Ernie

From Seatrade Insider:
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RCCL names Bayonne port 'Cape Liberty'
28/1/2004

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will name its new facility in Bayonne, N.J. 'Cape Liberty Cruise Port.' Starting in May, Cape Liberty will serve as a
seasonal home port to Voyager of the Seas and Nordic Empress. 'Cape Liberty Cruise Port is a fitting name as our guests will begin and end
their vacations with a marvelous view of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan,' says Adam Goldstein, executive vp brand operations for Royal
Caribbean International.

In December, Royal Caribbean signed a letter agreement with the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority to construct and operate a new cruise port
facility on the former Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal peninsula, now called The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor. The location is 15 minutes from the Newark airport and right off the New Jersey Turnpike.

Bayonne offers 'a lot of benefits,' according to Eric Ardolino, president of A&S Travel in Wallingford, Conn., and a member of Vacation.com's advisory
board. No. 1, he tells Seatrade Insider: parking fees for drive clients will be much lower than in New York City. Also, passengers won't have to fight
congestion and baggage/parking hassles at the West Side piers.

Voyager of the Seas and Nordic Empress will operate from Cape Liberty May through October. Voyager's schedule alternates five-night Canada and nine-night Caribbean cruises. Nordic Empress offers six- and eight-night Bermuda itineraries. Royal Caribbean will use existing structures for the
immediate future. Long-term plans call for construction of a new cruise terminal and supporting facilities.

[ 01-28-2004: Message edited by: eroller ]

I though that you DO NOT get a good view of the pass the statue of Liberty, as you do not pass it or get a close up view of the NY skyline, if you cruise to and from this port?

[ 01-28-2004: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

[ 01-28-2004: Message edited by: Commodore ]

See my posting on P2, dated 01-07-2004 09:59 AM, for the lyrics as I remember them.

Saturday Night Live is full of them [Jersey jokes]

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/index.html

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Whay sort of buildings are at the Bayonne cruise terminal?

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Originally posted by Olympia53:

It is a very dismal and depressing decayed manufacturing town.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Wow...I hope that they have dressed it up a bit, since then?

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I doubt it. It's right up there with Newark, Secaucus, Jersey City, and Elizabeth, NJ. Not the most glamorous places on earth, to be sure.

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Originally posted by Beezo:
Known as the "Armpit of America!" No offense to anyone from NJ!

~Brian

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And RCI sees fit to sail their ships from there. HA!

One thing both places have in common is a nice view of Manhattan.

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Originally posted by eroller:
Well, Carnival and Cunard see fit to sail QM2 and QE2 (and any of their other ships) from Brooklyn. At least that is the plan. I'm not sure I would call that the glamour capital of the world either.

One thing both places have in common is a nice view of Manhattan.

Ernie

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Originally posted by CGT:
Correction that's what Carnival wants

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

What makes you think Cunard doesn't want it?

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Originally posted by CGT:
Carnival Corp pulls all the puppet strings now.

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

Perhaps (unless you happen to work there, you can't know that) but at any rate even if they do, how can you know that Cunard wouldn't want the same thing, Carnival or not?

Seems to me that any time something good happens, it's Cunard or HAL or whatever individual subsidiary that did it, while if anything unpopular happens, it's Carnival's fault. They get all the blame and none of the credit!

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Originally posted by CGT:

Correction that's what Carnival wants, it's a horrid idea, and neither place has a view that equals the view when sailing from the Manhattan west side piers.

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Does it really matter which line wanted what? At the end of the day it's all the same corporation. Carnival Corp. makes some decisions that benefit the bottom line of all their brands, and this is one of them. I can't blame RCI or Carnival Corp. for seeking alternatives to the decaying West Side piers. If someone is to blame, maybe it's the Port Authority of NY/NJ for letting such a revenue producing outlet for the city get to the state it is in. I'm sure they felt they were invincible and the lines would never consider sailing from anywhere except Manhattan. Wrong!

As I recall, I don't think you had any problems with Carnival Corp. relocating their brands from Los Angeles to Long Beach? How is this so different?

And yes I was happy for them to move to Long Beach, I hate San Pedro, but Manhattan is better than *Brooklyn* It's where the ships belong. If this Brooklyn thing gets built I don't care how "nice" it is, I will hate it forever because it is in Brooklyn. Build it in Manhattan at the site of the west side piers and I will embrace it. Otherwise, forget it.

[ 01-31-2004: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Originally posted by Commodore:
Why not just build it in NJ instead!

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Originally posted by CGT:
When I said Carnival, I meant Carnival Corp.

And yes I was happy for them to move to Long Beach, I hate San Pedro, but Manhattan is better than *Brooklyn* It's where the ships belong. If this Brooklyn thing gets built I don't care how "nice" it is, I will hate it forever because it is in Brooklyn. Build it in Manhattan at the site of the west side piers and I will embrace it. Otherwise, forget it.

[ 01-31-2004: Message edited by: CGT ]

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I agree completely that Manhattan is by far the preferred place to sail from when compared to Brooklyn or NJ. There is just no comparison and certainly no argument here. Even so, I don't blame RCI and Carnival Corp. for seeking out alternatives to substandard facilities that the Port Authority of NY/NJ seem hell-bent on neglecting. I'm sure both cruise lines tried coming up with solutions with NY to continue using the West Side piers prior to giving up and moving elsewhere. The fact that two major competitors *both* are fleeing the West Side piers speaks volumes to me about how the facility is run and their dealings with the port. I doubt the Port Authority was very corporative to negotiate with, and these cruise powerhouses probably decided the terms were ridiculous. Beside the money issue, there is also the quality issue and the hassles of docking these new mega-ships such as QM2 and VOYAGER at dilapidated facilities that can't properly handle the passengers. Passengers remember their embarkation and disembarkation experience rather well, and cruise lines don't want their onboard product reviews to suffer because of substandard pier facilities.

It's doubtful Carnival or RCI ever had the option of buying the West Side piers and refurbishing them. I assume they are owned by the Port Authority of NY/NJ and are not for sale.

Ernie