Cruise ending in Canada

[johnbennett]

Hi

I love cruises and go on cruise trips whenever I can. Yearly vacations are a huge relief for me and want to go on a trip this year. My wife is amazing and she has agreed to this even though she hates the sea.

So I want to surprise my wife. This couples retreat in Algonquin Park is one of her favorite places to go. In short, I want a cruise which ends in a place near to Algonquin Park in Canada. I hope you guys can help me find one.

[fishywood]

Algonquin Park is completely landlocked in NE Ontario. Which makes this quite a befuddling question; have to wonder if the entire point of the post is only to generate hits on the Lodge's website. :confused:

 

But just in case this is for real:

 

Nearest port that can accommodate oceangoing cruise ships is 300 miles/500 km away in Montreal. But due to the bridges on the St Lawrence most cruise lines end their Canada/New England cruises in Quebec City, a further 125 miles/200 km away.

 

Only other alternative may be a small ship cruise through the locks of the Erie Canal that calls at Toronto--only 180 miles/300 km away from the park. Small in this case meaning an under 200 passenger riverboat.

[Heidi13]

The closest cruise port used by most cruise lines is probably Montreal, which is probably about 300 miles. Without knowing your cruise line preferences, I can only suggest options from the Line we use, which is Viking Ocean.

 

They have a cruise from Bergen to Montreal, departing end of Sept. Many of the mainstream lines will also be running Fall cruises down to Montreal, so if you can provide some preferences, we could suggest some options.

[johnbennett]

Algonquin Park is completely landlocked in NE Ontario. Which makes this quite a befuddling question; have to wonder if the entire point of the post is only to generate hits on the Lodge's website. :confused:

 

But just in case this is for real:

 

Nearest port that can accommodate oceangoing cruise ships is 300 miles/500 km away in Montreal. But due to the bridges on the St Lawrence most cruise lines end their Canada/New England cruises in Quebec City, a further 125 miles/200 km away.

 

Only other alternative may be a small ship cruise through the locks of the Erie Canal that calls at Toronto--only 180 miles/300 km away from the park. Small in this case meaning an under 200 passenger riverboat.

 

I understand it is difficult and the question seemed like promotional but I just wanted to tie a cruise trip to the park. The distance doesn't matter. Anyway thanks for the info.

[CanadaDeb]

HAL has Montreal departures but they're one ways into Boston. You could reverse your trip and start with the resort. The Couples Resort is appox. 2 hours from Ottawa so you could fly into Ottawa and rent a car to get there. Return with the car to Ottawa and take the train to Montreal to start your cruise.

[martincath]

There are Great Lakes cruises... which might address some of your wife's issues since they're not at sea! Some even finish in Toronto, a relatively convenient city for accessing Algonquin and also well worth a few days. As noted above, regular ocean cruising realistically puts you in Montreal as the closest port - if distance really isn't a big deal, then Quebec City cruises would open up more choices to you (and bigger ships) than Montreal.

 

Short of a private chopper or floatplane charter you're looking at 3 or 4 hours driving minimum from anywhere civilized (Ottawa is over 3hrs drive and Toronto at least 4 even avoiding rush hour traffic around the city) - but then if you wife is a frequent visitor I'm sure that you must be familiar with getting to the lodge.

 

Personally I'd be inclined to find a closer hotel option - there are tons of luxury lodges around in Quebec, much more easily combined with a cruise, that I'm sure would appeal to your wife.