A busy day in New York and one which my friend, Howard Paulman, went to photograph. He also travelled up to Boston to catch Saga Ruby. He kindly let us host his photos and here's his report of the days. On 26 September 2009, New York City had six ships in port. Four of them -- Saga Ruby, Carnival Triumph, Queen Victoria, and Costa Atlantica -- were berthed in Manhattan. Saga Ruby was berthed at the south side of Pier 92 with Carnival Triumph on the north side of Pier 90 while Queen Victoria and Costa Atlantica shared Pier 88. |
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| Costa Atlantica was berthed on the south side of Pier 88 and while it might look like she had contact with the terminal she did not. Two weeks later to the day Saga Ruby would not be so lucky when she occupied this berth |
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| At Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey, Explorer of the Seas was getting ready to leave and she sailed shortly after this, falling in line behind Carnival Triumph with Caribbean Princess being the last of the departures that left on time. |
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| With the first departure set done, I headed north to Weehawken, New Jersey across the river from the Passenger Ship Terminal in Manhattan. Saga Ruby and Queen Victoria were both scheduled to leave one hour later than originally planned at 6:30 pm and 7 pm respectively. Saga Ruby left as I was driving north but thanks to a kind parking attendant at the Sheraton Suites Weehawken all was not lost. Queen Victoria was still at her berth at 7:30 pm when word was received that she would not leave that evening. Passengers were first told heavy fog was expected off Newport, Rhode Island the following morning and the port call was cancelled. Later they were told that her azipods were not working properly and the ship could not reverse out of the berth under her own power. Queen Victoria did sail at 6 am the following morning after repairs were made. Costa Atlantica was not late as her scheduled departure was not until 7 pm the following evening. |
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| Three days later Saga Ruby was in Boston on the second day of her annual visit. She left on schedule shortly after 6 pm. |
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| While most passenger vessels doing one annual fall roundtrip from England to the United States and Canada visit New York once, Saga Ruby was different this year with two daytime calls at the port two weeks apart. On October 10, she returned to the Big Apple and berthed at the south side of Pier 88 where Costa Atlantica had been two weeks earlier. While I did not know this at the time, contact with the fender at the end of the pier in the left side of the image had damaged her bow while docking, delaying her return to Southampton by two days. |
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| With Norwegian Jewel casting off, I rushed to take the last photo of Saga Ruby before hurrying down river one block to Pier 84 to capture Norwegian Jewel as she was turning downriver ten minutes after this photo was taken. Carnival Triumph followed fifteen minutes after Norwegian Jewel and while she never used tugs before, Lee Moran guided her out of the berth. This change was due to Carnival now having a tug on stand-by for all departures after the Carnival Legend hit Enchantment of the Seas in Cozumel on October 1 while leaving her berth. |
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| At 6:30 pm, word was received that Saga Ruby would not be sailing that night. On Sunday, October 11, Saga Ruby left Manhattan at 7 am for wet-dock repairs at the Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey. She occupied the temporary berth used by Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas for each turnaround until the new Cape Liberty terminal is finished. The first three images were taken from the southbound Staten Island ferry. The last two were taken at The Tear Drop at Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey with the last photo showing where the bow hit the fender at the end of Pier 88 while she was docking on Saturday, October 10. In the past, several vessels, including QE2 and Carnival Victory, have had damage to the upper portion of their bow after either hitting terminal windows or the parking deck concrete wall while docking. This was the first time damage occurred near the waterline for a ship docking in Manhattan. |
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