Cruising New England
So much of New England’s history, character, and lifestyle is tied to boating. If you never leave shore, you’re truly missing out on some of the region’s most exhilarating experiences. In every New England state, there are gentle voyages ideal for travelers of any age. Some cruises invite passengers to be a bit more active—helping to hoist the sails, for instance, or pitching in with making meals. But on all of these expeditions, you can simply sit back and enjoy stunning scenery and a feeling of escape from life on land, even if you hoist nothing heavier than a pair of binoculars or a glass of wine.
CONNECTICUT
The Lower Connecticut River is the setting for enchanting bird-watching cruises in every season. Bundle up and allow an on-board naturalist to help you spot golden and bald eagles on one of RiverQuest’s winter wildlife cruises, departing from the Connecticut River Museum in Essex in February and March. And from spring through summer, the 64-foot (19.5m) eco-tour boat RiverQuest continues to offer a front-row seat as eaglets hatch and begin their flight lessons, and ospreys tend their nests. The most spectacular bird show, though, occurs on August and September evenings. As the day’s last light fades, you’ll feel immersed in a timeless ritual as you watch from one of RiverQuest’s decks while a million tree swallows swirl in a funnel, then drop from the sky in unison to their nighttime perches.
Connecticut’s most iconic riverboat, the Becky Thatcher, was built to resemble the type of steamboat that Mark Twain piloted on the Mississippi River during the mid-19th century. At Essex Steam Train & Riverboat, you and your family will all get a thrill out of boarding a historic train for a rail ride from Essex to Deep River, where you’ll board the Becky Thatcher for a second dose of nostalgia. Choose railing-side seats on one of three decks, and enjoy snacks and drinks you purchased or brought on board as attractions like Gillette Castle come into view. You can catch the tree swallows’ dramatic dance on late summer and early fall evenings, or, as the colors of autumn deepen, choose this dual-transportation adventure as your family’s most memorable leaf-peeping excursion.
VERMONT
Have you ever taken a ferry to sightsee, rather than to get from Point A to Point B? Lake Champlain Ferries’ crossing from Burlington to Port Kent, New York, offers as dazzling an experience as any scenic cruise; plus, it’s an affordable way to get out onto New England’s largest lake. The Adirondack Mountains are in view as you journey west, and if you time your trip just right, you’ll see the sky catch fire with the colors of sunset. The round-trip ferry ride takes two hours. If you’d like, bring a car or bikes aboard to explore Lake Champlain’s opposite shore. In business for nearly two centuries, Lake Champlain Ferries also offers routes connecting Charlotte, Vermont, with Essex, New York, and Grand Isle, Vermont, with Plattsburgh, New York.
In Vermont’s remote Northeast Kingdom, sit back and relax as you relish the uniqueness of New England’s only international lake cruise. Northern Star Cruises offers two-hour scenic outings on Lake Memphremagog, which come with the added thrill of crossing both the 45th parallel, located halfway between the equator and the North Pole, and the border between the U.S. and Canada, which is marked by “the Slash,” a 20-foot-wide (6m) clear-cut alleyway through the trees that runs the entire 5,525 miles (8,892km) of the longest international border in the world.
MAINE
Book a cabin aboard one of the Maine Windjammer Association’s eight tall ships—four of which are National Historic Landmarks—and you will find that singing along while helping the crew raise the sails is as strenuous as your seafaring will get. On these all-inclusive, multiday cruises aimed at adults and families with older children, you’ll spend hours gliding around small Maine islands and looking forward to the next galley-cooked gourmet meal. Trips, which depart out of Camden or Rockland, typically include an all-you-can-eat lobster bake on an island, too.
For travelers interested in a shorter voyage that is still distinctively Maine, there are lobster boats that double as tour boats up and down the coast. Plus, these vessels are better able to accommodate families traveling with younger children. Join Rugosa Lobster Tours out of Kennebunkport (ages 6 and up), Lucky Catch out of Portland (all ages), or one of several other operators for a memorable and educational experience that reveals fascinating facts about these famous crustaceans and how they are caught. Your captain will invite you to help haul in the traps—and Lucky Catch will even sell you the lobsters you’ve harvested, with Portland Lobster Company cooking them for you when you return to dry land.
MASSACHUSETTS
As the cruising hub of Massachusetts, Boston can be your family’s port of departure for a sail aboard a major cruise line. Several operators, including Celebrity and Holland America Line, embark from here on trips up the coast to Maine and Canada. But there are also many Boston boat tours that don’t require packing a suitcase for days at sea. Whether you’re looking for something tame, like a Boston Harbor sunset cruise, or an adventure that will have passengers of all ages squealing with delight, such as a ride aboard the mega-speedboat Codzilla, time together on the water always feels special.
On summer and fall days, Boston Harbor City Cruises’ Boston Harbor Islands Ferry provides access to six of the 34 islands and peninsulas that are included within Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. In just 20 minutes, you can be exploring Spectacle Island’s handicapped-accessible perimeter trail or lazing on its sandy beach, with Boston’s beloved skyline in view. It’s a 45-minute ferry ride to Georges Island, where park rangers lead tours of the ruins of Civil War–era Fort Warren.
While you’re in Boston, don’t overlook the chance to cruise through city streets aboard a World War II–era amphibious DUKW (“Duck”) vehicle, which will also plunge right into the Charles River to reveal additional sights. Boston Duck Tours delight kids, and the narration is fascinating and funny for adults.
North of Boston, Essex River Cruises operates scenic wildlife-viewing tours aboard wheelchair-accessible boats that travel the calm waters of this tidal estuary. Or, if you’re heading south to Cape Cod, consider booking a private excursion for your group of up to six people, ages 6 and older, aboard the catboat Sarah. Built at and operated out of the Cape Cod Maritime Museum, this replica of an 1886 Crosby catboat also embarks on public sails.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
For more than 25 years, the Portsmouth-based Isles of Shoals Steamship Company has introduced curious tourists to the storied islands located about 10 miles (16km) offshore. Mapped by Captain John Smith in 1614, the nine little Isles of Shoals are associated with tales of pirates, treasure, shipwrecks, and ghosts. Book passage to Star Island aboard the company’s M/V Thomas Laighton, and you’ll hear spine-tingling legends en route to your destination, where you can join a walking tour or rock away the day in a chair on the porch of The Oceanic, the islands’ last surviving Victorian-era hotel.
The tradition of cruising Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest and most famous of New Hampshire’s many lakes, extends back even more generations. In fact, it’s been over 150 years since the first boat christened Mount Washington began showing lake sights to eager visitors. Mount Washington Cruises now offers family travelers a variety of options aboard its successor, the M/S Mount Washington, from narrated scenic tours to dinner cruises complete with a live band and dancing (an ideal way to celebrate a milestone wedding anniversary or birthday). Sunday brunch and themed cruises are options, too.
RHODE ISLAND
Walk along the wharves in the coastal city of Newport, and you’ll be surprised at the variety of pleasure boats waiting to take you on a jaunt around Newport Harbor. Will you sail aboard the 19th-century-style, two-masted pilot schooner Adirondack II, with its teak deck and warm mahogany trim? Perhaps feel the wind in your hair as the Rum Runner II, a classic 1929 motor yacht, gives you a taste of Prohibition-era smuggling runs? Or relax on the enclosed lower or covered top deck of the Coastal Queen? Or take an inexpensive jaunt on the Jamestown Newport Ferry, which allows you to hop on and off and explore five stops including Rose Island and its historic lighthouse?
Away from the Rhode Island coast, in the Blackstone River Valley, one of the best ways to experience the waterway that gave birth to America’s Industrial Revolution is to book seats aboard Explorer River Tours’ canopied 40-passenger boat. Departing from Central Falls for 50-minute, fact-filled trips along the Blackstone River, these outings are especially engaging for little ones, who will enjoy borrowing binoculars and completing activity sheets during their time on board.
