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SuzCruise

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  1. Just returned from a land trip to Bar Harbor and stayed at the Harborside. It did appear that tenders were running from the pier next to the hotel. That was a very small ship from American Cruise Lines. We changed the dates of our trip to avoid the crowds of the behemoth Escape which was departing the day we arrived. Not sure if huge ships tender into another pier.
  2. I’ve never seen a “hot lobster” roll, at least not in Maine. The butter will be melted and warm, if you choose that style (which oftentimes is called Connecticut style here - but if AFS1970 says that is mis named-I’ll defer to him) or if you choose Maine style it will have a little mayo - but you shouldn’t see the mayo - it just adds a little something. It might have chives or a little lettuce on it. But the lobster meat itself is always cold. They are not cooking the lobster to order - they have to hand pick the meat which they will do when it cools down a bit. And I wouldn’t want my lobster meat reheated - so I think if I saw a hot lobster roll on a menu I would skip it.
  3. In that case, you might try Standard Baking. It is right across from the ferry terminal. It will have a line. Standard is actually more popular than Holy Donut (their bread is on the menu at lots of local restaurants) but not as popular with cruisers. But the line is normally well managed and they have a lot of great options.
  4. I posted this reply to the same question a couple of weeks ago. But I’ll repost it here. Portland is so easy to do on your own! I wrote a post about this last year you can find by searching, but I’ll share some ideas here as well. FYI - we spend our summers in the Portland Area - and love playing tour guide for our friends who come visit. The Old Port area is easy to reach from the cruise dock. Don’t miss Wharf Street, Exchange and Milk Street. Lots of places to grab a drink or a meal (Lobster Rolls!) along the water or in Old Port. You can take a stroll up to the Eastern Promenade and walk along enjoying the view. Then head down to Washington Avenue for some oysters at The Shop. Great selection of Maine oysters, which I think are the best in the world and I’ve tried them all. For beer lovers - head to Fox, Anderson and Cove streets (short walk from Eastern Prom or a very short Uber from the Cruise port) for tons of craft breweries. TONS! My favorites are Belleflower, Rising Tide, Lone Pine and Goodfire, but there are probably over a dozen more here, not including the wine tasting rooms, hard seltzer and liquor distillers, which are all worth a visit depending on what you like. Want more boat rides - take a ferry from Casco Bay Ferry Terminal. The mail run is a great option for a long tour or just ride over to Peaks and get a lobster lunch at Island Lobster. You can also do a tour with Lucky Lobster where they will take you out to harvest your own lobster and then Portland Lobster Co will prepare it for you. Lighthouses more your thing - get an Uber to Portland Head and spend a while exploring the shoreline walk and Fort Williams Park. Then head over to Bug Light to see great views of Portland and the Harbor and the very interesting display on shipbuilding in South Portland during WWII. Or head to Spring Point Light and explore Fort Preble, the beautiful shoreline path and a walk along Willard Beach. If you want to stretch your legs the walk between Bug and Spring Point Lights is about 20-30 minutes and if you really want to get a long walk in you could walk all 3 lighthouses. The walk along Shore Road has some gorgeous homes and great views. Eastern Cemetery has a good self guided tour if that is your thing. Western Cemetery is also nice to explore, but in my opinion Eastern has more interesting history. The west side of town has some gorgeous mansions including the Victorian that does tours. There are great restaurants all over town. Congress can be interesting to explore and there is a walking tour (it has been years since I did it, but you used to be able to get info for the DIY tour at the TIC near the cruise Port) but the homeless drug addicts seem to be more crazy on Congress than other parts of town, in my experience. Deering Park is gorgeous on a map, but has been given over to homeless encampments. We go to the farmers market and steer clear of the park at all other times. You can rent bikes or kayaks to get around and get different views. Kayaks are easily available at Eastern Prom. BTW - Eastern Prom has different paths at the top, bottom and mid slope of the hill. I prefer the top for the views, but sometimes the Beach Trail has a better breeze on a hot day. There are tons of gorgeous hikes around and so much more to do! I’m happy to provide more info if anyone has specific questions.
  5. It’s not much of a picnic setting imho. Seating options are benches right next to a stranger. Not where I would want to picnic. There is a small table inside, but again, imho, I wouldn’t eat there. I’ll call it dingy, to be kind.
  6. The difference is more about the time you will spend on the ferry. The mail run goes to a few more spots than the Diamond Cove ferry. The views are similar.
  7. Just show up the day of. If you happen to be walking past the ferry terminal earlier, you can buy a ticket. Or you can just show up a half hour or so before the departure time.
  8. We’ve never had a problem getting a rideshare in Portland at any time of day, any day of the week. We’ve spent summers here for the last few years, and while that was an issue during Covid, we haven’t had a problem since then.
  9. Portland is very doable on your own. There is another thread going on already about that. I posted a million ideas, which I won’t repeat here, but you can see by scrolling or searching. Portland is the largest city in Maine, but it is also tiny. It is easy to get around here.
  10. Very interesting. I can understand why you couldn’t get a ride on Saturday afternoon. The train station is at Thompson Point, which is a zoo on weekends and most evenings. There is tons of discussion about how to get there for concerts and events at the brewery or children’s museum because parking and traffic is such a nightmare. The city actually started an express bus just to handle the problem. Maybe you could use it in reverse to get to the city center when you come in to visit, though you might have to walk over to the concert venue to catch it which could be a pain with luggage. I can see why no rideshare driver would accept a trip anywhere near there on a Saturday. We won’t go anywhere near there either. But the morning runs are curious.
  11. We haven’t had any issues finding either a Lyft or Uber when we need. Even late at night on a weeknight. We’ve been using both services quite a bit over the last couple of months (we are living here for the summer) without issue and we have friends here who don’t even have a car and rely on rideshares.
  12. Just did the mail boat run this afternoon. It was fun. You can bring your own drinks and food, though there isn’t really a picnic area so I wouldn’t recommend having a meal onboard. They don’t care if you bring alcohol on board either. It took about 2 1/2 hours. Our captain did great narration of what we were passing throughout the cruise. There wasn’t any time to get off at any of the islands. There was a bathroom on board. We’ve also done the Peaks Island Ferry (short ferry ride that runs often) a number of times and the ferry to Great Diamond Cove - which is a bit shorter but still shows you several islands and is a nice tour of Casco Bay. As to an opinion on if you should do Kennebunkport or the mail boat run, I’d skip Kennebunkport. More so because it will be a major time suck and the town will probably be so crowded as to not be worth the time wasted getting there. It’s a cute town with gorgeous homes along the shore. Get an Uber to the Portland Head Light and enjoy the view of gorgeous homes along Shore road as you go instead. You see Bug Light, Spring Point Light and way in the distance Portland Head Light as you pull out for the mail run.
  13. One more thought, and this would work for you Nikita, Lucky Catch will take you out to catch your own lobster which the Portland Lobster Company will then cook up for you.
  14. Portland is so easy to do on your own! I wrote a post about this last year you can find by searching, but I’ll share some ideas here as well. FYI - we spend our summers in the Portland Area - and love playing tour guide for our friends who come visit. The Old Port area is easy to reach from the cruise dock. Don’t miss Wharf Street, Exchange and Milk Street. Lots of places to grab a drink or a meal (Lobster Rolls!) along the water or in Old Port. You can take a stroll up to the Eastern Promenade and walk along enjoying the view. Then head down to Washington Avenue for some oysters at The Shop. Great selection of Maine oysters, which I think are the best in the world and I’ve tried them all. For beer lovers - head to Fox, Anderson and Cove streets (short walk from Eastern Prom or a very short Uber from the Cruise port) for tons of craft breweries. TONS! My favorites are Belleflower, Rising Tide, Lone Pine and Goodfire, but there are probably over a dozen more here, not including the wine tasting rooms, hard seltzer and liquor distillers, which are all worth a visit depending on what you like. Want more boat rides - take a ferry from Casco Bay Ferry Terminal. The mail run is a great option for a long tour or just ride over to Peaks and get a lobster lunch at Island Lobster. Lighthouses more your thing - get an Uber to Portland Head and spend a while exploring the shoreline walk and Fort Williams Park. Then head over to Bug Light to see great views of Portland and the Harbor and the very interesting display on shipbuilding in South Portland during WWII. Or head to Spring Point Light and explore Fort Preble, the beautiful shoreline path and a walk along Willard Beach. If you want to stretch your legs the walk between Bug and Spring Point Lights is about 20-30 minutes and if you really want to get a long walk in you could walk all 3 lighthouses. The walk along Shore Road has some gorgeous homes and great views. Eastern Cemetery has a good self guided tour if that is your thing. Western Cemetery is also nice to explore, but in my opinion Eastern has more interesting history. The west side of town has some gorgeous mansions including the Victorian that does tours. There are great restaurants all over town. Congress can be interesting to explore and there is a walking tour (it has been years since I did it, but you used to be able to get info for the DIY tour at the TIC near the cruise Port) but the homeless drug addicts seem to be more crazy on Congress than other parts of town, in my experience. Deering Park is gorgeous on a map, but has been given over to homeless encampments. We go to the farmers market and steer clear of the park at all other times. You can rent bikes or kayaks to get around and get different views. Kayaks are easily available at Eastern Prom. BTW - Eastern Prom has different paths at the top, bottom and mid slope of the hill. I prefer the top for the views, but sometimes the Beach Trail has a better breeze on a hot day. There are tons of gorgeous hikes around and so much more to do! I’m happy to provide more info if anyone has specific questions.
  15. You’ll see several lighthouses as you come into Portland. As you come past Cape Elizabeth you’ll see the twin lights, which are hard to see as they are a little inland. Then you’ll see Portland Head Light just a littler further up, don’t miss Ram Island Light which will be on the other side of the channel. And then you pass Spring Point Light and Bug Light before you dock in Portland.
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