WINTERING OVER IN THE PORT OF NEW YORK
NOORDAM, NORWEGIAN DAWN & NORWEGIAN SPIRIT

Theodore W. Scull

For the 2006-2007 winter season, the Port of New York will see no less than three ships based at Manhattan’s West Side Cruise Terminal, something we have not seen for decades. Revived off-season sailings began in October 2003 when the 91,740-gt Norwegian Dawn launched a brand-new program of weekly cruises to Florida and the Bahamas. The hiatus of 22 years of no winter season ships began in the fall of 1981 when Home Lines’ 27,644grt Oceanic left her year-round New York berth that spring for warmer winter climes.

Norwegian Dawn

Successful Norwegian Dawn cruises begat a second NCL ship, the 75,338gt Norwegian Spirit, and now a third, Holland America’s 85,000gt Noordam. The regular, almost uninterrupted three-ship cycle began when the Queen Mary 2 sailed from Brooklyn on November 5 for Southampton to then have her damaged pod replaced at Blohm+Voss. The single interruption to the winter schedule, a most welcome one, will be the Queen Elizabeth 2’s call on January 8, 2007 en route from Southampton on the first leg of her 108-day Around the World Cruise. The Queen Mary 2 then returns April 10th to begin her 2007 season.

Norwegian Spirit

In the meantime, the Noordam, Norwegian Dawn, and Norwegian Spirit will undertake mostly 10- and 11-day cruises from New York to the eastern and southern Caribbean until early spring, while the Norwegian Spirit will add to the mix with a few early spring 8-day cruises to Bermuda and St. Thomas. The three ships will use Pier 90, and occasionally Pier 92, at the foot of West 50th and West 52nd Streets respectively. Pier 88 at the foot of West 48th Street is currently undergoing a complete reconstruction due to be finished in late 2007. Our website will provide the details in an upcoming news article. The huge Northeast cruise market will have a generous choice of cruise itineraries and a no-fly option by driving directly to the cruise terminal and parking on the roof, taking a bus to the pier from selected cities or to Port Authority Bus Terminal or riding a train to Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal. The three transportation terminals are a short 10- to 15-minute taxi ride to the piers.

Noordam

Winter ship photography buffs, like this writer, look forward to a sharp cold spell that will produce ice flows on the river as we have seen several times in the last ten years. The best vantage points will be the newly reopened recreation Pier 84 at West 44th Street, just south of the cruise terminal, and from New Jersey atop the Palisades at Weehawken and two piers that extend out into the Hudson from 13th and 14th Streets at the north end of Hoboken.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Queen Elizabeth 2 and Saturnia in winter sailings from New York.

For more information, click onto “Cruise Ship Arrivals and Departures for The Port of New York” for the sailing schedules through the winter and into the early spring.
Click onto “Photographing Ships in the Port of New York” for the best locations and how to get there.