Ferry co. eyeing tourism growth on Narragansett Bay

FAST-PACED: Rhode Island Fast Ferry Owner Charles A. Donadio Jr. says the company’s new boat, the Ava Pearl, is allowing it to use the boat it is replacing, the Millennium, to expand tourism on Narragansett Bay. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE
FAST-PACED: Rhode Island Fast Ferry Owner Charles A. Donadio Jr. says the company’s new boat, the Ava Pearl, is allowing it to use the boat it is replacing, the Millennium, to expand tourism on Narragansett Bay. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE

Charles A. Donadio has made a living providing pleasure cruises and ferry services since 1995. He first bought the Southland, a 62-foot, flat-bottom riverboat docked in Narragansett, in Galilee, and ran tours of Point Judith Pond. He also started a high-speed ferry service to Block Island out of Galilee. He has since sold these ventures to focus on Rhode Island Fast Ferry.
On July 5, the company expanded and christened the Ava Pearl. The new ferry can accommodate 150 passengers and features five satellite televisions, a snack bar, comfortable indoor and outdoor seating and a smoother ride. The ferry it replaces, the Millennium, will be dedicated to more sightseeing cruises.

PBN: Your business is more than a ferry service, you also offer cruises. How did that growth happen?
DONADIO: It was 2008 when we started with the bay cruises. This will be our 10th year running ferry service to the Vineyard and the fifth running sightseeing cruises. The cruises include 10 lighthouses and it’s really taken off. When we started we were doing about two per week for July and August. Now, we do them twice a day, seven days a week.

PBN: Describe the clients that take the tours. Are they local?
DONADIO: The sightseers are mostly Rhode Island locals or tourists that are visiting the area. There is also a portion of people who are coming to Rhode Island to take the lighthouse cruise because they are lighthouse fanatics. They plan their vacation around this cruise. We’re bringing tourism in.
With the Vineyard ferry service, 95 percent of the people are out of state, only 5 percent from Rhode Island. We are bringing in these people from the airport, through Amtrak or by driving their car. We’ve had every state in the country in our parking lot, including Alaska.
About 75 percent of the passengers to the Vineyard stay overnight, and it ranges from two days to about one week.

PBN: Is this your first venture in a boating business?
DONADIO: No, I used to run the Southland and operated a regular tour service in Point Judith Pond. I bought it in 1995 and sold it in 2007. I was also the person who founded the high-speed ferry to Block Island, which ran from Narragansett, in Galilee, and ran to New Harbor. I sold that in 2001 when I started this company.

PBN: What is the significance of the new boat?
DONADIO: It not only gives our customers the best service anyone can get in the country on a ferry, they’re getting the nicest ride they can get with the state-of-the-art control system we have onboard now. We’re not increasing the speed, it’s still 90 minutes. We’re increasing the comfort and amenities. The ride is a lot smoother. It’s very quiet, it’s very plush, there are flat-screen TVs everywhere. The upstairs, outside deck has a protected area where you can be out of the wind. It’s a beautiful boat. We also had to hire an additional crew of 10 people, a 25 percent increase. In Rhode Island, it’s a seasonal operation from May to October, but the company runs year-round, offering services in states including Florida, New York and New Jersey. About 10 of the 50 employees are seasonal.

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PBN: How has the new boat affected your business?
DONADIO: It’s really letting me take the Millennium, the 400-passenger boat, and [expand] the tourism on the bay, and to provide all the sightseeing on the bay. The Bay Queen isn’t around anymore so there’s no one else doing what we do. There is no tour like it.

PBN: How do you intend to increase tourism on the bay?
DONADIO: We are looking into expanding into the northern bay, doing some northern-bay lighthouse tours, maybe doing some lighthouse cruises departing from Newport. Maybe next season we will depart from Quonset once or twice per day, and do a departure from Newport. All the hotels in Newport are screaming for us to go there because people don’t have a car and it’s hard to get to us.

PBN: How have you been able to compete with the more-traditional ferries?
DONADIO: It’s a one-hour trip from Woods Hole in Falmouth, Mass. We tell people they are saving three or four hours each way of travel time. If you drive there you’re going to hit hours of traffic, then you’ll have to park about 12 miles away and wait in line to take the shuttle bus. When you return, the ferry carries about 1,000 people, so when they unload they dump 1,000 people on the dock at the same time. Then you have to wait for a shuttle bus.
Here, you show up and get first-class treatment. When you enter the parking lot you are parking dockside, check in and in minutes you’re on the boat.
The highway comes right here and we have free parking.

PBN: Why did you decide to focus on the Vineyard?
DONADIO: It’s a great island for a day trip. They have an incredible bike path around the entire island. They have great sightseeing tours, great restaurants and tons of shopping. Out of all the islands – the Vineyard, Nantucket and Block Island, it’s the cheapest to visit for the day. There are [more than] 400 places to stay on the island.

PBN: Did you ever think that you would go from giving tours of Point Judith Pond to Narragansett Bay?
DONADIO: No. I think about that sometimes. When I ran the Southland we pointed out more wildlife than anything else because there wasn’t very much to see up there, but people loved it. Some had been taking the Southland for years and years. I think the market has changed; when people visit they want to get on the bay and we want to be the company they come to. •

INTERVIEW
Charles A. Donadio Jr.
POSITION: President and owner of Rhode Island Fast Ferry Inc.
BACKGROUND: Donadio operated tours and cruises on Point Judith Pond in Narragansett and South Kingstown. He also established the first high-speed ferry service to Block Island before selling the business to a minor partner and starting Rhode Island Fast Ferry.
EDUCATION: Bachelor of arts, political science, 1992, University of Rhode Island
FIRST JOB: Dishwasher, Coast Guard House
RESIDENCE: Narragansett
AGE: 44

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