Portland, Maine, Excursions

[cleophus12]

I was considering taking the train to Freeport to LL Bean.  How difficult is this to do on our own?  Where is the train station in relation to the pier?  I also love the boat outings listed here.  They look like great fun.  

 

[Rubyfisch]

4 hours ago, cleophus12 said:

I was considering taking the train to Freeport to LL Bean.  How difficult is this to do on our own?  Where is the train station in relation to the pier?  I also love the boat outings listed here.  They look like great fun.  

 

The train station isn't particularly near the pier - it would be a $10 to $20 Uber/Lyft/cab ride. And the train scheduling is not particularly forgiving. It would probably be easier to just take an Uber there (although I'd worry about getting back). As someone who loves Portland and spends a lot of time there, I recommend the mail boat over Freeport.

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, Rubyfisch said:

It would probably be easier to just take an Uber there (although I'd worry about getting back). As someone who loves Portland and spends a lot of time there, I recommend the mail boat over Freeport.

To your point, the only way I’d feel comfortable doing this on a cruise stop is to rent a car or have a driver (who will wait) take me there and back. You’ll be able to Uber up but you might not be able to Uber back. 
 

At the end of the day, it’s a giant LL Bean store. It’s neat- but not worth the amount of effort you’ll need to do it on a port day stop. 

[Susan in Maine]

Trains in Maine are not like subways. They don't run regularly - they primarily take people from Maine/Massachusetts to Boston and back.

 

I LOVE Bean's (as we locals call it!) It's a great store - but it's just a store. 

 

I'd definitely go with the mail boat.

[chengkp75]

On 4/6/2023 at 1:31 PM, cleophus12 said:

I was considering taking the train to Freeport to LL Bean.  How difficult is this to do on our own?  Where is the train station in relation to the pier?  I also love the boat outings listed here.  They look like great fun.  

 

When I look at the Downeaster schedule, for a cruise port of call, the only train from Portland to Freeport leaves Portland at 11:25, arriving in Freeport at 11:55.  The only train that you could take back, unless the ship leaves late in the evening, leaves Freeport at 1:08pm, arriving Portland at 1:43.  So, you would be on the train for 30 minutes each way, to spend about an hour in Freeport.  If Beans is your destination, that is nowhere near enough time to see all that is there.

[SueMo]

We did the Land and Sea tour through https://portlanddiscovery.com/tours and enjoyed it a lot.  It's an easy walk there from the port.

[Lizard13]

We made a detour to the LL Bean store and it was disappointing.  It is, like someone else pointed out, just a store.  I prefer the smaller store in my mall, it carries everything I would be interested in with better presentation. But still I shop primarily by catalog. There is a restaurant where we bought sandwiches but nothing great. Spend your time elsewhere unless this is on your bucket list.