Canada/New England cruise 10/28

[ImperialLady]

Morning!  We are booked on the Canada/New England cruise on the Emerald on 10/28. Would love to hear from anyone who has been on this cruise about what excursions they have taken, what they did in ports, must see and must do, etc.  We depart from NY to Newport, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts, 

Bar Harbor, Maine, Saint John (for The Bay Of Fundy), Canada, and Halifax, Canada. Any ideas and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Rick&Jeannie]

We have done this one pre-pandemic.  Very much enjoyed it.  In Newport I suggest the "Newport Cliff Walk and The Breakers "which includes the mansions along the coast.  Don't let the name scare you off!  Absolutely nothing dangerous!  Highlight (in our opinion) was The Breakers...large mansion built by the Vanderbilts as their "summer cottage"! 😄

 

In Boston, consider the "Best of Boston..." which includes Lexington and many Revolutionary war sites.

 

Bar Harbor - we did Acadia National Park and Cadillac Mountain.  You appear to be doing your cruise at the height of the fall colors, as we did.  This tour really shows you the New England colors in fall!

 

Saint John - I think they may have changed the name of the tour we did...the closest one I could find was Saint Martins Discovery and the Bay of Fundy (can't swear to this one...) Regardless, don't miss the Reversing Rapids and the Bay of Fundy.

 

Can't help you with Halifax...we missed that port due to weather.  (We are doing this cruise again in Sept. so hopefully we'll be able to finally do Halifax!)

 

We really enjoyed this cruise...hence we are going back this year.  This year's cruise extends further up and terminates in Quebec City, so we should get a bit of a different flavor on this one.  You will enjoy this cruise.

[dog]

Halifax- rented a car, drive out to Peggy’s Cove. Great lobster roll at restaurant there. Car rental was across the street from port terminal. Very easy.

 

Boston - Quincy Market, HOHO bus.

[gottagocit]

It’s been a few years since we did this voyage but we enjoyed it very much. I assume your voyage ends in Quebec City?  It’s such a beautiful old city center! Do spend a night or two extra there if possible. 

We did an excursion to the Bay of Fundy that was especially interesting. During low tide you actually walk along the sea floor for a real eye opening perspective of the huge tidal swing every day. The “normal” water level marks along the shore line and rock pillars you’ll walk by will be 15-20 feet above your head and allows you to see how much it change twice per day. It is an active tour in that you must be able to walk down stairs to the sea floor and back but walk along the floor itself is not difficult or particularly long. 

[Oceansaway17]

6 hours ago, ImperialLady said:

Morning!  We are booked on the Canada/New England cruise on the Emerald on 10/28. Would love to hear from anyone who has been on this cruise about what excursions they have taken, what they did in ports, must see and must do, etc.  We depart from NY to Newport, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts, 

Bar Harbor, Maine, Saint John (for The Bay Of Fundy), Canada, and Halifax, Canada. Any ideas and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

In Halifax get to the titanic cemetery as it was most fascinating.  It is where James Cameron saw a name and put that in his movie for the Leo role.  Also they used DNA to finally figure out who the unknown child was.  Make sure to pick a tour that goes to the cemetery and also out to Peggy's cove.

 

[ImperialLady]

Rick&Jeannie  WOW thank you so much..I will check out all of your suggestions and look forward to seeing what your thoughts are after your September cruise.

[ImperialLady]

dog  thank you for your suggestions. A friend who used to live in Boston also said not to miss the Quincy Market.

[ImperialLady]

gottagocit  IT's NY to NY...wish it had been Quebec City. The Excursion to the Bay of Fundy sounds like something we would really be interested in.Thanks I will check it out! 

[ImperialLady]

Oceansaway17  thanks for your suggestions, sounds perfect!!  We want to go to Peggy's cove!!

[bjkTX]

We have done that cruise 5 times - in fact it was our first cruise - on the Golden Princess.  The last time we did the version from Quebec to FLL with an overnight in Quebec.  It's been several years but reading what others have said mirrors what I would recommend as well.  If you haven't been to Boston before there is so much to see - we did a Princess walking tour one time, and wandered on our own or did the hop on hop off.  The last time we were there we took a train and went to see Salem since I'm convinced my wife's family are from there....  Do lobster boils and bakes any chance you get.  In Newport right on the dock is the Black Pearl and some of the best clam chowder we have ever had.  So much to see and do - you won't go wrong whatever you pick!  Have fun!

[ImperialLady]

bjkTX  thanks for your hints and suggestions....looking forward to lobster boils and/or bakes and clam chowder.  We are looking forward to seeing the colors and enjoy this area of our country that we haven't been to.

[bjkTX]

2 hours ago, ImperialLady said:

bjkTX  thanks for your hints and suggestions....looking forward to lobster boils and/or bakes and clam chowder.  We are looking forward to seeing the colors and enjoy this area of our country that we haven't been to.

That is what caused us to take our first (and what we thought would be our only) cruise.  We were thinking of the places we hadn't been after 30 years moving around in the military - and the East Coast was the answer.  That was....25 cruises ago 🙂 

[Esjung1]

I just did this cruise with my sister this past October, our ports changed slighly due to weather so I'll share some of what we did. We are pretty active so whenever possible we opted to walk.  In Newport, we walked to the public transportation center which is just one block left of where the cruise tenders in.  From there, we hopped on the FREE bus and got off near the Cliff Walk.  We walked most of it and caught the free bus back.  We actually rode that for awhile so it made the entire loop and were able to see many of the mansions (you can see back sides from the Cliff Walk). The week we visited Newport there was also an amazing seafood festival right in town so we spend several hours there enjoying food and coctails and shopping the local stores.  In Boston, we walked to Quincy Market (about 2 miles) and enjoyed some great food there and did some shopping at the local shops. From there, we walked about 1/2 of the Freedom Trail.  Do not miss the bakeries in Little Italy, brought some amazing cannoli's back to the ship.  It started raining pretty hard about mid-afternoon so we found the boston transportation center and took the bus back to the ship for something like $2.  The locals were super helpful as this was my first time to boston and I really had no idea how to get around on public transportation but the bus literally dropped off us at the ship. In Halifax we walked first to the public garden, in my opinion this is a must stop.  It was so beautiful the 3rd week of October, so many flowers still in bloom and just a really nice place to walk around.  After that, we walked to the Citadel and purchased tickets to tour that and see the cannon firing which was at noon. Price was very reasonable for the 2 hours we spent there.  After that we walked about 4-6 block down towards the water (Citadel is basically at the highest point of the city).  We found lunch right off one of the piers at one of the food carts- there were many set-up and it was a quick stop as we really didn't want a long sit down meal. After lunch we hit up the Halifax Maritime Museum which was also very nice and only about $10 pp for the entrance fee.  There was a nice exhibit about the titanic on the inside but the outside replica was closed for the season.  The boardwalk in Halifax is really nice and an enjoyable walk if the weather is good.  

[Blondilu]

Mostly we DIYed the ports. In Boston we took a cab out to Bunker Hill then walked the Freedom Trail back towards Quincy Market. We missed some and almost didn't get a ride back to the ship. But all worked out and it was a great day.

 

There was a shuttle provided by the city of Newport (can't remember if it was free) that took us out to The Breakers mansion which we toured. Took that same shuttle, I think, back towards the pier. Got off and had lunch then walked the rest of the way.

 

Bar Harbor was skipped due to fog. St. John and Sydney are small and very walkable. In Sydney we did take a ship's tour to Louisbourg fort which was cool if you like history.  In Halifax we walked into town and went in the Maritime museum then walked back. There was a Hop On, Hop off there that will take you all around the town including the Titanic cemetery I believe.

 

On Prince Edward Island we had booked a private "Anne of Green Gables" tour and since it was just us the driver/guide took us all over the place.  In Quebec we docked about 2 or 3 blocks from the shopping area.  From there we took the funicular up the hill and had lunch then walked back down.

 

Bar Harbor was where we had a private tour of local sites booked and a restaurant picked out for lobster.  But it wasn't to be.  New York pre-cruise was also a "big" port for us. Saw a show and went to the Top of the Rock one day, the the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island the next day.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Blondilu

[Rick&Jeannie]

I had to play "mountain goat" to get this shot:

 

[Seaspartan]

We did this cruise last September (NY to Quebec). In Newport we wanted to see the mansions so we joined the Preservation Society of Newport County. A dual membership was about $100 for the 2 of us. It allowed us to tour any of the mansions supported by this group. We used the free trolley from the public transportation center close to the dock which runs between the mansions and returns to town. We toured The Breakers, Rosecliff, and Marble House, and had lunch at the Chinese Tea House overlooking the ocean at Marble House. The mansions open about 9:30 and we had to be back onboard at 4:30. We had plenty of time to do this tour on our own and it was very easy to navigate. We also had time to walk along the Cliff Walk. It was a lovely day in a beautiful place.