Today’s BearCruise group’s schedule of activities
Monday, September 29 – Newport, Rhode Island
Happy Birthday to Miguel Reyes, Jeff Dodd, and Andre Pate!!!
7 am – 3:30 pm – In Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is a tender port. Ships anchor in Narragansett Bay, and passengers are transported to and from the city using smaller tender boats. These tender boats drop off passengers at Perrotti Park, which is conveniently located downtown. If you are on a shore excursion, you must ensure you get onto an early tender to get to the meeting point on shore by 9 am.
9 am – Noon – BearCruise NE – Private Trolley Tour with Breakers Mansion – Follow the meeting instructions on your voucher from Compass Tours. Al or Dan will on the dock in Newport as you exit the tender to help guide you to the trolley.
12 noon – Bear Lunch – If you want to join others for lunch, meet at The Garden Cafe, Deck 15 Aft. Also note that these restaurants are also open for lunch if you want to try them – O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill on Deck 7 and The American Diner on Deck 16. This is a great time to try these restaurants while other passengers are still ashore.
3 pm – 6 pm – BEARCRUISE PRIVATE DANCE PARTY. Headliners Comedy Club, Deck 6 midship. Party Theme is “Hey, Sailor!” Come dressed as a sailor of any kind… captain, pirate, Gilligan’s Island” castaway, swabbie, Crackerjack, Captain Crunch… you get the idea…
4:00 pm – Solo Cruiser Meet and Greet. During the Dance Party we are going to pull all of the solo travelers to one side of the room so that you have a chance to get to know each other.
Dinner – Taste and Savor on Deck 6 aft and The Manhattan Room on Deck 7 aft.
After Dinner – Ship shows and activities – see today’s NCL’s daily program, the Freestyle Daily, below.
Today’s NCL cruise’s schedule of activities
We arrived in Newport on schedule and we took tender boats to shore, where Bob and I joined this BearCruise-only outing:
Private Trolley Tour with Breakers Mansion – our Newport Rhode Island port call excursion
Step aboard a classic Newport trolley and experience the city’s most captivating sights in luxury and comfort. This fully narrated tour begins in the heart of Colonial Downtown Newport, where your expert guide brings the city’s rich past to life—complete with stories of 18 famous television and film productions shot in this historic seaport.
As the trolley glides along the scenic Ocean Drive, you’ll take in sweeping views of the Atlantic and Newport’s iconic coastline. Then it’s on to the famed Bellevue Avenue, home to the city’s legendary Gilded Age mansions. Marvel at the grand architecture of “summer cottages” once owned by America’s wealthiest barons, as your guide shares tales of opulence, rivalry, and high society.
The tour culminates with a stop at the Breakers Mansion, the crown jewel of Newport’s historic estates. Guests receive passes for a self-guided tour of this 70-room Vanderbilt masterpiece. After exploring the mansion’s lavish interiors and oceanfront grounds at your own pace, you’ll return to the ship filled with stories and images from a golden era.
Our pictures from the excursion:
We couldn’t have been any luckier with the weather we had for an open-air trolley. It was in the low-70s and sunny. The tour guide, who was funny and super knowledgeable, said they’ve usually closed up the open-air trolleys by this time of the year.
Our first stop was at Fort Adams, which is a place my dad used to fish for conger eels and probably drinking Narragansett beer while doing so.
Bob and I in the monument area:
There was a cool historical ship there:
It’s always interesting to see our ship from the land.
Leaving Fort Adams, we took a scenic route to the Breakers Mansion, passing many mansions of the gilded age in Newport. And speaking of The Gilded Age, several of these mansions were used in filming HBO’s The Gilded Age, and our tour guide had lots of stories about them.
Three other ones of note were The Eisenhower Mansion and Jay Leno’s place, which he bought when his wife said, “I’d love to have a mansion here.”
and the house whose facade was used as Barnabas Collins’ house in Dark Shadows.
Our second stop was at the Breakers Mansion, for which we had tour tickets for. It was a very well-done tour, which included an app you downloaded and listened to as you walked around the mansion. It was outrageously ostentatious, and Bob captured the best of our pictures of it.
Two things captured my imagination and interest — the library
and this jockey-weighing chair:
On the way back to the ship, we passed the chapel in which JFK and Jackie Bouvier got married:
As soon as we got back on the ship, it was time for the BearCruise Dance Party, for which we were invited to come dressed as a sailor of any kind — captain, pirate, Gilligan’s Island castaway, swabbie, Crackerjack, Captain Crunch — you get the idea.
We had a great DJ, who was traveling with our group and his husband dressed in “nautical drag”:
Our group:
It was a fun party, which had a surprise at the beginning! It was Will & Buster’s first BearCruise and they were called up front. I missed the picture when Will got down on one knee and proposed to Buster in front of the goup. Awwww!
Our costumes:
There were a lot of great costumes with my vote for most elaborate and creative one going to the “Semen.” Get it?
Here I am with Captain Hook whose hook was dangerously close to my person.
And with Ben and Steve, Raleigh friends of ours.
We got all of our Raleigh friends together who were on the trip and attended our pre-cruise meet & greet at our house the weekend before the cruise:
It was a fun, fun party, and one for which BearCruise picked up the tab. I might have snuck a picture of the tab. Those 4 “Buffalo” (for “Buffalo Trace”) might have been my contribution to the evening.
Once again, the next thing on the ship’s activities was the LGBTQAI+ happy hour, which started right at the time our BearCruise Dancy Party & Happy Hour ended.
On the way to that happy hour, I got nabbed by one of the ship’s photographers, whom I assured I was not going to buy any professional photos, but he was a fun guy, so I humored him by letting him take some shots of me. He had me placing my hands in various positions, which no doubt will make me look “gay as hell,” but since I am, it’s really not an issue.
After about the 8th shot, I asked him (I’m pretty sure he was family, too): “Girl, you got a wind machine to make my hair blow for the next one?”
Upon finishing up, I asked, “You got a coupon I can use in case I get weak and end up buying one?” He jumped with joy and gave me 3 coupons “Good for one (1) FREE 8X10 portrait photograph.” Some people call me cheap. I prefer “financially savvy.”
We met just a couple of non-group people at the ship’s gay happy hour, then Bob and I got some dinner at Sheehan’s Bar & Grill, which was just okay.
After that, I was beat so went back to the cabin to read (mostly the back of my eyelids after about 10 minutes), and Bob went out gallavanting finding many of the other boys about the ship.
Love it.
Always excited to be in the blog!!
Day 2 sounds like it was a blast. Belated congratulations to Dave and Buster. And remind me to tell Jay Leno next time I see a mansion that I love. 🙂