Canadian ports of call....need info

[crooz1]

I hope to take a 7 day cruise the last week of June this year. There will be stops at Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, and Quebec City. If any of you have visited these ports or live in the area, I would appreciate any tips/hints, favorite tours, weather to be expected, things to avoid, etc. I think that July 1 is Canada Day. We will be in Quebec City that day....any special happenings that might be good to check out?

 

This is also my first cruise ever......so ANY info will help. Also....any hints about calling back to family in U. S. after getting to Canada? Don't think my cell phone has coverage there. Have heard the pay phones are usually very busy and that the ship phone rates are high. Is the internet going to be my best bet for keeping in touch? All info welcome!!! Thank you!

[voyageur]

I'm quite sure at the end of June you should have good weather for your whole cruise, maybe a bit cooler on the north east coast, but very pleasant. My guess would be mid 70's. I can't help you much with the port details, but I'm sure Quebec City has a website that will tell you about it's festivities on Canada Day!

 

As for calling home, it will be absolutely no problem. There are pay phones everywhere, and the cheapest would be to get a phone card. (you can get them at any convenience store). You could also check the coverage on your cell phone to see if you have just a U.S. plan or a North America plan.

[wwinfl91]

Here is a write up of our visits to the ports you mentioned above. Hope it helps you.

 

The ship docked in Sydney at a little before 8. We had our breakfast in the dining room as we were scheduled to go on a tour with 2 other couples. We were all going to meet on the dock at around 10 AM, which we did. The temperature was supposed to be in the high 40's to the low 50's but the wind was blowing hard and it felt a lot colder. There were only the 6 of us scheduled for the tour and we were supposed to have a van but the guide had a mechanical problem and had substituted a much larger vehicle that would have probably handled 20 people. The driver said he had just gotten the call the night before at 10 PM that he was going to be working. Anyway we were planning on heading to the reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisburg and then lunch followed by a visit to a look out place where we would be able to take some pictures of Cape Breton.

 

The drive to the Fortress was uneventful with some nice scenery until we arrived at the welcome center for the Fortress. Here we got our first surprise for the day when it turned out the Fortress wasn't actually operating at full capacity and there were no buses available to take us from the welcome center to the Fortress. There were several other groups from the ship there with private guides or who had rented cars and after some discussions they decided to board as many people as they could on our bus and we would follow one of the guides out to the Fortress. A group of German tourists also from the ship elected to drive out in the Limo they had rented. We did get a break on the fees for the park as there was a "family" rate that we decided John and Peggy would adopt the rest of us and so we all got in for $13.50. That worked out to $4.50 Canadian per couple. Looking at the brochure as we drove out to the Fortress I noticed that officially it wasn't supposed to open until June 1st. As it turned out we only got to see maybe 20% of what was available. None of the historical costumed characters were around and none of the restaurants or exhibits were operating. The Fortress, it's named that rather than Fort because it was both a fortification and a place for settlers to live in, is about 20 to 25% reconstructed. The British destroyed the fortress after they took it for the second time in 1761 during the wars between the French and British over who was going to control Canada. By the way let me also say it was extremely windy and cold out by the ocean where the Fortress is. It felt like it was in the 20's although the temperature was actually in the low 40's and was relatively comfortable if you could get out of the wind. We got to see the museum, the King's Bastion including the Governor's quarters, the chapel and the soldiers barracks. We then walked down into some of the other areas of the Fortress including the storehouse and prisoner building and saw the outside of the Engineer's house. I actually was able to get into the Engineer's house when one of the workers noticed me taking pictures and asked if I wanted to go inside. It wasn't totally set up for viewing and was supposed to be closed. But I did some pictures of the interior and appreciated his kindness. We spent about 2 hours at the Fortress and I really believe when everything is open and functioning that you could easily spend a full day there and not be bored in the least. After driving back by the welcome center we talked with our guide and decided to stop in the modern village of Louisburg and get some lunch at a local restaurant, the Station House. I had a scallop burger that was pretty good. The small restaurant also had some excellent clam chowder that one of our party had. We then took a drive up to a place we could get some lighthouse pictures and see across to Cape Breton. After that stop we made the journey back to Sydney and our ship. If anything the wind was blowing even harder when we got back and it felt even colder so we checked out the tourist area right by the dock before returning to the ship. They had a local craft's market there for our visit and we picked up some hand knitted mittens that we wished we had earlier in the day at the Fortress. We got back on the ship and mainly wanted to get warm again. This was our night to dine in the Pinnacle Grill so we would be missing dinner with our friends.

 

 

Charlottetown was our next stop and we were docked by 7:35 in the morning. We hadn't made any plans here just planning on walking around the town and seeing the historic buildings and houses. We had been scheduled to tender in to this port but were able to dock instead which is always an advantage. Charlottetown is on Prince Edward Island and was the place where the Canadian confederacy was established in the 1860's. We checked out the local tourist office near the dock and for a dollar purchased a flyer with self guided walking tours of the town. It described 3 of them and we started off seeing how much we could see before we needed to be back on board at 1 PM. The day was overcast and the temperature was in the high 40's to low 50's. But without the wind we had suffered through in Sydney it almost felt warm. We ended up doing all three of the walking tours taking pictures as we went. By the middle of the last one I think Trisha would have rather we give up and go back then but we ended up managing to make it through it. Because the city is built on a series of small hills it wasn't always easy walking and both of us were glad to get back to the ship and get something to eat around 12:30 or so. After we sailed at 1:30 it was announced we would be going under the Confederation Bridge that connects the island to the mainland. It is a very long and relatively high bridge (actually the world's largest multi-span bridge). It is 12.9 KM long. So I planned on spending some time on deck to make sure we got pictures of the ship going under it, which we did. Lots of other people were doing the same thing. After leaving the bridge behind we retired to the cabin to relax a little before our evening. Dinner was informal and we were happy to see our dinner mates again and to tell them about our Pinnacle Grill experience. We had another excellent dinner and lots of good conversation about what everyone did during their day in Charlottetown.

 

Well we finished up yesterday with the Maasdam sailing out of Saquenacy Fjord and heading for the St Lawrence River and Quebec City. For those of you who are noticing this post for the first time let me start out with praise for the Maasdam and her crew. The ship was in great shape both interior and exterior and we didn't see any problems during our cruise except for an occasional elevator problem that never caused us any problems. `The crew was friendly and helpful as ever especially the Indonesian and Filipino waiters, waitresses and room stewards. We also had a very good captain who communicated with us regularly. If you read other sections of the review you will read my opinion on the shore and excursion staff. The food and wine on the cruise were all excellent both in the regular dining room, the Lido and the Pinnacle Grill. Our cabin, A057, was really nice and we especially enjoyed and used the verandah a lot. Now on to the next stop Quebec City.

 

We had been contacted several weeks prior to our cruise by our TA that we were going to be receiving a free half day tour during our stop in Quebec as part of the benefits for booking the cruise through their agency, Vacations-To-Go. Evidently they pick several people each month for this extra benefit and after 6 cruises with them it was our turn. The actual tour was provided through something called Giantstravel and the firm doing the tour was a company called Select Travelers Escorted Tours. We also got a free hour cocktail party earlier in the cruise one evening before dinner where we met our host Faith Kaplan, a very nice and friendly lady.

 

Anyway the result of all this was we had our morning in Quebec planned so we went to breakfast early in the Lido to be ready to leave for our tour at 8:15 gathering in the Explorers lounge. We brought our nametags from the cocktail party and had our names checked off on the list. There were about 45 people going and we left the ship around 8:30 to board two buses and begin our tour of Quebec. We visited the Place Royal, Cap Diamond, the Plains of Abraham, Dufferin Terrace and the Chateau Frontenac. We then got back into the buses again and drove along the river to Manior Montmorency for a morning snack of cake and coffee or tea. From there we were able to walk along a scenic walkway to view Montmorency Falls that are actually higher than Niagara Falls in NY state. We then took the gondola ride down from the cliffs down to the parking lot to re-board the buses for another drive across the bridge to the Island of Orleans. We then visited the Sugar Shack for a taste of fresh maple sugar candy before returning to the ship around 1:30.

 

We decided to continue to tour the lower city of Quebec on our own. We wandered around the scenic area where there are many souvenir shops as well as other shops carrying higher quality merchandise. We had seen the cable cars (elevator?), I can't remember the French word for it, that provide an easier way to get to upper city when we were on the tour and found the station in the lower city and returned to the upper city to take in the sites up there with a little more free time. We wandered around the upper city until a little after 4 when we decided it was about time to find our way back down. We had wandered to a park on the one side of the old upper city and found the stairs leading down so we came down that way. Coming down isn't near as hard as going up would have been. The whole area both upper and lower city were very crowded because this was the beginning of a holiday weekend for Canada and the province of Quebec so tourists were there from both other countries and other parts of Canada.

 

Quebec is the last walled fortified city left in North America that has retained most of its walls and many of its gates. It is someplace I wish we had more time to visit but we saw a lot in our short visit and hope to return for a longer visit some time in the future.

 

This was from our cruise on HAL's Maasdam on a cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Montreal in May 2003.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[wwinfl91]

Here is what we did in Halifax.

 

After leaving Bar Harbor and having a nice dinner we went to bed relatively early in order to be fresh for the second shore excursion that we had signed up to with HAL in Halifax. The ship docked around 8:30 which was actually time we were supposed to start out tour. We had again gotten breakfast in the lido trying out the omelet line and finding they did an excellent ham and cheese one. The tour we were taking was the Fine Wines and High Tides tour. We arrived at the theater the requested 15 minutes early but because we were a little late getting docked we didn't leave to board our bus until around 8:45. This was to be a full day tour that included time at the Domaine De Grand Pre winery http://www.grandprewines.com views of the Bay of Fundy with it's extreme tides and a lunch at a very nice restaurant in Halifax. There were less than 20 people on the tour and we were given a large bus so there was plenty of room to spread out which made the longest drive out to the Winery a pleasant experience. We had an excellent guide who told us stories about Nova Scotia's history and terrain during the drive. The drive took about an hour and when we arrived we found a very nicely landscaped terrain with a very nicely restored 1826 Georgian style farmhouse in the center of fields of wine vines. Because it was very early in their growing season, the temperature was in the high 50's to the mid 60's the day we were there, the vines were very short and just beginning to reach upward. The winery is owned by a family of Swiss bankers who found it abandoned about 10 years ago and spend a lot of money and time getting it back into production. One of the sons with his family lives there and has become the wine maker. After a tour of the grounds we were invited to a very nice wine tasting area that includes an art gallery. We tasted 5 or 6 wines including an apple based desert wine that we ended up purchasing a bottle for later in the trip. We would get to try some more of the wine later with our lunch in Halifax. We then drove to a look out point that had a great view of the Bay of Fundy and the Annapolis valley where the winery was located. After a chance to take some nice pictures we re-boarded the bus and headed back towards a small fishing village, Hall's Harbor, where we got a close up view of the Bay of Fundy as the tide began to go out. The day we visited was not a particularly big day for the tide so the rise and fall was somewhere between 30 and 40 feet. The tides can go as high as 49 to 54 feet. After another stop to take a few pictures and for some people time to pick up a snack to go at the local seafood restaurant we again boarded the bus to begin the return trip to Halifax and a late lunch. The restaurant we went to, Bish World Cusine, was about two streets up from the harbor but had a wonderful view from it's second story location of the harbor. We were served a very nice 3 course lunch with a seafood chowder that was one of the best we had the whole cruise, a large entree and an excellent desert of cheesecake with either chocolate, strawberry or raspberry sauce. During the whole meal we had large water glass sized glasses that they kept filled with wine, either white or red, from the winery we had visited earlier in the day. I quit counting after the 3 glass but I was definitely enjoying myself on the bus ride back to the ship. We got back to the ship around 4:15 and the ship sailed around 5. We got some pictures of the harbor both in the morning and in the evening. I wish we had more time to see some of Halifax but that left things to see if we come this way again. Again the tour we took was High Tides and Fine Wines and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes good wine, excellent food and a tour that doesn't require a lot of physical exertion.

 

I don't know if your cruise offers this tour but we enjoyed it.

[crooz1]

Wow! Thank you both for the great responses!! I'm happy to hear that it should be easy to use the pay phones, and I will check with my cell phone company to be sure about the coverage.

 

We will be on the Maasdam, so I was very interested in reading about a first-hand experience on that ship.

 

You have both helped a lot, and I'm hoping maybe some more replies will be made. THANKS!:D

[tomc]

Just got time for a quickie here; maybe more later.

 

Halifax: Wonderful city and LOTS to see. When you dock, go into the terminal (well, you don't have a choice unless you are Superman and can fly over it). Over on the right is a kiosk with the world's friendliest people waiting to help you find what you want in the city. Maps and everything. Downtown, about a 5-10 minute walk to your right, is the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and you get a day pass; great place. There is also a bus tour of the city which takes you to the main Titanic cemetery and includes a day pass for the Maritime Museum. "Downtown" is two blocks up from the Museum and I mean up.

 

Sydney: Nice people, ehhhh place. There is a really good coal mine tour if being in a reasonably confined space does not bother you. Also, you can buy CD's of genuine Cape Breton music downtown, which is about a block to your right when you get off the ship. One store has a rack of books out on the sidewalk and the woman inside is very pleasant; another store sells music only and it's down further about three blocks. Also, right on the pier is a building that sells only Cape Breton items and --not to be missed-- is another building behind a church about a block or two away when you go up a diagonal path from the dock; watch for the signs. It has Cape Breton items and one musical artist selling her CD's over in the far corner.

 

PEI: USA, 1920. Neat place and the walking tour is quite good. Can't speak for the other tours, as I haven't taken them.

 

Quebec City: My family lives near there, so I am biased. So is anyone who ever visited the area. Be careful when buying with cash, as you will be stiffed on the exchange rate; use a credit card or Canadian money (change yours at a bank). Personal experience.

[Sueseb]

In Sidney there is a great local craft fair right at the pier. A lot of hand knit things, wood working, jewelry etc. but most of them will only take cash (no paper trail) no credit or debit cards. We had to go back to the ship only to find that the ATM machine was out of cash. So, I didn't do all the shopping I had hoped to. They had some beautiful things at reasonable prices..

[tomc]

When I mentioned that store in Sydney with the books in front, I meant to indicate that it's a great place to get Cape Breton compact discs, as the lady knows her musical stuff.

[Schplinky]

I wouldn't count on a big Canada Day celebration in Quebec City. They celebrate the French holiday of St. Jean-Baptiste the week before and that it is much more central to the soul of Quebec. Although Quebec City is a tourist town now, it's still Quebec and that is their focus. Most folks in that area consider themselves Quebecers and their Canadian-ness is secondary.

 

Halifax is a wonderful city. Key highlights would be a stroll through the public Gardens, the Historic Properties waterfront area and Citadel Hill.

 

Sydney is a town you will find yourself describing later as quaint or charming. Their fortress is amazing, if you are into history.

 

Charlottetown is lovely and laid back and very pretty. Depending on how long you are in port, you may want to go to Cavendish. They have beaches (cool water, though) and are home to all of the attractions based on Anne of Green Gables. The author was a local. Oddly, that story is huge in Japan and you will see a disproportionate number of Asian visitors.

 

Your cell phone should work easily, with roaming charges. Our friends were charged $1 a minute by Verizon when they visited last. Internet cafes should be availabe in Halifax and Charlottetown, and maybe Quebec City.

 

If you're an non-Canadian visiting, you should hold onto all your receipts for souvenirs. You can apply and receive the Goods and Service Tax back, if you spend a certain amount, which I don't think is very high. There should be information on your ship or you could look here:

 

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/nonresidents/visitors/tax-e.html

 

There are actually emerging vineyards in Nova Scotia and PEI and their wines might make nice souvenirs. Nova Scotia and PEI also have very good folk art that will be available at the ports.

 

Temperatures at that time will be in the 75 degree range in the day. It will vary, as it is a maritime climate, so you should take layers.

[wwinfl91]

Here is the link for the Fortress of Louisbourg. When we were there it was very early in May and they didn't have everything open and working but it was still an interesting and historic place to visit in spite of the fact everything is a recreation.

 

http://www.louisbourg.ca/fort/

 

The tour we did from Halifax was to a winery and we can verify that they make some good wine in Nova Scotia.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[crooz1]

All of your input is so very helpful. The first-hand experience you have really helps us "newbies." Thanks again....and if you think of anything else, please add it!!! :)