American Princess Cruises, based in Neponsit, Queens,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

under the TWFM Ferry Service, Inc., offers

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

sightseeing Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity o ...

, and

yacht charter Yacht chartering is the practice of renting, or chartering, a sailboat or motor yacht and traveling to various coastal or island destinations. There are three main kinds of charter: bareboat, skippered and crewed. Bareboat charters require the ...

excursions in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is one of several private ferry operators in the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York metropolitan area, New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the sy ...

Fleet

American Princess Cruises' fleet consists of one

monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unstab ...

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

, the ''American Princess''. The ''American Princess'' built in 1988 by Breaux Brothers Enterprises can carry up to 250 passengers. The American princess Boats

moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

at Riis Landing in Roxbury.

Rockaway/Riis Landing

New York Beach Ferry

American Princess Cruises' New York Beach Ferry brand operates New York Water Taxi's ferries to

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, b ...

beaches on the Rockaway Peninsula on Fridays, weekends, and holidays during the

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. Boats travel between Pier 11/Wall Street in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and Riis Landing near Fort Tilden.

Rockaway commuter service

New York Beach Ferry operated a commuter ferry under the New York Water Taxi brand between

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

at the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

and Riis Landing in Roxbury, Queens on

Fridays, weekends, and holidays. The ferry also served the

Brooklyn Army Terminal The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than between 58th and 63rd Streets west of 2nd Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally used ...

, East 34th Street Ferry Landing, and Sandy Hook Bay

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

on Fridays. The ferry, which used leisure boats ''American Princess'' and ''American Princess II'' made its maiden voyage on May 12, 2008, and was set to make its final voyage on March 19, 2010 due to low ridership (an average of 160 commuters used the ferry on weekdays). However, due to the action of City Councilman Eric Ulrich, as well as the Mayor's Office,

Christine Quinn Christine Callaghan Quinn (born July 25, 1966) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she formerly served as the Speaker of the New York City Council. The third person to hold this office, she was the first female and fi ...

, and other members of the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

in response to outrage by riders, the ferry was temporarily saved and funding continued until June 30, 2010. The $6 fare only recovered about thirty percent of the ferry's operating cost, with an average subsidy of $25 per passenger from the City. The ferry's daily rush hour service was indefinitely suspended on July 1, 2010. In response to transit complications caused by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, ferry service was revived, though the concession was given to SeaStreak. The route became

NYC Ferry NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. , there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet ...

's Rockaway ferry route on May 1, 2017.{{Cite news, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/nyregion/new-york-today-citywide-ferry-service-begins.html, title=New York Today: Our City’s New Ferry, last=Levine, first=Alexandra S., date=May 1, 2017, work=The New York Times, access-date=May 1, 2017, last2=Wolfe, first2=Jonathan, issn=0362-4331

Wild Life Tours

Whale and Dolphin Watching

From late April through mid November, the American Princess departs on Whale and Dolphin Watching tours out of Riis Landing. There's 1 trip per weekday on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday departing at 12pm returning approximately 4pm. These weekday tours run through early September. The weekend trips on Saturday and Sunday depart at 1pm and return approximately 5pm. In early September these trips depart and 12pm and return at 4pm. Whales seen on these trips and predominantly humpback whales with Minke, North Atlantic Right Whales and Fin Whales occasionally seen. Dolphins are predominantly Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins with Common dolphins occasionally seen. The American Princess is the only whale watching vessel in New York to be certified by WHALE SENSE a division of NOAA that regularly tests and certifies boats and crews in safe whale watching practices.

Seal Watching

From mid March to late April, the American Princess departs on seal watching cruises to Swinburne and Hoffman Islands, just south of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

Notes

External links

Official siteNew York Water TaxiNew York Beach FerryNew York Water Taxi - Rockaway Beach ServiceNew York Water Taxi - Sandy Hook Beach ServiceRockaway FerryNew York Tourism Guide
Ferries of New Jersey Ferries of New York City Ferry companies of New Jersey Ferry companies of New York City Port of New York and New Jersey Tourism in New Jersey Tourism in New York City Travel and holiday companies of the United States Water transportation in New York City