The First Norwegian Cruise Line Ship “Breakaway” to be in Portand Harbor Today That Holds About 4,000 Passengers. The Small Boats on the Dock at Left Belong to SailMaine.
The Bow of the Norwegian Cruise Line, Breakaway, in Portland Harbor.Today. It Could be Viewed from Portland Landing, a Park Formerly Called Amethyst Lot, Used by Cianbro Brothers.
“I really like to wake up every day in a different port,” said David Stewart, this afternoon as he and his parents watched the departure of the Norwegian Line cruise ship Breakaway at Portland Landing near Ocean Gateway on the Portland waterfront. “It’s great to see different cultures and see how others live,” said Stewart who now lives in southern Maine but grew up in Caribou. The cruise ship left for Nova Scotia shortly after 5:00 pm.
Stewart has taken a total of three cruise ship tours on the Norwegian line before the pandemic since 2018. Those trips were on the sister ship to the above Breakaway.
This November Stewart is swtiching lines to Royal Baribean which will take him to the Mexican Riveria and Los Angeles. “I want to visit the west coast. I want to see a different coast,” he said. He described a gang plank on the Norwegian cruise he took. The plank extended out over the ocean alhough he would not guess how far out. The crew puts a harnass on the passenger and encourages one to “walk the plank.” Stewart tried it. But he changed his mind and did not go out far on the plank. “Not for me,” he said grinning. “It isn’t for the faint of heart.”
Stewart said he is opposed to a citizen initiative on the November 8th Portland ballot that would restrict the number of passengers who may disembark from cruise ships to no more than 1,000 people on a given day. The ordinance, if passed by Portland voters, would go into effect in 2025. “That would mean that the cruise ships would have to determine which passengers could get off the ship. How can they do that? In several weeks, there will be three cruise ships in Portland Harbor. What a mess,” Stewart said. “Cruise ship owners will stop coming to Portland. That’s probably what this group wants.”
Munjoyhillnews.com emailed the Democratic Socialists of Maine several weeks ago to determine the reason they introduced this restrictive ordinance. No one responded to that inquiry.
Stewart said that a new cruise ship about to be launched will be powered by Liquid Propane. “It is very clean,” he said. “That’s the future.”
For more background information on Portland Landing, please visit post herein dated December 10, 2019.