Pepper0074

In Newport, the ship will be moored relatively close to Rose Island Lighthouse and Newport Harbor Light on Goat Island. You will pass by Beavertail light at the entrance to and exit from the East Passage, Narragansett Bay and Castle Hill Light (one of my favorites) as you cruise through the passage. Lime Rock/Ida Lewis Lighthouse can also be seen from the harbor area although it is now a yacht club. 

It is a fairly easy walk to Goat Island to see the Newport Harbor Light. If there aren't too many boats in the mooring area, Storer Park has a lovely view of it, especially at sunset.

The Jamestown Newport ferry can take you to Rose Island for an up-close and personal view of that lighthouse.

https://www.roseisland.org/copy-of-transportation

It might be possible to see Sakonnet Light as you are sailing north. There are others that you will pass but it depends on lighting and distance.

Enjoy!

We will be on her in March for our third time in a year. We love her!

I used to work in a building with this elevator system. It seems like I may be the minority because I did not like it at all. The main issue was human error. People just didn't get how to do it. 

We love Sight Sailing of Newport. They are located on Bowens Wharf just south of the tender pier. They have three different sized boats so that you can choose from different experiences. They have a public and private sails on schooner, Aquidneck; a 46 foot sloop, Sightsailer: and a 34 foot Starlight. Starlight is for private sails only. The staff and crew are very well trained and the owner can frequently be found at the helm. He loves what he does.

https://sightsailing.com/

Enjoy!

14 hours ago, Gershep said:

How far of a walk is that from the ship? Thank you!

When you get off of the tender, you will be in Perotti Park. It is a small park bordered by the harbor on the west, the Harbor Master's building on the south, America's Cup Avenue on the east and Long Wharf on the north. Turn to your left (north), you will see a wire sculpture of seals. Walk towards it. There is frequently but not always a van from the Visitor's Center parked by the statue. The road that borders the park on that side is Long Wharf. Walk to that street. Make a left on Long Wharf. You will continue to walk along the harbor. You will pass the Newport Yacht Club and Long Wharf Inn/Resort.  At the end of the street is the State pier 9. You are there! It is a flat easy walk and depending on your speed takes 3-5 minutes. 

Let me know if you have any other questions. Enjoy!

Go to the Newport Lobster Shack. They have both lobster 'dinners' and two sizes of lobster rolls. Yes it is a food truck, but it is some of the best lobster you will ever eat. It is operated by a consortium of the lobster fishermen. They are located very close to Perotti Park (the tender pier) at the corner of Long Wharf and Washington Street. 

The term Maine lobster is like Canada goose. It is the name of a type of lobster, not the only place to get them. You can get them anywhere along the northeast coastline. The best ones are freshly caught from clean waters. My mom and aunt loved the ones they got in Halifax and they are both used to great fresh lobster from Rhode Island!

I know that you will have a great time!

Or if you failed to print your tags in a timely manner then you can get blank ones from a porter. I don't think we will let that happen again!

They can be mailed separately. My Mom and Aunt cruise together but don't live together. They each used the app (actually we did it for them) to order their medallion ahead of the cruise and each one received theirs at their home.

Enjoy your cruise.

Mentioning the zip cars reminded me that I also saw those small batmobile things on lower Thames Street. They could be fun too.

No, but the one way streets make driving a nightmare if you don't know your way around. What are you trying to do?

Boston, Bar Harbor and Saint Andrew's via Saint John are the best options as others have said.

In St. Andrew's, Quoddy Link Marine has a wonderful naturalist, Danielle Dion. 

In Boston, there is really only one company doing whale watches. Boston Harbor Cruises collaborates with the New England Aquarium. They have multiple boats. The boats are big, but they usually do a nice job. (I usually go out of Cape Ann or Cape Cod, but that is not an option for you.)

All three of these areas will get mysticetes such as humpbacks, finbacks and minkes, along with the occasional right (extremely endangered) and sei (at certain times of the year) whales. Occasionally you can see some toothed whales (dolphins, etc.) as well. It is important to remember that the large whales come home to feed. They will be where the food is plentiful as they need to replace the blubber lost over the winter and get ready for the coming winter down south. Typically, the species that most people want to see are humpbacks as they are generally the most surface active. All three of these areas can see humpbacks and every day the conditions and what you see changes. That being said, I feel Boston is the best area to go whale watching. There are often greater humpback sightings on Stellwagon BAnk and Jeffery's Ledge, etc.

Check out their website or Facebook pages to get a sampling of sightings. I have enjoyed spending time with whales for more than 30 years. While each trip is different, some quiet and some active and some in between, I can tell you it is awe inspiring to spend time with these incredible animals.

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

You mean Manhattan,correct ?

Yankee Trails goes to both the Manhattan and the Brooklyn terminals when they have passengers scheduled.

You can fly to Albany and rent a car there to visit Cooperstown, etc. Return the car the night before the cruise. Have a car service/taxi/uber pick you up and take you to Yankee Trails in Rensselaer the morning of the cruise.  (Provided they have a bus servicing your cruise, but they do most of them.)

https://tours.yankeetrails.com/Tours/Cruise_Express_Shuttle/Overview    Their phone number is 800-822-2400.

(I won't drive in NYC.)

David Moore was on the Caribbean Princess September 4-14, 2019. 

The north side of Perotti Park is bordered by Long Wharf. There is street parking on Long Wharf although depending on the day it can be filled. There is a small lot further down Long Wharf on the water side of the street. There is usually street parking on Washington Street which is very close by also. (Grab a lobster roll for the Newport Lobster Shack!)

This time of year, the Mary Street parking lot is usually not overly busy also.

Enjoy your special time with your son.

A lot of people enjoy Cape Pond Ice. You may like it too.

3 hours ago, Northern Light said:

Thank you very much for all of the information you provided and will look into the sailboat tour.

Sandy

Sandy, 

You are very welcome. I will be on your cruise in September. I'm also a scrapbooker/papercrafter. Enjoy your planning.

Deb

7 hours ago, Northern Light said:

A request please if it is convenient and you think of it.  We are on the CB Canada/New England cruise in September that includes Newport.  We can't make up our minds what to do there but considering the land/sea excursion. I would really like to see the Clingstone House on the Rocks and wonder if you will cruise by it going into port where the ship will anchor.  No sense going on the sea cruise excursion if the same thing can be seen from the ship.  Thanks a bunch.  Bon Voyage everyone and wish you calm seas and blue skies.  I will love watching the ship leaving Ft Lauderdale today knowing we will soon be on it. 

Sandy 

Clingstone will be seen easily from the ship. It is in the East Passage just off of Jamestown and the ship will sail right passed it. In fact, you should be able to see Clingstone from the ship when she is at anchor.

That being said, a sailboat tour of Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay is fabulous. I highly recommend Sight Sailing. They are on Bowen's Wharf.

We will be on CB in September NY to Quebec. I will be enjoying this thread as our warm up! Thanks for posting.

And I give you all a big wave when you are in Newport.

I understand your concerns. In 2017, we were booked on the Island Princess (at that time we had never been on the Coral) for an Alaskan cruise. Then I discovered this site and worried a lot about all of the comments that I saw written about her. We had a fabulous cruise! We fell in love with the Island Princess and would sail on her again. For us, as Alaska is about the destination, we used very few of the venues on the ship. We had great service and enjoyed the food. We never felt crowded. 

Fast forward to April 2018, we cruised to the Panama Canal on the Coral. We began to understand why people criticized the Island even though she will always hold a special place in our hearts. We fell in love with the Coral. We enjoyed all of the venues, the theatre, the lounges, every inch of the ship. We loved all of the viewing platforms, especially those on the stern of the ship. We received spectacular service from each and every staff member. We felt that the food was very good.  We typically prefer the main dining room but we also enjoyed that the buffet is up front with a great view of what is to come.

I know that the International Cafe is small and set up next to the casino. I know that some gripe about the smoke seeping into that area. We had no problem, we would get our afternoon coffee and treats and walk a short way down to the lovely seating across from the Explorer's Lounge and watch the world go by. It was quiet and lovely and is our afternoon delight.

No ship is perfect, but you can make it perfect for you.

Relax and enjoy, Alaska is amazing!

Thank you! I too am following as we are in the process of planning our next trip to Alaska.

I am all about wildlife, especially marine animals so I would do the longest possible tour out on Resurrection Bay/Kenai Fjords. The view from each boat is very different. Smaller boats give yo a more intimate experience.

Seward is a nice town to walk around and explore. 

What are your interests?

I have never tried to post photos before so I hope this works. These are two shots from our hike on Exit Glacier. The one with the yellow dot (Pikachu) was taken with the lens at 30mm. The second shot, close up was taken at 300 mm. Despite the it being grey and rainy and cloudy we loved every second of our time there.

I just realized that it was exactly two years ago today. 

13 minutes ago, Rafabril said:

Thank you for your detailed description!

 

I've checked the excursions offered by Princess in Kenai and one tour to Seward is Explore Historic Seward ($49.95 for 7.25hours). Is it the lodge van you mentioned?

 

Yes, I'm also interested in Exit Glacier. Would you pls tell me how long you stayed there and was it possible to walk on the glacier or join a glacier trek tour? What kind of hike did you do there?   

 

Thank you & looking forward to your reply:)

 

They may have changed how they do things, but for us, all excursions going to Seward were put on the same van. We were originally supposed to go to Seward for a Kenai Fjords cruise but the weather did not cooperate so it was canceled.

I honestly can't tell you what they called the excursion that we did but it was pretty much on your own. The van driver made the suggestion to us and after dropping off several people in Seward she took those of us that were interested out to Exit glacier for a couple of hours. We met up when she told us and returned to Seward for the rest of the day.

At the glacier there is an interpretation center, rest rooms, etc. We hiked one of the trails with great views of the glacier. It was all fairly spontaneous due to the cancellation of our intended boat trip. We did not walk on the glacier. We are in the process of planning a trip back to Alaska. As part of this planning I have seen that there are ways to do guided hikes on Exit glacier but they are not through Princess.

I'm sorry that I don't have better timing details. I was careful to be timely in consideration of others, but other than that I was in the moment and not really timing out our activities.