The ship itself is an awesome vessel, and the ferry operators make the trip a wonderful ride. Enough virtual and real ink has been spilled describing this boat, so suffice it to say that the trip lives up to the hype. The boat is gorgeous, it seems to glide effortlessly across Lake Ontario at 50 MPH, and the staff is friendly and capable. As an experience, the ferry is first-rate, and I was glad that I tried it.
But will I do it again soon? Probably not, for a number of reasons.
First, let's look at value for money spent. It costs $70 per person for a walk-on round-trip on the ferry, and the whole experience takes a minimum of 7.5 hours*. So, at best, taking the ferry is no faster than driving from Rochester to Toronto, and, unless you drive a tank, it is probably not much cheaper. If you have a family or take a car, the economics just get worse: it will cost you a heck of a lot more to take the ferry than it will to drive.
So, taking a trip on the ferry is a luxury. There's no traffic, and you get to relax and enjoy the view, but you pay for the privilege. With the exchange rate at $.89 (versus the $.75-79 of years past), a trip to Toronto is already an expensive proposition - I wonder how many of us will want to add the luxury of a ferry ride to that cost.
Now let's look at the schedule. A lot of the people going over on Friday morning were going to the Blue Jays game that evening. I overheard a couple of them say that they were driving back that night. In the summer, the ferry departs at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., and returns at 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. This schedule rules out a lot of day trip scenarios. A Sunday afternoon Blue Jays game or musical matinee would work, but most of the rest of your trips aren't going to fit that schedule. This means that you must take your car and drive back (which adds the expense and hassle of parking), or your one-day car trip just became an overnight walking trip.
My overall impression is that the ferry is neat, but it isn't a compelling alternative to driving to Toronto. If I have friends or family in town, I might take another ride with them just to show them "what's new" in Rochester. But I probably won't take more trips to Toronto because of the ferry, nor will I take the ferry every time I want to go to Canada.
If the ferry makes it here, my guess is that it will operate during the "warm months" (say May-September/October) as a tourist boat. Much of the traffic will be bus tours, because taking the ferry adds another interesting element that will be appreciated by the old folks who like those tours. In the Winter, it will be rented to someplace warm that needs additional ferry capacity.
I'm guessing Toronto's city government thinks the same thing, because their port is the bare minimum needed to handle the ferry. Unlike our palatial port, Toronto's is a bare-bones affair, with a couple of vending machines and a too-small waiting room.
Whether or not you think government support of the ferry was a good idea, I recommend it as an experience.
