When visiting Camden, Maine on a cruise ship you will be able to experience the charm of Camden as you walk from any of the wonderful hiking trails, inns or restaurants in Camden. You can do a lot or just relax and sail on a windjammer, eat lobster within yards of where they are being caught or sit on the rock at the top of Mt. Battie where Edna St. Vincent Millay sat to gaze at the islands in the bay and gain inspiration.

Known as "the village where the mountains meet the sea," Camden is a breathtakingly beautiful seaside community. The focus is on one of the most photographed harbors in New England, white-steepled churches, narrow streets lined with quaint shops and restaurants, ample parks and common greens and stately old homes.

Framed by the Camden Hills that tumble into the community's little protected harbor and out into Penobscot Bay, Camden is the oil on Fitz-Hugh Lane's canvas and among the visual inspirations for generations of Wyeths' works.

Perhaps more so than any of its neighbors, this community echoes the arts of paint, clay, wood and melody. Now it is little influenced by the grimier commercial aspects of the sea while catering to the cleaner commerce of pleasure sailing. Thus, Camden has a softer visage than most of its neighbors, with the possible exception of the elegant, affluent and adjacent Rockport peninsula.

Today, Camden's artistic heritage is reflected in its nearly two dozen galleries, its dramatic and musical theatres and an architectural heritage that is second to none in the area. Good luck with parking; as the nearest Camden Cruise Port parking garage facility is in Portland. Just set up a park and cruise and your car will  be fine; those garages are a waste of money anyway. Camden's port is jammed with sailing and engine-powered boats during the summer months. She, along with Rockland and Rockport, is a primary home port for the Maine schooner fleet and for the schooners Angelique, Grace Bailey, Lewis R. French, Mary Day and Mercantile.

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