Port of call: Detroit...Hotels look better on web than in person: no kidding!

Spotted a story the other day from the Guest Editor of the USA Today Cruise Log, talking about Detroit is spending $21.5 million on its port to try to get small cruise ships to stop.

This,of course, made ME stop. Cruise ships? Detroit? Um, I don't know, but personally when I think of cruise ships I think of the Caribbean or the Greek Islands.

Of course, most folks can't afford such luxuries. And, in truth, there are some great day cruises you can take all over the world. Plying the waters of Lake Muskoka on the Segwun is one of the great treats in Ontario, and my Dad and Mom used to do some wonderful river cruises on the Mississippi.

I read a story in a Canadian magazine the other day about the re-birth of small ship cruising in eastern Lake Ontario, down around Kingston and up to Montreal and Ottawa, I believe. So I guess it's not surprising to hear about cruise ships on Lake Erie.

There's talk of a Detroit-Windsor ferry, and I think that's not a bad idea, either. Travelling on a boat, even if it's just a short jaunt to the Toronto Islands, is a great way to get around that somehow makes you feel free.

The USA Today story said one of the first arrivals in Detroit's port will be Blount Small Ship Adventure's Grande Mariner, a 96-passenger ship that's slated to call in Detroit on a nine-night, roundtrip cruise from Toronto. (see photo at right, courtesy of Travel Week).

I should be embarrassed, but I have never heard of this cruise line. I did a little googling and found that Blount has a nine-day cruise this summer out of Toronto that goes down the Welland Canal, through Lake Erie, then past Detroit and Sarnia and up into Lake Huron. The cruise stops in Goderich, Ontario and folks also can disembark in Detroit to see the marvellous Henry Ford Museum.

The trip finishes in Midland and folks get transported back to Toronto. It's not cheap - $3,189 was the price I saw. But it sounds like a fun way to see our neck of the woods.

IDIOTS ARE EVERYWHERE

Spotted another USA Today item this morning about how some folks were upset that hotel websites make their properties look better than they really are.

Wow. What a breaking news story that is? I mean, who would've thunk it? Next thing you know, we'll find out that newspaper columnists don't look as good as their picture.

I mean, honestly, people. Haven't you ever looked at these web sites? Geez, if you find a night when there's a perfect full moon and you sweep up the trash and hire a good photographer you probably could make a dump on Kingston Road in Scarborough look like the Ritz. Well, maybe not the Ritz, but at least decent.

It's called buyer beware, folks. Do some research. And, hey, if the website suggests it's $50 for a four-star hotel in San Francisco, maybe there's something fishy.