Boston as a CruiseShip Port!!!

[sail7seas]

Today is a busy day at Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in the fine City of Boston.

 

Queen Mary 2 is making her first call here.

Enchantment of the Seas is visiting.

And two others ships the news did not specifically name in their report but I think it might be Crystal Symphony and Golden Princess.

 

I am so happy to see so much interest in ships coming here. The more the better; the more often the better. The less I have to fly to meet ships---the absolute best!!!

[RuthC]

I found the embarkation procedure at Boston as close to perfect as I can imagine. They had NYC beat by a country mile!

 

After arrival a number was issued; there were seats to wait in. After a brief time the number was called, I went up an escalator and headed to check-in. Within what seemed like seconds I was headed toward the security point and the gangway.

It's close to home (for me, anyway), easy to manuver around, friendly staff to help, and a pretty sail-away.

What's not to like?

[FlorenceItaly]

When I cruised on the Maasdam out of Boston, it was easy, easy, easy. Not to mention, I fell in love with the fabulous city. I would welcome the opportunity to cruise from there, even though it involves airfare for me :).

 

Marie

[jhannah]

We have been at Black Falcon only once, but I remember it as a fine facility. Hopefully we will be able to cruise Canada/New England again in the future and utilize the Boston port again.

 

Now ... if someone could be convinced to place a webcam on the port ...

[sail7seas]

Jim....I SO agree that a webcam would be fabulous.

Today is a beautiful, bright, clear day and it would be a pleasure to see all these pretty ships docked in Boston. I wish MassPort would get going and put in webcams.

 

I've been told the longshoremen in Boston are doing a great job and the ships seemed to be happy with their work.

 

(***Good signs toward 'promoting' more ships to come here. Let's hope MassPort doesn't get greedy and want too much money!!!! Talk about dreaming :)........)

 

 

[Mustangs]

Jim,

 

Try this link:

 

http://www.seatowboston.com/harborcam.html

 

Alan

[Oceanwench]

Great link! Thanks!

 

Would there be any cruises between Boston and Florida? If so, sign me up for a B2B. We haven't been back there in about 6 years! Family visits us instead -- in the winter! ;)

[sail7seas]

It's gorgeous here now, Oceanwench. Weather doesn't get more beautiful than we have had the last three or four days.....actually the last month has been wonderful, for the most part.

[cruiserking]

Hey Sail7Seas,

 

Thanks for the excellent link!

 

So cool to see the QM2 floating there in the Boston Harbor.

 

Cruiserking

[jhannah]

Thanks for that link, Alan. I've bookmarked it!

[RuthC]

Would there be any cruises between Boston and Florida? If so, sign me up for a B2B.

Unfortunately, there's only the re-positioning cruises that will either start or end in Canada.

That darned Passenger Services Act, again. Can't start a cruise in one USA port and end in another without also stopping at a "remote" foreign port.

[sail7seas]

The ships can do a roundtrip from Boston to Boston....or, as we always see FLL to FLL. All passengers must be on for the entire itinerary. All must board and disembark in the same port and must visit one foreign port at any time during the cruise. The foreign port does not have to be the last before returning to the point of embarkation.

 

That is why we sometimes stop at Key West and then the next day disembark in FLL.

 

[sail7seas]

Sorry....

 

I meant to add that if there is an emergency medical debark during the cruise, I think the ship must notify the authorities and have to request an 'exemption or waiver' of some sort in order to not be fined for returning to the U.S. port minus (at least) one passenger. I doubt that waiver would be refused for a true medical emergency but I'm quite sure I remember being told this.

 

 

[RuthC]

That's my understanding, too. When the cruise begins and ends in the same USA port the Passenger Services Act only requires a "near" foreign port---as opposed to the "remote" (or "distant", I think is the correct term) when two different USA ports are used.

 

In either case, it is unlikely that there will ever be an opportunity for a Florida-Boston (or reverse) back-to-back.

'tis a pity, too. Sounds like a nice trip. I sure would like to sail from Boston down the coast then back home again. With some different ports in each direction it would make for a nice tour of some historical areas.

[Grumpy1]

That's my understanding, too. When the cruise begins and ends in the same USA port the Passenger Services Act only requires a "near" foreign port

Or no other port at all, as in a Cruise to Nowhere.

[Oceanwench]

That's my understanding, too. When the cruise begins and ends in the same USA port the Passenger Services Act only requires a "near" foreign port---as opposed to the "remote" (or "distant", I think is the correct term) when two different USA ports are used.

 

In either case, it is unlikely that there will ever be an opportunity for a Florida-Boston (or reverse) back-to-back.

'tis a pity, too. Sounds like a nice trip. I sure would like to sail from Boston down the coast then back home again. With some different ports in each direction it would make for a nice tour of some historical areas.

 

That was my thinking, too.

My husband is in a wheelchair and cannot fly comfortably, so we haven't been back north in a long time.

A cruise from Fla. to Boston would be ideal [if we could do a B2B] and give us an opportunity to stop at some historic places along the way.

And with the ADA, those stops would be accessible to him.

[RuthC]

Right! Grumpy. I forgot about that. And that's funny, too, because once upon a time I took a 2-day cruise to nowhere out of Boston. My one and only Carnival cruise.

It was when I was youngandsingleand gorgeous. In the three nights I got about 7 hours sleep total. Couldn't do that now no matter how much I might want.

Oh, was it fun!

[sail7seas]

We'd love a cruise down the East Coast and back up to Boston, back-to-back. That would be wonderful. Maybe Congress may reconsider amending the Passenger Carriage Act sometime soon? Sigh.......wishful thinking!!! :)

[Lisa63]

Today is a busy day at Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in the fine City of Boston.

 

Queen Mary 2 is making her first call here.

Enchantment of the Seas is visiting.

And two others ships the news did not specifically name in their report but I think it might be Crystal Symphony and Golden Princess.

Yes, the other two ships were Crystal Symphony (which overnighted Thursday to Friday) and Golden Princess. And the following day, Crystal Symphony was joined by Celebrity's Constellation and Radisson's Seven Seas Navigator.

 

I vistited the Terminal on both days with the sole purpose of seeing the ships up close. :)

 

And I agree completely about the ease of using Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. As an example, when we disembarked Norwegian Majesty a couple of months ago, we left our cabin at 8:55 am and had collected our luggage and loaded it into our friend's car at 9:15.

 

Now, if only we can convince more lines to use Boston in the summer...

[debjo]

I'm all for more cruise ship lines to use Boston as an embarkation & disembarkation port. The only ship that regularly sails from Boston is NCL's Norwegian Majesty. We had a lovely "family" round-trip cruise last year from Boston in honor of my mother-in-law's 80th birthday. She, too, is wheel-chair bound and cannot fly, and Boston is the only port that she can easily get to in her wheelchair van. (NYC is too far of a trip for her). She absolutely loved the cruise, but the Majesty wasn't the best ship for her. The beds in the handicapped accessible rooms were all twin beds that could not be pushed together and it was very difficult for my father-in-law to get her in and out of the twin beds that were against the walls. She'd love to go on another 7 day or less round-trip cruise out of Boston, but there aren't any cruise lines that offer that. Each year we keep hoping some cruise line will step up to the plate...ARE ANY OF THEM LISTENING???

 

I also must add that the Black Falcon Terminal really has their act together...departing from Boston (rather than from our usual NYC port) was a breeze compared to the "Big Apple".

 

Debjo

[Charliesmom]

Debjo, the Maasdam had regular sailings from Boston this year. Are they not scheduled for next year? There were several itineraries - one to Montreal and several to Halifax with stops in New England cities like Portland and Newport.

 

There were also a couple of Royal Caribbean cruises from Boston this year, too.

 

Now, I am curious and am going to look up other sailings from Boston.

 

As for the handicapped rooms having twin beds - I think they all do on all of the ships. I haven't stayed in handicapped rooms, but that was my impression from these boards.

 

Roberta

[sail7seas]

Yes....the Maasdam will be doing Canada/New England sailings from Boston again in 2006. We are booked for b-to-b's in August.

 

I would love for them to keep that itinerary (which is only seasonal) and add a Caribbean round trip from Boston. As long as I am dreaming, I extend my dream to make that roundtrip Boston to the Caribbean to be offered 12 months. :)

 

 

[shipcafe]

Hi Sail7 ..

I was in Boston last week on a Canada & New England cruise and just loved your city! We walked the entire Freedom Train and it was quite a day! The weather was spectacular and it is just a wonderful city. Would enjoy spending additional time there in the future!

[jhannah]

I think the Freedom Train was a little farther down south. :D But the Freedom Trail is wonderful. We, too, walked all of it and history comes alive. Love Boston, too.

[RuthC]

You picked the right week, Steve. Since Friday it's alternated between raw, cold, raining and raw, cold, pouring. Supposed to stay that way all week.

Sure wasn't nice for the leef peepers on the long holiday weekend.