first time in new england/canada! suggestions?

[lsto]

heading up oct 4-11 on rccl jewel of the seas, leaving out of boston. we've only done caribbean cruises to this point.

would love your suggestions on the best excursions for our itinerary and any other pointers! i'd rather hear from the "been there, done that's" than research on the cruiseline's website.

also, i've read about tendering problems in some of these ports. is this still a big issue??

our ports of call: bar harbor, portland, halifax, st. john's bay

Thanks!

[lsto]

........footnote:

i should let you know that we are a young couple (late twenties, early thirties'ish), no kids. we're game for anything.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Bar Harbor -- all cruise ships have to tender here. We have never had a problem here.

[jerin]

Bar Harbor is a tender port, but the process was easy. We were on a ship full of older people, mostly slow moving/late risers. We're in our mid-thirties, and kept our hours early to beat the rush. The first tender took quite a while to gather enough people to justify a trip.
In Bar Harbor we rented a bike and rode the Carriage Trails. In retrospect, we'd get two mountain bikes, not the tandem, but it was a nice ride with beautiful views, and a great way to avoid crowds.

In Halifax, I was having some issues with tendinitis, so we did the Maritime Museum and the Pier 21 museum and some shopping. We'd really wanted to go to the Citadel, but it would have required a hike to get to a regular bus to take us there, and the tourist free bus wasn't running yet.

In Saint John, we walked up to the Burial Grounds, then we walked through the City Market and other shops. Then we went back to the ship (to get an idea of the changing tides) and then the opposite direction from the market -- not a touristy area, but nice views of the water. We would have liked to walk to the Reversing Falls, and they weren't far, but because my tendon was starting to flare up that day, we were trying to stay pretty close to the ship. I hear that St. Martin and the sea caves there can be a great excursion, though they're not accessible when the tide is in.

[Trainman52]

Originally Posted by lsto

heading up oct 4-11 on rccl jewel of the seas, leaving out of boston. we've only done caribbean cruises to this point.

would love your suggestions on the best excursions for our itinerary and any other pointers! i'd rather hear from the "been there, done that's" than research on the cruiseline's website.

also, i've read about tendering problems in some of these ports. is this still a big issue??

our ports of call: bar harbor, portland, halifax, st. john's bay

Thanks!

You can take a look at the review I did of this itinerary on the Crown Princess last fall:

http://richlevow.com/crownprincess.aspx

Here is a review I did of the Halifax/Saint John cruise in 2000:

http://members.aol.com/trainman52/triumph.htm

In Bar Harbor you might want to consider Ollie's Trolley as an alternative to the ship's tour.

Bon Voyage