Live from the Caribbean Princess, Oct 14 - Nov 5, 22-day Canadian and Atlantic Coast Land and Sea Adventure

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 4 highlights of our touring around Ottawa in the morning, then we were off to Montebello, Quebec which took about an hour arriving around 3:30 pm.

 

The first phase was driving around Ottawa and seeing a bunch of government buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the hotel, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, we were supposed to stay in last night rather than the Hilton Hotel and Casino. 

 

 

Canada’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is behind the trees.

 

 

Here’s a better view.

 

 

Check out the giant spider!
 

 

Queen Elizabeth II riding a horse.

 

 

We then stop and walked around the Rideau Hall grounds, which were quite beautiful.

 

 

 
We saw a bunch of this black squirrels all over.

 

 

 

 

 

 
We then headed over to the Canadian Museum of History where we were on our own for about 3 hours.

 
First, we walked through all four levels, before stopping to have lunch at their Panorama Cafe.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then we watched a super cool 45 minute documentary about the scientific discovery of how the Monarch Butterfly migrates between Canada to Mexico. 😁

 

 
Then we rested for a few minutes before it was time to get back on the bus and head to Montebello! We really started to notice the colors both on the drive as well as when we got to the hotel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We arrived at the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, the largest log cabin hotel in Canada! 
 

 

  
After we dropped off our stuff in the cabin, we went for a walk around the grounds as we had some time before dinner before having to get ready for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And then, after looking for them all day and unable to get any photos of the elusive Ottawa pigeons, we were able on our walk to see the very elusive Montebello Pigeon sitting on the roof top of the hotel! 😁

 

 
My guess is the pigeons were on the rooftop because the ravens were flying around down below! 😂

 

[cr8tiv1]

Why am I spending a ton of money to see the fall leaves through your camera lens?  Beautiful.
 

Are you able to connect to all the Fairmont Hotels automatically or each one has a different sign in?

[abbydancer2003]

Great so far.  Fun fact - your Fairmont hotels are the Canadian Railroad built hotels.  We're in Alberta for a week right now and have visited two of them.  (Banff Springs and Lake Louise).

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Why am I spending a ton of money to see the fall leaves through your camera lens?  Beautiful.
 

Are you able to connect to all the Fairmont Hotels automatically or each one has a different sign in?

When we got to this Fairmont hotel today, we were able to log on free of charge when we entered my All Accor member’s number I originally got when we enrolled in it back at the Toronto Fairmont hotel.

 

However, our daughter said when she asked about it at the front desk today at this Fairmont hotel, she was told to just hit the “Skip” options, and she also gained free access. But she’s also an All Accor member, so who knows if that had any bearing on her being able to get the free hotel internet access without entering her member number.

[Ken the cruiser]

44 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Great so far.  Fun fact - your Fairmont hotels are the Canadian Railroad built hotels.  We're in Alberta for a week right now and have visited two of them.  (Banff Springs and Lake Louise).

To go along with some information our daughter heard at the front desk, that might explain how this hotel was built in 1930 using 900+ workers in just 3 months! They all needed a job because the Great Depression that started in 1929. 
 
After its completion, the property was leased to the private Seigniory Club until 1970, when Canadian Pacific Railway converted the property into a public resort.

 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_Montebello

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 5 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

 

 
Our tour bus is scheduled to leave the hotel at 10 am. The drive from Montebello to Montreal is around 130 km, which should take around 90 minutes. Lunch is on our own, but probably somewhere in or around Montreal. Then at 1 pm we’re scheduled to have a local guide join us to conduct the tour of the French Quarter and Notre Dame.
  

 
Check-in time at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth is 4 pm, with dinner (which is included) at a local restaurant at 5:30 pm. From this photo, it looks like the hotel is in downtown Montreal.

 

 
And it looks like we might have partly cloudy skies again tomorrow. 🤞

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Just for fun I did an internet speed test just now as I noticed photos weren’t downloading as fast as they have been the past few days. Definitely a sharp decline from yesterday’s 107 mbps speed at the Hilton and more like what we’ve come to expect when we’re on a cruise! 😂

 

 

[phabric]

While in Montreal have a smoke meat sandwich and some poutine (fries with gravy and cheese curds).

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, phabric said:

While in Montreal have a smoke meat sandwich and some poutine (fries with gravy and cheese curds).

Sounds pretty tasty! I will definitely give it a try if it’s on the menu where the family decides to each lunch. Thanks!

[scooter6996]

2 hours ago, phabric said:

While in Montreal have a smoke meat sandwich and some poutine (fries with gravy and cheese curds).

Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen in Montreal is still one of my all-time favorite and most memorable meals

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwartz's

Edited October 18, 2023 by scooter6996

[Ken the cruiser]

The first awesome sunrise we’ve been able to see to far. This is the view from our room! 
  

[Ken the cruiser]

After the tastiest buffet breakfast we’ve had this whole trip, we decided to go for a morning walk along the riverside, as we don’t leave for Montreal until 10 am. The fall colors are definitely starting to show their true beauty! So for those following along and heading to Quebec City to board the ship tomorrow, you should be arriving just at the right time to see some awesome colors! 😁

 

 
And who knows if the evening skies in Quebec City are clear and the conditions are just right, we might get lucky and see some Northern Lights late in the evening on Oct 19 and/or 20! 🤞

 

[Niagarawine]

Beautiful pictures of where I live, sort of take all this for granted until I see these shots of Niagara. One place that nobody seems to notice is Kingston where the Thousand Islands begin. So many good eateries and nightlife. Also it was the first capital of Canada and has the first city park right near the first Prime Ministers home. Loved my time in this city and the history is wonderful.

[CGinMTL]

Enjoy my city

You have great weather

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 5 excursion details. We had a peaceful drive to Montreal with some pretty views along the way. 
 

 

 

 
On the drive Scott passed out a letter from Princess regarding the recent unexpected switch in Ottawa hotels. Looks like we’re getting a nice refund! 😁
 

 

These are some of the views as we entered the outskirts of Montreal. 
 

 

Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal

 

 
Once we arrived at the hotel, we were given about 90 minutes of free time to walk around and get lunch on our own. So our daughter had it all planned out and off we went in search of a Barbie Exhibition. 
 

 

 

 
What can I say I get “squirreled” easily. The Montreal pigeons were definitely not elusive in the park we walked through. 😂

 

 

 

 
And we found it! 
 

 

 

 
 

  
Then after lunch at Ruben’s Deli, we headed back and boarded the bus for our afternoon tour around Montreal. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stop for about 45 minutes to visit the Montreal Notre Dame Cathedral. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready to head out for dinner at 5:30 pm at a restaurant downtown. This was the art piece directly across from our hotel. 
 

 
And now we’re off to dinner! 

[hobo1937]

Thanks so much for sharing your photos. We did this Cruisetour in 2012 and it is really bringing back some wonderful  memories. Hope you have a great cruise!

[cr8tiv1]

We might have crossed paths with you today.  Maybe even the same pigeon posed for me.  Went back to Aura at the Cathedral.  Nice lighted photos.  

[Ken the cruiser]

Just got back from the restaurant all 116 of us ate at this evening in the older part of Montreal near the port.

 

 
Here is some other trivial information.

 

Views from our room on the 14th floor. As you can see, we are definitely downtown.

 

 

 

 
Internet service. It was complimentary, but we had to go down to the front desk to get their hotel-wide default Passcode, as our All Accor passcode didn’t work. The speeds were very acceptable.

 

 
And it looks like the weather is going to stay partly cloudy again for at least another day, and maybe even creep into the low 60s in Quebec City! Yay! 😁

 

 
As far as tomorrow goes, we head for Quebec City at 8:45 am. It’s a 250 km drive which should take a little over 2.5 hours. Hopefully, if all goes smoothly with moderate traffic, we’ll be at the pier around 12:30 pm.

 

I have to say we’ve had a wonderful time, but we’re ready to get on the ship! 😁

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

23 hours ago, phabric said:

While in Montreal have a smoke meat sandwich and some poutine (fries with gravy and cheese curds).

We tried the smoked meat sandwich and some poutine at Ruben’s Deli for lunch today and it was quite tasty. We had tried poutine once before when we were in Sydney on an Australian circumnavigation cruise back in 2019 and remember it also having ground beef in the gravy. But apparently the Canadian version is just a plain brown gravy. But it was still tasty all the same. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

Enjoy my city

You have great weather

You definitely have a beautiful city and we had a great time, as you may have been able to tell! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

We might have crossed paths with you today.  Maybe even the same pigeon posed for me.  Went back to Aura at the Cathedral.  Nice lighted photos.  

I take it you decided to stop off for a day or two in Montreal before heading to Quebec City tomorrow. Makes sense as the CB will be in port at Quebec City for 2 days. There is definitely a lot to see in Montreal, that’s for sure! We were definitely wowed when we entered the Notre Dame Cathedral! 😁

[Britter16]

So the race is on! Our train is due to get to Quebec around 12:00 so if we see a bus on the road we will wave to you. 
Thanks for all the photos, enjoy your cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

10 minutes ago, Britter16 said:

So the race is on! Our train is due to get to Quebec around 12:00 so if we see a bus on the road we will wave to you. 
Thanks for all the photos, enjoy your cruise.

To make it easier for you to see us, our tour will actually have 3 red buses cruising down the highway close together. And we’ll wave back if we see your train blast past us! 😂

[abbydancer2003]

3 hours ago, Britter16 said:

So the race is on! Our train is due to get to Quebec around 12:00 so if we see a bus on the road we will wave to you. 
Thanks for all the photos, enjoy your cruise.

Which likely means 1pm or so.  Everyone who took a train in for our September cruise was late.  Apparently, quite usual.  I hope you're the exception.

[Ken the cruiser]

We headed for the ship this morning as scheduled around 8:45 am and were checking in at the pier around 12:45 pm.

 
Here are some of the views we encountered along the way between Montreal and Quebec City! 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 
We even saw some cows for the first time! 😁

 

 

 

 

 
Our first glimpse of the Caribbean Princess.

 

 
These last two were taken from our balcony.

 

 

 
As I mentioned earlier, we had a great time on our precruise. But we are definitely ready to start the cruising phase of this adventure! 😁

Edited October 19, 2023 by Ken the cruiser