Canada New England Cruise?

Have always cruised in the Carribean since we live in Florida. What is a cruise like to canada/new england? Don't see much talk about that on these boards. Is the water much choppier? Is it very cold? windy? rainy? best time of year? I know fall colors would be nice to see. But is any other time better? Best ports of call?

We did a New England/Canada cruise in September of 2015 on Celebrity Summit out of Cape Liberty, Bayonne, New Jersey. First of all, it was a gorgeous departure, leaving New York! It was cool, we just wore layers. Did not need a heavy jacket. Loved all of the ports- Boston, Portland and Bar Harbor (Maine), Quebec City (Quebec), Halifax (Nova Scotia). It did rain in Halifax, and due to rough seas, we were unable to dock in Sydney, Nova Scotia. But it was a beautiful cruise, although the fall colors were just starting, and the best we saw was in Canada. I highly recommend a New England/Canada cruise!!

You might look over on the Canada/New Englad section of the forum for more specific port and other information. We're going on the Regal out of NYC in October and I've gotten lots of good info there.

We've done Canada/New England twice. Once from New York to Montreal and once from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale.

Not to discourage you but those were the two roughest cruises we've ever been on. On the northbound cruise we were 6 hours late getting into Boston because we were in 30 ft. seas with 50 knot winds. The crew was turning green that night.

On the southbound cruise we had to skip Charleston because it was blowing so hard the tug boats couldn't even get us to the pier.

Other than those little hitches, they were also a couple of our favorite cruises. The colors can be majestic and the history is always fascinating.

Weather is always a crapshoot as is when the colors will be in their brightest glory. Pick a date and hope for the best.

We did Quebec to Fort Lauderdale in Oct of 2015 , and weather was good,. We layered and we're fine. Was breezy around Cape Breton coast. I recommend this cruise, fall colors were beautiful.

We did this cruise in Oct 2016; out of NY, to Newport, Boston, BarHarbor, St John (couldn't dock due to high winds, so another sea day) and Halifax, back to NY. Great cruise. Went mid-Oct. and the colors were just

right. Our favorite was Bar Harbor, took a tour through Cadillac Mtn. Awesome scenery! I grew up in NYC so the sailaway out of NY Harbor was the highlight of the trip for me. Enjoy.

We did Quebec to Fort Lauderdale in Oct of 2015 , and weather was good,. We layered and we're fine. Was breezy around Cape Breton coast. I recommend this cruise, fall colors were beautiful.

Have noticed that they do the same itinerary in late July, perfect timing for us. Quebec is on my bucket list and we loved RI the last time we visited. Did you enjoy all the ports?

We went on the Holland America Veendam in Aug 2016 for 7 days from Montreal to Boston and had a great time. The water was completely calm the whole time. I thought the weather was a little cold for August but it is far up North. The first day in Montreal was actually really hot & humid; the next day overcast/drizzling. Quebec City was cloudy/lightly raining at times. We had great weather in Charlottetown; pouring rain & windy all day in Sydney; great weather in Halifax, Bar Harbor & Boston. It's one of those cruises you need to prepare for all different kinds of weather, even in the summer, and I'd say it was more windy than not. I enjoyed all the ports but I think Bar Harbor was the favorite for our party of four and it was the most scenic. All that I read about this itinerary beforehand was positive with a lot of good reviews and the people in all the Canadian ports we visited were wonderful (probably some of the the friendliest of my cruises) and we saw a lot of cool lighthouses. I'm really glad I went but after having been to Alaska several times, Norwegian Fjords & Mediterranean, it was the least scenic cruise (while on the ship) and I probably wouldn't do it again just because I like to explore new places.

I live in Boston the best time of the year in Boston to me is late September. The weather is not to hot or cold.

If you take a tour of the Freedom Trail you will go by my house. See ya...:):):)

Tony

Went in October, weather was generally good but Bar Harbor was socked in with fog so did not see much in the way of views. Water was rougher than the Caribbean but not so bad that we had to skip ports or activities on board. Worst was Newport where waves picked up as we were tendering back in the afternoon. Problem with fall colors is that each year is different so hard to say what you may see any given week.

Have always cruised in the Carribean since we live in Florida. What is a cruise like to canada/new england? Don't see much talk about that on these boards. Is the water much choppier? Is it very cold? windy? rainy? best time of year? I know fall colors would be nice to see. But is any other time better? Best ports of call?

I wrote a photo/video review that might answer some of your questions...

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2556992

Norris

We've done Canada/New England twice. Once from New York to Montreal and once from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Not to discourage you but those were the two roughest cruises we've ever been on. On the northbound cruise we were 6 hours late getting into Boston because we were in 30 ft. seas with 50 knot winds. The crew was turning green that night.

 

 

 

 

 

YES! Looking forward to winds and high seas! We are booked on the August 2019 cruise to Greenland RT from NYC.

I wrote a photo/video review that might answer some of your questions...

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2556992

 

Norris

Thanks for posting this link. I enjoy your reviews but hadn't seen this one.

We have done it 2x and I love the ports. I love Halifax, Bar Harbor, Newport and Boston (plus some others).

One time it was Quebec to FLL and we started with a white out snow storm in Quebec! There were snowmen on Lido deck. It eventually got better and we had an amazing trip. That trip stopped in Charleston, SC and Norfolk, VA which was nice.

My other trip was RT NYC. It had rained 2 weeks previously (record rains in NYC and NJ) but once we got on the ship, the weather was great.

Yes, it can be rough but my roughest cruise was out of the Caribbean.

I actually prefer this to the Caribbean. Great scenery, great history, great places.

We went a few years ago now, in late September 2010. It was on the Caribbean Princess - to date, my favorite ship. The ship left from Brooklyn and was a lovely sailaway. The ports were Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, St John and Halifax.

We had fantastic weather on that cruise. Sunny, crisp fall days all around. Leaving Boston and heading north we encountered 20-30 ft waves that evening and night. By far the roughest waters I've encountered on a cruise. We actually braved the cool night, wind and waves to try to catch a movie under the stars - our little group were the only ones out there and we couldn't hear the sound over the wind. In fact, we ended up watching the water in the pool flow back and forth instead! Not sure why they didn't drain it but it was very memorable and something we still talk about with the group of friends we went with.

All in all, lovely ports of call, beautiful scenery, my favourite ship. It was a quieter crowd than on a southern cruise and the time of year meant it was also an older crowd. Some like that and some don't. One of our favorites for sure - and we were all in our early 30s at the time.

My friend and I did Canada/New England in September, 2015 out of NYC on the NCL Gem. We had a great time. We LOVED Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. It was raining so hard in Portland that all of the excursions were canceled, so we just walked around the town a little. I would love to go back. We had beautiful weather in the other ports (Bat Harbor, St. John and Halifax).

The seas were rough on the return to NY, but it was fine. We just rolled with it. :D

I would like to do that itinerary again on the Regal Princess.

Have always cruised in the Carribean since we live in Florida. What is a cruise like to canada/new england? Don't see much talk about that on these boards. Is the water much choppier? Is it very cold? windy? rainy? best time of year? I know fall colors would be nice to see. But is any other time better? Best ports of call?

I would go for it. I have been to almost all the ports by land or sea and they are all very nice. If you want the best chance to see fall colors select a cruise in early to mid October. There are two itineraries that may interest you. End of July Ft. Lauderdale to Quebec and then late October Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale.

Weather wise a July cruise will be summer temperatures. You probably should bring a sweatshirt or light jacket as it can get cool in the evenings and at sea. At the end of October it will be cooler. More layers required. The sea can be choppy in the North Atlantic, especially when tropical storms run up the east coast.

Did it last October. It was my first cruise outside of the Caribbean I absolutely loved it. I was worried about the rough seas that I've read about but don't know if we were just lucky or what but it was maybe the smoothest cruise I've ever been on. We also got hit by fog in Bar Harbor so didn't get to see as much as I would've hoped but was still a really cool, New England town. Boston was great.... finally got to see Fenway Park! One of the biggest surprises for me was St. John. Didn't appear to be much to do outside of the reversing falls and the indoor market but it's a really cool city with very steep hills (like a mini-San Francisco) and some great Irish Pubs and there's a place right across the street from the pier that had probably the best lobster roll I had on the entire trip. Weather for us was really nice - our only really cool day was Halifax but that was mainly due to a pretty stiff wind which made it feel worse than it was. Got treated to some really incredible sunsets as well.

We absolutely LOVED our Canada/NE cruise last year on the Regal! We were skeptical, especially DH who is a warm-weather kind of person. We had a small amount of rain one afternoon and 55 mph wind with maybe 8' waves one night but the Regal "rides" really, really smoothly in our experience. We were midship and hardly felt a thing and I really notice movement.

We went the last few days in Sept. to the first week in October. We would've had more color had we gone a week later, but there was still plenty of color for us since we're not used to seeing much color at all in our home state.

We had such a good, good time that it is one cruise we are seriously considering doing again. (y)

We went on Crown Princess last October. Quebec to NYC. We had smooth sailing whole way. Enjoyed all the ports. Especially Quebec City! We had warm temps everywhere. Nice, but because of that the colors on trees hadn’t changed yet. All in all, a great [emoji568]

Sent from my iPad using Forums