Several fellow cruise crazies sent me emails and asked questions about the port of Boston.
To answer one question – no, there wasn’t any ships in the port while I was there. (ding dang!) I would have loved it and definitely would have taken pictures and posted them.
I was also asked about how much a person can see during a port stop in Boston. I think it all depends upon how much a person would like to see and how long you’re in port. If you want to do everything — well you can’t. But you can certainly see A LOT with proper planning and a good port-of-attack plan with a minimum of eight hours to do it. If you do your research and know what you want to see and do (and stick to your plan) then I believe that you can see all the major attractions that Boston has to over in a single port stop.
I was also asked to post more photos, so they are below. Enjoy and thanks for the questions!
A sidewalk marker for the Freedom Trail
Downtown Boston near the waterfront
On the Freedom Trail near Quincy Market
Historic old City Hall downtown (see Ben Franklin statue)
Have you sailed on a cruise that departed from Boston? Or has this city been a port stop on one of your cruises?
I was recently in Boston for a few days and I loved it. I wasn’t on a cruise (darn) but I highly recommend this city as a port stop of port of departure.
Currently 15 cruise lines stop in Boston. The pier where the ships dock is less than two miles from Boston’s neighborhoods, including historic Back Bay, the trendy Newbury Street and Copley Square. The New England Aquarium is located in the city’s downtown as well and also the Museum of Science. The city also has the Freedom Trail that is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites.
Getting around the city is easy too using the subway and the red line stops right at Harvard University. I really enjoyed visting and walking around this historic Ivy League university.
I felt as though the city is safe and the locals were very friendly. If you depart on a cruise out of Boston, I recommend you spend an extra day there either pre- or post- cruise to make sure you get to enjoy all this historic city has to offer.
There’s an interesting video now available on the Oasis of the Seas web page. It includes information about the new terminal at Port Everglades made just to dock and then service future passengers of the Oasis of the Seas. This terminal is also known as Terminal 18.
I found this video interesting because just like I have in the past, I’m wondering how effectively RCCL will be able to get 5,000 plus passengers off the Oasis of the Seas and then ready 5,000 plus more to board. WHOA! That’s no small undertaking.
The reason I wonder how smoothly this will go is because you know that we cruise crazies rush the cruise port terminal early to be the first to board. So there will obviously be at least 1,000-2,000 cruise crazies — at a minimum — rushing to the terminal to board before 5,000 plus passengers have reluctantly been forced off the ship. That means there will be at least (according to my calculations) at least 6,000-7,000 cruise crazies in various depressed or exhuberant cruise-state-of-mind personalities either boarding or disembarking ONE ship!
But what will happen when disembarkation of the Oasis of the Seas passengers is delayed for example due to - customs issues? Or if the Oasis experiences a norovirus outbreak so this mammoth ship must be sanitized before any new passengers can board?
Then we’re likely to see many more passengers all converged at Terminal 18 (5,000 PLUS) all waiting anxiously and IMPATIENTLY to board. That’s a lot of cruise crazy people to have sitting and waiting to board a cruise ship in one spot!?
I truely hope it all goes well. But I’m also anxious to see how it does go in the beginning and in the future.
Below is also another video I think is great of the arrival of Oasis of the Seas in Port Everglades.
I have one very BIG pet peeve when it comes to talking about cruises and cruise ships.
My pet peeve is referring to a cruise ship as a boat!!! ggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…………………..
Cruise ships are not boats. They’re SHIPS!!
Please don’t call a cruise ship a boat.
The reason is this. You can put a boat on a ship, but you CANNOT put a ship on a boat. There is a difference!!
A boat is something such as a “row boat.” A boat is: a small vessel for travel on water. Note the word “small.”
Recently, RCCL and USAToday held this contest for a “Reporter at Sea” where the winner would get a free 4-day cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas on a “preview” cruise departing Nov 18th. The “reporter” would provide reports about this new SHIP. Note ship — not a boat. Ship, ship, ship!!!
Oasis of the Seas is the BIGGEST cruise SHIP ever built. It’s phenominal. It’s unbelievable in size. Yet the winner of the USA Today contest repeatedly refers to the Oasis of the Seas as a BOAT in her winning video. What is wrong with her? I cannot believe she won when she refers to this amazing ship as a boat. It’s a SHIP!
Uggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………it drives this cruise addict in sane.
This is a new book and Jay was a ship’s officer for Carnival Cruise Lines . In his book he shares his views on what it’s like to work on a cruise ship for almost 10 years. And his book is unique because it’s written by a ship’s officer who had access to the entire ship and also other high-level officials on Carnival’s ships.
Check it out if you’re interested. It’s available in electronic version for $10.95 by clicking here.
Have you seen the lates videos or photos of Oasis of the Seas passing under the Storebaelt Bridge? The ship had to pass out of the Baltic Sea and make it under this bridge that connects the islands of Zealand and Funen.
RCCL and the Captain that it would be close as the ship passed under the bridge and the Oasis made it just fine. The ship even lowered it’s smoke stacks to clear the bridge.
I’ve been thinking lately about how much larger the Oasis of the Seas is versus other ships.
The Oasis of the Seas is at least 60,000 gross tons larger than either the Freedom of the Seas or The Queen Mary 2. It’s also around 60-70 feet longer than either ship too.
Below are some graphics which compare the ship sizes. I like to look at these types of comparisons. I’m anxious to see the Oasis of the Seas next to other ships so that we can see a real-life comparison.
The ship will now make its way to Port Everglades which will be the new home for Oasis of the Seas. It is due to arrive in Fort Lauderdale in only 12 more days. It’s hard to believe that it’s this close after all of this waiting!
Here’s another therapy for you cruise addicts suffering from cruise withdrawal!
Do you like to play charades? Are you good at acting out words?
If you’re suffering from cruise withdrawal and you have friends and family who also like to play charades, then invite them to play cruise crazy charades! Think of all the fun you can have playing this version of charades where you can indulge yourself by making it all about CRUISES! The reason is that in cruise crazy charades, all the answers must be either the name of a cruise ship, a cruise line, a nautical term, a space on a cruise ship, or the name of a port stop!
This will provide hours of fun for you and your cruise addict family and friends. (or even your friends and family who are cruise addict enablers) Have a great time with this new therapy and prescription to combat cruise withdrawal.
