Portland, ME

[CanICruiseSoonPlease]

I have never gone to Portland Maine.  It has always gone to Bar Harb.  Any suggestions?  

[BklynBoy8]

3 hours ago, CanICruiseSoonPlease said:

I have never gone to Portland Maine.  It has always gone to Bar Harb.  Any suggestions?  

Not having been to Portland since 2001, awaiting the Shore Excursion Listing for the June 29th 4th July sailing to see what they are offering.

 

We saw something in the past with Kennebuckport having been on the listing as a possible excursion to.

 

We have always considered Bar Harbor as our #1 Maine Port we love to stop at. Especially to enjoy a Lobster Lunch and picking up Blueberry Products they are noted for. But just walk around is a top pleasure we look forward too. On the Bucket List next time.

[chengkp75]

Portland is a very walkable port, everything in the downtown area is at most 3/4 of a mile from the cruise terminal.  I think Portland far outweighs Bar Harbor for food, but it is a bit unfair due to the relative sizes of the towns.  Portland has been ranked as one of the top 15 "foodie" destinations in the US for several years. Portland is also known to have more breweries per capita than any other city in the US (18 per 50,000)

 

I personally don't get the attraction of Kennebunkport, given that you have to take a 30 minute bus ride each way.  Even going to Cape Elizabeth to see the Portland Head Light is, in my opinion a waste, as you can get a very unique perspective of the light (different than any photos you see) as the ship sails past on the way in or out of Portland.  If coming from the south, get up about 45 minutes prior to docking, and you will get wonderful photos of the light (some have posted these on this forum) with the land behind, and some have done this at sailaway, and caught the sunset behind the light.  You will also see Bug Light, Spring Point Light, and Ram Island Ledge Light during sail into port, so don't waste time going to them.

 

The Old Port area is right at the terminal, has great shopping and dining.  Longfellow Museum (Henry Wadsworth's home), Museum of Art (Wyeth collection), Narrow gauge railway, Portland Observatory for views of the Calendar Islands of Casco Bay (so named because there is supposed to be one for every day of the year),  Victoria Mansion (restored home with many of the original furnishings), and the Casco Bay Line "Mail boat run", which travels to 5 of the islands that are part of the city of Portland, taking passengers and freight (islander's groceries and mail) to the islands.  It's about 2-2.5 hours (depending on cargo) and the Captain will give a presentation about island life and history.  There is also the Portland Fire Engine Co, which gives a 45 minute tour of the city aboard a vintage fire engine. 

[olemissreb]

Chengkp75 mentioned the Portland Fire Engine Co. as an excursion and I second his recommendation.  My mom and I took this excursion. If you book the first run of the day, they will pick you up right at the (well within a block) of the cruise terminal.  They finish the tour downtown at their usual pickup/drop off point.  We had a great tour and then were able to walk around the downtown area for a bit. Got a coffee at Starbucks (and used their restroom). Spent way too much money on cookware for myself at Leroux Kitchen (if you are a cook, you will LOVE this place).

 

We also took a Lighthouse Lover's cruise and saw all the lighthouses Cheng mentioned, but maybe a tad bit closer than on the cruise ship.  It was fun getting out and hearing about the "Ellis Island of the North" and other interesting tidbits that you don't get on the cruise ship. 

 

Both of those excursions took up our morning and so we started heading back to the ship and stopped for lunch along the way.  It was a bit of a hike for my mom to get back (she's 82 and not as nimble as she once was).  It's not all that far, but for her and her bad back and knees, we had to make a couple stops for her to sit and rest.  Not a big deal since we had all afternoon left to get back to the ship.

[mets123]

You can do the mail run, a lighthouse tour, duck boat, visit ship yard brewery.

[mets123]

Forgot the food options like a lobster roll or holy donuts.

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, mets123 said:

You can do the mail run, a lighthouse tour, duck boat, visit ship yard brewery.

I have a personal and professional aversion to duck boats, and would never recommend them to anyone.  They were known to be unsafe in the 40's when they were first built, and are unsafe, both on the road and on the water, today.