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Big boats help city make football float
Jacksonville docks cruise ships along the St. Johns River to meet the NFL's hotel room requirement.
By JAY CRIDLIN
Published February 3, 2005
JACKSONVILLE - Forget tailgating. Karen Tutwiler is sailgating.
Wednesday night, she and nine friends from Jacksonville's Epping Yacht Club spent the night partying aboard the Radisson Seven Seas Navigator cruise ship in downtown Jacksonville.
Tonight, she's heading to another party on another cruise ship docked just up the road.
"It's a five-course meal, all you can drink from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. We have breakfast and we get off tomorrow," she said. "And I live five minutes from here."
Downtown Jacksonville was abuzz Wednesday with the arrival of the Navigator, the first of five cruise ships to dock in the city to serve as floating hotels for 6,400 people during Super Bowl XXXIX.
The ceilings are low and the doorways are narrow, but right now, a room on one of the ships is among the hottest tickets in town.
As crowds trickle into town, the city allowed locals to buy meal and one-night room packages. Hundreds of people shelled out up to $600 for the privilege.
"We thought it'd be something fun to do, since we're not going to the game," said Ellen Setzer, 55.
The Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee spent about $11.7-million to book the ships, more than expected. But because the city was required by the NFL to keep cabin prices competitive with those of similar hotel rooms, they will only recoup about $9-million through cabin rentals.
But without the ships' extra capacity, Jacksonville never would have landed the big game. The NFL requires a city to have more than 17,000 luxury hotel rooms to even think about submitting a bid, and Jacksonville fell well short.
Then in 2000, Jacksonville officials got creative. Jacksonville Jaguars owner J. Wayne Weaver proposed docking cruise ships along the St. Johns River. NFL officials were wary, but a team from Jacksonville won them over with a tour of the area.
"We've turned a potential challenge of not getting the game into something that we think is an actual advantage, based on the proximity and uniqueness of being on the river," said Michael Kelly, president of the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee.
The Navigator, which was in Tampa only a month ago, is the only ship docked downtown, across the street from the Adam's Mark Hotel.
Three Holland America Line ships, the Zaandam, Zuiderdam and Volendam, are docked at the city's Talleyrand Marine Terminal, just north of Alltel Stadium. A fifth ship, the Carnival Cruise Lines Miracle, is docked at the JaxPort Cruise Terminal.
Aboard the Navigator, the most expansive suite is only 1,173 square feet. But the cabins are equipped with fully stocked bars and electronics, and many have a view of the St. Johns River or the Jacksonville skyline. At the Talleyrand station, the city will operate a nonstop shuttle between the ships, the stadium and downtown.
Nearly all of the rooms were distributed to NFL corporate sponsors, including Cadillac, Southwest Airlines and Federal Express. The Navigator - recently seen in the Pierce Brosnan flick After the Sunset - was packed with Fox television employees.
Security for boarding is tight. Guests of passengers are allowed, but not without a government-issued ID. Police ships patrol the St. Johns River, and barricades limit street traffic near the ships.
Officials from other cities, including Tampa, have inquired about the cruise ship strategy, which were used in the Barcelona, Sydney and Athens Olympics.
Kelly headed task forces for Tampa's most recent Super Bowl and the 1999 Final Four.
"We took all the hotel rooms in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, and still used about 4,000 hotel rooms in Orlando to solve our hotel shortage in the Tampa Bay market," Kelly said.
Leonard Levy, who's heading Tampa's bid to host the 2009 Super Bowl, said he'll keep an eye on how the cruise ships fare this week.
"If the cruise ship lines do well in Jacksonville," he said, "they may want to bring some in."
Levy and his team are staying at a hotel in Sea Island, Ga., because of Jacksonville's shortage.
Jay Cridlin can be reached at cridlin@sptimes.com
[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:06:07]
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