In The News

Tourists to be cruising into Cape May

April 11, 2006

One line will stop there in May and November. That will be the first such arrivals in a century.
By Jacqueline L. Urgo
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer

CAPE MAY, N.J. - In a kind of back-to-the-future scenario, tourists will arrive in this Victorian-era resort by ship next month for the first time in a century.

State legislators and Delaware River and Bay Authority officials made the announcement yesterday standing next to the Cape May-Lewes Ferry docks in neighboring Lower Township, where, twice a year, guests on the 102-passenger Nantucket Clipper will disembark before being transported by trolley to tour the resort.

Officials said that, while they could not provide specific dollar projections, the plan would expand tourism revenue by opening up Cape May and the Jersey Shore to a new segment of tourists.

"People who never even knew Cape May existed, whether they are from another part of the U.S. or traveling internationally, will want to come back to Cape May," said Donald Rainear, the authority's deputy executive director.

While the ship's owner, Seattle-based Cruise West, specializes in "the small-ship experience," proponents of the plan say bringing a couple of hundred tourists in for relatively brief stops in May, and again in November, seems like only a modest start.

"I can see ships waiting in line," said Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D., Cumberland), who worked with Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew (D., Cape May) and the Delaware River and Bay Authority to persuade Cruise West to add Cape May to its Chesapeake Bay & Hudson River itinerary.

But it was not a hard sell, said Susan Givens, director of product development for Cruise West. "One of our captains is from Cape May, and he has been lobbying for years to get us to look at it as a port of call," Givens said.

When Cruise West acquired the Nantucket Clipper from the Clipper Cruise Line in January, adding Cape May to the existing itinerary seemed like a perfect fit, Givens said.

"We specialize in giving passengers a chance to have an up-close look at a place, and, with the history and architecture of Cape May, it seemed like a perfect stop to add to the itinerary," she said.

The visit will last about five hours, and passengers will have a choice between a Victorian architecture tour or a birding and nature tour offered by the nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts.

The authority spent about $10,000 to modify the ferry docks so the 207-foot-long cruise vessel could be accommodated.

It is unclear whether further changes would be made to the ferry docks if larger cruise ships were to name Cape May as a port of call, or if passengers from larger liners would be tendered into the terminal.

Albano and Van Drew said they were working to bring other cruise lines into Cape May, but declined to give details.

"The best way we can convince other cruise lines to make Cape May a stop on their itineraries is to demonstrate how well this will work for Cruise West," Van Drew said.

The 11-day cruises on the Chesapeake-Hudson River itinerary, which start at $2,790 a person, will begin in Washington/Alexandria, Va., and end in New York City. Besides Cape May, other ports on the 2006 itinerary include Norfolk, Va.; St. Michaels, Md.; Annapolis, Md.; Kingston, N.Y.; and West Point, N.Y.

Cruise West said it had high hopes that the entire region would be popular with passengers. Besides Cape May, the cruise line has added a stop in Wilmington in its 2007 itinerary for tours of the Brandywine Valley, Givens said.

Ships bringing tourists to Cape May is not a new idea.

In the 19th century, taking a five-hour "steamer" ride to Cape May from Philadelphia beat an exhausting two-day trip by stagecoach through the Pine Barrens. Other excursion steamships plied the waters between New York, Washington, and the Jersey Shore. So popular were the excursion ships that advertising of the day noted that the "Republic" could provide twice-daily transit from "hot Philadelphia to cool Cape May" for a mere $1.


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Contact staff writer Jacqueline L. Urgo at 609-823-9629 or jurgo@phillynews.com.

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Cruise West – a second-generation, family-owned business based in Seattle – offers the opportunity to explore remote, worldwide locales by providing distinctive, one-of-a-kind, personalized itineraries not offered by the traditional larger cruise lines. Cruise West’s smaller ships – ten in all – hold between 70-138 people each, and the casual style onboard encourages relaxation and congenial interaction between guests and crew alike. The experience is personally enriching through expert Exploration Leaders providing onboard narrative and lectures, special local guests from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the library provided on each vessel. All have forward lounges and ample outdoor deck space for viewing and photographing wildlife and scenery. All vessels are also equipped with inflatable landing boats for close-up exploration of remote areas and shore landings.

Destinations served include: Alaska and the Bering Sea, British Columbia, Columbia & Snake Rivers, California Wine Country, Mexico's Sea of Cortés, Costa Rica & Panama, The U.S. eastern seaboard, the Caribbean, Japan, the South Pacific, the Kuril Islands, and the Great Lakes