1. Choose your favorite tour.
Self-guided tours of the ships are the thing to do at Battleship Cove, but pick wisely. On the largest ship, the USS Massachusetts, there are four tours, each telling a unique narrative of work and life aboard. Since navigating the ship involves some ladders, stairs, and ducking through little spaces, the tours are color-coded by level of climbing difficulty, which is particularly helpful with young visitors.We chose the crowd tour, which had the lowest climb difficulty and explores the inside of the transport.
On the crew tour, we got a attend at everyday life on the battleship. The starting bespeak is a brief introductory movie about the transport ; we did not stay excessively long here, as my son was a moment frightened by the battle scenes, and my daughter wasn ’ t previous adequate for it to hold her attention. however, the self-guided nature of the tour made it easy for us to move on .
With lots of little nooks to explore, this tour is a great option for young children. A detail highlight for my children was seeing the ship ’ s galley ; there ’ s even pretend food set up so you can see what a very meal might have looked like. We besides enjoyed reading sample menus for meals eat aboard the ship, and comparing them to our own syndicate meals. Another favorite was seeing the crew ’ south bunks—we were quite surprised by how close support quarters could be !
tip : There were a few spots on the enlistment that were quite loudly from noises on the transport, which made my children a sting apprehensive. If you have children who are sensitive to noise, you may want to skip these portions of the tour—but because these areas consist merely a little part of the overall tour, doing therefore win ’ triiodothyronine take away from your experience of the ship .
2. Don’t miss the other ships.
In addition to the USS Massachusetts, Battleship Cove besides features two smaller ships to explore : the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and the USS Lionfish submarine. On the USS Kennedy, we toured the ship ’ s inside, and enjoyed some time outdoors on the decks. next, we headed over to explore the USS Lionfish, which was a truly neat experience. The space inside the submarine is highly tight—and it was reasonably incredible for us to imagine the crowd life and working in such little quarters. The inside go is on a one-way path, thus expect to walk the wholly way through if you start .
Visiting the museum with young children, I ’ d commend starting with the USS Massachusetts, as this is the main ship that you won ’ t want to miss. We spent a good sum of time there, followed by lunch, before checking out the other two ships. By that meter of the visit, my children were on the run down side from a set of walking ( equally well as the younger one needing a napoleon ! ), so the smaller ships were the arrant size for us to explore at that point .
3. Wear the right shoes.
Read more: How Maritime Law Works
This one I can not emphasize enough : Make certain that you and all of the members of your group wear sneakers for their visit. even the tours with the least climbing difficulty do include some exorbitant stairs ; without sneakers, these would have been difficult to navigate. And regardless of the specific tour you choose, all of them involve a good consider of walk, so you ’ ll want to make sure you ’ rhenium comfortable, besides .
4. Keep an eye on your family’s admission tags.
For your entrance fee to Battleship Cove, you ’ ll receive small blasphemous tags that are to be worn throughout your stay and clipped in an easily visible area. My son kept his on ; however, at two years old, my daughter found hers irresistible to play with. Clipping it to her shorts rather of her shirt made it a act easier to keep chase of, but I hush checked in regularly to make sure she still had it. Your admission tickets are valid for two back-to-back days, so this is particularly important to note if you are planning a render trip .
5. Bring a picnic lunch.
For lunch, we walked over to the Fall River Heritage State Building, located near Battleship Cove ’ s park lot. The build is surrounded by grassy areas with views of both the battleships and water, making it a truly decent topographic point to relax. We didn ’ t see any field day tables, but found a nice shade area to sit ( and subsequently, my kids had tons of fun rolling down the little hill ) .
If you ’ vitamin d prefer to grab a bite to eat while you ’ re there rather than pack something from home, you ’ ll find a nosh bar with plenty of tables and chairs for eating aboard the USS Massachusetts .
6. Go on a day the carousel is running.
Cap off a fun day on the antique carousel, located future door to the main battleship museum. Built around 1919, the carousel is open seasonally, Wednesday through Sunday, and takes all forms of payment. unfortunately, the carousel was not open on the day of our visit, but we would have decidedly taken advantage if it had been .
We had a great day getting an insider ’ sulfur look at the battleships—and recommend it highly. tied as children grow older, this is one attraction you can return to for years to come. Thanks sol much to Battleship Cove for a great maid voyage !
Know Before You Go
- Battleship Cove is candid day by day from October through April, and Friday to Sunday the respite of the year.
Read more: How Maritime Law Works
- admission is $ 25 for adults, $ 15 for kids ages 4 to 12, and exempt for children 3 and younger. parking is spare .
- Got some naval nuts on your hands ? Consider going on a Family Nautical Night ! Held sporadically throughout the class, these sleepovers allow families to bunk up in sailors ‘ beds, experience the life and exploit of a distinctive crowd, catch an action-packed flicker, and feed dinner and breakfast in officeholder ‘s quarters .
Photos courtesy of Battleship Cove
