HOLLAND — Holland is known for tulips, shorelines and a vibrant downtown, but it's not often recognized for cruises. And yet, each spring, the Ward family drops the gangway of its 65-foot paddlewheel riverboat for hundreds of visitors.

The history of the Holland Princess begins in 2003, when longtime boat renter Jeff Ward got an idea.

"We thought a dinner cruise would be a neat idea for Holland," Ward said. "We wanted to buy a boat that was already Coast Guard-certified and ready to go. We looked at three. The other two sold, so we bought the last one from an inland lake in Minnesota in September 2003."

After removing pieces of the boat for the long journey to Michigan, the Holland Princess was reassembled and ready for action in 2004.

"We've been a family business since that point," Ward said. "I'm the captain. My daughter, Katelyn, got her captain's license when she was 19, so she's back-up. We open for Tulip Time and we close around the middle of October."

Ward has a long history of boating on Lake Macatawa.

"I'm originally from Hastings," he said. "I got a job at Prince Corp. in Holland and I was laid off in 1990, and that's how I go into renting jet skis and boats. I used to have a parasail boat — but I eventually realized I wanted to do something bigger."

Today, the Holland Princess offers regular lunch and dinner cruises throughout the warm season, often with a musician playing guitar, saxophone or violin on the top deck.

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"We leave from Dunton Park and cruise out to Lake Michigan, weather-permitting, and back," Ward said. "It's about 12 miles. You can see a lot of the homes on Lake Macatawa and the lighthouse and the beach."

Dinner cruises are $65 per adult and $35 per child, and include the two-hour cruise, plus dinner. According to Ward, the business is best known for barbecue chicken with salad, baked potatoes or potato salad, and dessert. Lunch cruises, though more rare, are $50 per adult and $30 per child.

"There's a cash bar on board," he said. "And we carry a max of about 100 people at once, but cruises aren't always that size. We also do weddings, birthday parties, company parties, church groups, family reunions. It's been really fun."

Public cruises run rain or shine, with cancellations reserved for high winds.

"We get a little bit of both, visitors and locals," Ward said. "But there's still a lot of people who don't realize we're here. I think it's been such a fun experience."

Make reservations at hollandprincess.homestead.com.

— Contact reporter Cassandra Lybrink at cassandra.lybrink@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Instagram @BizHolland.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Lake Macatawa cruises available aboard the Holland Princess