S.S. Badger 2025 season offers new food and beverage choices
The S.S. Badger cross lake ferry features some of the best food and drinks on Lake Michigan. The 2025 sailing season features enhanced culinary and beverage choices. “We have listened to our passengers and are providing some new options to make their cruise an even more enjoyable experience,” said Wesley Paggeot, Lake Michigan Carferry director…
1950s ferry waiter rides Badger cross lake ferry 68 years later
In the summer of 2024, Bill Bussell of Round Rock, Texas, along with his daughter and son-in-law, took a special trip on board the S.S. Badger cross lake ferry. Bill worked for the C&O Railroad’s Ludington car ferries during the summers of 1958 and 1959 while attending Michigan State University. Born in Capac, Michigan, Bill’s…
The Badger is more than a job, it’s a family
Lake Michigan Carferry Office Manager Shari Vandervest knows a thing or two about the car ferry operation. She has worked for LMC for three decades. “I was hired as a temporary worker with Manpower in 1994. I was only supposed to be here for six months,” Vandervest said. “Thirty-one years later, I’m still here and…
Passing Ships
For decades it was a common site to see multiple cross-lake car ferries coming and going from Ludington, Michigan’s port. In this photograph, taken in the 1980s, passengers on the bow of the SS Badger watch the SS City of Midland 41 pass by. The City of Midland continues to serve the Great Lakes as…
SS Badger, home of the Poort family
LUDINGTON, Mich. — Over its 70-plus years of service, the SS Badger cross lake ferry has been a vessel of making special memories for thousands of people that span multiple generations. For one Hart, Michigan family the Badger not only provided an important service during a time of hardship, it has become an integral part…
The Badger’s Main Lounge
This is a view of what the Main Lounge on the SS Badger looked like shortly after it started service in March 1953. For those familiar with the ship, this photo was taken near what is now the cruise director’s office located on the starboard side. Through the years the lounge area was modified to…
SS Badger to undergo repairs in dry dock
Lake Michigan Carferry File Photo of SS Badger’s starboard propeller in dry dock at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding (FBS) in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 2021. For Immediate Release March 11, 2025 LUDINGTON, Michigan — The SS Badger cross lake ferry will be placed into dry dock this spring for repairs in preparation of the upcoming sailing…