Norfolk hub sets maiden cruise

Jason · April 28, 2007

Norfolk hub sets maiden cruise

The new Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center will welcome its first vessel, a Bermuda-bound ship.

By Peter Dujarin, The Daily Press

Norfolk's new $36 million cruise ship terminal will welcome its first vessel, Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas, on Saturday, with city and company officials set to inaugurate the new facility with the breaking of a bottle of sparkling wine.

Royal Caribbean executives and Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim will be on hand to dedicate the terminal, located adjacent to Nauticus and called the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center. Bermuda premier Ewart Brown, who will fly in for the day, will help dedicate the center's Bermuda Room.

Later Saturday afternoon, the 1,600-passenger vessel, which will arrive that morning from Puerto Rico, will set sail for Bermuda.

The event is closed to the public, but should be visible from nearby Town Point Park, which will be outfitted with loudspeakers for the occasion.

"People in the park will be able to see and hear what is going on," said Stephen Kirkland, manager of cruise operations and marketing for the Half Moone terminal. "We'd love to have people coming down to the park. It will be a good vantage point to see everything."

The ceremony, which begins at 12:15 p.m., will take place on an outdoor deck of the new terminal, with the ship's captain and many crew members taking part in the ceremony from the bow of the cruise ship that will be parked nearby.

Terminal officials announced this week that the center will exhibit a large maritime collection, including model cruise ships, design drawings, passenger manifests, as well as deck chairs from the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

The Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center is the first cruise ship terminal to exhibit the collection, which is on loan by Norma Beazley, the widow of a late Houston attorney, Herbert Beazley.

The collection is a long-term loan that will be on display at the terminal for "years to come," Kirkland said. The collection will not be open to the public - aside from the cruise ship's passengers - for Saturday's event.

The Empress of the Seas is scheduled to arrive at the new terminal at 6 a.m. Saturday, departing at 4 p.m.