WoW Forever boat routes: choose the right crossing

Pick the crossing before travelling to a dock

The planner above uses the three port connections in Blizzard's Found Photos recap. It can identify a shared service or an Auberdine transfer. It does not measure sea distance, predict departure times or verify a character's boarding rights.

Service	Choose it for	First decision
Stormwind Harbor ↔ Auberdine	Moving between the named Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor ports	Is Stormwind or Auberdine the departure your character can reach?
Menethil Harbor / Southshore / Auberdine	Reaching Southshore or travelling between the three named ports	Which port is your actual destination? Confirm the next stop before disembarking.
Steamwheedle Port, Tanaris ↔ Powderfuse Port, Riverglades	A trip between Tanaris and Riverglades	Reaching Tanaris and having Riverglades quests are separate preparations.

Blizzard · Found Photos recap · September 2026; connections checked October 23. This is a port-network diagram, not a geographic sailing map. The three-port group establishes membership, not stop order.

Stormwind to Southshore: a transfer plan

The documented services do not list a direct Stormwind–Southshore crossing. They do share Auberdine. That gives the following plan from the announced network:

1. Start at Stormwind Harbor and select the service naming Auberdine.
2. At Auberdine, leave that service and identify the separate service containing Menethil, Southshore and Auberdine.
3. Keep Southshore as the arrival task. Confirm the vessel's next stop before leaving it, rather than assuming every visit to Auberdine belongs to the same service.
4. Agree to meet at the destination port. If someone misses the transfer, the group can wait there without taking the wrong vessel back.

This is a connection plan, not a claim that two crossings are faster than an overland journey. Choose the planner's direct Stormwind–Auberdine option when Auberdine itself is the destination; do not add the Southshore transfer unnecessarily.

Menethil to Southshore: avoid the wrong assumption

Both ports belong to the same listed service. A community ride report by JimmytheNice, in Fienx's public-transport discussion, describes a Southshore stop in both directions. That helps explain why Southshore appears in the network, but it is not an official timetable.

Choose Menethil Harbor → Southshore in the planner. On the dock, distinguish “this service contains Southshore” from “the approaching boat stops there next.” If the visible destination is another port on the service, find out the next leg before leaving the boat. No precise sailing direction, dock coordinate or departures-per-hour value is established here.

For party communication, use the named destination: “Southshore arrival; wait ashore after your crossing.” A continent name such as “Eastern Kingdoms” would not distinguish Menethil from Southshore.

Tanaris to Riverglades: separate the crossing from the activity

The named connection is Steamwheedle Port → Powderfuse Port. It is a separate network in the three services documented here. The planner therefore does not invent a boat connection from Stormwind to Powderfuse Port.

Use the Tanaris and Riverglades map images to identify the regions, then open the Riverglades guide for the area's context. The announced questing range is roughly mid-30s to mid-40s; that is not a minimum-entry rule and does not prove which quests your character can currently accept.

A practical plan has two parts: first reach the departure port, then use the named crossing. If the next activity is a dungeon, identify its region and requirements in the dungeon guide before asking the whole party to travel.

When the result does not match the game

What happened	What to do next
The planner says no connection	It only knows these three services. Check the world directory for a separate land or flight approach.
You arrived at a different named port	Keep that observed leg. Recheck the vessel's next stop; do not turn one trip into a universal stop order.
A navigation addon proposes a crossing you cannot use	Check the character/faction setting and the actual transport leg, not just the line drawn by the addon.
You reached Riverglades but have no suitable quest	Resolve quest level and eligibility separately from transport. Reaching a harbor does not grant prerequisites.
Party members reached the same region but cannot meet	Agree on the exact port and a visible landmark, then compare party/instance state before boarding again.

Sources

• Blizzard · Found Photos panel recap · announced port connections.
• Fienx / JimmytheNice · public-transport discussion · September 24 player ride report; checked October 23.

Share the destination port with your party before travelling. To report a route correction, contact the site with the departure port, destination and observed stops.