The previous operator’s contract, including pricing, contains confidential and proprietary information and therefore cannot be shared. All respondents should base their proposals solely on the scope of services and requirements outlined in the RFP. Respondents should not rely on previous arrangements and are expected to submit independent proposals that reflect current market conditions and their operational model. The organization is seeking competitive proposals and encourages bidders to propose pricing and terms that reflect their operational approach and experience.

In 2025, we had about 14,000 visitors to the park. In 2025, that grew to about 17,000. With regards to Ridership:

• Ridership on Tours grew by 89% in 2025. We expect this to continue to grow in 2026. With regards to actual ridership, that represents approximately 1700 riders.
• Private Charters grew 56% in 2025, which represents approximately 1260 riders. We expect this to also continue to grow in 2026 as we are expanding our tour offerings.
• Water Taxi Service (aka Hop On Hop Off Harbors cruises (HOHO) is much more modest in that it experienced a 5% growth in 2025, which represents approximately 1100 riders. We have had hesitant discussions about expanding the HOHO service to include the Nautilus Dock, in which case, this will have a significant impact on that number. It is also a goal for 2026 to increase the ridership, even if the Nautilus doesn’t become part of the regularly scheduled dock stops.

There is an example of a 2025 Boat Schedule in the Appendix B in the RFP. With regards to staffing schedules and expectations, typically the boat operator will load the dates of the tours and the hop on/hop off schedules into Fare Harbor and then the crew would go in and sign up for whatever shifts they’re available for. There’s a captain and one or two crew on every boat, at any given time.

Yes, we frequently have multiple boats operating simultaneously, albeit from different docks. There are approximately 5 tours per weekend that operate pout of the Nautilus. There are HOHO harbor cruises which operate from Fort Trumbull to City Pier to Thames River Landing every Saturday and Sunday from 11AM to 6PM. The 3rd boat, The Nameaug, will be online for the entire boating season. Accordingly, we anticipate more tours. In 2025 we had seven tours going out every single weekend, just from the Nautilus dock. There’s usually 2 to 3 historic or pop-up tours on the weekend leaving from either Fort Trumbull, Thames River Landing or City Pier. Private charters are usually during the week, sometimes in the evening.

Information on COIs, inspections, etc. and must be coordinated with Gales Ferry Marina. They take care of the maintenance of all 3 boats.

Fuel responsibilities are the responsibility of the Thames River Heritage Park Foundation.

The captains would log their shift along with other notes at the beginning of the shift, in a book that was in the anchor locker. For the crew, they signed up for the shifts on FareHarbor for when they were available to work. They did not log anything while working.

Q:The RFP mentions “up to 3” boats in service. To provide an effective bid, I would need to know in advance exactly how many staff you would like I.E. 2 running boats and one undergoing maintenance/ready to swap out resulting in 2 captains 2 deck hands. A. There may be times when there will be 2 boats being used and 1 in for repairs. However, there may be times when ALL Three boats are in play. Usually, the staff per boat is one captain and one crew member.

TRHPF would pay for the T-shirts and anything else that would be part of the uniform.

RHP always provides tour guides, although there may be a time when something comes up and the scheduled guide may not be available at the very last minute. In that case, we would try to replace them, but if we couldn’t, we would expect the captain or crew to be able to point out certain points of interest.

Payment to the Boat Operator are made after receiving a monthly invoice from the Boat Operator.

With regards to payments from riders, crew are expected to utilize the iPads, which are supplied by TRHP, and process payments via CC for riders who did not purchase tickets beforehand. Riders may also pay in cash. Crew is expected to sign riders in, one by one, to ensure a correct manifest. Cash payments are accounted for through Fare Harbor. It tracks all purchases.

The dockside support is the captain and crew and may also be a volunteer from TRHP. There is not someone separate from the boat who is stationed at any of the docks.

Q:The RFP mentions having an onsite manager, is this a “head captain” or should there be personnel at the landing sites? A: That would be the captain.

TRHP pays for fuel.