Great News!
Now that he’s conquered Times Square, Mickey Mouse has set his sights on the Hudson River and beyond.
The 2,700-passenger Disney Magic ship will anchor at a Manhattan pier starting in May 2012 in a plan heralded as a triumph for city tourism.
Disney will use the Manhattan Cruise Terminal as the portal to 20 destinations in Canada and the Caribbean, ranging from introductory two-night trips out to sea to eight-night sailings to the Bahamas. Five-night cruises up the New England coast will call at Halifax, Nova Scotia, St. John and New Brunswick.
The move “cements our standing as a top cruise destination and will help us to exceed the record-breaking tourism numbers that are critical to supporting the city’s economy,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
City forecasters said that the ship will attract an additional 45,000 embarking passengers, adding $11 million in spending for NYC.
The 2010 Economic Impact Study showed that cruise passengers and crew spent $144.6 million in the Big Apple last year, with only 21 percent of cruise passengers living in the tri-state area.
Disney is the sixth major line to make NYC its home port, joining Holland America, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Lines at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal and Cunard and Princess at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.81203...-nyc-1.2804769