Things got off to a busy start at the Manhattan cruise terminal Thursday morning. After the Viking Octantis departed for the Great Lakes just before midnight, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Dawn, and the Italian ship Costa Deliziosa all arrived in quick succession, stopping in New York in transit to Europe. Vane Brothers and Centerline tugs arrived with bunkering barges, and Moran tugs and Metropolitan Marine’s Pegasus were on hand to assist with docking. By evening, both Breakaway and Dawn had departed, with the former Bermuda and then Southern Europe-bound and the latter turning left for Halifax, then Iceland and the UK. Deliziosa was set to remain until Friday before continuing its transit from Chile to summer cruising grounds in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, tanker barge traffic was light, though a foreign flagged tanker did pass through after sundown, heading for sea after seemingly discharging a cargo of Spanish refined products in Rensselaer. A large posse of small FDNY alpha boats congregated near the GWB in the afternoon, more than would be typically seen at an actual fire, and presumably involved in some spring training exercise. The boats then seemed to be running laps around the circumference of Manhattan.