GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Green Bay expects a cruise ship to dock on the banks of the Fox River after a hiatus due to an ownership change.
- Get an inside look at the newly refurbished cruise ship set to return to Green Bay's shores in just a few months
- Hear from the man who bought the boat and is starting a cruise company after a Great Lakes tour inspired him
- The ship will dock at Leicht Memorial Park June 10-11 and June 24-25
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story with additional details for the web.)
Green Bay is once again a cruise ship destination. In June a familiar cruise ship will bring passengers to the port of Green Bay as the day 13 stop on a more than two-week tour of the Great Lakes.
We first brought you the story of the Ocean Navigator cruise ship arriving in Green Bay in 2022.
The local history department of the Brown County Library tells NBC 26 before the Ocean Navigator docked on the Fox River, no cruise ships like we know them today had ever come to Titletown.
However, they say there had been smaller-scale passenger shipping for recreation in the 20th century, citing archived Green Bay Press Gazette articles.
The company which then owned the boat put their river and lake boats up for sale last year and John Waggoner, Victory Cruise Lines Founder and Chairman, bought two of them. Waggoner said a tour of the Great Lakes ten years ago sparked a dream.
"I said at some point hey, if I ever get a chance I'll put a couple of cruise boats up there and cruise the Great Lakes because they have so much to offer," Waggoner said, recalling his trip from his home in Louisville, Kentucky Wednesday afternoon.
After spending 2024 being refurbished, the same ship which once visited Green Bay, now called the Victory I, will arrive in about four months.
"They were specifically built, when they were constructed, just for the Great Lakes," Waggoner, who once owned a steam boat company, said. "They were designed to look like Great Lakes steamers."
"[It] kind of puts us on the map, you know," Nick Meisner, Discover Green Bay Vice President of Marketing and Communications, said. "It's kind of like, you know, whoa. That's crazy. I didn't think that Green Bay could even be on a cruise ship stop."
The boat, with capacity for nearly 200 guests and just over 80 crew members, will set sail from Chicago on a tour of cities throughout the Great Lakes in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada.
Meisner says the tourism office is helping create the itinerary for the cruise ship's overnight visit, tentatively including a tour of Lambeau Field, the National Railroad and Neville museums, the botanical gardens and more.
"We're very well known nationally for our sports tourism and destination to Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packers," Meisner said. "But also highlighting that there are outdoor recreation [opportunities], there are things on the water there. There's so much to do and see here."
As of the publication of this article, the fare on the Victory Cruise Lines website for the voyage through Green Bay is nearly $8,700 per person.
Waggoner says Green Bay is already on the schedule for Victory's 2026 Great Lakes cruises.
The ship will dock downtown June 10-11 and June 24-25.
