NORTH CAPE MAY – It may usher in a new market for tourism for Cape May, the arrival of a cruise ship at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal May 18. It was a grand welcome for the Nantucket Clipper of Cruise Lines West.
Arriving passengers were entertained by music of the Cape May County String Band and personally greeted by Cape May Mayor Jerome Inderwies, his wife Lydia, and Deputy Mayor Niels Favre.
Bright green trolleys from the Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts awaited to take passengers to Cape May for their choice of a history or nature tour or just free time to walk around the historic city for five hours before the ship departed.
The 208-foot Nantucket Clipper, built in 1984, was smaller than Cape May-Lewes ferries docked in adjacent births. The Nantucket carries 102 passengers, a crew of 36, and cruises in the Intracoastal Waterway from Virginia to Maine.
The cruise ship visit was the brainchild of Cape May hotel owner Larry Hirsch. He said he began his search on the Internet to locate cruise ships that travel along the East Coast.
“I think this was an act of fate because I contacted a company and discovered one of the managing members was from Cape May,” he said. “It was meant to be.”
The ship’s captain Bruce Redmer is a former Cape May resident.
Cruise Director Donnie Ledbetter said the ship would return for another visit in November. He said the twice-yearly cruise begins in Alexandria, Va. and ends in New York City.
