Canada/New England any one gone on this cruise

[elcuchio24]

As your PR blurb describes Portland.. "How Maine does a city!" which I found very appealing.

I still have the booklet, btw..

 

Having exited out of Manhattan NYC and just come from Boston before your stop

my apologies for referring to Portland the way I did.

 

It was however the best stop of all four stops we did

and I'm not just saying that to smooth yer ruffled feathers! :D

 

There are great little shops/stalls near the waterfront, or just in from Commercial St.

Bought myself a cute lil Maine lobster trap which the bride just hung on our Christmas tree!

 

We don't often leave the ship twice in one stop,OK?

but we did at Portland!

 

We did a morning sortie (included the DownEast Duck Tour!)

Quack quack!

 

..and then after lunch and a short rest, we ventured forth again!

 

We don't often do THAT -so that says huge stuff for Portland, lemme tell you!

 

Beautiful vintage homes on Morning Street

.

 

Well I'm glad you enjoyed it, we sure do:). Even though it isn't very big, I think it FEELS even smaller than it is. The cruise ship revenue in the past 5 years sure has been an appriciated boon to the local economy.

[elcuchio24]

I am definitely in the minority here but we did not like it all. We had a group of 10 of us and not a single one liked it. Of course we only had one nice day. We went in July and all but that one day we had fog and wind. Just not our idea of what a cruise should be. But it sounds like others really enjoy it. We will stick to warmer weather cruises, with the exception of cruising to Alaska one of these days.

 

June and July are certainly more dicey weatherwise. August and September are certainly the best times. We've had summers on by Bar Harbor where the whole month on June was fog. Seriously, 30+ days straight. Plus the blackflies are a living hell that time of year if you get into the interior at all.

[genegri]

GloriaF and elcuhio24, thank you for your insights! I am in NYC so it is quite a drive, but still doable. I am kicking myself why or why didn't I do this when I was in college in Boston a few years ago.

 

aplmac, what gorgeous pictures! I was on Explorer OTS on Oct 8 sailing out of NJ Bayonne and I saw Glory in front of us. I agree, the sail away was awesome! We were all blessed with the best weather in NYC in a long long time. This was a crappy summer for the northeast US, weather wise.

[Dave0311]

We've done the shorter Canada cruises six times - four times on Victory, two on Glory. Here are links to the reviews I posted on Glory:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1442719

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1270610&highlight=glory

 

Saint John and Halifax have to be the two friendliest ports we've ever visited on a cruise, and Glory is one of my favorite ships.

I agree. The Canadians are very friendly and welcoming! :)

 

We've done this cruise several times. Once on the Victory, once on the Triumph, and most recently (2010) on the Glory. We'll be doing it next August on the Glory again.

 

There's a link to my review (with photos) in my signature . :)

[elcuchio24]

GloriaF and elcuhio24, thank you for your insights! I am in NYC so it is quite a drive, but still doable. I am kicking myself why or why didn't I do this when I was in college in Boston a few years ago.

 

aplmac, what gorgeous pictures! I was on Explorer OTS on Oct 8 sailing out of NJ Bayonne and I saw Glory in front of us. I agree, the sail away was awesome! We were all blessed with the best weather in NYC in a long long time. This was a crappy summer for the northeast US, weather wise.

 

It's a really beautiful and fantastic roadtrip, but a LONG one even starting in Maine:) So keep that in mind, if you have the time though, certainly worth it.

[crisperjr]

.

 

 

Two months ago October 8th-15th. we cruised on GLORY

out of Manhattan (the sailaway alone is worth half the money on a fine day)

 

then on to Boston, then Portland Maine (great little town -interesting)

 

Then St.John, New Brunswick and after a day at sea

finally Halifax, Nova Scotia.

 

After a second day at sea, we were back to Manhattan. 7 nights. Memorable!

 

 

Nice cruise after having done the Southern Caribbean to death

(see where I live..)

.

 

 

We were on this cruise with you! Do you have other pictures? And possibly links to your pictures? I'd love to see them.

 

 

Oliver

[Aplmac]

.

Was this you, up there?

 

We were on this cruise with you!

Do you have other pictures? And possibly links to your pictures?

Same cruise? What are the odds,huh?! :D

 

 

Sure I have pics.

Many of them are already on Cruisecritic's own Photo Gallery at

http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/index.php

 

but if you click on this Photobucket link

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w219/aplmac/Carnival%20GLORY%20-%20Oct%2011/

that'll show you a whole bunch.

 

 

Portland -on our way in..

 

 

Notice that (when you get there) there's a quite a few sub-albums over in the right hand column

with names like Approach to Boston, BOSTON, Glory FOOD & Beverage, etc.

Please click on those sub-albums for even more pics.

 

 

If you really know how to navigate your way around a Photobucket account

you can access nine cruises worth of photos! ;)

 

Have fun!

.

[Aplmac]

aplmac, what gorgeous pictures! ===> Thank you.

 

I was on Explorer OTS on Oct 8 sailing out of NJ Bayonne and I saw Glory in front of us.

I agree, the sail away was awesome! ===> Ours even better coz we started up the Hudson aways!

 

We were all blessed with the best weather in NYC in a long long time.

This was a crappy summer for the Northeast US, weather wise.

You guys on Royal Caribbean would have looked a bit like this, from where Glory was...

 

-except that's JEWEL at extreme left pulling out of a NJ dock

 

 

We had fabulous weather mid-October for our sailaway (just look at the pics!)

-pulling away from Pier 90 on the West Side..

 

 

and in Boston -and in Portland!

 

 

St.John N.Brunswick was clear too but got a little chilly

and Halifax was overcast and a bit chilly (we live on a Caribbean island, OK?)

The day at sea coming back from Halifax was also grey and chilly

but back in Manhattan was fine!

 

All in all we had OK-to-great weather and could not complain.

No rain -ever. No precip of any kind! ;)

.

[genegri]

I agree, the sail away was awesome! ===> Ours even better coz we started up the Hudson aways!

 

Almost like river cruising! I always want to try departing from Baltimore or NOLA for the same reason. Hmm ... I think I will look into one of those one-way NE/Canada cruises, from Boston to QC or vice verse.

 

You guys on Royal Caribbean would have looked a bit like this, from where Glory was...-except that's JEWEL at extreme left pulling out of a NJ dock

 

 

You sure that is not EOTS? It sure looks like her. I think Explorer was the only ship on NJ side on that day. And I remember we were coming after the wake of Glory. I also saw the NCL ship but she left from the NY side. There was another ship, MSC Poesia, also leaving from NY. I always run into her for some reason. :p

 

Edit to add: the NYC skyline was incredible. Hours after we all were in the open ocean it was still very bright and colorful in distance. By that time Glory had turned north and Jewel was going south.

[crisperjr]

.

Was this you, up there?

 

Same cruise? What are the odds,huh?! :D

 

 

Sure I have pics.

Many of them are already on Cruisecritic's own Photo Gallery at

http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/index.php

 

but if you click on this Photobucket link

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w219/aplmac/Carnival%20GLORY%20-%20Oct%2011/

that'll show you a whole bunch.

 

 

Portland -on our way in..

 

 

Notice that (when you get there) there's a quite a few sub-albums over in the right hand column

with names like Approach to Boston, BOSTON, Glory FOOD & Beverage, etc.

Please click on those sub-albums for even more pics.

 

 

If you really know how to navigate your way around a Photobucket account

you can access nine cruises worth of photos! ;)

 

Have fun!

.

 

 

Hey, thanks for sharing your pictures. Couldn't find us in any of them (actually I know where we were standing in many of your long shots during sail away) That was a great cruise huh?

 

By the way, I made a video of this cruise. If you are interested (it's about 14 min):

 

 

Oliver

[pandora85345]

I really enjoyed watching the video of your cruise. You did a great job. My DH and I will be going on the same cruise on Sept. 8 2012 and can't wait. We have never been to New York or any of the Ports before. Living in AZ we have to fly in a day before. Any ideas on where we should stay the night?

[nybumpkin]

.

Two months ago October 8th-15th. we cruised on GLORY

out of Manhattan (the sailaway alone is worth half the money on a fine day)

.

I completely agree! NYC has one of the greatest sailaways going. I would, though, recommend booking either late or anytime dining on this itinerary if you want to be on deck for sailaway. The 4- and 5-day cruises sail at 5:00, they rarely leave on time, and if you book early dining you'll need to be in the dining room before you sail under the Verrazano. The 7-day is listed as sailing at 4:00, but I don't think those sailings usually were on time either.

[bobbiejean]

We did this cruise on the Victory several years ago over the Labor day weekend. Was our first cruise and we really enjoyed. Went to Peggys Cove and would go again.

[crisperjr]

I really enjoyed watching the video of your cruise. You did a great job. My DH and I will be going on the same cruise on Sept. 8 2012 and can't wait. We have never been to New York or any of the Ports before. Living in AZ we have to fly in a day before. Any ideas on where we should stay the night?

 

 

Since we drove up from the DC area, we didn't stay over night. But I'm sure others here can give you some tips as to where to stay.

 

Hope you are as fortunate as we were and enjoy great weather.

 

 

Oliver

[Aplmac]

Almost like river cruising!

Hmm ... I think I will look into one of those one-way NE/Canada cruises,

from Boston to QC or vice verse. ===> Great minds think alike! ;)

 

You sure that is not EOTS? It sure looks like her. ===> You could be right!

I think Explorer was the only ship on NJ side on that day. And I remember we were coming after the wake of Glory.

 

I also saw the NCL ship but she left from the NY side. ===> She was berthed one dock down from us in Manhattan

 

There was another ship, MSC Poesia, also leaving from NY.

Not sure of the RCI ship's identity. Too far away!

 

 

Later in the evening the situation looked like this...

 

 

we seemed to be leading the pack, out of New York City that day

 

This shot was hurriedly taken thru the salty window in the Dining Room

using my wife's lil point-and-shoot

..

[Aplmac]

I completely agree! NYC has one of the greatest sailaways going.

Some time ago, there was a thread somewhere here on Cruisecritic

where comparisons were made regarding the greatest sailaways.

 

Venice came out tops.

New York came out second, and I remember thinking.. I can't afford the Venice experience

but NYC is reasonably accessible from where I live, so we'll try for that one day.

 

 

Well it came true back in October

and Venice better come purty darned good if/when it ever happens!

 

 

Luckily we pulled away from the dock just a bit after the 4:00 p.m. scheduled departure time

 

 

and enjoyed the whole thing until we were just a little ways outside of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge,

then we went down to the cabin to get ready for dinner.

 

 

It all worked out very well, but yes I could see how a 5:00 p.m. takeoff

could clash badly with an Early Dining option

 

 

This was my last sailaway photo on deck before going down to change for dinner.

.

[crisperjr]

Not sure of the RCI ship's identity. Too far away!

 

 

Later in the evening the situation looked like this...

 

 

we seemed to be leading the pack, out of New York City that day

 

This shot was hurriedly taken thru the salty window in the Dining Room

using my wife's lil point-and-shoot

..

 

 

The RCI ship was Explorer of the Seas.

 

 

Oliver

[genegri]

Great pictures, alpmac! May I ask what camera you used?

 

My puny little pocket camera of course couldn't produce anything like that. :o But here we go. I was on Explorer, the Glory was in front us getting ready to go under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and continue going on the NE/Canada cruise. And NCL Jewel was after us. Pretty sunset colors.

[Aplmac]

The RCI ship was Explorer of the Seas.

 

Oliver

Oliver: thanks for that verification.

 

You sound confident enough that I've now changed the titling of my shot seen at

http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=22933&nocache=1

to reflect that change of ship's name.

.

[Aplmac]

.

Manhattan 4:10 p.m. Saturday October 8th. 2011

 

Great pictures, alpmac! May I ask what camera you used?

 

I was on Explorer, the Glory was in front us getting ready to go under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

and continue going on the NE/Canada cruise.

 

And NCL Jewel was after us. Pretty sunset colors.

It not so much the camera I use but the lenses on the Nikon DSLR.

 

To be specific, I was using a Sigma 10-20 wide-angle zoom

and a fixed focus 10.5 mm. Nikkor fisheye lens

-mounted on a 3-yr.old Nikon D60 body.

 

 

:o My 18-105 tele-zoom was in my 'checked luggage'

which didn't make it to our cabin before I went up on deck for sailaway

-or I would've had much better shot of Lady Liberty.

 

____________________________

 

 

Thank you for your pics of other ships: interesting to have other folks verify ship IDs.

 

 

Here's a shot of Norwegian Jewel docked rather close to us...

at the Manhattan piers, before we departed around 4 p.m. Oct. 8th.

 

 

OK so you were on Explorer, out of New Jersey, but where then did you guys take off to??

 

 

We suddenly had RCI's Jewel of the Seas in port with us at St.John,New Brunswick

and again at Halifax, NS --so that's why I thought the RCI ship we saw pulling out of N.Jersey might have been Jewel of the Seas.

Thank you for correcting me.

.

[genegri]

It not so much the camera I use but the lenses on the Nikon DSLR.

 

To be specific, I was using a Sigma 10-20 wide-angle zoom

and a fixed focus 10.5 mm. Nikkor fisheye lens

-mounted on a 3-yr.old Nikon D60 body.

 

:o My 18-105 tele-zoom was in my 'checked luggage'

which didn't make it to our cabin before I went up on deck for sailaway

-or I would've had much better shot of Lady Liberty.

 

Thank you! I will look for something similar to this one. But first I may want to upgrade the 6 yo Canon body I have. As a girl I don't like carrying multiple lenses so I kind of need a zoom with a good range. :p

 

That Sigma lens is really wide angle, especially if it's 35mm equiv. Fisheye lenses are always so much fun! :D But sadly I don't see myself carrying them all. Sigh ...