New England w/kids, excursions?

[jbella2010]

Hi-

 

We are going on RCI New England Jewel of the Seas Cruise and would love to know some recommendations for things to see and do with a 3 & 1 yr old. I read that the Olie tours are a must in Bar Harbor...

Also, any restaurants that are a must?

 

Here is my itinerary:

Boston, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Bar Harbor, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts

[CMM]

We have done different Canada/New England cruises 3 times, but I am a little stumped as to what to suggest for kids that young.

 

In Halifax there is a Theodore Tug Boat along the waterfront that seems like it would be a hit for little ones. I have not done it, but check out their website.

http://www.mtcw.ca/theodoretugboat/

 

 

I really liked Ollie's Trolley in Bar Harbor, but personally wouldn't take tots on that one. The interesting part is the narration while you pass by sites. You only really get to get out for three short 15-minute stops and at least one was a boulder like cliff if I recall. I would think normal behavior of kids that age would be kind of annoying to most and then would be stressful to you trying to keep then in control.

 

In Boston the Public Gardens is a nice city park. Not a playground, but they have the famous swan boats that you can get a ride on. That sounds like a good thing for little ones.

http://www.swanboats.com/schedule-fares

[Host Caroline]

Train in Portland, ME... we've seen locals with toddlers on afternoon outings there...there's small railway museum as well.. to right of the port area as you go out...

http://www.mainenarrowgauge.org/

[DaisyGoldberg]

In Boston near the Swan boats your kids can also see the bronze statues of the Make Way for Ducklings ducks. (You could read the book to them ahead of time and they could see where Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack grew up.)

 

There's a wading pool in the Common/Garden (I forget which, but they're next to each other) with a fountain if it's a hot day and you just want the kids to be able to run around and burn off energy.

 

There's a children's museum that's supposed to be wonderful, but I'm not sure about the offerings for your kids' age group. It is geared to younger kids, so you may be in luck there. Or the aquarium might please them if they like animals.

[Watson's aunt]

Children's museum in Boston good for a rainy day

[Nitemare]

The New England Aquarium is close to Faneuil Hall and the Waterfront. It's not a very good aquarium anymore (state of the art when it opened 30 or more years ago), and it's not cheap, but outside of the building they have a Harbor seal exhibit, which is fun to watch for awhile for kids and grownups.

[WELDON]

Not sure when your cruise is but the swan boats close on September 16. The Children's Museum is a good idea. They have hands on exhibits that are fun for kids. Maybe the Museum of Science where they have animals and kid friendly exhibits.

[Cheryl H]

We did that same cruise with our 3 year old in 2008. I can let you know what our kiddo liked. We are doing the very same cruise again in October. Now he's 7.

 

We arrived in Boston and stayed at the Seaport Hotel. They are a no tipping hotel and even though we tried to tip, they would not accept. Also they had a treasure chest that they let our son pick a toy out of. The Seaport is very near the ship and the Children's Museum.

 

The next morning we got up and had bell services store our luggage and we took a cab to the children's Museum. I think it was only about 5 dollars for the cab. Our son had a fun couple hours in there. We found out it had some of the same exhibits as our children's museum here at home. Then we flagged down a cab and went back to the hotel to get our luggage and went to the ship in time for lunch.

 

Then as far as on the ship, the best thing we brought all week was our portable DVD player for some downtime in our room with Wonder Pets and Max & Ruby DVD's. Came in handy at the airport when we were delayed too. We brought headphones along. We did not allow him to take the DVD player to the main dining room. He took his little leapster though (with headphones) but I don't remember him playing it very much at dinner time.

 

On the Jewel, our son enjoyed the fisher price play groups. I'm not sure if they still do that or not. He was not exactly fully potty trained yet so we did not try Adventure Ocean yet on that cruise. He also loved the mini golf and climbing all the many stairs.

 

As far as excursions, our son loved anything with a bus.

 

Bar Harbor - we were supposed to do a 2 part tour with a ride on the 4 masted schooner the Margaret Todd, but that part was cancelled. The other part was a bus ride up to the scenic overlook on Cadillac Mountain. It was okay. Luckily there wasn't any fog. The driver let us out and we walked down to a photo spot and took pictures of the ship in the harbor below. Then we walked around Bar Harbor looking in the shops and we stopped for fish and chips at a place right on the dock. We noticed a sign later advertising a discount for lunch for cruise passengers. Too late for us, we didn't see it until after we paid for lunch. This time we are doing the Oli's Trolley ride.

 

Portland - we did the bus tour over to Kennebunkport. We rode past some pretty areas. We saw some surfers. I know it said we rode past the Casco Bay area. In Kennebunkport, we had lunch at Federal Jacks. It was good. More fish and chips. Then we found a few toys in a store. Our son bought a small school bus. I think this next trip we are doing a light house tour.

 

Halifax - we did the hop on hop off. We hopped off at the Citadel. It was sort of fun to explore. You might go to the visitor center office first. I saw a man wearing a kilt doing guided tours, but we just walked around on our own. We heard a man playing a bag pipe and saw them changing the guard which didn't amount to too much. Then we hopped back on and rode over to the maritime museum. This was really interesting to myself and my husband, but not so much for our son so we kept moving through the exhibits pretty quickly. One floor was the Titanic exhibit, and one floor was about the town's harbor explosion. We asked about where to eat and we were directed to Salty's. It was a very short walk over to the boardwalk, and left thru the historic properties area, and then we found Salty's. It's a waterfront restaurant and we had a table by a window. More fish and chips! This next time we are going to Peggy's Cove.

 

In Saint John, we did a bus excursion that was a city tour I think. It had 3 stops. The first was Carleton Martello Tower. Our son liked that one. We got to go inside and see how it was set up for the soldiers to eat/sleep, etc. They handed our son a toy gun and we took his picture. Then we had a stop at the reversing river, but we did not stay long enough to see it change directions. We just took a photo of the river and got back on the bus. The last stop was at a market. We walked around inside and saw all the things they were selling but we didn't buy anything. This next time we are doing a tour over to St Andrews.

 

Then back in Boston, we stayed an extra day. We stayed at the Hilton at the airport. Then we took their free shuttle over to the Hyatt to the water taxi stand. We purchased round trip water taxi tickets and rode over to Long Wharf. We had lunch at Legal Seafood. Then we walked around the corner and got on the hop on/ hop off trolley ride on Old Town Trolleys. We hopped off in Charlestown and explored the USS Constitution and the Cassin Young destroyer. Both were very interesting and free. The Consitution had a line for a free navy guided tour. Our son happened to fall asleep so we were carrying him. But I think he would have liked it. They let us go down the ladders to the floors below and see where the sleeping quarters were, etc. We also hopped off at the Old State House.

 

We rode the rest of the trolley ride out seeing more of Boston before it ended at 5:00pm. Then we walked across the street and under the glass canopy to Fanieul Hall/Quincy Market area. A traffic cop directed us to Zuma's Mexican. It was pretty good.

 

That's probably way more than you wanted to know. But we enjoyed it thoroughly. We were a little worried about what the others on the bus would think of a child going along since every time he was the only child along on the tour. But no one said a thing and our son was good as gold.

 

Have fun on your trip. Can't wait for our turn on the Jewel again.

 

PS: Our favorite children's author is from Maine! Look for his books if you want a cool souvenior for your children. He is Chris Van Dusen. His first book is Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee. It has a lot of Maine type illustrations in that book. He has several others too. We've collected them all.