Planning Progress For The Upcoming 2012 Season

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Empire Cruise Lines and Metro-North Railroad Continue Discount Package

Poughkeepsie, New York, February 16^th 2012 – Empire Cruise Lines and Metro-North Railroad are teaming up again this spring to offer big discounts on a train ride and sightseeing cruise combination on the majestic Hudson River.

After a successful start in 2011 that saw hundreds of international visitors and residents from the New York Metro area came up to Poughkeepsie on Metro-North’s Hudson Line to cruise and dine aboard Empire Cruise Line’s M/V Mystère.

Empire Cruise Lines and Metro-North package represents a joint effort to promote Dutchess County as a destination for sightseeing cruises and leisure travel. “Last year, hundreds of international visitors and New York City residents alike journeyed up the Hudson River on Metro-North and continued their adventure aboard the M/V Mystère,” said Jeffrey Pyle, President of Empire Cruise Lines. “We want everyone to know what we know: Poughkeepsie is a great river cruise destination.

Mary Kay Vrba, Director of Dutchess Tourism, says that they will be offering Farm Fresh Tours once again this year, “By combining Empire Cruise Lines and their commitment to sustainable agriculture and the Farm Fresh Tours, Metro-North customers have great opportunities to experience the best of Dutchess County.”

Through the partnership, the discount package offers a great value for taking a daytrip via Metro-North. Discount rail fare for the package is based on the boarding station. The total package price from Grand Central Terminal and Harlem-125 Street Station is $43.25 for adults; $38 for seniors; children 12, $38.25; children 5-11, $13.50; children under 5, free.

“Customers can relax and enjoy the scenic views along the Hudson, all the way up to Poughkeepsie and then hop on the Mystère and enjoy cruising on the Hudson. It‘s a terrific Hudson Valley escape,” says Metro-North President, Howard Permut. The package goes on sale in Metro-North’s ticket system in mid- April and can be purchased at Metro-North tickets offices and all full-service ticket vending machines (except in Poughkeepsie Station).

The Mystère will operate her normal schedule of cruises and charter availability from early May through October featuring sightseeing, lunch and dinner cruises featuring Hudson Valley produce.

The 60-foot, double-decked passenger vessel will be docked at the City Of Poughkeepsie Waryas Park, 29 North Water Street, just 20 minutes from the New York State Thruway and a few minutes’ walk from the Poughkeepsie Railroad station.

Please visit our website at empirecruiselines.com or contact us toll free 866-797-9024 for more information.

###

Press Release

Empire Cruise Lines

PO Box 392

Baldwinsville, NY 13027

(866) 797-9024

www.empirecruiselines.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Empire Cruise Lines Announces Sustainable Agriculture Commitment

Poughkeepsie, New York, January 4^th 2012 – Empire Cruise Lines announces expansion of culinary cruise offerings featuring sustainable Hudson Valley agriculture.

After a successful year in 2011 carrying more than 3500 passengers from 40 states and more than 20 countries, Empire Cruise Lines is deepening its commitment to Hudson Valley sustainable agriculture and the tourism economy.

According to Captain Pyle, “2011 saw a tremendous desire on the part of the inbound tourism market to support local sustainable agriculture. According to Capt. Pyle, “as a veteran owned and family run business we’re striving to strengthen the connection with local chefs who truly embraces the City of Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley. Empire Cruise Lines has a great partnership with Crave in Poughkeepsie and we want to expand our culinary options. One of our goals is to showcase Hudson Valley produce and culinary skill and with passengers coming from as far away as Asia and Australia it can be very challenging to find a chef who can do this.” This is a challenge indeed and Captain Pyle’s travels around the region lead him right back to the City Of Poughkeepsie for a surprising and very informative contact with Erik Morabito a Poughkeepsie native who established Café Bocca in the Mount Carmel section of the city.

“When I would stop into Café Bocca I noticed that people were frequently stopping in with vegetables and produce directly from the farm,” according to Capt. Pyle “this direct connection to the farmer is what we are looking for in our dinner and lunch cruises. The chefs commitment to utilize local produce and Café Bocca demonstrated flexibility is what we are looking for so we so we approached the chef to see if he would be interested in working with us.”

According to Erik Morabito, the owner of Café Bocca, “Word of Mouth” has always been regarded by Morabito as the best form of advertising.” This proved to be true since it was Mary Kay Vrba the Director of Dutchess Tourism who first made the connection between Empire Cruise Lines and Café Bocca. “The partnership between the two businesses seemed like a natural fit” said Ms. Vrba “Café Bocca is close to the waterfront in Poughkeepsie and promotes local farm fresh foods. Combining a cruise on the river, which continues to be an important source for transportation of food products and people and farm fresh products, the visitors to Dutchess County will enjoy the beauty of the river and the taste of the Hudson Valley”

The 60 foot, double-decked passenger vessel cruises May through October and operates from the City of Poughkeepsie’s Waryes Park, 29 North Water Street. Please visit our website at www.empirecruiselines or contact us at 866-797-9024 for more information.

Stephenie R Pyle, General Manager

Empire Cruise Lines

Email stephenie@empirecruiselines.com

###

2011 Public Cruise Season Is Set

Press Release

Empire Cruise Lines

PO Box 392

Baldwinsville, NY 13027

(315) 934-4157

www.empirecruiselines.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Empire Cruise Lines Announces Schedule Of Cruises For New Dinner And Tour Boat In Poughkeepsie.

Poughkeepsie, New York, February 23^rd 2011 – Empire Cruise Lines announces the public cruise season for the cruise boat M/V Mystère, the first dinner, sightseeing, and tour boat to call Poughkeepsie her homeport for more than two generations

After several months of project development and culinary planning Empire Cruise Lines announces the official public cruise schedule for the 2011 cruise season. The schedule compliments Metro North Railroad’s Hudson Line off-peak train schedule and pedestrian traffic along the Walkway Over The Hudson. Empire Cruise Lines also worked with regional and out of state tour operators, Dutchess Tourism, and the City Of Poughkeepsie administration to create a schedule that will bring tourists into the City Of Poughkeepsie and the county.

Capt. Jeffrey S Pyle, President of Empire Cruise Lines, says, “People have been inquiring about our public cruise schedule and menus for some time now. It’s been a challenging process but we set very high standards for ourselves and our supporting businesses. We want to work with people who are passionate about showcasing the bounty of the Hudson Valley. We took months to work through a menu, the chefs, restaurant owners and regions wineries have been very helpful in developing a menu that will evolve with the season’s harvest, something no other cruise line in the region does.”

Empire Cruise Lines will begin its inaugural cruise season with a party cruise on May 5^th. Clear Channel Radio of Hudson Valley will sponsor this Cinco de Mayo themed party cruise. Catherine Chalpin, Promotions and Integrated Marketing Director for Clear Channel Hudson Valley say’s “We are extremely excited to kick off the cruising season with Empire Cruise Lines inaugural cruise at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie. The Mystère is a fantastic addition to developing the city’s waterfront and Clear Channel Radio of the Hudson Valley and 96.1 KISS FM are honored to be a part of this kickoff.”

Beginning on Mother’s Day May 8^th Empire Cruise Lines will operate the following public cruise schedule until the last week in October:

Two Hour Sightseeing Cruises – Tuesday Through Sunday at 11:30 AM and 2:30PM
Lunch service is available – Tuesday through Saturday during the 11:30AM cruise.
Two One Half Hour Dinner Cruises – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with a departure time of 6:00 PM
Two Hour Brunch cruises – Sunday with an 11:30 AM departure time.

The Mystère will be docked at the City of Poughkeepsie Waryes Park, 29 North Water Street, just 20 minutes from the New York State Thruway and a few minutes’ walk from the Poughkeepsie Railroad station.

Please visit our website at www.empirecruiselines or contact us at 315-934-4157 for more information.

Stephenie R Pyle, General Manager

Empire Cruise Lines

Phone 315-934-4157

email stephenie@empirecruiselines.com

www.empirecruiselines.com

###

Empire Cruise Lines & Metro North Getaway Package

Press Release

Empire Cruise Lines
PO Box 392
Baldwinsville, NY 13027
(315) 934-4157
www.empirecruiselines.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Empire Cruise Lines And Metro North Railroad Sign Get Away Offers

Poughkeepsie, New York, January 27th 2011 – Empire Cruise Lines and Metro North Railroad sign agreement to promote local Hudson River sightseeing cruises from the City of Poughkeepsie dock at Victor C Waryas Park.
Empire Cruise Lines and Metro North, working in conjunction with City Of Poughkeepsie’s Mayor John Tyzack and Dutchess Tourism, have signed an agreement that will promote sightseeing cruises aboard Empire Cruise Lines dinner and tour boat M/V Mystère. The cruises will begin in May of this year from the city’s dock in Poughkeepsie.
Jeffrey Pyle, President of Empire Cruise Lines, says, “This agreement furthers our commitment to investing in the community. This partnership agreement will help boost the city’s economy by leveraging the ability of Metro North to reach the nearly 250,000 riders each day on the Hudson Line and New Canaan Lines. We expect that the City of Poughkeepsie will see a tremendous boost in visitors this summer. “The benefit of this agreement is that these visitors will arrive by rail, the vehicle traffic will be minimal, and once they come aboard for one of our cruises they will shop in local businesses, and eat in local restaurants. This really is a win-win for everyone.”

Mary Kay Vrba, Director of Dutchess County Tourism stated, “We are very happy that Empire Cruise Lines and Metro North have partnered to offer visitors from the Metro New York area an opportunity to cruise on the Hudson River and spend time in Dutchess County. After the cruise they can visit the Walkway over the Hudson and enjoy our waterfront and families can visit the Mid Hudson Children Museum, it really creates a complete package for visitors to the region.”

According to the agreement, Empire Cruise Lines will offer discounted tickets to Metro North customers through the MTA’s Getaway program. The program provides off-peak riders an easy way to escape the hectic city and explore Hudson Valley. The tickets will be available at each Metro North station.

The Mystère will operate her normal schedule of cruises and charter availability from early May through October. She will provide perfectly relaxing sightseeing cruises and fine dinner cruises, which will reflect the season’s harvest. The 60 foot, double-decked passenger vessel will be docked at the City Of Poughkeepsie Waryes Park, 29 North Water Street, just 20 minutes from the New York State Thruway and a few minutes’ walk from the Poughkeepsie Railroad station

Please visit our website at http://www.empirecruiselines.com or contact us at 315-934-4157 for more information.

Stephenie R Pyle, General Manager
Empire Cruise Lines
Phone 315-934-4157
Email stephenie@empirecruiselines.com
www.empirecruiselines.com

Big News for the City of Poughkeepsie in 2011

BIG NEWS FOR 2011 We have big news this year. The dinner and tour boat M/V Mystère will be relocating from central New York and the Erie Canal to the storied and stunning Hudson River! The Mystère will be the first dinner and tour boat to call Poughkeepsie her homeport in more than a generation. We’ll commence our cruise season in May of 2011.

M/V Mystere will operate under the colors of Empire Cruise Lines. Our new website is www.empirecruiselines.com. We started looking at new homeport in the spring of 2010 when my brother, who is my business partner were sitting in local restaurant before the season started. We were discussing what we could do to bring the business to the next level. After many sleepless nights, and heart to heart discussions we both agreed that the vessel musr relocate. We started looking for potential locations and after many locations were considere the opportunity to move to the City Of Poughkeepsie was one we simply could not pass up.

This effort was not a simple undertaking by any stretch of the imagination. The logistics of moving an inspected passenger vessel to a new route is a logistically challenging endeavor. The US Coast Guard must be notified, inspections planned, homeport records for Vessel Documentaion must be changed , FCC lceneces addressed and much more then care to think about. In our case, we will be relocating to a new sector of operations with regard to the US Coast Guards structure. Fortunalty we have built up a very good rapport with Coast guard Sector Buffalo and they assisted us in the transfer of records, report files and such to Sector New York City. The initial contact with Sector New York established the tentative date of entering into the Sector responsibility and the inspection schedule for the boat. We had to do this while maintaining a growing operation in Central New York and negotiating with the City Of Poughkeepsie. I could not have done this without one very good deckhand, and one very understanding wife.

The negotiations with the City Of Poughkeepsie to many months to complete with discussions progressing as such things do, but in this case with the additional issues associated with numerous external stakeholders. Mayor Mayor John C. Tkazyik, the cities administrative staff, the Dutchess County Tourism Office and Metro North Railroad all worked with us to create an agreement that will bring a great opportunity to the City Of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County and the Hudson Valley region. We are very very excited at this opportunity and are looking forward to the upcoming season.

Our new homeport is Waryas Park on North Water Street and Main Street. The entire waterfront is undergoing a revitalization that has to be seen to be believed. We will be within walking distance of the Walkway Over The Hudson and the Children’s Museum. One fantastic opportunity for our guests is to enjoy these attractions immediately before or after our cruise. The Culinary Institute Of America is only 5 minutes away, the FDR Home and Presidential Library is less the 10 minutes as is the Vanderbilt Mansion. The combination of attractions in the immediate vicinity and the fantastic cruises along the beautiful Hudson River creates a perfect get away opportunity for couples, families and groups.