March 22, 2006

Circle Line adds cruises, but LaGuardia ferry on hold

Circle Line Harbor Cruises LLC, which operates sightseeing tours from Lower Manhattan, has put on hold its plans to provide ferry service to LaGuardia Airport.

Circle Line had planned to offer regular 30-minute, $25 ferry trips from Wall Street and 34th Street to the airport beginning in 2006, but a "combination of several factors" including budgets and operating plans have killed the project for now, William Buckley, the General Manager of Circle Line Harbor Cruises said in an interview.

"I don’t think we can rule it out down the road, however over the near future it’s not going to be pursued," he said.

(It was Circle Line's decision to withdraw and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is currently determining a timetable for finding a company to provide LaGuardia ferry service, Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco told NewYorkology.)

However Circle Line is expanding its cruise schedule -- adding happy hours, Friday night jazz sailings and Sunday brunch cruises – and is on target to finally approach pre-September 11 passenger levels.

Circle Line Harbor Cruises LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Circle Line Statue of Liberty Ferry Inc., which is the only ferry company allowed to take tourists to Liberty and Ellis Islands. Circle Line Harbor Cruises and Circle Line Statue of Liberty, also known as Circle Line downtown, is often confused with Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, or Circle Line uptown – and for good reason. Decades ago it was just one company, ferrying commuters and other passengers from a dock at 42nd Street. In the mid-1950s, the government awarded Circle Line a contract to ferry passengers to the Statue of Liberty, according to Kim Wright, director of operations for Circle Line Harbor Cruises. In the 1980s, the company split in two, with one handling the harbor cruises from 42nd and the downtown Circle Line handling just the boats to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

But when the World Trade Center buildings came down Sept. 11, 2001, Circle Line's operations were suspended as both islands were closed. As their boats sat unused, that's when Circle Line downtown got into the sightseeing harbor cruise business. It now competes directly with Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, though after a court dust-up, they can both still lay claims to the name.

Although Circle Line resumed trips to Ellis and Liberty islands by 2002, tours of Statue of Liberty did not resume until August 2004. During that time, Circle Line downtown bought a speedboat, the Shark, for "high speed thrill rides," and ordered a custom-designed $7 million luxury catamaran called the Zephyr. Outfitted with full-service bars and a sundeck, the Zephyr travels up to 30 knots, so "you can see two hours of sites in one hour," Buckley said.

And while ticket sales so far this year for the Statue of Liberty are exceeding last year's numbers, there have been several blips since September 11, Wright said. Even after the islands reopened, many school districts prohibited their students from going to any national monuments, the public’s confusion lingered into 2005 over whether the Statue of Liberty had actually reopened, and then there was the Republican National Convention held in New York City in August 2004.

"That was such as terrible week," Wright said. "Anything in Lower Manhattan, it was dead."

"It hurt us very badly ... across the board, even Statue of Liberty during our otherwise peak time of the year," Buckley said.

But as the numbers pick up, so do the lines, now made longer by the extra security on the dock. For New Yorkers who have been meaning to make the trip, Wright offered some advice: "They want to be early and they want to go during the off-season: November, December, but not around Christmas. January and February and March. Early in the day is best. The first boat in the summer is 8:30."

The Zephyr, shark and other harbor cruises at the South Street Seaport see fewer tourists, Wright said, with upwards of 65 percent of the customers coming from the New York and New Jersey area. In addition to its live-narrated sightseeing trips, it also hosts private events, and the summertime happy hour series, jazz and brunch cruises, In October, it also does two fall foliage wine-tasting brunch tours up the Hudson River.

Circle Line Harbor Cruises can be booked at the docks or by phone, and within a few weeks, advance online booking will be available. Some tickets are sold in tandem with admission to the South Street Seaport Museum, including its historic ships docked in the East River. When purchasing tickets to the Statue of Liberty, which can already be bought online, be sure to add the free monument access pass which is the only one that will actually allow you to look inside the statue itself. There are only a limited number of these available each day.

Prices for adult tickets purchased in advance: Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, $13.25; luxury Zephyr tour, $18; Shark speedboat tour, $15.

Earlier: LaGuardia Airport ferry service postponed to 2006
Circle Line ferry trips to LaGuardia to start at midyear
Airport ferry service could begin next year
Ellis Island gets closer to opening Ferry Building
NewYorkology Basics: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
How to get a pass for the Statue of Liberty tour
Statue of Liberty tours resume
Statue of Liberty to reopen

March 22, 2006 09:44 AM in Arrivology, Downtown, Kids, Sightsology, Tours

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