WEEHAWKEN AND BEYOND –Three months and $1.5 million later, the 20-year-old Entertainment Cruise’s boat Spirit of New Jersey set sail with its new digs on Tuesday evening carrying its passengers by the Statue of Liberty and the new World Trade Center in style.
The Spirit boasted a brand new upper deck lounge replete with sleek couches and its own bar and double-paned, anti-fog windows on its two refurbished lower decks, amongst other improvements.
“Remember on rainy, cold days when the windows would fog up and everyone complained?” Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner asked the crowd. “Well, they’ve fixed it!”
The two new sparkly disco dance floors served to showcase a variety of waitstaff’s musical talents (they all perform as well as serve, killing two industry birds with one entertaining stone), and the buffet-style American cuisine prepared on board by recently-appointed Executive Chef Synthia Lange sated the audience.
“It’s a fun, upbeat, high energy ship now,” Spirit Cruise Vice President Christine Metivier said. “The top-deck lounge and bars appeal to a younger crowd, but our cruises appeal to just about anyone.”
In an impromptu arrangement, Metivier, Turner, and Weehawken Board of Education President Richard Barsa announced the reinstatement of the traditional, donated Christmas cruise for the town’s fifth and sixth graders this coming year.
“Spirit Cruises is a great corporate partner,” Turner said. “They’ve employed many Weehawken residents in the past, including a captain.”
For more details on the new Spirit of New Jersey, stay tuned to the Weehawken Reporter. — Gennarose Pope
Spirit of NJ sets sail after $1.5 million facelift
