Gansett to host cruise-ship guests under deal with DNE

NEWPORT – Captain Jeff O’Brien and his Gansett Cruises will be teaming up with Destination New England this fall to offer mansion and harbor tours to cruise-ship guests arriving aboard the Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Mary II or the vessels of the Princess Cruises line.
Last year, O’Brien began offering what he calls “harbor tours with a different view,” getting up-close and personal with both tour guests and local landmarks.
Tours aboard his 50-foot wooden motor yacht, the M/V Gansett, typically circle Newport Harbor and the ocean liners that anchor there. Each trip also includes a spread of local food and beverages that offers a true taste of Rhode Island.
“The crew and I like to give every person the feeling you get from being a guest aboard a luxury yacht, even though they’re only aboard for 90 minutes,” O’Brien said in a statement. “We want to make the tour and the boat ride memorable for everyone.”
The Gansett – the company’s principal vessel, certified for up to 48 passengers – was built for Giffy Full in 1969 by Beal & Bunker of Mount Desert, Maine. It was designed by Miles Fitch, based on sketches by Full.
O’Brien – a 25-year veteran of the charter industry – saw pictures of the yacht when he visited Full in Brookline, Maine. He had been looking for a boat of his own for some time, and knew he wanted this one. After persuading Full to sell, he took the vessel to Peter Buxton, of Buxton Boats in Stonington, Maine, to be stripped down and refitted. He began offering harbor cruises aboard the fully-restored vessel last year.
Under his new agreement with DNE, cruise-ship guests opting for the Gansett Cruises-DNE harbor cruise will begin with an hour-long motor coach tour of Ocean Drive and the City by the Sea’s famous mansions.
“This new specialty tour is the best of both – it allows the guests to experience Newport by land and sea,” said Tom Anderson, a DNE partner and co-owner who serves as director of product development for the destination management company, which provides similar shore excursions for cruise lines at ports all along the Atlantic seaboard. “Guests will see all of Newport in an intimate and unique way.”
The current 2008 schedule calls for Princess Cruises vessels to make 13 calls in Newport, each staying for half a day, and Cunard Line vessels to make two calls.
Gansett Cruises, based at Bowen’s Wharf in Newport Harbor, offers Bay, harbor and island tours and private excursions aboard the 48-passenger M/V Gansett. To learn more, call 787-4438 or visit www.gansettcruises.com.
Destination New England is a division of Destination Canada New England (DCNE), a destination management company specializing in shore excursions and other services for cruise ships calling at U.S. and Canadian ports along the Atlantic Coast, from South Florida to northern Quebec. To learn more, visit www.destinationcn.com.