When to do a New England/Canada Cruise

[kcrowdis]

Hi there,

 

I am looking for some advice on the best time to do the New England/Canada cruise. My husband and I are planning this cruise for our 5-year anniversary, which is on October 19. We found a cruise on Royal Caribbean (Explorer of the Seas) that is from October 12 - October 21. It stops in Newport, Rhode Island; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Bar Harbor, Maine; Portland, Maine; and Boston, Mass.

 

We were doing a bit of research in terms of things to do in the ports and noticed some of the activities (particularly in our Canadian stops) shut down mid-October, some specifically mentioned Canadian Thanksgiving. I am thinking this is less of a concern in the US ports since it will be warmer in those spots.

 

I am wondering if anyone has advice on if this in fact too late to be doing this cruise and if we will miss out on a significant amount of the main attractions.

 

There is another option to do a similar cruise (no stop in Newport though) in September but the ship is not as nice.

 

Sorry for the long post - if anyone has any information to share it would most appreciated!!

 

Thanks,

Kim

[Ephraim]

Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October. (In fact American Thanksgiving was changed, this is the original date).

 

What do you mean by things closing down? We live here year round.

 

You will find that in some provinces shopping will definitely be closed in some provinces. It depends on the province. In Quebec (which isn't on your list, but since I live there... I know the score) the major stores all open for Thanksgiving.

[kcrowdis]

I suppose I should have been more specific. I found that some sort of trail in Saint Johns was closed starting on Canadian Thanksgiving. There were a couple of things in Bar Harbor, Maine that stopped running on the same date for the "season".

 

I am from Michigan and I know in our Northern areas many attractions/establishments in tourist type areas shut down in our cold season because people tend to not visit.

 

My only concern would be that we get some where and a lot of things would be closed because it is the "off season". I would just hate to miss out anything big because I am not sure that I will be doing this trip again.

 

Thanks again for any advice!

[Ephraim]

Many outdoor activities are only open for the summer period, usually from Victoria Day (Les Patriots in Quebec) in May until Thanksgiving. The cruise tours will adjust to what is fully open. Natural wonders will, of course, still be open. If you are planning on going to King's Landing, for example, that will definitely be closed for the season.

 

You do realize that a cruise only gives you a "taste" of the places you visit. In fact you could hardly see much of New Brunswick on a cruise, just to use one of the stops as an example. New Brunswick has some beautiful cities and towns, historic sites, two entirely different cultures, natural wonders, beautiful beaches, etc.

 

When you go on a cruise, you just have to pick ONE thing that you do for that day for a long list of things that will be available. The list will just be a bit smaller after Thanksgiving.

[leighuf]

I use to live in New England (New Hampshire) and October was a very popular tourist season month because of the changing of the leaves and all the harvests leading up to Halloween. I would think October would be a perfect month!

[MonaCD]

I certainly wouldn't do a cruise to this area after the end of September. You will miss out on some things after September because we are at our peak or put on our best face for visitors between May and September. October - December are a little less active unless you're a hunter, there's not too much activity as the weather is so much cooler.

[Capebreton]

The best time to see the changing of the leaves in Nova Scotia Cape Breton area is the very last week of Sept or the first week of Oct. any later or sooner its either they haven't changed or the first wind storm we get and everything is gone, anyway i wouldn't let go past the second week in oct to see the color here. Hope this helps. :)