I took the Boston-Portland, ME trip about three years ago.and was quite pleased with it. The clean, attractive Portland station is an intermodel with buses. There is also good bus service to the downtown area. I found the downtown to be a lively, trendy place, great for walking around. Good seafood. Neat wharf. I could have stayed longer.
I went on a schedule like #681 up and #686 down, ( the same day) to follow the current timetable for an example. I found that to be adequate to get an introduction to the area. A longer stay would have been fine.
About 30 years ago I rode a bus from Boston to Portland and a drunk on the bus threw up. Good God--the things we remember. This last trip three years ago was much more pleasant.