The ferry arrived in the Port of Rochester on April 24th at around 9 A.M. It was cold and rainy but there were many people there to welcome the ferry.
The Rochester TV people were all there. The newspaper was there. Even some Rochester radio stations were there. But when asked if any press from Toronto was there covering the arrival, the answer was; no.
Photo by Dick Halsey
Everyone was impressed at how big the ferry was. In fact, it was 284 foot long (86.6m) and 78 foot wide (23.8m) and stood as tall as a four story building. There was room for 750 passengers and room for 220 cars (if there wasn't any buses). They would find that the ferry was very comfortable and also had a bar, snack bar, two theatres, a duty free shop, a game room and even had wireless internet access.
So the ferry had arrived and everyone though it would be running soon. But an inspection found that the engines had problems and needed to be repaired. The work could not be done in Rochester so in May of 2004 the ferry went to Canada for repairs. It took a few weeks for the work on the engines to be completed. Finally the ferry had passed all inspections and was ready to sail. The first trip was a promotional $500 a ticket black-tie Rotary club fundraiser on June 17th.
Photo by Dick Halsey
The first day of public trips were not even 50% full, in part because the start of service had been moved back a couple of times caused by the needed repairs.
