snorkel28

Thank you for this information. I am definately going to book one of these soon. In all honesty, if I had seen this before I booked my Alaska Cruise, I would have gone with the sailing ships.

I ordered the 12 ship information package and can't wait to see it. The Maine Windjammer Association website was great and full of information.

Thanks again!

I am happy to pass this info on to people who are looking for something different. The scenery is beautiful and the crews on my cruises were great. Just remember that this is very casual. You will want to bring jeans, sweatshirt and rain gear; in early morning and late evening it gets foggy and damp out there. The ships do stay within site of shore and they do make several stops along the way. You need to BYOB as there is no "bar" setup, but they do supply iced tea, coffee, juice, etc. The videos should explain all that. It is a great way to see the coast of Maine if you have never been there. I think you will definitely enjoy it.

Check out this message board:

 

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises

The cruises I am talking about are strictly out of Maine. They are small ships which carry between 18-35 people and stick to the NE coastline. These are not luxury cruises or charter cruises. They are not affiliated with the windjammer barefoot cruises at all.

I have not seen anything here about the windjammer cruises. I have been on three, although it was about nine years ago. I went out on the Heritage which is out of Rockland, Maine. There is also the Maine Windjammers Assoc which has other older restructured ships. These are great if you are looking to see the coast of Maine and want to stop in some of the smaller ports, have a real downeast lobster bake, and just relax. Of course, it is definitely not the same as what you get on the larger cruise ships. It is very casual, home cooked basic meals with wonderful chowders, fruit plates, homebaked breads and deserts. It you want to help "crew" they will show you how to haul the mainsails up, sing shanties, etc. The accomodations are rustic but comfortable. If you would like to try sailing on a coastal schooner, I would highly recommend trying one. I believe you can contact the different schooners and they have short videos available to show you what a cruise would be like. We ended up buying our sailboat after going on a couple of these cruises.

I would recommend starting with the Heritage first as it is a little more people friendly in that there are stairs instead of ladders to get below decks. They also have two heads and a hot water shower.