Victory Cruise Lines, which recently relaunched two coastal cruise ships on the Great Lakes, is partnering with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s Taliesin Institute to offer an educational series that takes a deep dive into the life, work, and influences of one of the world’s most famous architects.
The program, offered on all of the company’s all-inclusive, small-ship sailings in 2025 across the five Great Lakes and coastal Canada, includes opportunities to visit Frank Lloyd Wright landmarks and homes in Chicago and in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, including a house that is not open to the public.
The sailings take place on the company’s two newly relaunched 190-passenger ships Victory I and Victory II (formerly Cape May and Cape May Light), which recently made our list of new cruise ships we can’t wait to sail on. The ships were built 30 years ago for the St. Lawrence Seaway and were first overhauled in 2019 by the now-defunct American Queen Voyages. But they sailed just one season pre-pandemic and one more post-pandemic before American Queen Voyages went bankrupt. American Queen Voyages founder John Waggoner came out of retirement to buy back the two Victory ships, and they have just undergone yet another refresh.
The ships offer a quaint bed-and-breakfast atmosphere with cozy cabins that feature writing desks and antique-style cabinets. There are no swimming pools, but the ships do have a salon and spa and three dining venues: a main restaurant, a grill on the top deck, and a tavern. Because they are small, the ships can dock at lesser-visited ports, and Victory has exclusive rights for docking in the heart of Chicago at Navy Pier.
Guests embarking on a Great Lakes cruise from Chicago’s Navy Pier can first visit the Wright-designed Unity Temple, recognized by UNESCO and a designated National Historic Landmark in nearby Oak Park. They can also visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio in Oak Park, one of the most popular architectural sites in the Midwest.
Also in Chicago, guests can explore the Robie House, considered a masterpiece of Wright’s Prairie style and a forerunner of modernism in architecture, as well as The Rookery Building, an 1888 office building by famed Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root, whose lobby was redesigned in 1905 by Wright.
All the Chicago landmarks are part of a pre-cruise immersive experience that passengers can book.
While docked in Detroit, guests can purchase an optional premium excursion to The Smith House, which is operated by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research and is an example of Wright’s Usonian ideal aimed at building quality homes for the American middle class.
From Muskegon, Victory Cruise Lines’ offers a journey to the Meyer May House, which was commissioned in 1908 by Meyer S. May, president of May’s clothing store in Grand Rapids, and his wife, Sophie. The house is Wright’s famed Prairie style, in contrast with the Victorian houses typical of the period and the Heritage Hill neighborhood. The international furniture company Steelcase, which is based in Grand Rapids, purchased the home in the 1980s and renovated it before opening it for public tours.
In Grand Rapids, guests can also visit the Amberg House, another landmark of Prairie School architecture that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1911 for David M. Amberg. It remains privately owned and is not open to the general public, although it can be rented for overnight stays.
“Frank Lloyd Wright left a beautiful legacy of architectural marvels across the Great Lakes, including two sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and our guests will appreciate exploring his vision through his designs and learning so much along the way,” said Waggoner, chairman and founder of Victory Cruise Lines.
In addition to the tours, the Taliesin Institute will host onboard lectures via video. Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, the institute aims to advance the principles of organic architecture, the core of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work.
The scholar-led journeys offer guests a rare chance to explore Wright’s visionary architecture through the lens of a living legacy, said Emily Butler, associate vice president of partnerships and strategic initiatives, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
“Our goal at the foundation is to help inspire more intentional, connected, and thoughtful ways of living today, and what better way than working with the Victory Cruise Line team to connect our guests to Wright’s legacy of intentional design?” she said.
The Frank Lloyd Wright series is in addition to Victory Cruises’ “LakeLorian” program, developed in partnership with the National Museum of the Great Lakes. That program is focused on sharing the science and history of the world’s largest group of freshwater lakes on earth. Each sailing has a dedicated “LakeLorian” expert on board to lead lectures, host discussions, and answer questions throughout the sailings.
“When our guests travel, they also want to learn,” Waggoner said. “Most have traveled all over the world, enjoy soaking in knowledge from the destinations they visit, and especially enjoy learning more about history here in the United States and Canada. These partnerships provide that knowledge in a fun, immersive fashion with true experts in their field.”
