The Ocean Jewel’s short, and ultimately disastrous, career started on an ominous Friday night back in October. This was before they’d instituted the shuttles (you know, the ones that kept smacking into bridges), and the trip was to take eight hours all told. Still, the salivating public, having been baited with ads for over a year, was willing to endure. And then they were asked to endure more. The boat got marooned just feet from the dock, unable to park in the high winds. When the boozed-up crowd finally disembarked at 5 a.m. — 12 hours after they’d boarded — most promised they’d never come back. Turns out it wasn’t much of a choice: The Ocean Jewel stopped operating out of St. Petersburg and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
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