Canada/New England Port Questions

We'll be on a 14 day in September and are finalizing our excursions. We have never visited Charlottetown, Gaspesie, or La Baie. We looked at the shore excursions offered and didn't really find any we liked. Are there places to visit within walking distance of the ship in these ports ? We only take excursions offered thru NCL.

Since the ports you listed are all Canadian ports, you would be best asking this on the Canada ports of call forum.

I didn't realize there was a board specific to Canadian ports, but now I've found it and will give it a try. Thank you 1025!

We'll be on a 14 day in September and are finalizing our excursions. We have never visited Charlottetown, Gaspesie, or La Baie. We looked at the shore excursions offered and didn't really find any we liked. Are there places to visit within walking distance of the ship in these ports ? We only take excursions offered thru NCL.

I know this is the New England section, but I'll answer anyway.

Charlottetown: Yes, it's a nice town with plenty within walking distance.

Gaspe: This was a tender port when I visited (quite possibly still is) and I was there on a Canadian National Holiday so most things were closed, but I would say, no, not really much within walking distance that I could tell. It was also, cold, windy, drizzly, and foggy which seriously affected how much I could see.

La Baie: I'm sure this is the Saguenay port stop, but I am not sure if you will be at the same place HAL normally docks. If you are, then yes, there is a very nice small town within walking distance. I can't really say if there is a lot to do, because we just walk along the shore, and this last visit, we were in serious need of a drug store, so we found one of those and spent a good hour at the Tim Horton's, because again, it was cold, windy, and drizzly. Stop in at the tourist information counter in the building at the pier, they are very helpful.

Be prepared for cold, drizzly, rainy weather. Also of note, many people speak English in Saguenay but in Gaspe I found far more speak only French. The places I visited in Gaspe were almost all exclusively French, both spoken and on signs/menus. If you don't know French, it might be a good idea to pick up a phrase book or have an app if you are out and about by yourself in Gaspe.

Ellieanne - thank you for answering my question. I'm satisfied that we can enjoy getting off the ship at our leisure in Charlottetown and La Baie to enjoy the area around the port, and (maybe) Gaspesie will be one of those places best to see from the comfort of the ship!

Just outside the cruise terminal (a new building with free WiFi), there is a small museum detailing the founding of Canada. Not terrific but interesting enough, short walk and not too time consuming.

When you leave there, if you are a shopper, you will see a tourist created, meticulous, well maintained area with lots of touristy shops /souvenirs. There's COWS ice cream and a few decent restaurants.

Short walk from there past historic, small, very pretty church as you head to 'downtown' and Government building. We did a short tour there learning about the Founders and beginning of Canada.

If the weather is bad, there's underground shopping mall also very near.

Have mussels for lunch, if you eat shellfish. PEI has just about the best mussels anywhere.

Thank you S7S, sounds like a good port to take our time, walk around, and stretch our land legs a while.

When we were in Charlotte town we did a lot of walking but also took one of the horse driven tours around the down town. We went after lunch and it wasn't as nice out as it had been in the morning so we were able to negotiate a little on the fare. Worth considering if you want a little more context for the town.

Try typing into your search engine "Tom's Port Guides." Great guides that you can download for the price of your ink. Lots of information on a lot of ports.

I just took a quick look at Tom's Port Guides and they are full of alot of great information. Was I surprised when I saw that Tom is only 20 minutes from where I live.

Were on the 10-18-2014 Hal's 13 day- Maasdam sailing from Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale, this guide is going to come in so handy, thanks so much for the recommendation!!!!!! :)