I could not recommend this trip - or the Circle Line Company - to anyone, after our experience on Thursday 3rd October, the 10am sailing. The trip was terrible, distinctly unsafe, and an appalling reflection on the Company - and it ruined our trip to New York from the UK. The captain was guilty of gross negligence on at least three occasions, and the company did, and has done, nothing. I will explain ...
I had not read the previous comments about restrictions due to tides, so was somewhat surprised to hear from the guide, David Parker, at the start of the cruise that we may not be able to achieve the full circle. I had however read the website, which explained that all the boats “were specially designed to fit under the bridges”. Would that that were the case!
The first part of the trip, around the southern tip of Manhattan, and up the East River, was fine. But once in the Harlem River, the guide advised that there were several critical tidal markers that the captain had to consider, before deciding it was safe to proceed. He passed two markers, and continued. The third was a close call getting under a bridge (University Heights, West 207th Street). The fourth and last bridge (Broadway Bridge, Route 9) he failed to get under, hitting it with an almighty bang, and just managed to reverse backwards away. We realised then that we would have to return without completing the circle. But when the captain returned back to the previous bridge, University Heights, he then concluded that he could not, on the continuing rising tide, get back through. We were trapped between the two bridges! This was just before 12 noon. The tide continued to rise for two more hours, and in the event we remained trapped for over 5 hours, wandering up and down the short section of river by the City Garbage Depot - until the captain decided that, in his opinion, the tide had dropped sufficiently to get under the Broadway Bridge.
The captain was grossly negligent in his two actions in passing through the first bridge, and hitting the second. But what about his final, in the lucky event successful, attempt to get through the bridge? He risked the lives of all of us. During the long wait, I asked the tour guide on what basis the decision about the timing of the attempt would be made. Were we wasting our holiday waiting unduly, or conversely - and more seriously - risking our lives by going too soon? He said that it was solely down to the judgement of the captain, whom he trusted. This being the captain who had hit the bridge, and got us in the mess in the first place! What happened? All the passengers were asked to go outside on the lower deck by the bow, to weight the boat down, in the attempt to lower the boat’s roof. What do you think might have been the situation if we had stuck fast? Could the boat perhaps have capsized in struggling in the tide? Could people have been thrown into the water - and drowned? Our captain, and his tour guide, risked culpable homicide.
In the event, we got through with only a couple of inches to spare - but at what risk!!
On the journey back thereafter, perhaps through shock, the tour guide kept repeating that nobody had died! What a relief to us - but what a risk they took.
We eventually got back to our departure point, Pier 83, at just after 6pm - compared with 12.30pm as programmed.
Leaving aside the risks to our lives for the moment, the delay was appalling, and like most of the 100 or so passengers, ruined our plans for the rest of the day - in our case our only full day in NYC. We had paid bookings at the Guggenheim, at the Frick, and for Top of the Rock - all lost. Fellow passengers lost theatre and restaurant bookings, other trips, and one family may have missed their flights back to Europe. But it isn’t just the simple cost of those events - for my wife and I, with it being a key part of our USA trip, what about the cost of two nights accommodation, and the flights - all for the memory of 5 and a half hours stuck opposite a garbage depot!
But also, what of the role of the Company? During the whole experience, the only person we heard from was the guide, who kept saying that “we were all in the same boat”, and he could do nothing. The captain never appeared. The guide informed us that possibly the bridge could be raised (it’s a 2 deck rail and road bridge which can be lifted), but could take 4 hours to arrange. We never found out whether the Company was trying to arrange this, or anything about a possible timescale. The most obvious solution would have been to send a lower, smaller, boat to rescue us. The guide, clearly lacking in any skill or experience, by his own admission, claimed that would be too dangerous. That was clearly nonsense. If the boat had broken down, or somebody was taken ill, that might have needed to happen. We weren’t on the high seas. Too expensive was the more likely reason. In reality, we were effectively abandoned by the Circle Line Company during our ordeal. Why were no Company people present on the bridge, checking the levels for safety? Why were the City safety authorities not alerted and present? If a railway bridge had been hit by a vehicle in the UK, the bridge would have been closed for checks. Perhaps the Company kept it quiet?
On our return we were promised (by the guide) that there would be a whole team of managers to deal with our concerns. In reality, we only saw just two managers turned out to speak to some 100 passengers. We had dinner reservations, so didn’t stop to make the points I’ve raised here. But you can imagine that in the long wait, and in the light of the horrifically risky eventual manoeuvres, there was plenty of time to share names and email addresses. Watch this space for the class action suits - way beyond refunds, into loss of vacations and punitive damages!
So the bottom line - do you really want to risk your life, or more seriously your whole family, with these people?