294,9,24,55,54,12,56,5384,956,817],"class_list":["post-9973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-alexandria-bay","tag-boldt-castle","tag-hart-island","tag-media","tag-n-scott-trimble","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-syracuse","tag-travel","tag-upstate-new-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}