A special preview of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field is held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Mets fans depart on the Ocean State ferry as part of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field during a special preview event held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons, left, greets Mets fan Russell McCarroll, 4, during a special preview of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field, held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons cuts the ribbon during a special preview of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field, held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
A special preview of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field is held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend. From left to right is Anthony Lemma, Facia Class, Thomas Grech of Queens Chamber of Commerce and Heather Cavanagh of Stamford Chamber of Commerce.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Mets fans make their way to the Ocean State ferry as part of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field during a special preview event held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Mets fans make their way to the Ocean State ferry as part of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field during a special preview event held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
STAMFORD — The New York Mets and the city of Stamford celebrated the launch of a new ferry service that takes Connecticut fans directly to Citi Field.
After navigating early-season weather cancellations, the inaugural ferry ran from Stamford two weeks earlier for the Subway Series between the Mets and the New York Yankees. But Saturday’s celebratory service included Stamford mayor Caroline Simmons and several officials, who all expressed optimism that this year’s Citi Field service would mark the first step in transforming the city’s Harbor Point into a hub for ferry travel to New York and beyond.
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“This has been one of my priorities as mayor: to open up access to our harbor, get more families out on the waterfront, and improve connectivity,” Simmons told CT Insider. “This is a great opportunity for Mets fans and families around the region to be able to take a scenic ferry ride right here from Stamford at the Village to Citi Field, and we are already having conversations around expanding routes and other ferry opportunities, so that more Stamford families can enjoy ferries and the beautiful Long Island Sound.”
Saturday’s 80-minute boat ride was operated by the private ferry company Seastreak, which provides commuter service between New Jersey and New York and connects several notable New England destinations, including Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Providence, and Newport, R.I. Connecticut Mets fans ventured through the Long Island Sound on “Ocean State,” the first boat in Seastreak’s ferry fleet, which carries 149 passengers.
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Overcast conditions and wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour led to a misty experience for fans sitting on the boat’s upper deck. However, a full bar and two coolers of beer made the experience better than an afternoon on Metro-North or the Whitestone Bridge for most ferry riders.
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“It’s prolonging the experience of the game day,” Greenwich’s Kaitlin Santoro said. “With the traffic and then dealing with parking and getting out of the parking lot, at the end of the day, I definitely prefer to train or this versus a drive.”
She was joined by Florida-born partner Evan Casson donning a Marlins’ Dan Uggla jersey, one of the few ferry riders representing the Mets’ divisional opponent in Saturday’s game.
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Mets fan Mike Carella, of Norwalk, takes part in a special preview of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field is held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
For 66-year-old Stamford native Mike Carella, Saturday’s commute marked a rare first after decades of Mets fandom, as he recalled finding his first game tickets on the back of a milk carton in 1970. Carella has since moved to Norwalk, but his connection to his hometown and the Mets remains strong — he arrived at Saturday’s game with a “Bobby Valentine for Mayor” sign as the former Mets manager and Stamford native was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame Saturday.
“Traffic is one thing; it depends on what time you get in with rush hour and what game you go to,” Carella said. “But parking goes up every year, which is another thing. Not a regular ferry, but for a special occasion, I thought it was alright.”
Rising parking costs at Citi Field have also caught the attention of Eva Amurri, a Westport resident and the daughter of popular actor Susan Sarandon. Amurri attended Saturday’s cruise along with her two children as part of her growing lifestyle brand.
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“It’s $95 to park!” Amurri said. “The problem is, it’s okay until you get around the area, and then you can spend an hour by the stadium trying to park and everything. This is gonna be such an improvement, especially for families who have, kids who are like, ‘When are we going to get there?’ This makes the whole experience so much fun.”
Mets fans Eva Amurri, of Weston, and her kids Marlo and Major, in front, are some of the first people to take the new Mets ferry service from Stamford to Citi Field during a special preview event at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Mayor Simmons doesn’t quite have the same childhood attachment to the Mets, wryly responding “no comment” when asked about her MLB rooting interests as a Greenwich native. She tackled the Citi Field route with the vigor of a season-ticket holder when Seastreak and the Mets approached the city with the proposal around eight months ago, however, with the season-long ferry schedule announced just before Opening Day this year — Simmons and Michael Sullivan, chief of staff to Mets owner Steve Cohen, described it as “one of the fastest public-private partnerships” they’ve seen.
The Ocean State scurried into port at the Flushing Bay Promenade, allowing fans to cross Route 25 and enter Citi Field around 90 minutes before first pitch, before being dwarfed by a 500-person Seastreak ferry originating from Staten Island, an embodiment of the ultimate ambitions of Sullivan, Simmons and others in Stamford.
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Sullivan, a Connecticut resident, told CT Insider he hopes to see 500-person ferries and daily service to Mets games next season — Seastreak has 37 remaining trips to Citi Field scheduled for 2026 on select game days — while later adding boat transportation to other events at Willets Point, including the U.S. Open, concerts and New York City FC soccer games. Meanwhile, Simmons has launched feasibility studies into commuter ferries and has begun working with DEEP and the Port Authority to ensure that the Harbor Point is suited for an increase in traffic.
Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons speaks during a special preview of the new Mets ferry service from Stamford, CT to Citi Field, held at The Village in Stamford, Conn., on Saturday May 30, 2026. The is the first ferry ride for Mets fans and will continue each weekend.
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Round-trip ferry tickets to Citi Field range from $80-85, with the option to bundle game tickets available for select event windows, a price point that led to some public pushback after the ferry service was announced earlier this year. Seastreak president James Barker noted the impact of rising oil costs on pricing while also identifying ferry travel as a unique and elevated alternative to train or car travel.
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“Just having a day on the water, it’s a much better experience,” Barker said. “You save a little bit of time, you don’t have to worry about parking. We have a bar on board; you start your tailgate as soon as you get to Stanford. The travel is something that you look forward to.”