Lakeshore Excursions

What Lakeshore Excursions does

Lakeshore Excursions is a privately held shore excursion provider founded in the 1990s and headquartered on Manitoulin Island in Gore Bay, Ontario, Canada. The company researches, packages, and delivers curated shore excursion experiences exclusively for the cruise industry at 25+ ports across Canada and the United States, with a core focus on the Great Lakes and an expanded reach into the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Canadian Maritimes. Its port portfolio spans Brockville, Charlottetown, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Niagara Falls, Tobermory, Thunder Bay, and Sault Ste. Marie on the Canadian side, plus Duluth, Green Bay, Mackinac Island, Muskegon, and Sault Ste. Marie Michigan in the U.S.

The company operates as a B2B service provider working directly with cruise lines, providing unique experiences exclusively to groups of all sizes. Its principal differentiator is a deep network of local community hosts — maple syrup producers, First Nations dancers, wilderness canoe guides, hotel historians — who serve as the human content layer of each excursion. The marketing surface is a WordPress website with per-port pages and video vignettes that give cruise line buyers and passengers a virtual preview of each destination. There is no proprietary technology platform; the business is fundamentally services-based with a content marketing overlay.

Lakeshore Excursions generates revenue under a professional services model with pricing negotiated bilaterally with cruise line partners rather than publicly disclosed. The company has grown from its origin working with the first ships to return to the Great Lakes in the 1990s to become what it describes as the "preeminent shorex supplier" throughout the waterway. It is led by President Dawn Noble McCann (installed in the 2020s) with shorex operations handled by Bruce O'Hare (25+ years in the cruise industry) and Grant Eccles, and operates with a small team of 1-10 employees.

Name

Lakeshore Excursions

Legal name

Lakeshore Excursions

Website

https://lakeshorexcursions.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lakeshore Excursions is a privately held Canadian shore excursion provider founded in the 1990s, curating and delivering group-exclusive experiences at 25+ Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, and Canadian Maritimes ports for cruise line clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cruise Shore Excursions

NAICS

Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water (48721)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Shore Excursion Operators (Tours & Activities) (THAEAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Shore Excursion & Port Services Operators (THAKAEAE), Cruise Shore Excursion Operators & Port Services (Agency-led) (THAKAKAJ)

Keywords

• Shore excursion services
• Cruise line excursion programs
• Great Lakes port tours
• Canadian destination excursions
• United States port tours

Headquarters

HQ city

SOUTH BEND, Indiana

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Shore Excursion Services: Lakeshore Excursions generates revenue by researching, packaging, and providing shore experiences for the cruise industry. They curate and deliver unique, high-quality experiences in 25+ ports, working directly with cruise lines to provide excursions exclusively to groups. The company invests in developing new products in new ports to expand their offering.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Lakeshore Excursions researches, packages, and delivers shore experiences for cruise lines. It serves cruise passenger groups across 25+ ports in Canada and the United States, developing destination-specific products with local community hosts.

Product overview

Lakeshore Excursions operates as a shore excursion provider for the cruise industry, offering a portfolio of premium experiences across 25+ ports in Canada and the United States. The core offering consists of curated shore excursions tailored for cruise ship groups, complemented by video vignettes providing virtual previews of each port destination. Canadian port tours cover locations from Brockville to Thunder Bay, while U.S. port tours include destinations like Duluth, Green Bay, Mackinac Island, and Muskegon.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shore Excursions Premium shore-excursion experiences curated and delivered for cruise passenger groups across more than 25 ports in Canada and the United States.
• Canadian Port Tours Shore-excursion experiences for cruise groups at Canadian ports including Brockville, Charlottetown, Killarney, Midland, North Shore Lake Superior, Québec City, Kingston, Montréal, Parry Sound, Sault Ste. Marie, Goderich, Little Current, Niagara Falls, Prince Edward County, Tobermory, Toronto, Thunder Bay, and Windsor Essex Pelee Island.
• U.S. Port Tours Shore-excursion experiences for cruise groups at U.S. ports including Duluth, Green Bay, Mackinac Island, Muskegon, and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Shore Excursions Group: B2B shore excursion provider that supplies packaged tours to cruise lines across multiple regions. Closest comparable to Lakeshore Excursions in business model — curating and delivering onshore experiences exclusively for cruise ship passengers via direct cruise line partnerships.
• ShoreTrips: Online marketplace dedicated to cruise ship shore excursions, offering tours at ports worldwide. Comparable to Lakeshore in its focus on the cruise shore excursion category and curated local-experience model, though distributed direct-to-consumer rather than exclusively B2B.

Regional players

• St. Lawrence Cruise Lines: Canadian operator of cruises along the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes waterways. Directly overlaps Lakeshore's core cruising region and is both a potential shorex customer and a regional competitor for Great Lakes cruise passenger demand.
• American Queen Voyages: US-focused river and coastal cruise operator with included and optional shore excursions at domestic ports. Comparable in operating U.S. cruise itineraries with curated onshore programming, though distributes excursions through its own cruise product rather than as a standalone B2B supplier.
• Pearl Seas Cruises: Small-ship cruise line operating itineraries in the Great Lakes, Canadian Maritimes, and Caribbean. Directly overlaps with Lakeshore's core Great Lakes corridor and represents both a potential customer and a regional competitor for premium cruise passengers.

Broad incumbents

• Viator: Tripadvisor-owned online marketplace for tours, activities, and shore excursions globally. A scaled incumbent in the broader tours-and-excursions space that competes for both cruise passenger demand and supplier relationships, with significantly broader geographic and category coverage than Lakeshore.
• Lindblad Expeditions: Expedition cruise operator with strong shore program content (often in partnership with National Geographic). Comparable in the emphasis on expert-led, immersive onshore experiences as a core product differentiator, though operating globally rather than regionally.

Emerging players

• Adventures by Disney: Disney's guided group travel and excursion brand offering curated, story-driven experiences at destinations worldwide. Comparable in its emphasis on curated, premium, group-oriented experiences with strong local storytelling — a different distribution channel but overlapping product positioning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lakeshore-excursions

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lakeshore Excursions