Ally

Bayonne’s Cape Liberty will handle its first call by Queen Mary 2 on Saturday when the Cunard liner ends a trans-Atlantic voyage in the New Jersey port. Also turning around that day for a Bermuda sailing will be Celebrity Cruises’ Zenith.

Cape Liberty port director Anthony Caputo told media that cruise berths in Manhattan and Brooklyn will be at capacity on Saturday, necessitating QM2’s relocation.

Cape Liberty has handled two cruise ships simultaneously on several occasions, but never two turn-around calls in a day, Caputo said. Special accommodations are being made for Zenith at an eastern berth closer to the Sept. 11 memorial statue dedicated earlier this month.

Caputo said the port is excited to host the Cunard liner. ‘The bar is set very high when you have a ship like Queen Mary 2,’ he noted. After a fall foliage cruise to New England/Canada, QM2 is scheduled to return to Bayonne on Oct. 12 to disembark passengers and then will deadhead to Brooklyn to take on embarking guests for another New England/Canada run.

Caputo believes the last time a Queen visited Bayonne was Queen Elizabeth 2’s 1976 call.

(Cunard/Cape Liberty Port Authority)

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1965 - Cunard Queen Mary
1967 - Cunard Queen Elizabeth
1970 - Cunard Queen Elizabeth 2
1971 - P&O Oriana
1972 - SS France
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Coming up next.....

10/10/2009 - Costa Classica - Grand Oriental Cruise - Shanghai, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Kobe, Naha, Keelung and Hong Kong - 16 Nights Cruising in: 274 day(s), 7 hour(s), 1 minute(s)