Monday, September 19, 2011

Jewel

It's cruise season in the city. The Old Port better get ready. LL Bean stock those shelves. Look out Kangamangus Highway! The tour buses are on their way. Unlike a lot of places that entice cruisers to warmer climates, the big draw in New England is the fall color and the stops at Portland, Bar Harbor and the eastern Canadian provinces. I stopped down at the new cruise ship pier, the Ocean Gateway, yesterday to take a look. The new Port of Portland facility can now dock two ships at the same time bringing twice as many visitors to the city's attractions. Bottom line, instead of backing in to the dock, ships now dock horizontal. It gives a landlubber a stunning view of the ship and the cruisers a magnificent view of the 'city on the hill'. We plan to cruise again next summer, but to places where we won't have to don jackets when we leave the ship.

22 comments:

  1. il est magnifique, j'aimerais bien un jour aller a NYC avec le QMII

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  2. I always love it when the ships come in, especially 'our' ship The Explorer of the Seas!

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  3. I'm sure this industry is quite a boost to your local economy. I had never thought about taking a cruise to see the autumn leaves. Interesting concept.

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  4. Great shot, old and new. Makes you wonder what docked before.

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  5. Cruise ships are such huge behemoths. Never been on a cruise, but used to watch them in and out in Mazatlán, México. Amazing how agile they are, despite their size. Since you have cruise experience, would you recommend one for our 50th??

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  6. Love learning something new about your Portland!

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  7. Birdman -- Ships are not my cup of tea -- rather have my feet on the ground. -- barbara

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  8. Now this sounds like an interesting cruise. I once took a cruise from NYC to Nova Scotia but, we were a few days behind a hurricane so the leaves had all blown off the trees and many points of interest were closed because of wind damage. I think I'd rather drive.

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  9. i can only imagine the influx of crazy cruise folk to your area...

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  10. I know a lot of people who love cruising, but I've never been interested. The ships are interesting to see though!

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  11. That is one big ship! You don't get claustrophobic on cruises? I think I might.

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  12. Now, this is news to me. I didn't know that Portland is a port for big cruise ships like this. So far I have successfully dodged cruises on huge ocean-based ships, and I hope to continue doing that. However, I have taken two European river cruises on much smaller ships (~ 150 guests) and I liked them as an easy way to get from one European city to another. We will take a river cruise in early December from Amsterdam to Basel.

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  13. I love the idea of a cruise, if only there wasn't so much deep water involved, I like to enjoy cruises vicariously through other peoples trips!So remember to take lots of photos Birdman!!

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  14. I'd love to try a short cruise once on such a big boat... :)
    God bless you!
    Cezar

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  15. Wow - that's a monster of a boat! I beat 3,000 of my closest friends and I could easily fit inside that Cruise Behemoth!

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  16. Holy cow, that's one big piece of boat. We've never been on one of these. It's been some years, but the last cruise we went on was in the Alaskan archipelago on a boat that held 89 people. And we sure did have to wear jackets. Heavenly.

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  17. Although we've never wanted to go on a cruise, we are a teeny bit attracted to traveling on a freighter. Thank you for this glimpse of Portland in leaf-peeping-time.

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  18. That is HUGE. If only I didn't get seasick.

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  19. I love going to see the ships come in!!! Birdman... Im a huge fan of your blogs I check them often and your photography is beautiful!

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