American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise On American Eagle

American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise

Stepping out on our small ship’s private balcony as the sun was setting over southeastern Maine, I savored the fresh sea air and close-up views of the state’s scenic rocky coastline.

VIDEO: View of Maine coast from our cabin balcony, below.

Given all those rocks, lighthouses seem to pop up everywhere, like giant white saltshakers, lending Maine one of its iconic symbols, along with the bobbing lobster pot buoys and charming small towns nestled in the coves, bays and evergreen forests along its jagged coast.

Cruising round-trip out of Portland, Maine, last October (2023) aboard the new, 100-passenger American Eagle, we were tickled to be spending a week doing a Maine Coast and Harbors Cruise aboard the first in a series of hybrid catamaran-style hulled ships American Cruise Lines (ACL) calls its “Coastal Cats.”

American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise includes the American Eagle

The 100-pax American Eagle in port in Bangor, Maine. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

The growing company is the only US-based cruise line offering such a vast variety of coastal and river cruise itineraries throughout the United States, with the few competitors they once had (most recently American Queen Voyages) no longer operating.

Only in Alaska’s coastal waters is ACL not the big cheese; many small-ship lines operate in Alaska, with UnCruise Adventures offering the most Alaska options by far.

Subscribe to our monthly small ship cruise email

Subscribe to QuirkyCruise.com for monthly curated newsletters highlighting our top small cruise ship reviews, round-ups & offers!

ACL’s Impressive Variety of Itineraries

It’s no surprise their loyal customers keep coming back for more with new routes being added all the time; currently ACL has over 50 different itineraries plying US rivers and coastal waterways, including multiple Mississippi River cruises and New England coastal routes.

Our cruise was full and just about every passenger I spoke with had cruised with ACL numerous times. This being our first, my husband and I were in the minority.

A digital screen in the main stair landing listed passenger names along with the number of cruises, which matched up with the info prominently displayed on the lanyards we were issued at embarkation. Brilliant marketing, as folks naturally were comparing notes.

I chatted with a man who looked like Law & Order’s Jack McCoy who was on his third cruise with American Cruise Lines, another guy on his fifth, and a single 70ish woman on her eighth ACL cruise. She told me she liked the US-based itineraries, the solo cabins and service that wasn’t too fussy. During our cruise, she signed up for two more cruises. Passengers hovered around the Cruise Director, Marina, as she took bookings in the Lounge. The many itinerary choices, including new Florida routes, appealed to the repeaters.

Cruising the Coast of Maine

I’ve been to Maine by car and, a few years ago, on a rustic, sail-powered Maine Windjammer, which I greatly enjoyed, though it was like camping.

On this American Cruise Lines’ Maine trip, there was no roughing it.

I looked forward to sampling ACL’s brand of small-ship cruising — low-key luxury, new ships, all-inclusive fares, American crew and interesting routes.

ACL offers a few different itineraries that call on Maine, including 11- to 15-night New England cruises out of Boston and/or Portland, and the 8-night Maine-only-focused route we signed up for, round-trip from Portland.

Heidi & her husband Arun near the American Eagle, docked in Bangor, Maine. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

What’s Included

All meals
Wine, beer and cocktails at lunch and dinner and during a few hours at the lounge bar before and after dinner
Excursions (excellent local guides who talked about the early settlers and local industry)
Pre-cruise hotel night (including breakfast and bus transfer to the ship)

The Ship Layout & Onboard Activities

I found the four-deck American Eagle to be well designed and easy to navigate, with a wide central staircase adjacent to a pair of elevators that reach all floors.

VIDEO: Here is the handsome new 4-deck American Eagle, docked in Rockland, Maine.

Lovely Cabins on American Eagle

Cabins, mostly just like ours— a bright and spacious 300-square-footer with a large bathroom and private balcony — spread across all four decks. Our room, #311, had ample closet and drawer space, as well as under-bed suitcase storage. There’s a writing desk, safe, free StarLink WiFi and a large LED TV (our neighbors had theirs on so loud we could hear every word; we called them to turn it down, which they did).

Our roomy cabin, #311. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

American Eagle and her sister ships each have three single occupancy cabins at a spacious 280 square feet on Deck 1. The ship’s six suites, including two 620-square-foot Grand Suites with 25-foot-long private balconies, are set forward on Deck 4.

CABIN TOUR VIDEO: Here’s a quick tour of Heidi’s roomy balcony cabin, #311.

Deck 4 of American Eagle

The Sun Deck takes up the entire back half half of Deck 4, with lots of seating and space for scenery viewing. When under way, it could be quite loud as the ship’s stacks take up a substantial portion of the Sun Deck.

Deck 3 of American Eagle

Down on Deck 3, you’ll find mostly cabins, plus the pilot house up front, and, at the stern, the popular Sky Lounge, a cozy place to play cards, enjoy occasional arts and crafts, join a whiskey tasting demo or just chill out to read. There’s all-day grab-and-go snacks (think bags of chips and delicious homemade cookies), coffee, tea and cold drinks from a self-service mini-fridge.

Adjacent to the Sky Lounge, a sliver of outdoor deck faces the ship’s wake. Along with seating, the Lookout Café offers made-to-order breakfast sandwiches and burgers, nachos and such at lunchtime for those who want to skip the main restaurant.

American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise aboard American Eagle

The attractive outdoor deck at the stern of Deck 3, just outside of the Sky Lounge. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Deck 2 of American Eagle

Mostly cabins, plus a small gym and a cozy little windowed hideaway called “The Study” are all down on Deck 2. It’s also the site of the ship’s activity hub — the Chesapeake Lounge and bar.

Daily talks are offered by guest lecturers — on our cruise, Mark Wisner spoke about ship building in Maine and the state’s role in the Revolutionary War as well as upcoming port highlights (though I was disappointed he didn’t have a map of the Maine coast for his daily port talks). It’s also the place for trivia contests, bingo and Q&As, like one with a crewman who told us the ship is powered by diesel, the draft is a shallow 7.5 feet and each passenger uses about 40 gallons of water daily.

The Chesapeake Lounge is also happy-hour central, always humming with chit-chat among new friends. The bar was open from 5:30-7pm and again after dinner from 8:15-9:30pm (you could also be served drinks at lunch and dinner).

Entertainment ranges from comedians to singers, guitarists and other musicians who came aboard each evening to entertain us. I thought the repertoire was impressive for a 100-passenger ship, though many folks seemed to hit the hay early and headed straight for their cabins after dinner.

Deck 1 of American Eagle

Finally, Deck 1 houses eight non-balcony cabins (each with a large bay window), a guest laundry, and the main restaurant.

Dining on American Eagle

The ship’s pleasant, windowed dining room offers open-seating tables for two, four, six and eight. We sometimes snagged a deuce (usually at lunchtime) and, at dinner, typically shared a table for four with other passengers. We met couples from across the US, including a retired doctor, teachers, an accountant, and successful business owners.

Overall, I found the food quite good. All meals, including breakfast, were served by the waitstaff in the main restaurant from a la carte menus (no buffets). There were also early risers’ continental breakfast options and coffee/tea and snacks available in the Sky Lounge.

At breakfast and lunch in the restaurant, we were asked to pre-order choices for our next meal though if you changed your mind later, that was fine. Generally, there were three choices for main courses.

Something always appealed to me, with lunch standouts including lobster rolls, chicken pot pie, pulled pork sandwiches, and many tasty salads including a Cobb with ahi tuna.

American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise dining

Tasty chicken pot pie. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Chicken pot pie on American Eagle dinner options include Cobb salad

Cobb salad with tuna. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Dinner highlights included well-prepared halibut, salmon, scallops, surf and turf, and lobster served many ways. My husband’s gluten- and dairy-free preferences were accommodated. You also could order meals brought to your cabin.

American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise

There was no shortage of lobster aboard the American Eagle. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

I gained a few pounds on this cruise, thanks to irresistible desserts at both lunch and dinner. Pies were particularly scrumptious, especially the cherry, blueberry and peanut butter versions. I also couldn’t resist the red velvet cake.

Delicious cherry pie on the American Eagle. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

At dinner, dress codes varied greatly. Passengers wore everything from Harley-Davidson sweatshirts, jean jackets and moo-moos to elegant blazers, dresses and silk scarves.

American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise offers appealing dining

The attractive main restaurant. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Paper napkins were used at breakfast and lunch, and cloth at dinner.

With the comfortable ship and cabin as our home base and ample food to fortify us, we could focus on the itinerary, which for most people is the whole point. Some frequent cruisers, however, didn’t get off at every port and simply enjoyed relaxing on board.

Our Maine Coast Route

Our 8-night itinerary included one pre-cruise hotel stay and then seven nights aboard American Eagle.

Here were our ports, all fairly close together, with us cruising a total of a few hundred miles.

Day 1 — Portland (pre-cruise hotel night, included)
Day 2 — Portland (embarkation)
Day 3 — Bangor
Day 4 — Bar Harbor
Days 5 & 6 — Rockland/Camden (sister towns, just seven miles apart)
Days 7 & 8 — Bath & Boothbay
Day 9 — Portland

Maine coast cruise map. * Image: American Cruise Lines

A similar itinerary cruises one-way between Portland and Bangor and also round-trip from Bangor, visiting most of the same ports.

Like all ACL cruises, a pre-cruise hotel night in the port of embarkation is included in the fares, and allows folks to explore a bit, get settled and be ready to board on time, as a group, the next day.

Only in Maine: Lobster trap ropes get caught in ships’ propellers, so a diver comes by weekly to go down and untangle and remove the ropes.

We Started in Portland

For our sailing, our pre-cruise hotel night was at Portland’s Marriott Residence just a few minutes from the dock. We arrived in early afternoon for lunch and met our son, who attends college nearby.

We soon learned why Portland is known as a foodie town. For lunch, we enjoyed lobster rolls at the Highroller, followed by a walk downtown admiring the attractive 19th-century architecture, like the Italianate William Allen Jr House (1866), early 20th-century Beaux-Arts beauties, and many restored warehouses and wharves.

We also noticed many well-dressed homeless people about town; our son (and also several tour guides later in the week) explained Portland is very generous with benefits and homeless folks come there from other states.

Before dinner, we sampled a few local brews at Brickyard Hollow, one of Portland’s many craft breweries, followed by an excellent pan roasted halibut at Scales.

On cruise morning, after an included buffet breakfast at the hotel, all 100 passengers boarded two excursion buses that would follow us from port to port all week. We took an interesting two-hour tour of Portland and out to nearby Cape Elizabeth to see the 1791-built lighthouse and the remains of Ft. Williams.

Cape Elizabeth and its 1791-built lighthouse. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Our knowledgeable guide, Turner, shared insights about the city and state. We learned that wild blueberries are Maine’s biggest crop and that many Portland businesses are focused on coffee, marijuana, ice-cream and beer. He told us the area was home to several literary greats, including the 19th-century poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who graduated from nearby Bowdoin College and went on to write “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha.” Another, Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote the anti-slavery novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which is thought to have laid the groundwork for the Civil War.

All Aboard

By lunchtime, we were aboard American Eagle. It was a breeze as we all had checked in that morning at the hotel’s front desk and were issued with the lanyards and QR code that would get us on and off the boat for the entire week.

Departing under sunny skies around 2pm, we were sandwiched between two mega- ships, each carrying a few thousand passengers. I was so glad to be aboard the small, trim American Eagle!

Even though we cruised relatively near the coast, the first day of sailing was bumpy, as the American Eagle made its way northeast from Portland towards Bangor through two- to four-foot waves. Some passengers, including my husband, were bed-bound from about 4pm until early the next morning when we reached the sheltered waters of the Penobscot River, moving towards Bangor.

When I asked the onboard lecturer if this was typical, he said yes, there often was some uncomfortable “bouncing” in the more open ocean areas, like the bit east of Portland.

Throughout the week, due to wind and sea conditions, which are typical of Maine weather, there were slight variations to the itinerary, but nothing that affected the advertised excursions.

That said, the majority of the cruise was fairly smooth, as the ship spent much of the time in the protected sounds, bays and rivers of Maine’s craggy coastline.

The Coastal Cats Back Story

American Eagle is the first build in a series of “Coastal Cats” in the pipeline for ACL. “Cats” stands for the ships’ semi-catamaran-style hull — the front half of the ship has the double-hull design — which had been promoted as offering a more fuel-efficient and smoother ride. Oddly, the American Eagle is the only “Coastal Cat” without stabilizers. All future “Cats” will have them, Captain Andrew Gillilan told a small group of us on a bridge tour one afternoon. “Stabilizers would reduce bumpiness by 50% to 70%,” he said.

The semi-catamaran hull of the American Eagle. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Exceptional Excursions on our Maine Coast Cruise

Each day we docked or anchored offshore at a charming coastal stop, with excursions highlighting the state’s key role in the 19th-century shipbuilding, lumber, and fur industries.

At least one excursion per port was included in the fares, usually a walking tour with a knowledgeable local guide. Others cost extra, such as a tour inspired by Stephen King’s fictional “Derry” ($65) and the Acadia National Park bus tour ($50).

For the most part, the local excursion guides were excellent, with a deep understanding of the area.

Bangor

In Bangor, our cheeky guide, Monique Bouchard, was dressed in period garb as a19th-century-era madam. She led the tour in character as Fanny Jones, keeper of a long-running brothel when Bangor was the world’s lumber capital and a cultural center the likes of New York and San Francisco. She told us 19th-century Bangor was a rich town with fancy hotels, restaurants and ample bordellos, and pointed out that women in those days had very limited choices. While a seamstress or laundress made $1.50/week, a madam could bring in $18!

Madam Fanny Jones in character. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Bar Harbor

After passing through the busy and touristy heart of Bar Harbor teeming with hordes of big-ship cruise passengers (this was the only day we shared our port with the big ships), we enjoyed a morning tour through lovely LaRochelle Mansion, a 120-year-old seaside “cottage” built as a summer residence by the wealthy Bowdoin family of Bowdoin College.

LaRochelle Mansion in Bar Harbor. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Our young guide explained that 19th-century Bar Harbor was fancied by the Hudson River School artists (Frederic E. Church, Thomas Cole and William Hart) before eventually being discovered by the super-rich fleeing Newport, Rhode Island for more remote summer pastures.

Afterthe tour, my husband and I feasted on yummy lobster salads at the pleasantly kitschy Route 66 in town.

Later, we joined the ship’s Acadia National Park bus tour on Mt. Desert Island that followed the Park Loop Road up to Cadillac Mountain. There were lots of scenic views and a few opportunities for short walks. Park tours are regulated to keep down crowding, so it’s best to sign up for the ship’s excursion.

Heidi posing in Acadia National Park on a Maine American Cruise Lines on a coastal cruise

Heidi posing in Acadia National Park. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Camden

Engaging historian Sam Ladley walked us around the waterfront of charming Camden. He pointed out beautiful 19th-century Victorian-style sea captain’s houses and told us there is more old money in Camden than Bar Harbor. He said many small offshore islands have animal names — like Cow Island, Hog Island and Sheep Island — because farmers raised them there predator-free. Ladley also talked about Maine’s lobster trade (the average lobsterman has 250 traps) and its European roots, revealing that 15% of Maine residents still speak French.

Camden Maine’s pretty harbor. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Rockland

Just a few miles from Camden is Rockland, the more working-class of the two small cities. Here we were treated to a fun lunchtime lobster bake, complete with bibs and seating at picnic tables with plates sagging under the delicious haul —a fresh steaming whole lobster, mussels and corn on the cob. A lively folk band played in the background.

Loved the lobster bake in Rockland. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Bath and Boothbay

We docked in Bath for two day and we enjoyed another satisfying guided walking tour, learning that 17th-century settlers came from Bath, England and that Bath was the nation’s fifth largest shipbuilder in 1850. Today, Bath Iron Works continues to prosper, specializing in building multi-billion-dollar destroyers. There are also several shipyards in nearby Boothbay.

Later, we walked around on our own, past the shipyard and along Bath’s tree-lined Washington Street neighborhood to admire the pretty 19th-century homes of shipbuilders and sea captains. Styles include Victorian, Queen Anne and Greek Revival.

One of the beautiful old homes along Washington St in Bath. * Photo: Heidi Sarna

Maine Cruise Packing Tips

Layers (even in summer, Maine can get chilly)
Rain gear (a lightweight raincoat with hood is ideal)
Good walking shoes
Seasickness bands or meds

/box]

This Cruise was a Winner and I Recommend It

All in all, this small-ship cruise was a big hit for us, seeing Maine’s beautiful coastal areas up close and learning from the excellent walking tours. The tasty onboard meals were also a highlight as were the lovely roomy cabins.

Yes, there were the bumpy bits — you might not think a coastal cruise sailing close to the shoreline could get rocky, but it can. And service could be slow and sometimes dismissive at dinner (having a server in charge of handling only the water and wine might be a good idea).

Overall, this was a high-quality small-ship cruise focused on US waters and I highly recommend it.

Interested in This American Cruise Lines Maine Coast Cruise?

American Cruise Lines’ popular 7-night Maine Coast & Harbors Cruise starts at $7,310 per person, including excursions, drinks (beer, wine and cocktails ) and a one-night pre-cruise hotel stay. ACL’s Maine itineraries are available June through October.