Best Canada/New England Itinerary/ship.

Would like to do Canada/New England cruise next year. I have been stuck on one itinerary(7 day) that leaves from Boston to Montreal and reverse. It seems to have more ports to see than some of the others. However, only HAL offers this and like someone else said, the HAL ships assigned to this area do not have very good reviews. We have sailed on Zaandam and Westerdam, which were fine; also Carnival, Princess and RCCL. Most other cruise lines have round trips that start in NY or Boston, go up to Nova Scotia and turn around and come back. I do like the idea of going all the way to Montreal, but am wary of the HAL choices. I think they are Veendam, Rotterdam and Maasdam, older ships which have been refitted, but are overdue for another or need replacing. Comments?

Why don't you look at Seabourn's 10 day one way trips from Boston to Montreal or vice versa.

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Would like to do Canada/New England cruise next year. I have been stuck on one itinerary(7 day) that leaves from Boston to Montreal and reverse. It seems to have more ports to see than some of the others. However, only HAL offers this and like someone else said, the HAL ships assigned to this area do not have very good reviews. We have sailed on Zaandam and Westerdam, which were fine; also Carnival, Princess and RCCL. Most other cruise lines have round trips that start in NY or Boston, go up to Nova Scotia and turn around and come back. I do like the idea of going all the way to Montreal, but am wary of the HAL choices. I think they are Veendam, Rotterdam and Maasdam, older ships which have been refitted, but are overdue for another or need replacing. Comments?

Before you dump HAL's C/NE cruise ships because someone said reviews aren't good, read the reviews and decide for yourself.

SBtS

We were on the Rotterdam this past May.

It was in great shape. The crew are wonderful.

I believe it is scheduled to go into dry dock this fall, so it should be even better by next year.

Don't discount the ship, she may be old, be she's fine.

One important consideration should be time in port. Some ships are very skimpy here. One was in Halifax this week arriving at seven and leaving at three thirty. That is not very long.

The Maasdam is my favorite HAL ship, and we also liked the Veendam very much. We've done 7-day Montreal to Boston cruises on both, chosen both times because we could sail from Montreal. Both ships were in very good shape, and I would choose either for another Canada/New England cruise..

Great Question -- I went thru this last fall when booking my cruise. I looked up EVERY cruise line I could find to see what my choices were. Factors I considered before picking were:

-Ease of the parties coming from Bay Area CA and Washington DC (me) - That led to Bayonne, NJ (Cape Liberty) next to Newark or Boston, MA across the bay from Logan

-West coaster has to come in a day early -- so what are we doing about an extra night? AND West Coaster has a walker -- meaning we need a car

Cruise Length --- I had the leave for anything up to 14 days. West Coaster was retired.

Ship Size -- Back to the walker -- the smaller the ship, the easier it is on the West Coaster. BUT small ships were mostly the luxury lines -- and were ruled out on cost. We also ruled out Princess (where we both have status) because they had some of their largest ships doing Canada this year and they were mostly going out of Long Island.

Cost -- The longer the trip, the pricier the trip. The smaller the ship, the pricier the trip -- good news we could both afford to go for 14 days on a mass market cruise with a "mid-size" ship.

Round Trip v. One way -- Round Trips won't go to Montreal. But flight logistics are easier. Also you go up and down the seaway, doubling you chances with prime leaf colors

Must See Ports -- West Coaster wanted to go to PEI -- I did too because I've never been there. I wanted to go to Saquenay -- Very few itineraries had both.

Back to that car -- if we round tripped out of Bayonne, NJ -- I could drive. I wouldn't need to deal with issues/costs of rental cars or flights, but I'm going to pay for parking.

We all those factors led us to choose the the Sept 24 sailing of the Celebrity Summit a round trip out of Bayonne the only sailing that was going to PEI and Saguenay and bonus -- it's an overnight in Quebec City. Then of course months after booking, they swapped Sydney, NS for PEI. Oh well.

Hope that helps.