Above: Cruising from Boston Harbor to six harbor islands just got cheaper, thanks to the Southborough Library. (Image of view from the island ferry posted to Flickr by Patrick Sullivan)
The Southborough Library now has discount passes for Boston Harbor Cruises. Passes are for use to purchase tickets on the cruise line’s Boston Harbor Island ferries.
The new passes offer two-for-one rates for up to 4 people. (Children under the age of 3 are admitted free.)
More good news, they have four available passes per day. And since they aren’t reusable, you don’t need to return them when you are done.
To take advantage, check availability and reserve passes through the TixKeeper Museum Pass system on the library website. Or you can ask library staff for help. Swing by the Main Desk upstairs or call 508-485-5031.
As for booking your tickets, I’m guessing you’ll need to do that in person to take advantage of the discount rates. You can checkout the ferry schedule between Boston and Georges Island and Spectacle Island here.
The schedule for ferries between Boston and those two islands can be found here.
From Georges Island, you can also make your way to Spectacle and four other islands (Peddocks, Grape, Lovells and Bumpkin.) Click here for that full schedule. For more information on the islands, click here.
Click thumbnails below to enlarge photos from the islands and ferry.
If you’re visiting George’s Island, it’s a lot less hassle—and cheaper—to take the boat from Hingham Shipyard than from Long Wharf (Boston). Granted, you need to allow about an hour and a half to get to Hingham, but if you take a boat from Boston, you need to factor in the time that it takes to drive to Boston, plus the time it takes to park your car and then walk to the boat terminal. And at Hingham Ship Yard, you can park for free in the commuter lot. Once you buy your boat ticket, you show it to the ranger, and the ranger will give you a free-parking card to hang in your car.
We take the train into South Station then walk the less than 1/2 mile to the piers. Along the walk we get to enjoy the Rose Kennedy Greenway with all the beautiful plantings. The train takes an hour, no driving, tolls, city traffic and parking. Commuter rail parking is only $4. Before or after your cruise enjoy Quincy Market and Christopher Columbus Park.
Great tips from both of you!
I think I would take Sandy’s advice if going with adults/teens. But my kids probably would make me regret taking them on that long beautiful walk. (I can only imagine how many times I’d hear “how much longer?” – my kids’ version of “are we there yet?”)
So, with kids, I might try Anne’s tip and park at Hingham – especially since using the passes, means I can’t pre-book tickets online anyway. (Normally, that is an option for Boston departures.)