New England in the fall

As Silver Spirit is our Silver ship of choice and a significant birthday is looming next October It seems a good time to make the effort to combine our favourite ship with an area we have always wanted to visit. However I do wonder if a road trip would really be a better option as the time for exploring is so limited when cruising.

The main ports are Newport, Portland, Bar Harbour, Halifax and Sydney so how much would we realistically be able to see with the trips offered by SS? Obviously we could take a week or two on a road trip and really cover some ground. Would quick day trips from these ports really cut it for us or are the ports too far away from the main "leaf peepers" areas.

Also would the begining or end of October give us the best conditions which I know vary from year to year but on average would do.

As someone who lived for over fifty years in New England, and someone who has twice sailed on the Spirit (and loved it), I might be qualified to respond.

If your primary purpose for the trip is to see the fall foliage, you're better off doing it by car. Most of the "prime" foliage-viewing roads are inland from the coast---too far to reach on a typical shore excursion.

Fly into any of the major New England airports (Boston, Hartford, Manchester NH, Portland ME, Burlington VT), rent a car, get a good map, and pretty much head out of the city. If you're hoping to stay in small-town inns or B & B's, make your reservations early. The dining choices may not be as sophisticated as on the Spirit, but many inns have surprisingly good restaurants. And of course if you're staying in a place like Boston, Portland, or Burlington you'll have dozens of excellent restaurant options, and less pressure to make early hotel reservations.

If you really want to go to Nova Scotia or anywhere else in Atlantic Canada, I'd fly into a Canadian airport (Halifax NS or Moncton, NB) and confine myself to driving around those provinces and maybe PEI (Prince Edward Island). If you only have a week, it's overly ambitious to try to do New England and Atlantic Canada in the same trip.

In general, the "peak" foliage moves from north to south as October progresses. In the first week of October, that might mean Canada and far-northern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. By mid-to-late October, the peak viewing will usually be in places like the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The only real advantage of going by cruise ship (aside from, perhaps, the dining options) is that you'd have more to do on a rainy day, and you can never rule out rain any time of year in New England.

Depending on how much time you have, I would do both a car tour and the cruise. Milestone birthdays only happen every so often! You might also save money on airfare by beginning and ending your trip in the same city.

We just returned from Montreal to FLL on the Muse spending the first week of October in New England. The weather has been exceptionally mild this year, and the foliage had not really begun to turn. If there is a mid-October cruise, I would choose that over an early October one.

In any event, let me be the first to wish you a happy milestone birthday!

We saw one of the Silverseas ships at the port in Boston yesterday -- a slightly warm but quite wet day, and felt bad for all the passengers who were going to have such a damp day here.

Many thanks for the comments, rather as I thought a road trip is the way to go and then the ship for relaxation afterwards.

I would happily spend a couple of months on the road but Mrs E tires after a couple of days. Let the negotiations begin!

Eastwoodboy

We went from Montreal to NYC at the end of Sept/ beginning Oct 4 years ago, the leaves were maybe 30% turned at that time. l had always wanted to see the Fall - years of listening to Alistair Cooke's Letter from America- and what we saw of it was, indeed, lovely. It would have been even better had we been 10 days or so later, I think. It bucketed in Boston for us too - I can quite see why the Irish emigrated there, so much like home. Bar Harbour was pretty but the National Park was closed because of a strike so access to it was very limited.

If I were to repeat the experience, I would indeed mix a land trip with the cruise, with the land portion first followed by the chance to chill on the cruise.

Rp