Port Milwaukee welcomed the Viking Polaris, its first passenger cruise ship arrival of the year, on Thursday morning ahead of what is expected to be a record-breaking cruise ship season for the city with nearly triple last year’s port calls.
Polaris’ arrival is the first of 64 port calls slated for the 2026 cruising season in Milwaukee, up from 22 last season. The ship, which landed at Port Milwaukee’s City Heavy Lift Dock Thursday morning, offloaded about 300 passengers after passing under the Hoan Bridge en route from its last port call in Detroit, Michigan.
The 2026 Great Lakes cruising season spans from late April to October and will host more than 80 itineraries in Milwaukee, including 32 turnaround visits and 11 Milwaukee round trip itineraries. Six companies and eight different vessels will contribute to this season’s itineraries, including new to Milwaukee company American Cruise Lines and its 130-passenger American Patriot ship. The ship has eight turnaround visits scheduled for Port Milwaukee for the 2026 season, according to a press release.
Credit: Kenny Yoo Port Milwaukee director Benji Timm standing in front of the site of the South Shore Cruise Dock, slated to open in August 2026.
This season’s increase in port calls to Milwaukee is estimated to bring in over $3.5 million in economic impact among an estimated 20,000 visitors to the city. That’s up from last year’s $2.5 million in economic impact among the season’s 11,255 passengers, according to remarks from Visit Milwaukee’s president and CEO Peggy Williams-Smith at a Thursday press conference.
“Cruising is growing on the Great Lakes and a number of other communities on the Great Lakes are getting involved,” said Benji Timm, director of Port Milwaukee.
While some other participating Great Lakes communities present competition to Milwaukee, they also act as added attractions in bringing traffic to the Great Lakes and people to Milwaukee’s ports, Timm said.
Meanwhile, construction continues for the port’s South Shore Cruise Dock project at 2320 S. Lincoln Memorial Drive, near the Lake Express Ferry terminal. Set to open in August, the dock will be the city’s third designated cruise dock and will serve as the port-of-call for Seawaymax vessels such as Viking’s twin Octantis and Polaris vessels – the largest cruise ships on the Great Lakes.
Timm is six months into his role as director of Port Milwaukee and recently sat down with BizTimes to chat about his new directives in the role.
