Canada/NE - Fortress of Louisbourg excursion

[BobMartha]

Into the planning stage for our trip for (yes) next summer :). One of the excursions of interest is the Fortress of Louisbourg ultimate experience where you chose 1 of 3 options (kitchen, basketweaving, musket) from a menu. I searched the Canada/NE board for a review of this add on "option" to the regular tour and even looked on the home page for the Fort and this was not referenced as a tour.

Anyone who has done this - would love to hear what it was all about.

 

Thanks all (as always) - I always gain so much information from everyone!

[AAAAmerican]

A lot of Dollars have been spent on its refurbishment.. Like Ft Ticonderoga was before...

 

It is wonderfully done in its period.:D :D

 

A joy to see and be there.:cool:

 

We alot of times have/do these things on our own as I do know a bit about there..

 

I remember some of the ships we have been up the NE coast on had tours too.. keep checkiong but calling the cruise companies may have better results in a much quicker time...

[oceanhut]

Into the planning stage for our trip for (yes) next summer :). One of the excursions of interest is the Fortress of Louisbourg ultimate experience where you chose 1 of 3 options (kitchen, basketweaving, musket) from a menu. I searched the Canada/NE board for a review of this add on "option" to the regular tour and even looked on the home page for the Fort and this was not referenced as a tour.

Anyone who has done this - would love to hear what it was all about.

 

Thanks all (as always) - I always gain so much information from everyone!

 

For the past two years, we have taken this NE/Canada cruise and loved it! Instead of booking the ship's excursions in Canada, we rented a car through Enterprise and toured this beautiful area on our own. The Fortress of Louisbourg is alot like the Plimoth Plantation, and Strubridge Village. The employees there wear period costumes, and assume the personality, lifestyle, etc., of the individual residents known to have resided in the Fort. The surrounding scenry is breathtaking! Hope your ship also stops in Halifax so you can visit another special area...Peggy's Cove.

[Homosassa]

We went to Louisbourg when we were on vacation in Nova Scotia.

 

We enjoyed it. The role playing by the employees is great. Be prepared to give the password to enter the Fort. Every so often, the guard will decide someone is a English spy and march the "prisoner" away at musket point. I understand the "prisoner" is brought before the magistrate for judgement. We later saw the "prisoner" being march through the street to the gallows to be "hung."

 

We ate in the tavern. It was quite a challenge because the food and utensils used were from the time period of the fort (i.e., just a spoon). That left many of us unsure of how to eat many of the items. The serving wench berated us and told us how to eat.

 

If you enjoy history, take the tour.

[AMICUS]

Keep Louisbourg on your "don't miss" list. Haven't visited on a cruise but was there as a child many years ago and my wife and 2 sons got tired of me continually saying "I can't believe it. This was just a vast lumpy field with sheep grazing on top of ruins and a stone museum building with stuff in glass cases when I was here as a kid" when we were there a few years ago. You can easily spend a whole day. The "animators" knew their characters well and were very good. I'd recommend muskets based on the choices but kitchen would also be quite interesting-- (leave basketweaving for a degree from Fla State?)

 

Interesting sidebar-- when the French were expelled from Acadia (many to Louisana hence Cajan) the miners who were soldiers in the English army because they were familiar with the use of explosives were the ones who blew up the fortifications to destroy them. Some of the miners ex army stayed in Cape Breton (as it became known) and some of their descendents became miners in the coal mines that were developed much later. When the mines started shutting down in the mid 1900's the Canadian gov't employed many of the out of work miners on the reconstruction of the fortress and town you see today so it is possible some of the descendents of the men who blew up Louisbourg could have rebuilt what their forefathers had destroyed.