Imagine you had a really cool branch of your family that owned a neat little cruise ship, and every once in a while they invited you to take a voyage up the Hudson, across the Great Lakes, or down the coast of Belize. Imagine the food was served family style and the crew were all family members. That’s what cruising is like on Blount Small Ship Adventures.

Blount is probably the most family-like cruise line in America, because it reflects the family values of its founder, the famous ship-builder Luther Blount, and it still remains in family hands. He started the line in 1966 and called it American Canadian Caribbean Line (ACCL), because its itineraries went from Canada past the Blount family shipyard in Warren, Rhode Island, and down the East Coast to Central America and the Caribbean. Luther passed away in 2006 and his three daughters have now renamed the line in his honor.

He certainly deserved that honor. Born in 1916, Luther Blount built over 300 vessels, and in the 1960s decided to build a small fleet for a family cruise line. His small ships carried less than 100 passengers, and had a shallow draft so they could fit into fascinating rivers, canals and lakes. But Luther designed them to be ocean worthy also, so they had maximum flexibility. He even patented a major cruising invention—the integrated bow ramp -- that can be lowered to allow passengers to disembark on remote beaches.

Continuing to innovate, Blount Small Ship Adventures (Blount) has just inaugurated a new voyage. This fascinating new ten day itinerary leaves New York City, goes up the Hudson and Erie Canal, thence up to Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands and Niagara Falls, ending in Toronto. This schedule combines history, beautiful scenery, great food and world class attractions with two major cities on either end, that are both convenient for plane or train connections. No other cruise line can offer this voyage, because none have ships that will fit through the locks and shallows!

Grande Mariner at Sylvan Beach, New York

My wife Susan and I were fortunate to sail on the Blount ship Grande Mariner on the inaugural voyage for this itinerary, and we had a terrific time. The ship has the perfect statistics for this kind of cruising: length of only 184 feet, beam of 40 feet, draft of just 6.5 feet, and only 48 passenger cabins.

Our voyage began in New York City on the west side of Manhattan. We boarded the vessel and were taken to our cozy and recently redone cabin. It was about 8 x 11 feet, had off white walls, dark blue floor, individual AC, separate toilet and shower compartments, and two single beds.

We departed the next morning before dawn, sailing up the glorious Hudson. We passed Sing Sing Prison, which we were surprised to learn from the Captain’s informative narration is still an active prison. And we took lots of pictures of beautiful West Point, which was sporting a huge sign proclaiming the current US Army mission statement: “Beat Air Force.”

Reaching Troy, New York, we learned a little about the amazing history of the Erie Canal. The original canal was proposed in 1808 and all 363 miles, mostly hand-dug, were finally completed in 1825. It was ridiculed at first, and called “Clinton’s Big Ditch” after its proponent, Governor DeWitt Clinton. In fact, it turned out to be key to the westward expansion of the United States, and it paid for itself many times over.

We were also surprised to learn that there were really three Erie Canals, with the latter two using somewhat different routes. The second was built in the middle of the 1800s, and the third between 1905 and 1918. Each new version got larger, with larger locks, and the previous version was abandoned or sometimes partly re-used. The current canal, now called the New York State Barge Canal, follows the course of the lovely Mohawk River and other rivers, with some canal cuts, and offers a wonderful, relaxing way to view nature.

But before we could fit into this historic canal, we had to make our ship smaller! Luther Blount’s design genius came through again, and in about an hour the crew dropped the pilot house down by 10 feet, thus allowing our vessel to pass under the many low bridges, often with a clearance of just inches. Even with this reduced configuration, the Grande Mariner and Grande Caribe of Blount Small Ship Adventures are the largest commercial vessels now using the Canal.

We passed through 30 locks on our voyage, all fed by upstream water, not by pumps. We would carefully and slowly ease into the lock basin, watch the doors close behind us, then wait for 10 to 15 minutes as the water was let in (or out, going downhill), to raise (or lower) us 10 to 50 feet to the next level. Then the forward doors opened, and we were off. All the machinery was over 100 years old – they knew how to build back then.

Just west of Oneida Lake we turned north into the Oswego Canal, and headed for Oswego and Lake Ontario. The Erie Canal continues west to Buffalo, but according to Captain Michael Kiernan, “That stretch of canal has even smaller locks and is even shallower, so the only Blount vessel which uses that part is our smallest vessel, the Niagara Prince.”

Departing Oswego, we headed for another highlight of the trip—the Thousand Islands. This glorious area actually has 1860 islands, which vary from tiny to huge. Set in the historic St. Lawrence Seaway, the islands offer terrific photo opportunities of the many lighthouses and private homes perched on rocky islets.

Fort Henry sergeant with children in Canada

The region has great culture, too. In nearby Ogdensburg we toured the excellent Frederick Remington Art Museum, one of the great repositories of Remington’s paintings, drawings and sculpture. The museum director told our group about the collection, noting that Remington’s genius lay in “capturing an intense millisecond in time, and making you really wonder what will happen in the next millisecond.”

Cruising back across Lake Ontario, we had one of three outstanding lectures from on-board photography expert John Lovgren. John offered classroom-style classes in photography, followed by one-on-one sessions with all the passengers, going over their cameras and really teaching them how to compose beautiful photographs. In 30 years of cruising I have never seen a staffer spend so much time working with passengers.

At the western end of Lake Ontario we disembarked for the day, and took buses to dramatic Niagara Falls. This tour included a ride in the famous Maid of the Mist vessel which sails right up to the foot of the mighty falls. The roar of the falls and the billowing mist were quite amazing – fortunately the tour boat supplied stylish poncho-style blue plastic raincoats to keep us dry.

Our voyage concluded with a day in Toronto, the commercial center of Canada. We were very impressed with the lively city, and its terrific museums, excellent restaurants, fascinating underground city linking most downtown buildings, and the third most active theater scene in the world, after New York and London.

In summary, we were very pleased with our second voyage on Blount Small Ship Adventures. We liked the casual atmosphere, where coats and ties are unnecessary. We appreciated the family style meals with generous portions, and the friendliness and expertise of the staff. We especially liked the effort to avoid “nickel and diming” the passengers. Many cruise lines today are constantly trying to sell the passengers jewelry, clothing, high-priced excursions, high-priced liquor, over-priced soft drinks, and other items to add to their profits. Blount is just the opposite. In fact, Blount is one of the only cruise lines in the world that has a policy of BYOB --Bring Your Own Booze!

We also liked the small size of the ship, which made it easy to get to know our fellow passengers and make friends and exchange travel tales. In terms of exercise, there is no gym or pool, but 17 times around the deck makes a mile of walking, and you can walk off the boat and get some exercise in the towns that the ship stops at each evening.

We liked the line so much that some day we hope to do all or most of the famous “Great Loop” on board Blount vessels. We have already gone up the East Coast from Jacksonville to New York, up the Hudson, and across much of the Erie Canal. Sailing with Blount, you can also cross the Great Lakes, go down the Mississippi, up the Tennessee and down the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Mobile, Alabama. Then the only missing bit would be Mobile to Jacksonville – perhaps via the Dry Tortugas and Key West? Sounds like a great family-style Blount Small Ship Adventure!

Blount Small Ship Adventures can be reached at 800-556-7450, 401-247-2350, or at P.O. Box 368, Warren, RI, 02885. The website is www.blountsmallshipadventures.com.

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Lew Toulmin lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and has sailed on tall ships and cruise ships on every ocean.