Live from the Zuiderdam - August 26 to September 2 - Maine and Canada

[canadianbear]

Have really enjoyed all your posts and photos.  Thanks so much for taking us along! 

[Dancing Shoes]

Thanks for sharing.  We are going Boston to Montreal next year with many of the same ports.

 

[steveod]

Hi!  I just found all your posts and I appreciate the pictures of cruising the St Lawrence!  We were on your cruise but we were quarantined in an inside cabin after PEI.  3 of the 4 of us had Covid.   Two days in an inside cabin with an 8 and 9 year old was not fun!  We escaped the ship late this afternoon and got off instead of staying till tomorrow.   Your pictures looked great.  We enjoyed the beginning of our cruise a ton!  

Edited September 2, 2023 by steveod

[AllTheSun]

1 hour ago, Rubyfisch said:

And then we up the funicular - highly recommend it. Cash only, $5 a person:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pardon me while I ask a dumb q- $5 Canadian or US? (Last couple times I travelled abroad I grabbed local currency and it was totally unnecessary but I’ve never been to Canada.)

[BetsyS.]

Rubyfisch - Thanks for your reports and great pictures! Safe travels home.

[Rubyfisch]

7 hours ago, steveod said:

Hi!  I just found all your posts and I appreciate the pictures of cruising the St Lawrence!  We were on your cruise but we were quarantined in an inside cabin after PEI.  3 of the 4 of us had Covid.   Two days in an inside cabin with an 8 and 9 year old was not fun!  We escaped the ship late this afternoon and got off instead of staying till tomorrow.   Your pictures looked great.  We enjoyed the beginning of our cruise a ton!  

Ugh - that's no fun. Hope you all feel better soon.

[Rubyfisch]

7 hours ago, AllTheSun said:

Pardon me while I ask a dumb q- $5 Canadian or US? (Last couple times I travelled abroad I grabbed local currency and it was totally unnecessary but I’ve never been to Canada.)

They take either, but it's $5 either way. I wouldn't get Canadian cash just for that. I had some from about four trips to Canada ago and used that.

[Rubyfisch]

Good morning from Quebec. We are up in the Crow's Nest waiting to be called. We are take a ship offered bus to the Montreal Airport. Our tag time is 7:45. We had breakfast in the Lido around 6:30, after being jolted out of bed by the Captain's announcement at 6:00 am that disembarkation was starting.

[Rubyfisch]

Quebec City this morning:

 

 

Quebec City at night:

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

That was the easiest disembarkation - we just walked down and off, grabbed our bags, and got on the bus.

[Rubyfisch]

Goodbye, Zuiderdam. See you soon enough:

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, Rubyfisch said:

That was the easiest disembarkation - we just walked down and off, grabbed our bags, and got on the bus.

Because you (actually the ship) were cleared yesterday when you docked, and all Immigration issues were cleared when you entered Canada several days ago. You could have disembarked yesterday if you wished. This is a question that comes up frequently, and you give a definitive example of how it works.

[Rubyfisch]

12 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Because you (actually the ship) were cleared yesterday when you docked, and all Immigration issues were cleared when you entered Canada several days ago. You could have disembarked yesterday if you wished. This is a question that comes up frequently, and you give a definitive example of how it works.

Agreed, although they were still loading luggage off this morning (I wasn't sure when that was going to happen). The scanning of cards was also fast and orderly, and the groups were spread out. It probably also helped that a lot of people were spending at least another night in Quebec, so they were in no rush.

[CruiserBruce]

Just now, Rubyfisch said:

Agreed, although they were still loading luggage off this morning (I wasn't sure when that was going to happen). The scanning of cards was also fast and orderly, and the groups were spread out. It probably also helped that a lot of people were spending at least another night in Quebec, so they were in no rush.

If you wanted to depart yesterday, you would have carried off your luggage on your own. Otherwise I expect the luggage procedure was the same as it always is...leaving your bags outside your room when you go to bed.

[Dobby36]

Thanks for all the pics and info. We are going to check out of our hotel and make our way down to her in a couple hours - the live preview got us so excited to get on!

[Rubyfisch]

30 minutes ago, Dobby36 said:

Thanks for all the pics and info. We are going to check out of our hotel and make our way down to her in a couple hours - the live preview got us so excited to get on!

Enjoy! 

[Haljo1935]

Thoroughly enjoyed your posts and pictures  - you took some gorgeous print-worthy shots!!

Safe travels - thanks for bringing us along.

[AllTheSun]

Thank you for taking us along with you!!

[madera1]

Rubyfisch. Again thank you for making the effort to take us along with you on this cruise. We are really excited about our trip the end of the month as we will visit some of these same ports!

[Rubyfisch]

The bus to Montreal was super easy and took just under three hours.

 

Here are some pictures from the bus:

 

Crossing the St. Lawrence near Quebec:

 

 

 

Not sure exactly what this is:

 

 

The Richelieu - my partner can trace her family history back to the early 1600s to a French settlement along the Richelieu.

 

 

And the St. Lawrence again near Montreal:

 

[Rubyfisch]

We got to the airport WAY early for our 4:45 pm flight. I had worried we wouldn't make the 1:30, so we are spending a lot of time at YUL.

 

We have business class tickets because they were about the same price as economy plus a checked bag. We were able to check when we arrived (which was great), but we can't access the lounge under 1:45. So we are getting lunch and just hanging out.

[Rubyfisch]

A few wrap up posts as we sit in the Air Canada lounge, drinking tea and waiting for our flight.

 

First, we both had a terrific time. My partner really enjoyed the cruise, although she says she prefers port days to sea days. Of course, it didn't help that on the sea day we were basically confined to the inside because of the wind.

 

Second, I totally see what people love Holland, and I would (am) absolutely do it again, but I also see why people like taking different lines. I am both looking forward to my Christmas cruise on Royal and our cruise next fall on Holland. I'm not sure whether I'd want to cruise on Holland solo, as I feel like the slower pace might get a bit lonely.

[Rubyfisch]

In terms of the ports, Charlottetown was definitely our favorite, followed closely by Quebec. Which is not to say the others weren't lovely as well.

 

We loved the Crow's Nest, from the layout to the bar to the staff to the games and puzzles - it was terrific.

 

The arts and crafts activities were great - I wish I had done more of them. And the space is also very nice.

 

I loved the 7 am stretching class - I went twice and wished I had gone a few more times, or gone to one of the 4:30 ones. And those are included in the fare. 

 

We can't decide if we think the thermal pass is worth it. We have a ton of OBC for our next cruise, so if any are available on embarkation day we might try to use some of it then.

[Rubyfisch]

The staff does a very good job. I think they were stretched thinner than normal in some places. I wasn't at all bothered by it, but you could kind of tell. I think they onboarded a bunch of new people at the start of our cruise, and there was a surprise Canadian health inspection in Halifax that seemed to cause some chaos, so it's completely understandable.

 

To be clear, I would never complain at all about it to Holland, because it didn't impact our experience.

[Rubyfisch]

Well, thanks for coming along, and I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Happy to answer any questions anyone has. And I'm sure I'll be back with live threads for both my holiday solo cruise (on Royal) and our Zuiderdam trip next year.

 

Otherwise, as my room steward said to us this morning - See you when we see you again.