Dinner Cruise

On Thursday night, the symposium banquet will be a dinner cruise with Spirit Cruise Line. This dining experience will include parts of the Hudson and East Reviers and New York Harbor including spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York City skyline.

This is a 3 hour cruise, boarding at 6:30 PM on Thursday, June 26 and lasting from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. The charge includes one complimentary drink and a pay-for-yourself bar.  Cost: US $94/pp



Directions:

The cruise starts from the Chelsea Piers complex on Manhattan’s lower west side.  Chelsea piers runs along the Hudson River between 17th and 22nd Street. The symposium is not providing any organzied transportation to/from Spirit Cruise Lines, given that public transportation is the easiest way to get there in the early evening.  If you do not want to take public transporation, taxis from Columbia to west 23rd Street cost about $25 to $35 at that time of day, depending on traffic.



The easiest way to get to Chelsea Piers is to take the number 1 subway downtown from Columbia University and get off at the 23rd street stop.  When you exit the subway, you will be at 23rd Street and 7th Avenue.  From here you can either take the M23 bus westbound to Chelsea Piers, walk or take a taxi.  It is slightly less than a mile from the subway stop to the pier.  If you take the M23 bus, you can transfer from the subway without any additional charge.  The M23 bus stops right in front of Chelsea Piers at 23rd Street.

Pier 61 is between 20th and 21st Streets on the west side of the West Side Highway.  A map of Chelsea Piers is here.

The trip from Columbia to 23rd Street via subway should take about 35 minutes.  Allowing 25 minutes to walk to the pier gives a total time of about an hour to get to the cruise.  Since boarding starts at 6:30, leaving Columbia at 5:30 should allow plenty of time to get there.  One should probably leave at a similar time even if taking a taxi, since traffic at that time of day can be very unpredictable.

There is a taxi stand in front of Chelsea Piers (see map) if you want to take a taxi home after the cruise.  You can also return via walk/bus/subway.