Just sit right back and you'll read a tale. A tale of a drunken trip that started from an East Side port aboard a good-sized ship.

The writer is a bit of a boozin' man and his friends could hang for sure. So they decided to go get beers on not quite a three-hour tour.

Not quite a three-hour tour.

Last week was the inaugural cruise of the season for NYCSinglesCruises.com, and yours truly was on board to try out my sea legs, take in the sea air and see New York City from the sea. The only thing better than a nice leisurely cruise around the southern end of Manhattan is a nice leisurely cruise around the southern end of Manhattan with a full bar, all you can eat hot dogs and a boat load of like-minded people looking to have a good time.

Despite the name, NYCSinglesCruises.com, the boat is not some sailing swingers' party or anything too debauched or desperate. It's just an entertaining bar with two dance floors and it happens to be able to float. You can hang out and have a few beers with your friends or you can go try and meet new ones. The cruise is pretty much what you make of it, which I'd prefer any day over some social director or ship's doctor trying to meddle with my personal life.

The evening began at 6:30 with a pre-launch cocktail party aboard the boat. At 7:30 p.m. she set sail from the pier at East 23rd St., bound for the Statue of Liberty, which takes you underneath the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, past the South Street Seaport, Wall Street, and Battery Park with equally impressive views of Brooklyn, the Verrazano Bridge, Staten Island and the ever-enchanting Garden State. Upon reaching Liberty Island, the route loops around Governor's Island and back up the East River to 23rd, docking a little bit after 9 p.m. wrapping up the "not quite a three-hour tour."

The boat featured dance floors on the upper and lower decks, and despite my every effort to avoid dancing I ended up doing a bizarre version of the electric slide just trying to stay on my feet whenever the ship hit a rough spot in the water. With the weather being fairly nice the main attraction was the open-air bow. And I have to give kudos to the poor cocktail waitresses who worked this thing, since carrying drinks on an undulating vessel can't be the easiest thing in the world.

The next cruise is May 29 with many more to follow throughout the summer. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the pier. Beers were $6 each which isn't outrageous considering is New York City. Plus the free hot dogs, pretzels and chips make it less painful than a night at the ballpark. One unexpected feature of the cruise is that smoking was permitted on the upper deck. But I must specify that gambling, prostitution, glue sniffing and ripping the tags off mattresses remain agonizingly out of reach, as New York Harbor is not technically considered to be international waters.

Many thanks to Mr. Miller and Mr. Murphy for hooking me up with the tickets. For information check out www.NYCSinglesCruises.com.

or email c_halleron@yahoo.com q