Cruising Through New England and Canada: Part 2 (Bar Harbor & Portland)
Even though we had left the wonder that was Canada, we knew that we had a lot more fun and awe in store for us in Maine. We had three major goals while we were in Maine: 1) to see some beautiful scenery, 2) get a yummy lobster roll and 3)drink some delicious beverages. And, we met all of our goals (almost).
As we re-entered American waters, we had to go through customs on the ship, which was a different experience for us. Basically, we had to walk through the dining room so the authorities could glance at our passports. It wasn’t a big deal and prevented us from having to go through customs at the end of the cruise, which was nice. Then, we had to get on a tender boat so we could head over to dry land. While tendering ashore can be a real pain and especially not convenient for passengers in a wheel chair, at some ports where the harbor is incredibly shallow, especially at low tide, it is necessary. Once ashore, we had some time before our excursion so we found some lunch and some beer. I ordered and paid a crazy amount for a lobster roll that was a lot smaller than I was expecting. It tasted fine (not great) but I was left wishing for more. We went to Atlantic Brewery and enjoyed an excellent flight of beers and came home with a new hat. Finally, it was time for our excursion so we got on a small bus that began the trek up towards Acadia National Park. Our tour guide did an excellent job of sharing interesting facts and history about the area and let us off at a number of really cool spots for photo ops and a lot of fresh air. We really enjoyed ourselves and were glad that we booked this excursion through the cruise line, which isn’t something that we usually do.
The next day we stopped in the city of Portland and, while we didn’t know much about the area, we did know that we would be able to find plenty of breweries. So, we gathered our new friends, Doug and Ashley, and we ubered over to Bissell Brothers where we enjoyed some great beer and some tasty food. After that, we ubered over to another area where there was a brewery every other block. We stopped at 4 or 5 breweries and they varied enough that they were all worthwhile. Lone Pine had some great IPAs, Urban Farm had ciders, kombucha and mead, Bellflower had a good variety to offer and Rising Tide had some great vibes to go with some yummy pretzel bites. We had a great day and so much fun sharing it with our new friends.
Photo courtesy of Chris Mathis (@photos_and_racing)
While our our Canada and New England cruise was very different than our usual Caribbean cruise (we didn’t once break out the sunscreen), we really enjoyed and leaned into those differences. For someone who loves to cruise AND loves to see new places, a cruise up north is definitely a great way to go. We loved the vibe of the ship, the people, the activities and were left wanting to do it again.
