A Cruise Along The Coast Of Maine: American Eagle - September 2023 My 7th cruise with American Cruise Lines took me to Maine... where the scenery was absolutely gorgeous!

Using my drone, I got this spectacular photo of a lighthouse in Portland, Maine

American Eagle is the first of 12 new ships that American Cruise Lines is building.
They feature an unusual catamaran-style bow...

This was the planned itinerary for the cruise:


Extremely windy conditions at sea on the very last day of the cruise forced a slight change to the itinerary.
Instead of coming back to Portland at the end of the cruise, the ship stayed in Bath.
Passengers disembarked the ship in Bath, and a bus took us to the airport in Portland for our flights home.

I woke up early to get this photo of American Eagle at sunrise, in Portland, Maine...

You can really appreciate what a small ship American Eagle is by seeing it docked next to a full-sized cruise ship.
Look for American Eagle on the far left in this drone shot I got later in the day in Portland...
After the arrival of Norwegian Escape, a ship I sailed on several years ago.

Using my drone, I got this gorgeous photo of a lighthouse in Rockland, Maine.
Notice the woman walking on the breakwater.  That's a long walk out and back!

Among the many beautiful little towns we visited was Camden, Maine...


As someone who really likes maple trees, I would have loved to have been there when the trees were changing colors in the Fall.
Unfortunately, I was there a few weeks to early to see that.

Here's a photo of the ship docked in Bangor, Maine.
Funny trivia fact:  The folks in Bangor want you to be sure you pronounce Bangor correctly.
It's BANG-gore...  not Bang 'Er, which would make it sound like a crude remark.

A few days before my cruise was going to begin, a hurricane came up from the Caribbean...
Bringing very high winds to the coast of Maine.
To stay out of harms way, American Eagle came to Bangor to safely dock at this pier.

In Bangor, they have a giant statue of Paul Bunyan.
Most tourists snap photos of him from ground level, but I got this eye-level shot from my drone...

One of my favorite places on the ship was this forward viewing area.
I sat up here for hours and hours, enjoying views of the scenery ahead of the ship...

At the far other end of the ship, here's a sunset photo from the aft patio...

A highlight of the cruise for a lot of passengers was a lobsterbake they threw for us in Rockland.
Under a giant tent at the marina, they served everyone their own fresh lobster...
Which had been barbecued the traditional Maine way.
Seafood is not really my thing...  so, I enjoyed snapping lots of photos and video of the lobsterbake...
And then had a nice lunch at a taco cart that was nearby.  To each his own!

I got this shot of the ship at sunrise in Bar Harbor...

I was delighted to find that one of my favorite ACL employees from a previous cruise was on this ship.
Kalei Rosenfeld was a server in the restaurant on a cruise I did on the American Constitution.
I was so excited to find that they promoted her to Guest Services Coordinator on American Eagle.

The still photos I shot in Maine were gorgeous, but you should see the videos!
Here's a short compilation of some of the gorgeous aerial video I shot with my drone on this trip:

To start the video playing, click the triangle in the middle of the video screen
To make the video fill the screen (recommended) click the little symbol in the lower right corner of the video player

This video gives you a full tour of the ship... 

This next video gives you a tour of my cabin
and shares the secret of how to save about $2000 on the cost of the cruise :

The next video starts to tell the story of where the ship took me, and what I did in each of those places...

The next video continues the story where that previous video left off...

This final video is the third video in the 3-part story of what I did on each day of the cruise...

Need A Travel Agent?

Booking a cruise can be confusing, especially if you haven't been on many cruises before.  There are lots of first-time cruiser mistakes that a travel agent can keep you from making.  Also, the call centers of some of the big cruise lines are severely understaffed these days...  creating extremely long wait times to talk to a customer service representative.  When you book a cruise through a travel agent, you'll never have to get stuck on hold with the cruise line...  your travel agent does all that kind of stuff for you.

If you're interested in booking a cruise with any cruise line...  please feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher.  She's extremely pleasant to deal with, easy to talk to since she lives in the United States and speaks without any kind of an accent, and quite experienced and knowledgeable about different types of cruising.  Caitlin is the owner of Ambren Travel.  Visit her web site, check out the Ambren Travel Facebook page, or contact her using the information below.

Other Cruise Ships I've Been On

If you've enjoyed this page, you would probably also enjoy reading my web pages about:

My first river cruise: American Harmony
My second river cruise:  American Melody
Viking's new Expedition Ship:  Viking Octantis
July 2021 Iceland Cruise on Viking Sky
January 2020 Carnival Panorama
December 2019 cruise in The Haven on Norwegian Joy
May 2019 Carnival Horizon cruise
April 2019 Norwegian Breakaway cruise
January 2019 Caribbean cruise on the Viking Sea
December 2018 country music cruise on the Norwegian Getaway
May 2018 Panama Canal cruise on the Norwegian Bliss
January 2018 cruise on MSC Seaside in a suite with a private Jacuzzi
September 2017 Carnival Vista cruise in a Havana Suite
October 2017 Norwegian Sky cruise in the owner's suite
The $1600 per night owners suite:  January 2017 Norwegian Pearl
An Un-crowded Small Ship Experience:  Viking Star
One Of The Best Waterslides At Sea:  Liberty Of The Seas
Quite Possibly The Best Cruise Ship In The World:  Anthem Of The Seas
January 2017 Allure Of The Seas
One of the best cruise ships we've ever experienced: The Norwegian Escape
2015 Carnival Breeze back-to-back cruises
Back-to-back cruises on Independence Of The Seas
World's largest cruise ship: Allure Of The Seas
2015 Carnival Freedom repositioning cruise
Our first VIP cruise in The Haven: The Norwegian Getaway
Our June 2014 Alaska cruisetour with Princess
Our first cruise with Princess!  January 2014 Sapphire Princess
2014 back-to-back eastern/western Caribbean cruises on the Carnival Glory
The completely refurbished Carnival Sunshine
One of Carnival's best ships, the Carnival Breeze
A sister ship to the Breeze, the Carnival Magic
Our 2013 cruise on the Carnival Conquest
One of the oldest ships in the fleet, the Carnival Inspiration
Our first Caribbean cruise:  the Carnival Glory
Our many cruises on the Carnival Spirit
Our February 2010 cruise on the Carnival Splendor
Our January 2008 cruise on the Carnival Elation
Our April 2008 cruise on the Norwegian Star
Our first cruise!  1996 on Carnival Cruise Line's MS Holiday

Click here to see the complete chronology of all the cruises we've ever taken.

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