Party On The Harbor

Music cruises aren’t new as the concept goes: once or maybe twice a year a well-known act, with or without other bands in the same genre, takes several thousands of their closest friends on a trip to the Caribbean, playing concerts along the way.

There are jam-band cruises, classic rock cruises, even comedy cruises. This one will tour the New York skyline for a couple of hours and do it over and over throughout the summer.

“Like in many cities, people tend to not see their own tourist attractions,” Scher told Pollstar. “Three-quarters of people probably haven’t toured the Statue of Liberty. But every once in a while New Yorkers say, ‘Hey, you know what? I have a friend coming in from out of town. Let’s jump on the Circle Line.’” The Circle Line is a fleet of sightseeing boats primarily used by visitors to the Big Apple.

Its owners, New York Cruise Lines, recently hired Daniel Boockvar, former COO of the Girl Scouts, to help build the Circle Line brand. The 45-year-old executive, who also spent more than a decade building Weight Watchers International, was brought on board as the 72-year-old company has seen increased competition in the sightseeing business. Since then, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises has built several properties on North River Landing, one of two piers owned by the company.

That includes the North River Lobster Company floating restaurant (aka a converted ship of the fleet that departs every 30 minutes) and the brand-new Fish Bar at North River Landing. The company wants to try its hand at bringing live music to three of its six-ship fleet, while the other three handle sightseeing duties. “We’ve been talking about it for four or five months, making sure it was practical, getting the sound system right, making this a great experience for people,” Scher said. “It’s going to be a floating party.”

Scher expects to do about 10 or 12 concerts this year with a significant increase next summer. “They’ve got three new boats coming in at the end of this year… The current boats are set up nicely but the new boats are designed specifically to do concerts or comedy.”

The current boats have a capacity of 600. “It’ll be fun for mid-New Yorkers because most haven’t done this,” Scher said. As for the genre, it’s wide open. “We’re talking to modern pop acts, some classic rock, some jazz and will have one reggae show, along with at least one, maybe two children’s performers,” he said. The summer series should be announced within the next two weeks.