At Ship’s Launch, Bloomberg Talks About His Weekend Home

NEW YORK
The new Norwegian Breakaway docked at the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum in Manhattan, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The new Norwegian Breakaway docked at the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum in Manhattan, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s biweekly jet trips to his Bermuda estate are one thing he has never allowed the media to pry into too deeply.

Until Wednesday, that is. At the launch of the largest cruise ship to be based in New York City, Bloomberg played host to the new prime minister of Bermuda, and he opened up for the first time about what exactly he does in the Caribbean island state, Capital New York reported.

“Mr. Prime Minister, you do not have to worry,” Bloomberg said, addressing Perry Christie, the prime minister of the Bahamas. “Nor Mr. Premier [Craig Cannonier of Bermuda]. I will spend a lot of time, particularly after the next 238 days, when I’m going to be unemployed, I’ll have plenty of time to go to both your wonderful islands.”

Bloomberg’s weekend getaways were generally known from the time he took office in January 2002, but they came into sharp focus when he was AWOL as a massive blizzard buried the Big Apple in four feet of snow in December of 2010. It was later reported that the mayor had been in Bermuda at the time.

The New York Times wrote in 2010 that Bermudans consider the billionaire mayor to be “one of their own.” But Bloomberg regularly refuses to reveal his weekend itinerary to the media. He has even blocked aviation websites from publishing the movements of his private planes.

But on Wednesday, aboard the newly named $1.5-billion cruise ship Norwegian Breakaway, the mayor told gathered travel agents about his life in Bermuda. He was joined at the Manhattan event by the leaders of several Caribbean nations whose economies thrive on cruise ship travel.

The Norwegian Breakaway is the largest cruise ship to call New York City home. It even has a New York City theme, with a colorful mural on the exterior hull featuring the city skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

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