Canada/New England - Which cruise itinerary is best?

I was not sure which Port of Calls board to post this on, so I am posting here and on the Canada forum. ;)

My husband and I are trying to decide which itinerary would be best to take for a Canada/New England cruise. We have narrowed the choices to two. Below are the schedules.

We have cruised with both Celebrity and HAL lines, and on both classes of ships, so the ship does not play a factor in our decision. Although, I will give the Eurodam a couple of extra points for their standard verandah staterooms over the Summit standard balcony staterooms. :)

Which would you take and why?

Celebrity Summit

14 Night CANADA / NEW ENGLAND

Day 1 Cape Liberty, New Jersey 4:00 PM

Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 Boston, Massachusetts Docked 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Portland, Maine Docked 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Day 5 Bar Harbor, Maine Tendered 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Day 6 At Sea

Day 7 At Sea

Day 8 Quebec City, Quebec Docked 10:00 AM

Day 9 Quebec City, Quebec Docked 5:00 PM

Day 10 At Sea

Day 11 Charlottetown, P.E.I. Docked 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Day 12 Sydney, Nova Scotia Docked 8:00 AM 4:00 PM

Day 13 Halifax, Nova Scotia Docked 8:30 AM 6:30 PM

Day 14 At Sea

Day 15 Cape Liberty, New Jersey 7:00 AM

HAL Eurodam

14 Night CANADA / NEW ENGLAND

Day 0 04 Oct 2015 Quebec City, Quebec, CA ON TC

Day 1 05 Oct 2015 Quebec City, Quebec, CA TC 04:00 PM

Day 2 06 Oct 2015 Saguenay, Canada 08:00 AM 05:00 PM Day 2 06 Oct 2015 Scenic cruising Saguenay Fjord CO

Day 3 07 Oct 2015 At Sea

Day 4 08 Oct 2015 Gaspe, Quebec, CA TR 07:00 AM 03:00 PM

Day 5 09 Oct 2015 Charlottetown, Prince Edward CA 09:00 AM 06:00 PM

Day 6 10 Oct 2015 Sydney,Canada 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

Day 7 11 Oct 2015 Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

Day 8 12 Oct 2015 Saint John, New Brunswick, CA 11:00 AM 07:00 PM

Day 9 13 Oct 2015 Portland, Maine, US 11:00 AM 11:00 PM

Day 10 14 Oct 2015 Boston, Massachusetts, US 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

Day 11 15 Oct 2015 At Sea

Day 12 16 Oct 2015 At Sea

Day 13 17 Oct 2015 Port Canaveral, Florida, US 08:00 AM 06:00 PM

Day 14 18 Oct 2015 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US 07:00 AM

Also, one of these itineraries work for us in the early September time frame. Which month would be best to see Fall colors?

Thank you so much! ;)

Looking at the two I would personally prefer the first Celebrity itinerary. Having been to many of those places I would rather see Bar Harbour than Gaspe and Saguenay. They were both nice, but I felt there really was not much to do there. Sailing the Fjord was beautiful, but overall I really liked Bar Harbour. I also really liked NYC, and the sail-away/in is spectacular (though you won't be going up the Hudson to Manhattan pier) it should still be nice. With the Celebrity itinerary I would be wanting to add-on a few nights in NY. The best thing about the HAL itinerary would be the 2 sea days toward the end, we found that to be a really nice way to wind down.

I think either itinerary will be great and you will have to decide if you want to go all the way to FL or not, airfare costs etc and that might influence your decision. I can't comment on the Celebrity ship, but we certainly loved the Eurodam. Hope this helped a bit?!

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Thank you, trophy_23. And thank you for answering the other thread, as well. :)

This is just the type of information that I needed and similar to what my husband had mentioned that he would like to see...a few nights in NYC and Bar Harbour. ;) The other itinerary looked interesting, but we were not sure what some of the port stops were. We were also not thrilled about going back down to Florida, but wanted to make sure that we would not be missing anything on this itinerary.

So, since we would not be sailing up toward Manhattan, I guess that we will not see the Statue of Liberty. I've always thought that would be so beautiful to sail past the statue.:(

One plus for choosing the Celebrity cruise is that we can book onboard our Baltics cruise next month. Booking onboard gets us a sizable OBC, plus a free beverage package. ;)

Oh, September or October? Both cruises start the first week of the month.

First week in September will be a little early for fall color. First week in October may still be early in Maine, but probably good for the Maritimes and Quebec. Bar Harbor is a tender port, and also is subject to fog at this time of the year, so like us a few years ago, the trip up Cadillac Mountain resulted in seeing about 10 feet. But down on the water, we had a great cruise on one of the schooners.

Celebrity only has 3 cruises going up there from Sept. 4 to October 4, so we will have to take our chances. Our own leaves here in TN start turning around the 1st of October.;)

Unfortunately, no, you won't sail past the Statue of Liberty, but if you spend a few days in NYC you could always take a tour or a ferry that takes you by it?! It is an amazing site, we were fortunate to sail by in the dark on the way in and have sailed by twice in the evening on our cruises it is spectacular! You will still sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which is really neat and you will still see the skyline from a distance.

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Hi Lamthesea

I am so glad you posted as I have just been sitting here trying to pick which is the better cruise to do. I also like the Celebrity cruise but was also looking at RCCL 10 night one way. We have never cruised this area and looking for any guidance we can get.

Tania

Hi Lamthesea

I am so glad you posted as I have just been sitting here trying to pick which is the better cruise to do. I also like the Celebrity cruise but was also looking at RCCL 10 night one way. We have never cruised this area and looking for any guidance we can get.

Tania

Any cruise that has Boston (great little city, can almost walk anywhere, tons of history), Portland (a little local plug here), Halifax (beautiful city) and PEI can't be bad. Bar Harbor is beautiful (another local economy pitch), but is somewhat problematic weatherwise during the fall foliage season. Sometimes great weather, sometimes foggy.

Any cruise that has Boston (great little city, can almost walk anywhere, tons of history), Portland (a little local plug here), Halifax (beautiful city) and PEI can't be bad. Bar Harbor is beautiful (another local economy pitch), but is somewhat problematic weatherwise during the fall foliage season. Sometimes great weather, sometimes foggy.

Hi

Thanks for this, I love when we start planning our trips. :)

Tania

As mentioned, fog can be an issue. If you do go to Bar Harbour you may want to consider an afternoon trolley tour if you are considering the trolley. The morning was extremely foggy (you couldn't see the water from our balcony) when we were there, but cleared up nicely in the afternoon.

Thank you for the information. I am sorry that I lost track of this thread. I wanted to update that we booked the October 4th, 2015 Summit while onboard our recent Baltics cruise. Looking forward to cruising in New England and Canada. :)

I too am looking at ports and what to do. I booked RCCL 12 night 9/26/15 the only thing I don't like about it is there are three stops in Maine and no Boston. Wondering if three stops in Maine is too many.

In general I would think about HAL. 5 sea days out of essentially 13 days seems like a little much (for me).

Considering going on our first ever NE cruise on CCL Splendor but not sure what would interest us in excursions. What types of excursions would you recommend for two people who normally don't book thru the ship but more often go off on their own to explore? We are in our 50's, healthy, like to walk but don't want anything expensive.

Considering going on our first ever NE cruise on CCL Splendor but not sure what would interest us in excursions. What types of excursions would you recommend for two people who normally don't book thru the ship but more often go off on their own to explore? We are in our 50's, healthy, like to walk but don't want anything expensive.

This was meant to be a new thread, but being the computer illiterate that I am, I didn't do something right and have no idea how to move it or delete it without having to start over. Sorry!

If you are on the Canadian and New England coast you will experience fog. For the record, I love fog. It's cool. And always fascinating to watch it lift. It's a selling point not a drawback, IMHO.

I was not sure which Port of Calls board to post this on, so I am posting here and on the Canada forum. ;)

 

My husband and I are trying to decide which itinerary would be best to take for a Canada/New England cruise. We have narrowed the choices to two. Below are the schedules.

 

We have cruised with both Celebrity and HAL lines, and on both classes of ships, so the ship does not play a factor in our decision. Although, I will give the Eurodam a couple of extra points for their standard verandah staterooms over the Summit standard balcony staterooms. :)

 

Which would you take and why?

 

Celebrity Summit

14 Night CANADA / NEW ENGLAND

 

Day 1 Cape Liberty, New Jersey 4:00 PM

Day 2 At Sea

Day 3 Boston, Massachusetts Docked 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

Day 4 Portland, Maine Docked 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Day 5 Bar Harbor, Maine Tendered 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Day 6 At Sea

Day 7 At Sea

Day 8 Quebec City, Quebec Docked 10:00 AM

Day 9 Quebec City, Quebec Docked 5:00 PM

Day 10 At Sea

Day 11 Charlottetown, P.E.I. Docked 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Day 12 Sydney, Nova Scotia Docked 8:00 AM 4:00 PM

Day 13 Halifax, Nova Scotia Docked 8:30 AM 6:30 PM

Day 14 At Sea

Day 15 Cape Liberty, New Jersey 7:00 AM

 

HAL Eurodam

14 Night CANADA / NEW ENGLAND

 

Day 0 04 Oct 2015 Quebec City, Quebec, CA ON TC

Day 1 05 Oct 2015 Quebec City, Quebec, CA TC 04:00 PM

Day 2 06 Oct 2015 Saguenay, Canada 08:00 AM 05:00 PM Day 2 06 Oct 2015 Scenic cruising Saguenay Fjord CO

Day 3 07 Oct 2015 At Sea

Day 4 08 Oct 2015 Gaspe, Quebec, CA TR 07:00 AM 03:00 PM

Day 5 09 Oct 2015 Charlottetown, Prince Edward CA 09:00 AM 06:00 PM

Day 6 10 Oct 2015 Sydney,Canada 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

Day 7 11 Oct 2015 Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

Day 8 12 Oct 2015 Saint John, New Brunswick, CA 11:00 AM 07:00 PM

Day 9 13 Oct 2015 Portland, Maine, US 11:00 AM 11:00 PM

Day 10 14 Oct 2015 Boston, Massachusetts, US 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

Day 11 15 Oct 2015 At Sea

Day 12 16 Oct 2015 At Sea

Day 13 17 Oct 2015 Port Canaveral, Florida, US 08:00 AM 06:00 PM

Day 14 18 Oct 2015 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US 07:00 AM

 

Also, one of these itineraries work for us in the early September time frame. Which month would be best to see Fall colors?

 

Thank you so much! ;)

My wife and I are booked on the Seabourn Quest for the Oct.11,2014 cruise. We like the ports as we have never been to any of them, and we live in the Orlando, Fl area so we just rented a car to drive home. We love the small ships with no lines.