The last day of our Bermuda and Boston cruise was a stop in Bar Harbor, Maine. It was a cold and dreary day, but we were looking forward to exploring this town for the first time. We were very excited to go to Acadia National Park. There are limited visitor passes for the park available daily, but we’d booked a tour that would take us directly into it, as well as around town.
It’s hard to describe the beauty of this national park. We wished we had more time there so we could hike and explore further, but the parts we were able to see were just beautiful.
After leaving Acadia our tour guide drove us around the small town some more and gave us some history. Apparently at one time Bar Harbor rivaled Newport, Rhode Island, as a place the wealthy of New York would come to summer. (You know you’re wealthy when you use “summer” as a verb.) Sadly, in 1947 there was a huge fire that started in a cranberry bog and wiped out part of Acadia National Park as well as most of the mansions on Millionaire’s Row.
We highly recommend Oli’s Trolley for tours if you’re ever in Bar Harbor. We’re not affiliated with them, but we thought they were great. At the end of our enjoyable tour, we asked the tour guide for his recommendation for a lunch spot, and he steered us toward Leary’s Landing Pub.
It was a great recommendation. After lunch, we walked the streets, stopping in many of the shops to escape the cold and drizzle. We were able to find some great souvenirs of our time there, including some delicious blueberries that Maine is known for. My blueberries may or may not have been in the form of a hot fresh doughnut.
Though we thoroughly enjoyed our time here, we were freezing. It seemed especially cold after we’d been lying on the beach just a couple days earlier. We were so thankful for the hot chocolate awaiting us from the ship’s crew as we were heading back onto the ship. Once back on board, we headed to the deck to watch the beautiful scenery as we sailed away.
A couple notes about our actual cruise for this trip. We were on the Norwegian Gem. This is one of their smaller and older ships, but we often enjoy those more than the big mega-ships. True, they don’t have all the bells and whistles of the water slides, racetracks, miniature golf, etc, and maybe we’d feel differently if we were sailing with little kids. We’ve cruised with the bigger newer ships as well, but since it’s usually just the two of us, we don’t need the extra activities. Give us good food and live music available every night and we’re happy. And these older ships have plenty of both. We also prefer sailing with 2000 passengers vs. 5000. I know there are many who do prefer the big ships and fortunately there are plenty of both.
We also prefer to stay in what Norwegian calls their “ship within a ship,” The Haven. This area has a private restaurant, private bar and lounge area, and private pool and sun deck. Besides the room steward that everyone on the ship has, Haven guests also have a butler who will do anything for you from unpack your suitcase (we’ve never used him for this), to bring you special snacks every day, and just anything you could possibly think of to make your vacation special. And, there is a concierge who can get you dinner reservations and show reservations even when they’re noted to be full. Being in The Haven also comes with special perks such as priority embarkation and disembarkation in every port. It is more expensive, but we’ve decided we’d rather cruise less often and have these amenities than to go more often without them. It may not be worth it for everyone, but it is for us.
For some reason on this cruise, we’re still unsure exactly why, they upgraded us to a special suite with its own deck and hot tub. This is by far the nicest cabin we’ve ever had and we will definitely miss it on our next cruise. Here are a few pictures so you can see what I mean…
If you have any questions about Norwegian cruises or The Haven please let us know. We’d love to help you plan your own unforgettable vacation, big ship or small. Just go to the Contact page to get in touch with us. Also, please leave comments letting us know what else you’d like to see on our pages. More cruise info, more or less pictures, etc. This is a new blog and we want to get better at it every day. Thank you for your patience as we learn and hopefully improve!
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