Mansions ans cliffs in Newport

[chessie68]

We will be in Newport from 9 AM till 6:PM this September. I'm working on putting our day together so I have a few questions. Our plan is to buy the all day bus pass. We'd like to do the Breakers first thing. Come back to the ship for lunch and then head out to the cliff walk to walk for maybe an hour. We will have my 78 year old mother with us and a friend so that is why we are coming back to the ship for lunch and then back out to the cliffs. I'm hoping this is doable. A few of my questions are.... How long does it take to get out to the Breakers from the visitors center? How often do the tenders leave and about how long does it take for them to traverse from the ship to the pier? Is there a must see shopping area?

 

TIA

Chessie

[SailBadtheSinner]

Hi Chessie -

 

I see your cruise is much closer than the last emails.

 

Here is the link to them if you didn't save them: ttp://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=257697;

 

I think you have a good plan. A bus pass is the way to get around. It is about a 15 minute ride by local bus to and back from the Breakers and you would take the same bus to Cliff Walk.

 

I'm assuming your 78 yo mother won't be doing Cliff Walk. I pulled this from one of my earlier emails: Enter CW at the Marine Ave./Wetmore Ave. access point. At the walk you could turn south and go to the Second Tunnel, about 3/4 of a mile away. At this point CW is unimproved (read rough). So turn north and retrace your steps to Marine Ave. and then continue north until CW ends at route 138A. Turn left off CW; you’ll be heading west. At this point you are about 1.5 miles away from the tender dock. Look for a bus or trolley heading inbound to Newport center. If you can’t catch a ride, just stay on 138A until you see the harbor and eventually the tender dock. I would suggest doing CW this way because as you walk north on CW you would be heading in the general direction of the tender dock. If you start at the northern end and walk south, you would be going away from the tender dock.

 

I would save the shopping until after CW because you'll be close by the tender dock. When you get off the tender the shopping areas would be to your front (Thames St area) and to the right (Bannisters Wharf & Bowens Wharf).

 

I would estimate that the tender ride in is 10 minutes but the loading and unloading the pax may take that long also.

 

I hope everything goes as planned and you enjoy your cruise. As for me, on 4/22, I'll be on the Zeinth to Bermuda for 7 days. :->

 

 

SBtS

[SailBadtheSinner]

Hi Chessie

 

SBtS again; here are some images from Newport:

 

Newport Harbor (panorama, very large):

http://www.pbase.com/joneruss/image/57453125

 

Newport Bridge:

http://www.pbase.com/joneruss/image/56376364/large

 

Other:

http://www.pbase.com/joneruss/image/50363597/medium

http://www.pbase.com/joneruss/image/56376367/large

http://www.pbase.com/joneruss/image/56376365/medium

http://www.pbase.com/joneruss/image/56376368

 

 

Enjoy!

[chessie68]

Thanks SBtS, You have been so helpful. I still have your links from before. They have been great. They convinced me that I really must do at least some portion of the cliffs. Newport will be our 5th port. I hope I still have enough stamina left. Have a wonderful time in Bermuda. We went there this past October and loved it.

 

Chessie

[Coral]

I was in Newport last October. A large portion of the Cliff Walk was closed due to construction - hopefully it is fully open this year.

 

I don't know if this is unusual or common for Newport but the waters were very rough when we were there. I took the tender in the morning for my tour and my mom was going to get off the ship in the afternoon and join me. Due to the rough waters - they stopped the tenders at around noon. Everyone who was off the ship in the morning could stay in port and was tendered back but they allowed no more people to disembark after 12 pm. I tendered back to the ship around 4 in the afternoon and we had trouble getting back on the ship - it was very rough.

 

Personally - I would do Breakers and the Cliff Walk at the same time. The Cliff walk is a very easy walk (at least the portion I was on). It takes too much time to get out there to spend time going back and fourth.

[chessie68]

Coral,

 

Thanks for the heads up about tendering.

If it were just me I would do Breakers and the cliffs at the same time too but, there is no way I could send my mother back to the ship by herself. She has absolutely no sense of direction. It would be hard to tell where she might end up. She loves to walk but with her arthritis, Breakers would be about all she could handle comfortably.

[Coral]

Coral,

 

Thanks for the heads up about tendering.

If it were just me I would do Breakers and the cliffs at the same time too but, there is no way I could send my mother back to the ship by herself. She has absolutely no sense of direction. It would be hard to tell where she might end up. She loves to walk but with her arthritis, Breakers would be about all she could handle comfortably.

 

I understand completely. BTW - we really enjoyed this cruise. Hope you have a great cruise also!

[Kindlychap]

From what I recall, our tender trip was about fifteen minutes - although we did seem to anchor miles away at every port!

 

The Breakers is very well worth seeing - as is the Astor's house. A huge contrast!