Capt. Richard Joseph Tagup has been skipper of Pearl Mist since 2023.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
MUSKEGON — On Monday I had the opportunity to tour the MV Pearl Mist while it was docked at Heritage Landing along Muskegon Lake. My tour guide was the ship’s master, Capt. Richard Joseph Tagupa.
This was the Pearl Mist’s second visit to Muskegon this season. It was the first cruise ship to visit the port for the 2025 sailing season back on June 3.
While I enjoy photographing and touring ships on the Great Lakes, my motivation covering the visiting cruise ships to neighboring communities has been pretty clear through my previous writings on Mason County Press — I strongly believe Ludington needs to be a port of call for cruise ships. My intention of visiting the cruise ships, photographing them, and writing about them, is to create interest among community and business leaders.
The Pearl Mist arrives at Muskegon channel early Monday morning.
According to Cruise the Great Lakes, the cruise ship industry is expected to have a $230 million impact on the ports the ships visit in 2025, a projected 15 percent increase from 2024. There are six cruise lines operating on the Great Lakes this season: Pearl Seas, Viking, St. Lawrence Cruise Lines, Ponant, Hapag-Lloyd, and Victory. Those cruise lines are visiting multiple ports, with at least five on Lake Michigan: Muskegon, Holland, Milwaukee, Wis., Chicago, and Algoma, Wis. The ships visit several other Great Lakes ports as well.
Its ports of call on its excursions include Milwaukee, Muskegon/Holland, Mackinac Island, Detroit, Cleveland, Ontario locations of Sault Sainte Marie, Parry Sound, Midland, the Georgian Bay, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Kingston,, the Thousand Islands and Quebec locations of Montreal and Quebec City.
Capt. Tagupa is one of the two captains of the Pearl Mist, a position he has held since 2023. He started working as an officer on the ship in 2014, the first year the Pearl Mist was put into operation. But, his sailing career began in 1994.
The Atlantic Lounge is one of two entertainment areas on board the ship.
“I started out as a cadet on one of the big cruise ships,” he said. He made his way up the ranks and worked on the ocean-going cruise ships until 11 years ago when he had the opportunity to work on the Pearl Mist, cruising the Great Lakes in the summer and the Caribbean Sea in the winter (the ship no longer operates in the winter).
“The passengers tend to be older on the Great Lakes cruises and I didn’t think it would be successful,” he said. “But, I was wrong. We are always overbooked with a waiting list.”
The 324-foot-long Pearl Mist has a capacity of 214 passengers and has 65 crew members which include four deck officers and four engineering officers. It includes 106 passenger staterooms and 30 for crew. There are four different styles of passenger accommodations: veranda suites, up to 450 square feet; vista balconies and premium balconies, over 300 square feet; standard and deluxe balconies, at 275 square feet, and single balconies at 200 square feet.
The Pearl Mist docked at Muskegon County’s Heritage Landing.
The ship includes a large dining room, two entertainment lounges, four sun decks, and a library. The ship typically travels with its own on board entertainers, but it also hires local entertainers in various ports-of-call as well.
Cruise tickets start at $9,480 and $9,990 per person (depending on the season) and go up to $14,970 to $15,780 per person, based on accommodations. Each port of call includes excursions.
The Pearl Mist currently operates May through November, Capt. Tagupa said. Its later season excursions take place on the St. Lawrence Seaway and New England. It typically winters in a shipyard in Norfolk, Va.
The Pearl Mist began service in June 2014, four years after its construction was completed. It was originally ordered from Irving Shipyards, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. A dispute between Irving Shipyards and ship owner, Pearl Cruises, broke out five months after the keel was laid down in July 2007. The ship was launched on March 14, 2008 and construction was completed in June 2010. However, Pearl Seas Cruises refused to accept the ship and it was laid up at Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
One of the ship’s aft sun decks.
In 2013 a United States federal appeals court made a ruling and a settlement was reached. The Pearl Mist was accepted by its owner and towed to Baltimore, Md. in April 2013.
Pearl Seas Cruises is an subsidiary of American Cruise Lines, which operates American-flagged ships. However, the Pearl Mist is flagged under the Marshall Islands, allowing it to have a foreign crew (American-flagged vessels can only have American crews).
The Pearl Cruise is 325 feet long, 52 feet wide and has a depth of 15 feet. It operates with two Caterpillar diesel 3516C engines that operate at 2,950 hp each for a total of 5,900 hp. Its maximum speed is 14.5 knots or 17.84 mph. It has twin screw fixed pitch propellers; a 390 hp bow thruster and a 250 hp stern thruster.
To read more about how the cruise ship industry has impacted Muskegon, click here. To read more about Pearl Seas Cruises, click here: www.pearlseacruises.com.
The pilot house of the 324-foot-long vessel.
The Pearl Mist prepares to dock at Heritage Landing.
The ship’s mast.
Passengers board charter buses for an excursion to Holland.
The Pacific Lounge
The Pearl Mist in Muskegon Lake.
This Great Lakes Boat Blog is presented by Dusty’s Auto Body & Detail, 135 S. Jebavy Dr., Ludington; 231-845-1367
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