Detroit Princess Riverboat takes advantage of Motown's waterfront home

Possibly one of the best-kept secrets in Detroit is, at the same time, a huge 222-foot long, 88-foot tall riverboat that docks alongside Hart Plaza. 

The Detroit Princess Riverboat, often mistaken for one of the old Bob-Lo Boats, is a rare example of Detroit taking advantage of its waterfront home. It offers afternoon, evening and midnight cruises, fine dining and live entertainment. And it's reasonably priced. A two-and-a-half-hour cruise on a Friday evening will run you about $50, and that includes a buffet-style dinner of prime rib, chicken piccata and the like.

The Detroit Princess Riverboat

Each of the boat's four decks features a bar, and unlike the old Bob-Lo boats, the Detroit Princess boasts enclosed spaces with heat and air conditioning. In all, the Princess can host up to 1,800 people.

The Princess, which is also available for private-party rental, has been bobbing in the Detroit River since 2005, when it completed its journey from Orange, Texas, around the tip of Florida, up the East Coast past Maine and Nova Scotia, and through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

If you don't get a chance to get down to the RiverWalk to see the Princess up close, you can take a virtual tour on the website.

Work continues on new shipping terminal in downtown Detroit

Back in the day, ships sidled up to the banks of Detroit and dropped off all kinds of stuff. Steel. Coal. And believe it or not, people.

Those days pretty much died away in the late 1960s, but in recent years, the Great Lakes cruising market has reemerged. And it's not just cities like Chicago and Toronto that have implemented projects to accommodate cruise ships; even the likes of Toledo, Milwaukee, Duluth, Windsor and Green Bay have made investments.

Nice to see Detroit joining the party. The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority is plugging away on a new terminal just west of the RenCen, and the project looks to be progressing nicely. A visit earlier today showed that pilings have been put in place for a new dock, which will eventually be able to host not just cruise ships but also naval frigates, historical tall ships, racing yachts and dinner cruisers.

To those who guffaw at the thought of Detroit being a included in a Great Lakes cruise, we offer this: if Duluth can be a tour stop, then damn it so can Detroit!   

Honoring the beer-making skills (and the other good deeds) of Peter Stroh

Planted mere feet from the Detroit River just east of the RenCen, a statue of the late Peter Stroh stands to remind us that, in addition to making what was once a pretty famous beer, Stroh also dabbled in a few other noteworthy projects, not the least of which was the redevelopment of the riverfront on which the statue now lives.

Stroh was a committed environmentalist, and a strong believer that the Detroit River should be accessible to and enjoyed by all, a fairly bold vision considering the entire stretch was once viewed only by people wearing coveralls and carrying shovels. He championed the U.S.-Canadian cooperation that led to the Detroit River being designated the only river system with both Canada and American Heritage River status, and helped create the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Plus he made beer.

His statue on the riverfront, pictured here during the grayer days of early spring, lives in a recently opened stretch of the RiverWalk east of Rivard Street. That's Caesar's Windsor across the river in the background, in case that helps put it in perspective for you. Better yet, it's very near the site of the former Stroh Brewery. Where they made beer.

The Detroit riverfront: Then & Now

This is pretty cool. I was tooling around online the other day and stumbled across this old picture of the Detroit waterfront before the RiverWalk was built, back when it was just a string of old parking lots, shipyards and other abandoned properties. That's the picture at the top right. It looks like a lovely place to picnic, doesn't it?

I was pretty sure I had taken a picture from just about the same spot during a recent bike ride, so I checked our vast library of original artwork, and presto! The years that separate these two photos are relatively few, which makes seeing them side by side that much more (as the kids would say) amazing.

The Fountain in GM Plaza is a kids' favorite

One of the most popular features of the Detroit RiverWalk, especially among the wee people, remains The Fountains in the GM Plaza and Promenade. I prefer to call it the Water Maze, but who am I?

Located just outside the RenCen, this garden of water sprouts can be mesmorizing. It's like watching Tetris. And the kids definitely love it. If there are plans for another Bring-Your-Cheeky-Red-Head-To-Work Day this summer, I'm packing her bathing suit.

A tribute to Detroit: "The Gateway to Freedom"

Because Canada had outlawed slavery years ahead of the United States, Detroit became a common destination for many blacks fleeing the south via the Underground Railroad. Once here, people could see freedom just across the water.

This statue on the Detroit River – sculpted by a man named Ed Dwight – is called "The Gateway to Freedom". It depicts a group of black people standing at the water's edge; some are pointing toward Windsor, others (like the young boy on the right side of the photo with his back to the water) are calling out excitedly.

It's a very cool sculpture, and while I could have shown more detail taking this picture from the front, I kind of liked it better from behind, with Windsor in the background. Unfortunately, the bright sunshine the other day washed out the picture. See it in crisp detail for yourself on the Detroit River near Hart Plaza.

RiverWalk extends east through Milliken State Park

When last we explored Detroit's RiverWalk, the development extended uniterrupted as far east as Rivard Street. The path beyond that was fenced off as crews put the finishing touches on the William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor.

Well, the gates are open now.

The Milliken State Park is a unique little stretch designed to pay tribute to plants and flowers that are indigenous to Michigan. A paved walking path wraps around both sides of a stream that winds through little man-made islands built using large fallen trees. That's as good a description as I can offer; you have to check it out sometime.

It really is a remarkable little stretch of waterfront, impossible to even imagine in 1980s Detroit. With the opening of the Milliken State Park, the RiverWalk is now a continuous path along the water's edge that extends from Joe Louis Arena to Chene Park. Not a bad way to spend a lunch hour.

Tri-Centennial State Park & Harbor creates a whole new Detroit

During what I assume is the year's final week of bike-riding weather, I figured I better use it wisely. Maybe pedal somewhere new. The other day I wound up on the RiverWalk riding further east than I have in the past.

Although the Tri-Centennial State Park portion of the RiverWalk isn’t open yet (it’s still fenced off at Rivard Street), I skirted around the closed portion by riding up Atwater Street. The RiverWalk reopens near Chene Park.

And it’s unbelievable.

Just a few-minute bike ride from the RenCen (see how close it is in the photo!) is a harbor with dozens of boat skirts. Next to them is a pavilion and picnic area, and a winding bike path curls around both sides and out to the water - where earlier this week some sweet old guys were fishing.

There’s even a lighthouse at the entry point into the harbor, which makes for a very strange mix of images. Seeing the huge buildings of Detroit behind a lighthouse is unusual, in a good way. I’ve got more pictures; maybe I’ll get around to posting them separately sometime. Unfortunately, this blog-site only allows one image at a time, which is starting to annoy me. (Perhaps it’s time the Kage gets an upgrade?)

(For more info on the RiverWalk, there’s a great map available at www.detroitriverfront.org.)

Detroit’s new cruise-ship & ferry terminal to open next summer

First the RiverWalk development, and now this. As another sign that Detroit actually plans on encouraging people who aren’t wearing haz-mat suits to visit its waterfront, work is well underway on the construction of a new two-story cruise-ship and ferry terminal on the Detroit River just west of the RenCen.

Thorough investigation at the Kage (i.e. – Googling) tells us that the terminal is scheduled to open next summer. An off-shore wharf is to follow. After that? Who knows, maybe some guy from Sault Ste. Marie will finally realize that the rioting in Detroit ended, um, decades ago.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not imagining Mr. Roarke and Tattoo standing in Hart Plaza greeting mobs of people from faraway places like Milwaukee and Buffalo. But since there are already cruise lines that run regular Great Lakes routes, it’d be nice for them to be able to pull over in Detroit, at least for a Coney dog or two.

And that doesn't even mention the travel benefits to people in distant cities like Grosse Pointe Shores and Wyandotte, who on average spend roughly 14 minutes per year in downtown Detroit, but at least a weekend enjoying the exotic offerings of, say, Cleveland. Worried about drinking and driving home? No problem. The next water taxi shoves off at midnight.

Detroit’s No. 1 improvement: the RiverWalk

The Foxtown improvements in Detroit are sweet; most of us have seen them first-hand when we hit a ball game. Everybody’s read about or even experienced the new casinos. And I’ve made no secret that Campus Martius Park ranks as one of my favorite improvements downtown.

But the most incredible difference between Detroit today and Detroit of the 1980s is the RiverWalk, a stretch of land along the Detroit River that has gone from being nearly off-limits to one of the city’s greatest attractions. It seems like it’s been slow to grab the attention of suburbanites like us, but for anybody who hasn’t been down to the river lately, make a point to visit before winter arrives.

RiverWalk stretches all from the Joe Louis/Hart Plaza area to the Belle Isle Bridge, although there are certain portions that are still being finished. In fact, one of the major sections soon-to-open is technically a DNR-managed State Park, and will feature areas of wildlife and nature exhibits that showcase the animals and plant life that dominated the land when Detroit was founded over 300 years ago.

Even though this new section is fenced off at the moment, I checked it out recently. It’s impressive what the Detroit River Conservancy has been able to do down there. It’d be a great way to spend an hour or two. Kage Day Trip #1: Head downtown late morning one weekend and park near the RenCen. Walk for a while along the river and wind up at one of the bars nearby to watch a Michigan or Lions game. (Try the River’s Edge Grill near the RenCen.)