Portland, ME excursion review

[georgiacat]

We did a Canada/New England cruise in Oct, 2023.  I thought I would write a little about the excursions we chose.

In Portland, ME we did the Land & Sea, Portland City & Harbor Lights Cruise with Portland Discovery Land & Sea Tours.  I booked independently of the ship.  This turned out to be my favorite excursion day of the cruise.

 

First we did the harbor cruise to see about 5 and 1/2 lighthouses, forts, large houses and islands.  The narrator was very good with lots of stories.  The captain of the boat was very good with no rough sailing, very smooth.  Being late in the season, the boat was not even half full.  We stayed inside, and I was able to walk from side to side to take pictures.  They have nice restrooms and a counter for paid snacks and drinks.  Best excursion tour for this trip.  It lasted 1 and 3/4 hours.

 

To get to their sales/check in booth, we walked about 1/2 mile to Long Pier from where our Carnival ship was berthed.

 

After the harbor cruise, we stopped at the nearest restaurant Portland Lobster Company for lunch, a lobster roll.  It was delicious.  There was a short wait before getting to order, a short wait for a table (in a garden setting with umbrellas) and a longer wait for the food (about an hour).  They have restrooms.

 

After lunch we did a trolley tour (same company) of the town and Portland Head Light.  This was enjoyable too.  Our driver/narrator was Wendy.  She was great with lots of stories.  At the end, since this was her last tour of the day, she took the people who wanted directly to the Carnival ship.  It was nice that we did not have to walk back.  But we did miss shopping along the way.  She dropped off the ones who wished at the pick up point (check in booth).

[suefrankw]

sounds great.... on last visit we did the portland fire engine tour which was a lot of fun and the kids loved it...ate at Holy Donut (touristy but had to have a donut) and Lukes Lobster- lobster roll was huge. Also ate at Ri Ra which was a lot of fun too.  Funky shops too. Loved our visit here.