\nBy DONALD WITTKOWSKI, Staff Writer<\/p>\n
\tATLANTIC CITY \u2014 Planes, trains and automobiles all deliver tourists to the doorsteps of Atlantic City. Buses, too.
\n\tStrangely, what\u2019s missing from a seaside resort named after the Atlantic Ocean are ships.<\/p>\n
\tSearching for new ways to draw business to the tourist-dependent town, Mayor Don Guardian wants to transform Atlantic City into a port of call for cruise lines.<\/p>\n
\tGuardian\u2019s ambitions appear to be somewhat modest \u2014 not, well, titanic.<\/p>\n
\tAtlantic City would cater to the smaller cruise lines, not the megaships that commonly ply the waters of the Caribbean carrying thousands of passengers at a time.<\/p>\n
\tAn engineering study has found that the city\u2019s waterways are deep enough to accommodate cruise ships 200 feet long, Guardian noted.
\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ll be looking at trying to get the federal government to help establish a port in Atlantic City,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tThe mayor described a possible channel for the ships in the northeastern tip of the city between the Golden Nugget Atlantic City casino hotel, the Brigantine Bridge and the U.S. Coast Guard Station.<\/p>\n
\tGuardian divulged the cruise ship proposal during remarks before a European-American Chamber of Commerce luncheon June 12. Much of the luncheon focused on the possibility of attracting international charter flights from Europe to Atlantic City International Airport. Talks have started with European discount airlines Jet2.com and Ryanair about possibly flying to Atlantic City.<\/p>\n
\tGuardian endorsed the idea of European charter flights, but he also raised hopes that Atlantic City could become a stopover for what he called the \u201cregional lines and economy lines\u201d that operate smaller cruise ships.<\/p>\n
\tIn its never-ending quest for more visitors, the city wants to expand its tourist attractions beyond the casino hotels. One anchor for new development could be Historic Gardner\u2019s Basin, the maritime park tucked away in the city\u2019s Northeast Inlet section overlooking Absecon Inlet. The park is a haven for local residents, but is detached from the popular tourist areas, such as the beaches, the Boardwalk and the casino zones.<\/p>\n
\tGuardian told the European-American Chamber of Commerce that the city plans to seek formal proposals by the end of the year from private companies to develop 22 acres at Gardner\u2019s Basin.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat\u2019s the amount of space you have at Baltimore\u2019s Inner Harbor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tCruise ships could enhance the redevelopment of Gardner\u2019s Basin and help diversify the city\u2019s tourist trade, the mayor said. Currently, the vast majority of Atlantic City\u2019s nearly 27 million annual visitors arrive by car. Planes and trains contribute only small numbers of tourists. Casino bus passengers used to represent close to half of the annual visitors. However, bus traffic has plunged in recent years.<\/p>\n
\tOne casino executive believes cruise ships could help re-energize the city by giving a boost to midweek business, normally the slowest time for the gambling industry.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI definitely think it\u2019s a good idea,\u201d said Tom Ballance, president of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. \u201cI always thought we could attract more business if a cruise line ran out of Atlantic City.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBallance envisions cruise passengers staying at the casino hotels before embarking on their trips. They might stay a night or two after returning to Atlantic City from their cruises, he added.<\/p>\n
\tThe thought of 200-foot ships docking at Atlantic City is not all that far-fetched. The Frank S. Farley State Marina next to the Golden Nugget has handled some palatial yachts over the years. Donald Trump\u2019s former 282-foot yacht, Trump Princess, used to spend summers in Atlantic City. More recently, Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta has moored his 164-foot yacht Boardwalk at the Farley marina.<\/p>\n
\tPointing to the Trump and Fertitta yachts as examples, one casino analyst characterized Guardian\u2019s plan for smaller cruise ships as \u201cvery doable.\u201d
\n\t\u201cThis might work,\u201d said Israel Posner, executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. \u201cSome of the cruise lines are seeking access to the great coastlines of the East Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By DONALD WITTKOWSKI, Staff Writer ATLANTIC CITY \u2014 Planes, trains and automobiles all deliver tourists to the doorsteps of Atlantic City. Buses, too. Strangely, what\u2019s missing from a seaside resort named after the Atlantic Ocean are ships. Searching for new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}