Best Tours to go on

We are going on the Carnival Victory on Sept 22, 2001 and going to Boston, Portland ME, Halifax NS, and Sydney NS.

What are the must do tours for those who have never been to any of these ports and is it best to do these ones on your own or with the ship?

I usually prefer doing my own but I have not been to any of the ports to know the best activities, tours, cost, availablity of easy to use transportation to the dock, etc. All advice is appreciated.

climbinut@aol.com

[amy]

Hi,

I am the Marketing Manager for the Port of Portland, ME and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to inform you about Portland's new marine facility and shore excursions.

The City of Portland has recently taken back a deep water (35'+ mlw) marine terminal facility that was previously (leased) occupied by General Dynamics who operated the Bath Iron Works Ship Repair Facility there for twenty years. B.I.W. is in direct competition for Naval Shipbuilding contracts (Aegis Destroyers) with Ingalls Shipyard in Mississippi.

B.I.W. decided to consolidate their ship building operations at their main shipyard in a town called Bath, which is located 1/2 hour north of Portland. The consolidation has made the facility available to the city for use as a new Marine Passenger Facility.

The State of Maine Department of Transportation along with the City of Portland Department of Transportation & Waterfront (www.portofportlandmaine.org) will begin the Phase I construction process this fall. (after the cruise season ends!)

The facility, as you will see it when you dock, will be - a shipyard....don't let this scare you! It's safe, secure and clean!

When the build out is completed (est. 2004 & $20+ mil), the terminal will:

-have two piers capable of docking mega ships,

-act as the homeport to a new Inter-Coastal ferry (which will be operated by the State of Maine) that will go from Portland to northern Maine coastal communities such as; Boothbay Harbor, Bath, Bar Harbor, Camden-Rockland and back to Portland on a daily basis (which will elivate major traffic on U.S. Rt. 1),

-be the homeport to Portland's homeport Cruise Ferry, The m/s SCOTIA PRINCE (www.scotiaprince.com) which operates nightly cruises from Portland, ME to Yarmouth, NS (carrying over 165,000 passengers per year)

- have a berth for excursion boats and niche market adventure type cruise ships

-expand the services of the existing intra-harbor ferry (www.cascobaylines.com) fleet's facility

-a maritime museum,

-a Visitor's Information Center (www.visitportland.com)

-many other terminal amenities, typical of a cruise or airport terminal (i.e., e-mail access, phone bank, phone card machines)

The location of the terminal is the key- it's located in the heart of the Old Port (www.portlandmaine.com) area where you will find, boutiques, pubs, galleries, museums, restaurants, etc.

Shore Excursions will be fun! The company providing shore excursion services to you is called "Destination Canada/New England", they have offices in Quebec, Montreal, Portland and Miami.

They will be offering tours to:

- Freeport which is home to L.L.Bean and outlet stores (www.freeportusa.com)
- Kennebunk-Kennebunkport which highlights Walker's Point- the Bush's summerhome & Dock Square
- Portland Headlight tours, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's boyhood home
- Tours of the Historical and Arts District of Portland
- "Super Duck" tour which is an amphibious tour of the Harbor with the Historical District toured landside.

They may also be offering a horse drawn carraige tour of the city, which is available, although I'm not sure if they've scheduled that...

Should you choose not to purchase a tour onboard, the City offers an Electric Shuttle bus service that is $5.00 per person, ride all day. The shuttle bus picks you up at the pier and takes you to five different stops in the city.

The bus stops are located on the city's METRO system and are strategically located near the following:

-The Portland Museum of Art
-The Portland Public Market
-The Victoria Mansion
-Long Wharf, home to many different harbor excursions boats
-Congress Street (the L.L. Bean Outlet store) and more!

We will have visitor information services set up at the pier, along with the METRO sales booths for your convenience.

For more information, please feel free to check out any of the above listed websites!

We welcome you and hope that you enjoy your cruise!

Best Regards,

Amy Powers
Marketing Manager
Port of Portland, ME
2 Portland Fish Pier
Marine Trade Center, Suite 307
Portland, ME 04101
www.portofportlandmaine.org

For Boston I would recomend The Freedom Trail, a visit to Old Ironsides, a whale watching tour out of Boston Harbor. We liked the one run by the New England Aquarium, a visit to Lexington and Concord or to Marblehead, Glouchestershire, and Salem. The latter might be difficult if you have a short day but the others are very doable.

In Halifax be sure to go to the Maritime Museum, it's a little doozy. Halifax had an explosion that darned near destroyed the city and there is plenty about that there since it started in Halifax's harbor. The ships that went out for body recovery after the Titanic came from Halifax and they brought back lots of mementos. Then a visit to Fairview Cemetery to see the Titanic graves. If this isn't your cup of tea a visit to Peggy's Cove might be. It's a very picturesque fishing village. the only problem is that Victory is so big and so many people want to visit that all youo end up seeing are tour busses! I was on Victory in Eastern Canada last year and I stayed in Halifax but I saw the video of the Peggy's Cove visit.

I've never been to Sydney, NS so I can't help you there.

Carole

[Nanatravel]

Please refer to my response to Carol who is also touring Boston this month. We even take out of town guests on the Trolley Tour to save energy and take in much more than one could if walking the Freedom Trail, instead you will be riding it! September is usually a beautiful month in New England. We call it Indian Summer. If there is anything special that I can help you with, please e-mail me.
Bon Voyage