The mayor's proposal to link the five boroughs by ferries drew big cheers when it was introduced last week. But NY1’s Jose Martinez reports that the response from transit advocates has been far less enthusiastic.

You get skyline views, and room to spread out. What commuter wouldn't want that?

"It's much more relaxed than the subway,” said one commuter.

"It is not noisy, it is not crowded,” said another.

Mayor Bill de Blasio loves ferries too, unveiling a plan in his State of the City speech to expand ferry service, starting in two years.

"We're the ultimate coastal city, but somehow we haven't had a true ferry system in decades. We need to right this wrong."

The plan isn't cheap. It will cost $55 million dollars just to launch the first five routes by 2018.

And City Hall says ferry service will require another $10 to $20 million in subsidies a year, to keep the cost of a ride in line with the transit fare.

"The real key point is it not it being a luxury. If we can make it cost-competitive with the MetroCard, this is going to be a big success,” said Councilman Costa Constantinides.

But critics see a boondoggle in the making, saying the money should be spent on mass transit.

"You're talking about East New York, you're talking about places that are landlocked, that ferries are not going to serve those places. So that's where the bus network comes in, that's where improvements in rail come in,” said Richard Barone of the Regional Plan Association.

The city projects that 4.6 million rides will be taken in the new ferry network in its first year. But compare that with the subway system, which every day serves close to six million riders and you'll see why transit advocates think the numbers might not add up.

"We're ferry skeptics. We think that it's going to be hard to do this, that it's going to cost money that in the end the city may not have and it's going to be a high subsidy for the city to pay,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

That's what just doomed the Rockaway Ferry, which launched after Hurricane Sandy knocked out the A line on the peninsula.

That ferry made its last run in October, doomed by high costs and low ridership. But the city says it's figured out a more cost-effective way to provide ferry service now.

"My attitude is, 'I'm from Brooklyn. Show me,” said Russianoff.

The city says it will, soon enough.