Lake Ontario might not be the ocean, but cruise ship companies continue to target the city as a destination.The Great Lakes Cruise Association (GLCA) says a robust legacy of sea freight across the Great Lakes has made it relatively easy for pleasure cruising to make an entry over the past 20 years.“We have pilots who know how to move ships around, we have the St. Lawrence seaway authority with all of its locks, betwen the ocean and the Great Lakes, they know how to handle ships, and then when it comes to activity on shore, we have a very sophisticated tourism industry,” said GLCA executive director Stephen BurnettThe CEO of Victory Cruise Lines says his investments in Great Lakes routes are paying off and he anticipates more growth.“We’re basically starting to scratch the surface of the market,” says John Waggoner. “For us to be 100 per cent full, we only need 7,000 guests per season, that’s one Oasis of the Seas out of [Fort] Lauderdale in a week.“When I look around, what I’d sure like to see is a cruise terminal right downtown so people could get off there.”That is something the Toronto Port Authority confirms it is looking into.“We’re actually looking at a feasibility study to move the cruise ship terminal into a downtown location, but we’re in the very early days of that, just to see if we can make it work,” TPA CEO RJ Steenstra tells CityNews.James Maloney, the MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, adds support for future growth in the sector is gaining momentum.“This is a huge economic opportunity, not just for the City of Toronto, but for the ports all along the Great Lakes, so the short answer is yes, it is on the government’s radar.”While big infrastructure developments like this take time, the cruise association did also point out the region could handle up to 110 per cent growth before being held back by the facilities, adding there are up to eight cruise lines seriously considering entering the Toronto market.