jujappers
April 2nd, 2004, 11:11 AM
Jersey Journal...
Royal Caribbean's 'Peninsula' plans are cruising along
Construction on for first trip May 9; sales said to be strong
Thursday, April 01, 2004
By Ronald Leir
Royal Caribbean International is investing $8 million to bring Bayonne its first cruise line. And if the experiment proves a success, it's likely it will be spilling out a lot more in future years for a permanent cruise port.
Craig Milan, president of Royal Celebrity Tours, Inc., an offshoot of the Miami, Fla.-based parent company, said the cruise line is spending that amount to prepare a temporary berth, passenger terminal and parking at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, formerly the Military Ocean Terminal, for two of the ships in its fleet.
Milan said that every "turnaround" that a ship spends in port will mean money for local businesses, from passengers and crew spending on such things as lodging, food and entertainment.
The inaugural sailing is set for May 9. Milan said that, "so far, bookings have been beyond expectations."
Local travel agencies agree.
Tiffany Travels' Jessica Nunez said that sales "are going pretty well . Every day, people come in asking about the Bayonne cruises. We need to get more (sales) brochures."
And Virginia Kemp, of Four Seasons Travel, said: "It started right off like wildfire and it's been very good since then. There are still bookings available, if people are willing to be flexible on dates."
Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas will be doing alternating sails out of Bayonne, with cruises to Bermuda, the Caribbean and Canada.
This week, the company invited the media to tour the waterside facilities being readied for the anticipated arrival of the first of the two ships - Empress of the Seas - on May 7.
Originally, Milan said, the cruise line had intended to use the pier designated N1 on the northeastern side of the Peninsula, but because there was concern that a cruise ship docked there might interfere with vessels angling past the so-called "Jersey Flats" entrance to the harbor to reach the Global Terminal container port to the north, it was decided to relocate to the pier designated N5, further down the Peninsula to the west.
However, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes another round of dredging in the channel running between the Peninsula and Global, to deepen it from the current 41 feet to 50 feet, Milan said, it may be possible to return safely to the N1 pier - and possibly extend to the adjacent berth, designated as N2, so that Empress and Voyager could dock at the same time.
Meanwhile, workers are converting much of Building 14, an old 120,000-square-foot military warehouse - that used to hold household supplies for shipping to overseas bases - to a temporary terminal where passengers and their luggage will queue through a metal detector and X-ray machine and into an embarkation lounge and check-in counters.
So-called "priority guests" will be directed to a sectioned-off, 1,250-square-foot area containing "suites" where they can stay while waiting to be picked up and taken aboard their ship.
Other passengers, meanwhile, will find refreshment stands, some form of live entertainment, and restrooms, in the general waiting area of the lounge. That section of the old warehouse is being equipped with windows offering sightlines to the water and with heating and air-conditioning units.
"We want the whole process of going through check-in and onto the ship to take no more than 15 minutes," said Juan Trecastro, Royal Caribbean's director of guest port services.
An adjoining section of the warehouse will be occupied by agents of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and federal customs agents. "That area will be closed off to the public," Trecastro said.
Once the passengers are cleared for boarding, they'll be loaded onto buses, chartered through Academy Bus Co., of Hoboken, and driven the short distance to the pier. Trecastro anticipates each bus taking between 50 and 60 passengers.
"Each bus can do a round-trip in 20 minutes," he said. "We can move almost 1,000 people in an hour."
Royal Caribbean and the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, which oversees activities within the Peninsula, are developing an internal "loop" transportation system that will allow private cars and coaches to drive to the terminal, drop off passengers and leave without creating undue congestion, according to Milan and BLRA Executive Director Nancy Kist.
There also will be long-term parking accommodations within a short walking distance of the terminal. Milan and Kist said that between 650 and 1,600 spaces are planned for a surface parking facility that will be fenced in and illuminated.
"We own the (parking) lot, but we're hiring another company to run it," Milan said. Parkers will be charged $15 a day and the BLRA will get a share of the parking proceeds, he said. Just how much has yet to be decided, he said.
Nor have the BLRA and Royal Caribbean yet come to terms on how much the company will be paying the authority in ground lease fees.
Asked when that would be ironed out, Milan said: "We're still talking."
Kist added: "Nobody's walking away in a huff."
Royal Caribbean is also talking to NY Waterway and the Circle Line about the possibility of transporting passengers to Bayonne from Manhattan via ferry, Milan said.
The BLRA recently gave up on negotiations with NY Waterway for a Manhattan ferry service to and from the Peninsula, after more than a year of talks reportedly could not produce an agreement on a start date.
Of the 250 land-based employees the cruise line says it will need for the Bayonne operation, the company is hiring half and the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1588 of Bayonne will hire the rest, Milan said. "These will include stevedores, porters, check-in agents, greeters, middle managers and truck drivers," he said.
Royal Caribbean's 'Peninsula' plans are cruising along
Construction on for first trip May 9; sales said to be strong
Thursday, April 01, 2004
By Ronald Leir
Royal Caribbean International is investing $8 million to bring Bayonne its first cruise line. And if the experiment proves a success, it's likely it will be spilling out a lot more in future years for a permanent cruise port.
Craig Milan, president of Royal Celebrity Tours, Inc., an offshoot of the Miami, Fla.-based parent company, said the cruise line is spending that amount to prepare a temporary berth, passenger terminal and parking at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, formerly the Military Ocean Terminal, for two of the ships in its fleet.
Milan said that every "turnaround" that a ship spends in port will mean money for local businesses, from passengers and crew spending on such things as lodging, food and entertainment.
The inaugural sailing is set for May 9. Milan said that, "so far, bookings have been beyond expectations."
Local travel agencies agree.
Tiffany Travels' Jessica Nunez said that sales "are going pretty well . Every day, people come in asking about the Bayonne cruises. We need to get more (sales) brochures."
And Virginia Kemp, of Four Seasons Travel, said: "It started right off like wildfire and it's been very good since then. There are still bookings available, if people are willing to be flexible on dates."
Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas will be doing alternating sails out of Bayonne, with cruises to Bermuda, the Caribbean and Canada.
This week, the company invited the media to tour the waterside facilities being readied for the anticipated arrival of the first of the two ships - Empress of the Seas - on May 7.
Originally, Milan said, the cruise line had intended to use the pier designated N1 on the northeastern side of the Peninsula, but because there was concern that a cruise ship docked there might interfere with vessels angling past the so-called "Jersey Flats" entrance to the harbor to reach the Global Terminal container port to the north, it was decided to relocate to the pier designated N5, further down the Peninsula to the west.
However, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes another round of dredging in the channel running between the Peninsula and Global, to deepen it from the current 41 feet to 50 feet, Milan said, it may be possible to return safely to the N1 pier - and possibly extend to the adjacent berth, designated as N2, so that Empress and Voyager could dock at the same time.
Meanwhile, workers are converting much of Building 14, an old 120,000-square-foot military warehouse - that used to hold household supplies for shipping to overseas bases - to a temporary terminal where passengers and their luggage will queue through a metal detector and X-ray machine and into an embarkation lounge and check-in counters.
So-called "priority guests" will be directed to a sectioned-off, 1,250-square-foot area containing "suites" where they can stay while waiting to be picked up and taken aboard their ship.
Other passengers, meanwhile, will find refreshment stands, some form of live entertainment, and restrooms, in the general waiting area of the lounge. That section of the old warehouse is being equipped with windows offering sightlines to the water and with heating and air-conditioning units.
"We want the whole process of going through check-in and onto the ship to take no more than 15 minutes," said Juan Trecastro, Royal Caribbean's director of guest port services.
An adjoining section of the warehouse will be occupied by agents of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and federal customs agents. "That area will be closed off to the public," Trecastro said.
Once the passengers are cleared for boarding, they'll be loaded onto buses, chartered through Academy Bus Co., of Hoboken, and driven the short distance to the pier. Trecastro anticipates each bus taking between 50 and 60 passengers.
"Each bus can do a round-trip in 20 minutes," he said. "We can move almost 1,000 people in an hour."
Royal Caribbean and the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, which oversees activities within the Peninsula, are developing an internal "loop" transportation system that will allow private cars and coaches to drive to the terminal, drop off passengers and leave without creating undue congestion, according to Milan and BLRA Executive Director Nancy Kist.
There also will be long-term parking accommodations within a short walking distance of the terminal. Milan and Kist said that between 650 and 1,600 spaces are planned for a surface parking facility that will be fenced in and illuminated.
"We own the (parking) lot, but we're hiring another company to run it," Milan said. Parkers will be charged $15 a day and the BLRA will get a share of the parking proceeds, he said. Just how much has yet to be decided, he said.
Nor have the BLRA and Royal Caribbean yet come to terms on how much the company will be paying the authority in ground lease fees.
Asked when that would be ironed out, Milan said: "We're still talking."
Kist added: "Nobody's walking away in a huff."
Royal Caribbean is also talking to NY Waterway and the Circle Line about the possibility of transporting passengers to Bayonne from Manhattan via ferry, Milan said.
The BLRA recently gave up on negotiations with NY Waterway for a Manhattan ferry service to and from the Peninsula, after more than a year of talks reportedly could not produce an agreement on a start date.
Of the 250 land-based employees the cruise line says it will need for the Bayonne operation, the company is hiring half and the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1588 of Bayonne will hire the rest, Milan said. "These will include stevedores, porters, check-in agents, greeters, middle managers and truck drivers," he said.