Maid Of The Mist A New York Nightmare: Canadian Hornblower Niagara A Class Act

We tried, we really did.

The Niagara Falls Reporter did everything in its power to improve the experience for tourists and locals alike riding one of the sightseeing boats that operate at the base of the falls.

In Ontario, we were successful. Hornblower’s
Niagara Cruises now offers state of the art, green technology catamaran vessels and computerized booking, evening cocktail cruises, fine dining and more.

In New York, we failed. Thrillseekers on this side of the river are forced to sail on stinky old diesel tubs that have been springing leaks since the 1970s. And that’s only after waiting under the hot sun in lines a mile long for as long as three hours. Once on the boat, there’s no place to sit down and no restrooms.

The operation, known as the Maid of the Mist, is owned by the politically very well connected Glynn family. Until 2012, the company also had the Canadian concession, but a government investigation spurred on by a series of articles in this newspaper uncovered enough impropriety, seeming corruption and general hanky panky to get them to yank the Glynn’s contract and open it up to bidding, which Hornblower won.

The people of Ontario also won, as Hornblower agreed to pay $300 million more than the Maid of the Mist for the contract.

For years, politicians in New York had argued that there was no open bidding for the tour boat concession because the Maid of the Mist had a lock on the Canadian side and was thus the “sole source provider.” But then, when the Canadians cut their ties with Glynn’s company, they all changed their minds.

The Maid of the Mist operated on docks located on the Canadian side, and New York politicians from Mayor Paul Dyster to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer stumbled all over themselves to build new docks on the American side.

Suddenly, the Maid of the Mist wasn’t just a tour boat ride but an important historic and cultural institution. Open bidding would be a sacrilege, and both the contract and the new docks were handed over to Glynn’s company.

Hornblower spokesmen said they would have been willing to pay at least $100 million more for the contract, so the passengers were not the only losers. The taxpayers of New York took a soaking as well.

The accompanying photos may give you some idea of the difference in service that currently exists.

On the New York side, passengers are packed like sweaty sardines between railings and broiling under a hot sun, waiting to board one of the ancient scows sailed under the Maid of the Mist flag. Once they enter the queue there’s no turning back, as the hundreds of sweating bodies packed in behind them make retreat impossible; the looks on their faces tell the sad story.

Every summer, ambulance calls respond to the scene as some elderly person or child passes out from the heat and exhaustion. The torturous ordeal imposed by Glynn certainly doesn’t belong in the 21st century or even the 20th, but rather is reminiscent of the slave ships sailing from Africa to the New World, the comfort of their human cargo of no concern to the shipmasters.

By contrast, over at the Hornblower Cruises dock, there are no lines at all.

That’s because Hornblower employs a computerized timed departure system, where a tourist who wants to set sail at 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon merely has to say so when the ticket is purchased. Passengers breeze through an air conditioned terminal to the dock, where their boat awaits them as scheduled.

A picture is worth 1,000 words, and here it’s pretty easy to see for yourself who got the good deal and who got stuck with the smelly end of the stick.