Boston to Quebec with Tween Daughters

My husband and I will be travelling on HAL's Boston to Quebec with 2 tween daughters (12 and 9) at the very end of June. Any suggestions on port sights, activities, or tours would be greatly appreciated! Our Ports of Call include: Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown and Quebec. We've also decided to stay an extra night in Quebec at the Chateau Frontenac before we drive home, so would love extra tips for Quebec! THANK YOU! :cool:

Are you on June 28? We are also. Please check out the roll call.

What do your daughters like to do? History, nature, lighthouses? Those are the easy answers, but it depends on what they like.

If they have read Anne of Green Gables (or watched the movies/PBS series) I would definitely make the trek out to that site in Charlottetown.

In reading your responses I realize that there is too much personal preference involved to really make suggestions...I was getting overwhelmed by all the excursion options, and think I was just looking for someone to help me decide! :)

Yes! We are on the June 28th sailing and are very excited.

I've been doing more reading and am thinking of avoiding the expensive HAL excursions and doing private tour groups or self-guided. Still researching possibilities! Thanks for your replies!

You will find many ideas in previous posts. Go back to the Ports of Call - Canada page. Look to the right of the blue bar near the top of the page for the search feature.

For PEI I would rent a car and drive. To me the wonderful pastoral scenery with rolling hills and then the north shore with its cliffs and beaches are the best part of PEI. If your daughter has read Anne of Green Gables then you could go there. It is in Cavendish on the north shore, not in Charlottetown.

For Halifax you can choose between spending a day on your own in the city or renting a car to go to Peggy's Cove and possibly Lunenburg. There are many previous posts discussing this.

http://destinationhalifax.com/visitors/things-to-do-in-halifax

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1989879

Hi,

I am preparing for my second Canada/NE cruise (very enjoyable). Here is some info.

Québec City: I don’t know if you are renting your car simply to drive from Québec City to Boston but renting or bringing a GPS might be handy to help with the road signs in French.

For your daughters here is a brand new official tourism web page

http://www.quebecregion.com/en/what-to-do/activities-attractions/family/

Sydney: Rent a car (reserve first). All the worthwhile sites to visit are at least 1.5 hour from the port. Here are free (without publicity) port guides written voluntarily by a fellow cruiser.

Sydney: http://www.tomsportguides.com/Sydney-NS-02-05-2013.pdf

Cape Breton driving tour: http://www.tomsportguides.com/CapeBretonTours-02-05-2013.pdf

Other ports are covered also: http://www.tomsportguides.com/

In my previous post I forgot to mention

Halifax: If your family likes history, the Citadel is interesting. I was there around noon, saw the firing of the canon and heard a bagpipe concert. Costumed interpreters give an interesting tour.

In reading your responses I realize that there is too much personal preference involved to really make suggestions...I was getting overwhelmed by all the excursion options, and think I was just looking for someone to help me decide! :)

Yes! We are on the June 28th sailing and are very excited.

I've been doing more reading and am thinking of avoiding the expensive HAL excursions and doing private tour groups or self-guided. Still researching possibilities! Thanks for your replies!

See you on the 28th!!

I usually start by looking at the ship excursions because they provide me with a good overview of what the options are. Then I ask if what I want to do can be done by myself or a private tour and go from there. If you check the roll call, we are looking for another two for a Halifax tour. Not sure if the tour will take 7.

Most of the folks I have spoken to seem to be going to Acadia NP in Bar Harbor. We are using Olie's Trolley.

Good luck

Wow! Thanks so much everyone! The links are a great help. I'd never heard of Tom's Port Guides before. They are fantastic! I just signed up for Ollie's Trolley in Bar Harbor...looks great...one port down. :)

Here is some more advice:

Bring good earplugs for the whole family. When the fog is very thick, the Captain has to blow the fog horn every 8 minutes even in the middle of the night.:eek:

On my sailing the sea was pretty calm except for one evening. Sea sickness medication is handy.

We did this cruise last year when my daughter was 9. We did it as a back to back so we were in each port twice. I'll list some of the activities that were interesting to our whole family

- the tour on the lobster boat out of Bar Harbor. We also took the free shuttle around the park. Our only regret there was that we didn't bring our swim suits for the beach.

- Pier 21 museum in Halifax (the cruise ship is at pier 20 so the museum is right next door). This might be of less interest to Americans as Pier 21 is basically Canada's Ellis Island. They have a great oral history museum now. We also enjoyed just walking the harbour area. My daughter found the Maritime museum overwhelming. Maritime history is pretty depressing. The museum is really well put together but between the Halifax Explosion and the Titanic but daughter was a little overwhelmed.

- Our best day in Charlottetown we rented a car and just played on the beach for the day. My daughter isn't into Anne of Green Gables so we skipped it, but you could likely do both easily if you wanted. Charlottetown is really pretty though so you can also make a day of just saying in town

- Quebec City we did a fantastic walking tour. We also had fun just checking out some of the stores. My daughter was less impressed with the Changing of the Guards at the Citidelle, it was long, rather windy and it was hard to hear the announcements describing what was going on.

- Sydney we rented a car both days, once we went to Louisburg and once to Beddeck. Out of the two I'd suggest Beddeck, Louisburg felt really really rushed. The Alexander Graham Bell museum was hit with my daughter and then we just went for a walk around the town and grabbed some pizza for lunch.

We did this cruise last year when my daughter was 9. We did it as a back to back so we were in each port twice. I'll list some of the activities that were interesting to our whole family

 

- the tour on the lobster boat out of Bar Harbor. We also took the free shuttle around the park. Our only regret there was that we didn't bring our swim suits for the beach.

 

- Pier 21 museum in Halifax (the cruise ship is at pier 20 so the museum is right next door). This might be of less interest to Americans as Pier 21 is basically Canada's Ellis Island. They have a great oral history museum now. We also enjoyed just walking the harbour area. My daughter found the Maritime museum overwhelming. Maritime history is pretty depressing. The museum is really well put together but between the Halifax Explosion and the Titanic but daughter was a little overwhelmed.

 

- Our best day in Charlottetown we rented a car and just played on the beach for the day. My daughter isn't into Anne of Green Gables so we skipped it, but you could likely do both easily if you wanted. Charlottetown is really pretty though so you can also make a day of just saying in town

 

- Quebec City we did a fantastic walking tour. We also had fun just checking out some of the stores. My daughter was less impressed with the Changing of the Guards at the Citidelle, it was long, rather windy and it was hard to hear the announcements describing what was going on.

 

- Sydney we rented a car both days, once we went to Louisburg and once to Beddeck. Out of the two I'd suggest Beddeck, Louisburg felt really really rushed. The Alexander Graham Bell museum was hit with my daughter and then we just went for a walk around the town and grabbed some pizza for lunch.

Did you buy a ticket and see the changing of the guard from the parade grounds or did you watch from the citadel entrance? What time did you arrive at the citadel for a good spot?

Wow! Thanks so much everyone! The links are a great help. I'd never heard of Tom's Port Guides before. They are fantastic! I just signed up for Ollie's Trolley in Bar Harbor...looks great...one port down. :)

We are on the 10am Olie's Trolley on the 29th.

Good morning! I too will be onboard this June 28 cruise and just wanted to share some info I found. It seems July 1 is National Canada Day and as I tried to book a car for our Sydney day and perhaps drive to Uisage Ban Falls, there were no cars to be had by Enterprise...just a "closed this day message."

Good morning! I too will be onboard this June 28 cruise and just wanted to share some info I found. It seems July 1 is National Canada Day and as I tried to book a car for our Sydney day and perhaps drive to Uisage Ban Falls, there were no cars to be had by Enterprise...just a "closed this day message."

While the Enterprise location you checked is closed, there are other rental car locations open. A quick search via Expedia and Travelocity show both Avis and Budget cars available on July 1 in Sydney.