Day 3: Portland, ME.
After a good sleep, we awoke and took our time getting ready for the day. Unlike Newport, where the ship arrived in port at 6:00 am, our Portland arrival was scheduled for 11:00 am. This gave us a reasonable time to explore the port. Better yet, this was not a tender port. We could walk off the ship, and go directly to the shops or restaurants we wanted to go to without delay.
Once done with a quick but hearty breakfast, it was off the ship and on to a narrow gauge train ride. The Maine Narrow Gauge tourist railroad didn’t go far, but it had some scenic views of Casco Bay. While on the train, we met up with a couple we dined with on the ship last night, as well as meeting a young woman and her dog. (She was not on our ship. Instead, she was a tourist from Florida who was working remotely.) It’s too bad that a bridge has been out of commission for years, as it would have been nice if the train ride could have crossed the water and continued its path on the mainland.
Next, it was off to find a place where we could have a good lobster roll. RQS and I didn’t want to go back to last month’s restaurant, as we were very unhappy with the food served there. This time, we found a little place on a pier that both serves food and delivers seafood to other operations, This place, Luke’s is a gem that has been family operated for 3 generations, and well worth going to when in the Portland area. I noted to RQS that I suffered a little sticker shock when looking at the price of lobster rolls. The lobsters from the Cousins Maine Lobster truck come from the same region, taste just as good, and are several dollars cheaper. Although neither of us had any complaints about the restaurant, we realized how lucky we are to have a good food truck visit our area from time to time.
Now that were done with the restaurant, it was time to go back to the ship and rest for a while before going to the specialty restaurant on the ship. We had booked dinner at the on ship steakhouse when we embarked on this cruise. And we looked forward to having this meal from the time this cruise was booked.
As expected, dinner at the steakhouse was very good. We ordered differently than we normally would, and we were impressed with the lamb chops and filet mignon. NCL’s specialty restaurants never cease to impress me with their quality and service. Too bad that we can’t eat this well on a regular basis. But then, RQS and I would be sharing our own unique zip code….
