Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne

[Dagrecco82]

I wasn't aware Bayonne had its own little Polish community. I thought the only ones in the area were Greenpoint, Maspeth (to a lesser extent), and South Amboy, NJ. I've gotta drive up there at some point and explore. And by delis, I'm sure you mean...meat markets. There's absolutely nothing like getting fresh cold cuts from a Polish masarnia...

Ablarc: Some of my favorites are: Russian-style pierogies (potato/cheese), traditional potato pancakes (no apple sauce on these, maybe a little sour cream), Zurek (also known as White Borscht), Kotlet Schabowy (the Polish version of the Wiener Schnitzel), Wild Mushroom soup, a good Bigos (sauerkraut with kielbasa), and boiled beef in horseradish sauce. I haven't had much experience with Polish cuisine outside of my house in America. But the food is surprisingly good in many restaurants in Poland. Some places are even making it into its own kind of cuisine. If you're ever getting a big craving, hop on a plane, 'cause nothin beats the real thing.

Linden NJ is another city with a huge Polish population.

[JCMAN320]

EDITORIALS

Bayonne building on a real success
Thursday, May 18, 2006

Bayonne's cruise line industry is expected to expand. Tonight, the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority will award a $9.3 million contract to a construction firm to make pier and berthing improvements to allow two cruise ships to berth at the same time at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor.

Royal Caribbean International is kicking in $4 million to include a water-filling station, fenders, cameras, lights and security fencing for the enlarged facility at what the cruise line firm calls Cape Liberty Cruise Port within the former Military Ocean Terminal. It has been announced that the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas will start making alternating five-night Bermuda and nine-night Caribbean sailings in summer 2007, and continue sails during the winter of 2007-2008 from Bayonne.

The Bayonne port drew some attention nationally last week when Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, docked at Cape Liberty - yes, in Bayonne. The cruise line has a 35-year lease dating from 2003, and the BLRA says it will receive $140 million over the life of the agreement.

It is good to see that some of the promise of the former MOT is visible to the public. Now, the future of this undeveloped waterfront may be decided by a mayoral runoff in which the challenger, Patrick Conaghan, has pressed for a container port, while the incumbent, Joseph Doria, has opposed one in favor of a combination of residential, commercial, hotel, recreational and maritime projects.

It will be up to the city's voters who participate in the June 13 runoff election to influence what kinds of development will be fostered near those big cruise ships.

[specialmee]

Freestyle cruises are a fairly recent offering among Norwegian cruise line operators. The term is used to refer to contemporary cruises with a decidedly casual, relaxed atmosphere onboard, often to due to more group entertainment activities (perfect for a family cruise vacation) and a resort-type dress code. However, freestyle cruises are not just about shuffleboard and sarongs – the elimination of formal events and buffet-type dinners (replaced instead by eat-when-you-want a la carte meals) may also translate to incremental savings. That means discounted cruise rates for you!

http://www.norwegian-cruise-lines.net/

[lofter1]

A Cautionary Tale -- now that Hurricane Season is upon us ...

Cruise Ship Goes North, Not South, and Passengers Sue

By JONATHAN MILLER
June 16, 2006
NY TIMES

JERSEY CITY, June 15 — Snorkeling in the balmy waters of Bermuda. Golf. Sun. Oh, it was going to be a lovely cruise. At least that's what many people expected when they boarded a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship in Bayonne on July 24, 2005.

Instead, their ship wound up on a rainy, cold, cloud-filled voyage to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia — where there was definitely no snorkeling, but plenty of seething passengers.

That unplanned trip is now the subject of a lawsuit, filed on Monday in State Superior Court here, by New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs and the state attorney general's office on behalf of 53 passengers. It claims that Royal Caribbean engaged in "unconscionable commercial practices."

The suit says that the passengers, who had packed swimsuits and sunglasses, were informed of the change in destination only when they arrived in Bayonne to board the Voyager of the Seas. A notice had been posted on Royal Caribbean's Web site — but not until July 23, one night before the departure date.

Even worse, the complaint asserts, passengers were offered a refund of merely $45.20 and a coupon for 25 percent off a future trip, even though "a cruise to Canada is significantly less expensive than a cruise to Bermuda." The suit did not provide exact figures for the prices the passengers paid.

But Royal Caribbean said it had a good reason to change the itinerary at the last minute: Tropical Storm Franklin, which had formed over the Bahamas on July 21 and was expected to reach hurricane strength as it approached Bermuda.

"The only thing that would have been unconscionable would have been sailing a ship full of people into a possible hurricane," said Michael Sheehan, a spokesman for the company. "And we will never do that."

He also said the company's policy allowed it to make last-minute itinerary changes. "Our ticket contract, which each guest receives, as well as our sales brochures specifically outlines our ability to make such itinerary changes under these unusual circumstances."

And, he added, "A cruise to Bermuda is not inherently more expensive than a cruise to Canada." According to Royal Caribbean's Web site, current ticket prices for a five-day cruise to Bermuda range from $549 to $1,099. The cheapest ticket for a nine-day cruise to Canada and New England is $1,049, but that is more extensive than the trip last July.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount in damages for passengers. It also seeks fines for Royal Caribbean that could total $50,000 under the state's Consumer Fraud Act.

Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

[milleniumcab]

When something like that happens and nature spoils the fun, passengers should get a discount. That should make them feel compensated...

[ablarc]

Anybody know how this turned out? Or are they still in court?

[JCMAN320]

Hey guys I was talking to one of the BLRA people and they said that Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne has become the third largest on the East Coast behind New York and Miami. That is so awesome!!!! Just had to make it known!!!!!

[STT757]

I want to take one of these 9 day Caribbean cruises from Bayonne, perhaps next Summer. I've heard good things from folks who have taken the cruises, the only negative is that the open Atlantic Ocean is pretty rough compared to sailing from Miami, Ft.Lauderdale or San Juan.

I think the Cruise lines should have interary's from Bayonne/NY like this (if they already don't)

Bayonne-Bahamas-Turks and Caicos-USVI-BVI-St.Maarten-Bermuda-Bayonne

[JCMAN320]

Queen Mary 2 headed for Bayonne

Bayonne will be home — at least for tomorrow — to the world’s second-largest cruise ship when the Queen Mary 2 docks at the Cape Liberty cruiseport at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor.

Port director Anthony Caputo said the Cunard Line ship, with 14 decks and a capacity for 3,056 passengers, normally shares a Brooklyn berth with the Princess Line but all available pier space in New York was taken for this weekend.

Arriving from Southhampton, England, to unload, the QM2 will be sailing out of Bayonne this afternoon for a 12-day “fall foliage” voyage to New England and Canada.

People can walk or bike to the end of the “greenway,” the newly-opened waterfront walkway at the Peninsula to see the ships.

Ronald Leir

[JCMAN320]

Intrepid museum closes today, heads to Bayonne next month

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum closes to the public today in preparation for its big trip across the harbor to Bayonne, where it will get shipshape once again.

The last ticket will be sold at 5 p.m.; education demos are scheduled for 1, 2 and 3 p.m.

The Intrepid, which fought in World War II, picked up astronauts after NASA missions and is now a floating museum, will come to the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne for an extensive overhaul that could last between 18 and 24 months.

The 63-year-old carrier will be towed in November -- possibly on Veterans Day -- to Bayonne Drydock and Repair Corp., a distance of about 3 miles, Arnold Fisher of the Intrepid Foundation told The Jersey Journal earlier this year. There, it will undergo "infrastructural repair, upgrade and maintenance," an overhaul expected to cost about $63 million, paid for by city, state and federal funds.

Meanwhile, Pier 86 -- which is also home to the USS Growler submarine and a British Airways Concorde supersonic airplane -- will be completely rebuilt and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will dredge 13,000 cubic yards of silt from the river bottom.

The 27,000-ton Intrepid, dubbed "The Fighting I," was slated for the scrapyard when Zachary Fisher, a real estate developer, rescued it and brought it to New York in 1981. It opened as a naval and air museum the following year and has gradually expanded its exhibits and programs since, drawing about 700,000 visitors a year.

[lofter1]

Cool fireworks last night for the closing party -- shot off from mid-Hudson River -- had a great viewing spot at waterfront just to the north of the Circle Line pier (Pier 84 - Hudson River Park will be complete and open for the return of the Intrepid in '08).

[JCMAN320]

Cruise passenger tariff raised

Tuesday, January 16, 2007
By RONALD LEIR
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The cost to hop on a Bayonne cruise ship just went up.

Each passenger booking a cruise through Royal Caribbean International - which berths its cruise ships at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor - now has to shell out $9.70 more to get on board, officials said.

The Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, which owns the land where RCI docks, raised the "berthing tariff" from $31.50 to $41.20 at its meeting last Thursday.

BLRA Executive Director Nancy Kist said the tariff is computed by dividing the dollar amount it takes to operate the cruise port by the number of passengers for the calendar year.

"The tariff is designed to make the port self-sustaining so we don't have to go to the city for any money to run it," Kist said.

In 2006, it cost $4,680,798 to operate the Bayonne cruise port and an estimated 148,574 passengers set sail from the port, Kist said. Projections for 2007 are $5,516,515 in operating expenses and passenger volume of 133,896, Kist said.

The operating costs are up for several reasons, including RCI borrowing $700,000 to pay for upgraded Customs security, the winterizing of the dockside terminal, and RCI's replacement of the 1,370-passenger Zenith with the smaller, 710-passenger Celebrity Journey, Kist said.

Based on a negotiated fee schedule, the BLRA should realize about $1 million in revenues from the cruise line for 2007 - up from last year's $863,000, Kist said. The BLRA also receives a cut of the cruise port's parking revenues, she said. Those figures weren't available.

In other business Thursday, the BLRA commissioners concluded, after a public hearing, that a housing construction plan by Trammel Crow Residential for part of the Bayonne Bay district was consistent with the BLRA redevelopment plan for the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor.

TCR development associate Michael Shorter told the commissioners that the company expects to start building 250 housing units - the first of two equal phases - in August, that it expects to have a sales office and several model units up by year's end, that the first occupants would move in by fall 2008 and that it expects a full build-out by 2011.

The commissioners also agreed to lease Building 74, one of the remaining Army properties at the Peninsula, to Beach City Productions LLC to shoot scenes for an upcoming film starring Matt Damon through March 31 for $66,383.

[JCMAN320]

SHIP-TOP SHAPE IN BAYONNE

Saturday, May 05, 2007
By RONALD LEIR
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

'Journey' with yearlong cruise season

Bayonne's Cape Liberty Cruise Port at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor begins its first yearlong season today when the newly refurbished Azamara Journey sets sail for Bermuda.

For the past few days, mechanics, longshoremen and crew have been working non-stop to get the 710-passenger Journey ready for its maiden voyage.

The Azamara Journey, which replaces the much larger Zenith, received a $19 million upgrade while in drydock in the Bahamas, officials said.

The ship's cabins are booked up through June 11. Per-person prices for that week's one-week round-trip cruise to Bermuda range from $1,549 for an inside cabin to $2,449 for a veranda cabin.

Next week, the ship will be joined in the Bayonne port by Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas, with room for 3,200 passengers, bound for Bermuda and the eastern Caribbean during the summer and for Canada and New England in the fall.

By the end of October, the Azamara Journey will reposition to South America, but Explorer will continue to sail from Bayonne. Azamara Journey, scheduled to return to Bayonne next April, is slated to sail to Asia sometime in 2008 and make around-the-world trips in 2010.

To accommodate this year's crunch of ocean travelers in the colder weather, RCI - which leases space at the Peninsula from the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority - is winterizing its passenger terminal by installing 25,000 feet of tenting fabric outside the terminal entrance, 200 feet of canopy over the passenger shuttle bus stops and by equipping the interior with heating units, RCI operations manager Michael Conway said.

RCI has also redesigned its terminal to streamline immigration and baggage checks in line with Homeland Security specifications, Conway said. Doing away with the initial on board check, passengers will now be processed by U.S. Customs agents in one big room previously reserved for baggage, Conway said.

"Last Saturday, we processed 1,340 passengers who were aboard the Zenith in two hours, and everyone was quite happy with the results," Conway said. "There were no major delays."

Yesterday, media and travel agents got a tour of Azamara Journey, complete with cabaret entertainment and lunch. Passengers can look forward to such treats as "butler service in every stateroom and suite," jewelry and upscale clothing shops, specialty eating areas and a spa.

[JCMAN320]

Annual preparedness drill set for today at cruise port

Tuesday, October 16, 2007
By N. CLARK JUDD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Cape Liberty Cruise Port at the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne will be a disaster area today - if everything goes according to plan for acting Fire Chief Patrick Boyle.

That's because Bayonne is expected to host federal and state emergency services agencies in an annual emergency preparedness drill, according to a statement released by the city.

The drill is designed to test the city's response plans and the ability of city emergency responders to coordinate with other agencies, including Bayonne Medical Center, which may come under new ownership after an auction on Oct. 24.

Students from the Bayonne High School Drama Club might get their big break today, too - Boyle said several TV stations have requested permission to set up cameras overlooking the event, where the striving thespians will play the roles of various victims.

The drill, which has been planned since July, will also include McCabe Ambulance Service and Bayonne Medical Center. Boyle said the financially struggling hospital was always to be part of the drill, though there were contingency plans in place if BMC was not available.

Without the hospital, Boyle said, "there would be longer trips to treatment (to transport victims) outside the city."

[JCMAN320]

Cruise biz fears rule on port stays

Wednesday, February 06, 2008
By JOE MALINCONICO
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Americans who take ocean cruises - including trips from terminals in Bayonne, Manhattan and Brooklyn - could face dramatic changes in their itineraries under proposed changes in federal customs regulations.

Most cruise liners would be required to stay 48 hours at foreign ports, instead of the token visits that are used now to meet the existing law.

Also, many popular cruise routes would have to be reconfigured. For example, Caribbean cruises from New York and New Jersey might have to eliminate some popular stops, while Alaska-bound cruises might drop Seattle as their starting port and switch to Vancouver.

Critics of the proposal say the changes would devastate the cruise industry, cost thousands of jobs and imperil ports that depend on the travel trade, including the one in Camden.

"The proposal would cause immediate, significant economic harm to the U.S. port industry," said Kurt Nagle, president of the American Association of Port Authorities.

I wouldn't like it," said Terrance Purdy of Hardyston, who was about to start a nine-day trip to the Caribbean last week at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne. "When you take a cruise, you like to be able to see a lot of different islands."

Maritime officials, however, insist that cruise regulations need to be changed to prevent foreign-flagged ships from gaining an unfair advantage over American vessels.

Under the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, foreign-flagged carriers were prohibited from carrying passengers between American ports without first stopping at a foreign terminal. But in recent years, foreign competitors have run ocean liners between California and Hawaii that stopped only for an hour in Mexico - which authorities considered an "evasion" of the requirement for a foreign port visit.

But because the current regulations do not stipulate how long a ship must stop at a foreign port, the only way to prevent the practice was to draw up more specific rules, Connaughton said.

The Bayonne terminal handled 278,000 passengers last year, said Anthony Caputo, director of Cape Liberty Cruise Port.

The new regulations would affect only foreign-flagged cruise ships, but that accounts for the vast majority of them, according to authorities.

Travelers heading on the Caribbean cruise from Bayonne last Friday said the prospect of spending 48 hours at a foreign port would affect their choices of what cruises to take.

"It depends on the port," said Jane Christy of Millville, who has gone on more than 50 cruises. "There are some places I would like it. But if you were talking about Venezuela or Grand Cayman - I wouldn't want to be there for 48 hours."