Canada/New England on Caribbean Princess

[kelly3399]

Princess did several 7 day Canada/New England cruises every week in September and October. Was anyone here on one of these cruises who could give a report on the ship or shore excursions or whatever? We are planning on taking this cruise next year and would love to hear from you. Thanks, Kelly

[framer]

I big question. To keep it short, this is my favorite cruise. I'm about to go on my 6th NE cruise. Do your research, on the internet, about each port to see what you might find interesting to you. Consider renting a car in several of the ports to let you explore on your own. Check out the Ports of Call NE forum here on CC http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

 

Bar Harbour is my favorite Port of Call.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

framer

[boomerone]

Princess did several 7 day Canada/New England cruises every week in September and October. Was anyone here on one of these cruises who could give a report on the ship or shore excursions or whatever? We are planning on taking this cruise next year and would love to hear from you. Thanks, Kelly

Kelly--just returned from my second NYC 7 day roundtrip NE/Canada cruise and can't wait to go again. Next time I would like to do two 10 day b2b cruises and see more foliage and sights in the St. Lawrence. However, heads up for weather. You can have fog (wrecks the view at Cadillac Mtn and Acadia NP in Bar Harbour, high wind (can keep you out of tender ports and even some tie-up ports), and rain. I'm not a big fan of Newport as I am not impressed with mansions etc. Boston is OK if you get a good tour guide who can make or break a tour event. Bar Harbour on a nice day is fantastic, go to Acadia NP. Saint John has the reversing falls on the river which is quite exciting and Halifax has the history of Titanic and the big explosion at the pier so that's very interesting. The entire staff of Caribbean Princess was superb as was the food and entertainment. Keep reading the cruise reviews in CC. If you really want foliage go later in the NE season. Have fun!

[Talisker92]

WE just got back last week from the Crown Princess cruise tour that started in Toronto and ended up in NY. We had a great time, even though Bar Harbor was socked in. The story and pictures are on our website http://www.stevekathytravels.com.

We will be happy to answer any questions

[Ann262]

Hi Kelly We just got off the Caribbean Princess on Saturday. We had a wonderful time

 

If you have any specific questions, I will be happy to answer them since the ship and itinerary are fresh in my mind.

 

• The ship is beautiful and in great shape. She is going into drydock in November.
  
• We enjoyed Vines, the wine bar. Florian is a wonderful host and knowledgeable. If you enjoy red wine, inquire with him about Stammtisch. It is a tasting he hosts pairing red wine with chocolate and attendance is limited to 12. Cost is $15. We really enjoyed that.
  
• I liked the International Cafe.
  
• Food in the main dining room was good as well as at Vines and International Cafe. Burgers at the grill were tasty. I avoided the Horizon Court. It did get crowded at breakfast time. We found ordering room the service the night before to be a good option. We had to be in the room getting ready to go ashor anyway, why not have them bring breakfast? It is lighter fare, but who needs a heavy meal before sight seeing? YUK!
  
• We did not try Crown Grill or Sabatinis. Since this itinerary took us to places where you could get some of the best seafood in the country, we decided that we would spend the cash on lobster dinners ashore :D.
  
• Entertainment around the ship was good. If there is a show you want to see, you do need to get the venue about 30 minutes ahead of show time to get a seat. We did traditional dining, and had no trouble doing that. They seemed to time the showtimes well. There were usually 3 showtimes each night.
  
• Music around the ship was good. Wish there would've been a real blues band though.
  
• One thing we did that was fun was watched a movie on MUTS from a hot tub on our sea day. It was chilly out, but fine in the hot tub :D.
  

The ports:

 

• In Newport, we did a segway tour. That was fun but we only admired the mansions from the street. If I go back, I'd like to tour breakers. Newport is a lovely town to walk around in. We had lunch at the Black Pearl and it was very good.
  
• In Boston, we walked the Freedom Trail which is a great way to see the points of interest in Boston. Highlights were USS Constition and Paul Revere's house. We took the Water taxi back to town and then walked to the original Cheers on Beacon Street. That was fun! Many on our ship toured using the hop on hop off bus and they liked that. It is a $12 taxi ride to Quincy Market where you can get tickets. Four in a cab.
  
• Bar Harbor was our favorite stop. We rented bikes at Acadia Bikes and biked the carriage trails in Acadia National park. Beautiful, beautiful scenery. Colors were pre-peak for us, so hopefully, they will be peak for you! Bar Harbor is a very walkable little town, cute and full of shops and cafes. We had the full lobster dinner topped off with blueberry pie ala mode at West Street Cafe. $21.00 Delicous! Skipped dinner that nigth :rolleyes:. There are plenty of choices of places to eat.
  
• Halifax is a nice harbor town. Cute harbor area to walk with shops and cafes. The titanic cemetary is worth seeing. I think you can go inside the Citadel and there is a maritime museum. Peggy's Cove is cute but you need a tour or ride to get there. The Bluenose II is recommended for lobster as they bring it in fresh each day. It was the best lobster we ever had.
  
• Saint John was a disappointing port. It is very industrial not a pretty area to wander around. There are 2 reasons to get off the ship. 1 is Reversing falls, but only if you know when to go. We where there at slack both times so it was just a river next to a power plant. :cool:. The other reason is pubs. We did stop at Saint John Brewery and BigTide Brewery. Both were fun and good. Canadians were very personable and loved to talk about beer. We wasted $100 per couple on a tour of Saint John. There is really nothing for a tour operator to show you. St. Martins wasn't worth the $100. Just a pretty beach, old fishing boats and a place to buy lunch. If you are thinking you need a break from the busy itinerary, this might be the port to sit out in my opinion.
  

Anyway, the Caribbean Princess is a beautiful ship and the itinerary is busy but nice. The service on board was excellent. They don't bug you every 30 seconds to bring you a drink or sell you something, but seem to know when you are wanting something. We never waited long for anything. The ship does carry 3100 passengers. Although there are some times when there were alot of people around us, I never felt terribly crowded. They did a really nice job.

 

BTW: They had a country western hoe down one night and a 50's 60's dance party one night. Bring your cowboy boots, 10 gallon hat and poodle skirt! There are 2 formal nights, people do dress up but not to the extent people did years ago. The second formal night, they have a piazza party at 11:00 pm. It is fun! Give adults streamers to throw and pretty soon they are giggling and having fun like kids. :D

[kelly3399]

Thanks for all the helpful links and great information. I really appreciate it and look forward to our trip next September. Kelly

[karatemom2]

We did the 9 day itinerary this past summer. Here is a link to my live thread from that cruise that you might find helpful. It is a great cruise. Enjoy!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1448713