{"id":361376,"date":"2026-10-01T01:16:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T01:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361376\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T01:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T01:16:23","slug":"city-cruises-norfolk-is-offering-sunset-and-sightseeing-tours-out-of-hampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361376\/","title":{"rendered":"City Cruises Norfolk is offering sunset and sightseeing tours out of Hampton"},"content":{"rendered":"

The low rumble of the Manhattan Elite sailing into Hampton Harbor mixed with the sounds of seagulls overhead. The deckhand tossed ropes overboard to the first mate standing on the dock. Passersby watched as they secured the boat in a coordinated dance.<\/p>\n

\"Captain<\/p>\n

Captain Perry Dunbar looks out a window as his mate and deckhand secure the Manhattan Elite. <\/p>\n

Captain Perry Dunbar looked out from the helm. The journey from Norfolk was a rough one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s the nor’easter that developed off the coast,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were complaining riding over here with four- or five-foot seas, but the ships that are off the coast right now are battling 25- to 30-foot seas, so I’ll take what we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he said he would modify that evening\u2019s sunset cruise to account for the choppy water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll get to see the NASA center from the water, Hampton University, the VA,\u201d Dunbar said. \u201cWe’ll pass out close to (Interstate) 64, and then due to the high winds and waves, we’ll probably reverse course.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Cruises Norfolk started offering tours out of Hampton in June. Damion Madison, the general manager, said the second location is meant to fill the gap left by the Hampton Queen, a tour boat through Hampton Roads Harbor Tours that closed due to repairs.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Manhattan Elite can carry up to 156 passengers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a lot of opportunity on the Hampton side,\u201d Madison said. \u201cAnd it actually helps folks that want to come cruise with City Cruises Norfolk to not have to go through the tunnel, but they can also get that experience on the Hampton side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tour the evening of Sept. 25 was 90 minutes long. Concessions were available for purchase and a DJ provided live entertainment.<\/p>\n

Jeff and Connie Speller have lived in Hampton for 24 years. Connie said she was looking forward to seeing the city from a different perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t see the water,\u201d she said. \u201cWe see 64 and traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way, Dunbar pointed out sites: The Virginia Air and Space Science Center and NASA Langley Visitor Center, Hampton University, the VA Medical Center and Blackbeard\u2019s Point, where the infamous pirate\u2019s severed head swung from a pole to deter other pirates.<\/p>\n

The Spellers weren\u2019t expecting to see much of a sunset that evening \u2014 the sky had been grey and overcast all day \u2014 but they were pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was postcard material,\u201d Jeff said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The sunset over the Hampton River Sept. 25. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The low rumble of the Manhattan Elite sailing into Hampton Harbor mixed with the sounds of seagulls overhead.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-361376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}