Cruise Route

Experience Norfolk's Highlights With A Panoramic View.
Your Spirit cruise departs from The Waterside Festival Marketplace in Downtown Norfolk. Your excursion covers the Elizabeth River waterfront with spectacular skyline views of the mighty ships of the Navy's Atlantic Fleet. No trip to Norfolk is complete without a view from the deck of our festive ship. And while you’re enjoying all the highlights, you can dine, dance and have a great time, too.

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1. Waterside
   A festival marketplace featuring unique shops, live entertainment, indoor restaurants and outdoors cafes. The Spirit of Norfolk is docked next to the building at Town Point Park.

 

2. Nauticus - The National Maritime Center
   This 120,000-foot nature, history and science center was designed to explore the many powers of the sea through hands-on exhibits, movies and ship simulations. The retired battleship USS Wisconsin is now permanently docked at the center where it serves as a naval museum.

 

3. NOAA
   This facility is the east coast headquarters for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA gathers data on oceans, atmosphere, space and the sun, and produces navigational charts for oceans, rivers, bays and sounds.

 

4. Old Fort Norfolk
   Built under orders of George Washington in 1794, this colorful fort stood ready to defend Norfolk in the War of 1812 but was never needed because the British turned back before they reached the city. During the Civil War it was used to house Confederate prisoners of war. You can still read their graffiti on the walls inside the compound. It is now home of the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

5. Norfolk Southern Coal Terminal
   Home of the world's largest Coal Pier, this terminal can load up to 8,000 tons of coal per hour.

 

6. Tanner's Point
   This is the East Coast site where soldiers shipped out to fight in the European Theater during World War II.

 

7. Norfolk Naval Base/Atlantic Fleet
   Established in 1917, it is the world's largest naval base and home port for the Atlantic Fleet with over 125 ships including aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.

 

8. Hampton Roads Harbor
   Featuring the largest port complex in the United States, this majestic harbor was originally called “Earl of Southampton’s Roadstead” by the British in the early 1600s.“Roadstead” meant large anchorage, but over the years the name was shortened to just “Hampton Roads.”

    

9. Monitor/Merrimac Battle Site
   It was here in March of 1862 that the first two ironclad warships met in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads during the Civil War. While the battle itself was inconclusive, it changed ship designs forever around the world as wooden fleets were converted to the superior ironclad vessels.

 

10. Portsmouth Marine Terminal
    Cargo Company that features giant Passaco cranes and over 100 acres of berthing facilities.

 

11. Elizabeth River
    Named by Jamestown colonists in the early 1600s for Princess Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James of England, the river is believed to have been first explored by Captain John Smith. Some of America’s earliest shipbuilding and repair facilities began here over 350 years ago.

     

12. Portsmouth Naval Hospital
    The nation's oldest continuously operating hospital, it was constructed in 1827 on the site of an abandoned British defense post called Fort Nelson. Recent expansions have made it the largest military medical facility in the world. Robert E. Lee was briefly held prisoner under a porch here immediately after the Civil War.

 

13. NorShipCo's "Titan"
    The world's largest floating drydock of its type, the "Titan" was built in Brazil and took 30 days to tow to Hampton Roads. It can lift ships up to 1200 feet long and 54,000 tons.

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