Response to question on HAL forum re Gaspe, Corner Brook and Charlottetown

[luvnorway]

I mentioned in a post on the HAL forum that we had just finished 29 days on Maasdam B2B2B from Ft Lauderdale->Montreal->Boston->Montreal and another poster asked for info re the 3 ports mentioned above.

I'm responding here since I feel Q&As re ports are likely to assist more people here than on the forum of a specific cruise line.

 

After that intro, I apologize to OP since I'm not going to be giving much specific advice. As Canadians, we had made the decision to just use this trip as an intro to the Maritimes and then to return to the places that interested us on a driving vacation in the near future. Also, we prefer to avoid ship's shorexes unless absolutely necessary to see something inaccessible by public transit, and love to walk. As a result, we didn't do extensive tours.

 

 

Gaspe

http://www.tourisme-gaspesie.com/

- we really enjoyed the scenic sail in and sail out - Perce Rock is South of the town of Gaspe, so, if you want to see it from the ship, you need to watch thro binoculars 1-2 hrs before arrival or after departure, depending on what direction you're arriving from

- it was quite cool and windy the day we were there - we just went for walks exploring both sides of the river and around town, then browsed the stores and finally settled in a nice little cafe for refreshments. Had fun trying to revive our high school French.

- Tourist Information was at the tender pier

 

Corner Brook

http://www.cornerbrook.com/tourism/tourmain.html

- again, we explored on our own - took a long walk up Corner Brook Stream Trail, found the local chip truck (they always have the best chips), then browsed the store and went to a pub

- Tourist Information had a booth right at the exit to the pier

 

Charlottetown

http://www.walkandseacharlottetown.com/

I won't insult the PEI residents who frequently post such helpful information on this forum by implying my input is worth anything in comparison to theirs, which I found very helpful when researching for our trip.

I'd strongly advise anyone looking for info on Charlottetown to do a search on this forum for their posts.

I do strongly concur with their consistent recommendations to make sure you see some of the island - it's incredibly beautiful, especially on a sunny day. We did this once, choosing to go to the south shore since a PEI poster had said it was less touristy and also because we were more interested in the Confederation Bridge than Anne of Green Gables.

Check PEI posters recommendations for where to have lobster (if you're interested) - we did, and were not disappointed.

Tourist Information booth is in the cruise terminal.

 

In all 3 of these ports we found people to be very friendly and helpful and really seemed to want tourists to feel welcome.

 

Hope this is of some assistance.

[CasaSmith]

Did you notice if the tours where leaving in school buses in any of your ports? Since some of these ports only get a few visits from cruise ships.

 

Thanks again.

[luvnorway]

Sorry - I didn't notice