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.