Two weeks in Canada & New England on the revolutionized Summit: my review with photos

[Turtles06]

We had a lovely sea day after our two days in Quebec City, followed by a visit to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.   This was our least favorite port of the cruise.  When we first booked, we were scheduled for a relatively short port call, 11:45 AM – 6 PM.   The available time ashore soon grew even shorter, when Celebrity notified us some months before departure that we were going to have to tender in Charlottetown, rather than dock.   (As we later learned from Captain Matt, this was because the huge Caribbean Princess was also going to be in port, and, as in most ports around the world, he said, when there is insufficient docking space, the dock goes to the largest ship.  The little HAL Zaandam had to tender as well.)

 

 

Given that we were going to be on an island, and tendering, and for just a short visit, we decided that we would take a Celebrity shore excursion.  We are not big fans of ship-sponsored tours, but we will take them in certain circumstances, and the ones here qualified.  (Also, we had a good bit of OBC to use up.)  The problem was that there was nothing of huge interest to us, especially since we aren’t devotees of Anne of Green Gables, and just about every tour stopped at the house.  Finally, prior to the cruise, we decided to book a four-hour shore excursion called “The Island’s Finest Scenic Drive, Anne, and Lobster.”   One of its biggest draws was the minimal time we’d be spending at Green Gables, and another was the opportunity to see a bit of PEI.  

 

Let me be blunt.  Do not take this tour.  It was far too expensive for what it turned out to be, and not that interesting in any event.  We should have known better.

 

First, as things turned out, our ship arrived in Charlottetown a good hour or so early, and, as Captain Matt had announced the day before, we were going to stay about an hour later than scheduled.  In total, that was a good amount of time to have done something better.  Of course, none of that could have been known in advance, so I don’t blame ourselves on that score.

 

But even under the original schedule, this shore excursion was a loser.  Some of the “scenic drive” was pretty, but it was a lot of time on the bus, we were running too late to stop in the picturesque fishing village of Rustico, and it wound up taking a huge amount of time for our busload to have our lobster lunch at the PEI Preserve Company.  (Shame on us, we know it takes time to feed a busload of cruise passengers, especially senior citizens who have to wear lobster bibs and crack open whole lobsters!  We have only ourselves to blame for picking this tour!)  Fortunately, the lobsters were absolutely delicious --  fresh, sweet, cold Canadian water lobster.  It’s what I remember most about this day.

 

 

What I also remember is learning that the newest traffic lights on PEI have different shapes for the green, red, and yellow signals, to help those who are color blind know which signal is active.   What a brilliant idea!  It seems so simple and so obvious, yet we’d never heard of this anywhere else. 

 

 

After our lunch (which by now was pretty late in the afternoon), we made a fairly quick stop at the Green Gables house, in PEI National Park.   The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, did not live in this house, but it is said to have “inspired” her.  I have to hand it to Canada, they are making a fortune out of this place from tourists.  It’s a pretty little house, and I’m sure that if you are fans of Anne, this is probably like visiting mecca.  😂

 

 

We did have a look (albeit brief and through the bus windows) at the red sandstone cliffs of Cavendish, probably the most scenic part of our scenic drive.

 

 

Finally back at the pier, we lined up for what turned out to be the last tender back to the ship.  The crew piled in all the shore gear with us, and off we went.  

 

 

In hindsight, we should have stayed in Charlottetown and walked around.   

 

Or, maybe Celebrity should have skipped this port.  Captain Matt practically said as much in his (fabulous) Ocean’s Ahead talk on the final day.  First, because Charlottetown (unlike Bar Harbor) does not have private tenders to hire, the Summit was limited to using its own lifeboats, which slowed the tendering process considerably.  Also, the Harbor Pilot had assigned the Summit to a spot in the harbor where there was insufficient space for the ship to turn safely on its anchor, so the crew had to spend the entire day running the engines to hold the ship’s position and stay clear of the dock.  Captain Matt was obviously quite disturbed about this; he called it one of the worst days of his professional life.  He said he’d even told the Pilot at the end of the day that the Summit should not have been put where it was, and that the Pilot acknowledged that Captain Matt was correct.  Duh!  Captain Matt did not have a great day on PEI.  That made at least three of us.   

 

We did have a nice sunset, however.

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

Edited October 3, 2019 by Turtles06

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

4 hours ago, varoo said:

 

The saddest  thing about it is that the Summit used to have a wonderful indoor movie theater with comfortable tiered seating, but they tore it out to add more cabins.

 

 

Movie theaters are non-revenue producing.  Things that don't produce revenue are pretty much history.

[MEcruzr]

FYI: Anyone head to up this way (ME/CA) should pack some warm clothes. We had snow in the upper elevations last night. The coast has a frost warning tonight... lower 30's tonight, some places may dip into the 20's. Daytime highs next week are low 60's. Monday is a washout. 

 

There are 2 ships in Portland today. It's a cold, wet, foggy day... normal for this time of year, but not pleasant if you're not dressed for it.

[YLTraveler]

We were on the Caribbean Princess that Turtle mentioned.  Basically the two ships shadowed each other from Quebec City back to the States. 

 

We had a different experience in Charlottetown.  We basically self toured the town and saw a couple of interesting churches, some historical markers, good shopping (wife made significant deposit) and good local restaurants.  Of all the stops we made, the lobster rolls at Peake's Quay won our best prize nomination.  

 

Thanks for the detailed write-up - brings backs a lot of trip memories along with the evolution of the Summit.  We were on her just before she went through her update.

[Turtles06]

3 minutes ago, YLTraveler said:

We were on the Caribbean Princess that Turtle mentioned.  Basically the two ships shadowed each other from Quebec City back to the States. 

 

We had a different experience in Charlottetown.  We basically self toured the town and saw a couple of interesting churches, some historical markers, good shopping (wife made significant deposit) and good local restaurants.  Of all the stops we made, the lobster rolls at Peake's Quay won our best prize nomination.  

 

Thanks for the detailed write-up - brings backs a lot of trip memories along with the evolution of the Summit.  We were on her just before she went through her update.

 

Thanks for your comments.  You certainly underscored my hindsight wisdom -- that we should have stayed in Charlottetown and walked around.  I'm glad you had a good day there.  

 

It was fun sailing almost alongside you along the St. Lawrence for most of the day before PEI:

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

[Turtles06]

The morning after PEI, we tendered in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, our penultimate port.  As in Charlottetown, we were originally supposed to dock there, but once again we were sharing the port with the Caribbean Princess, so, as the larger ship, she again got to dock.   But, unlike our visit to PEI, we very much enjoyed our day on Cape Breton Island.

 

Pretty much everything I’d read about Sydney before our cruise said that there wasn’t much to see there (this turned out to be true), and that it would be wise to take some sort of excursion outside of town.   The Fortress of Louisbourg -- a partial reconstruction of an 18th Century French fortress -- sounded like it would be very interesting to visit, and so we booked a morning tour through Celebrity that was essentially transportation to the Fortress, with a guide along the way on the bus, and the entire time at the Fortress on our own. 

 

The ship's tours met in the theatre, and the individual tours tendered ashore together.  On the dock, we got our first look at one of Sydney's claims to fame  -- a 60-foot high fiddle, the world's largest.   (As I said above, Sydney itself does not have that much of interest!)  And, what a great surprise:  a BeaverTails truck!   It wasn't open yet, but we knew we'd be back! 

 

 

 

On the way to the Fortress, we stopped at the Louisbourg Lighthouse, built in 1924.  The moon was till visible in the morning sky.

 

 

As several of us realized simultaneously, we were standing in the danger zone when we spotted this sign.

  

We had our first glimpse of the Fortress, across the water from the Lighthouse.

 

 

The Fortress has “animators” walking around --  people dressed in period garb who play their 18th Century roles when you speak with them.   Because it was no longer high season, the number of “animators” was reduced, but there were still a handful around and it was interesting to engage them in conversation.  

 

The most striking part of the Fortress is the King's Bastion, with its entrance over a moat, a huge courtyard, restored rooms, and cannon guarding the harbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Frederic Gate:

 

 

A few more images from the Fortress, including a couple of musicians who treated us to a lovely little concert.  We very much enjoyed our visit to the Fortress 

 

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

Edited October 4, 2019 by Turtles06

[YLTraveler]

Summit shadowing Caribbean Princess in Bay of Lawrence.  

 

Agree with your comments on Sydney.  We again walked the town and found it to be lacking of anything of interest.  You did the right thing getting out into the countryside.  I really regret not trying a BeaverTail.  My wife kept talking about carbs.  

 

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by YLTraveler

[Turtles06]

13 minutes ago, YLTraveler said:

Summit shadowing Caribbean Princess in Bay of Lawrence.  

 

Agree with your comments on Sydney.  We again walked the town and found it to be lacking of anything of interest.  You did the right thing getting out into the countryside.  I really regret not trying a BeaverTail.  My wife kept talking about carbs.  

 

 

Thanks for the photo.  I'm about to post my comments on Sydney itself.   As for BeaverTails, what can I say, they really were delicious.  We pretty much eliminated added sugar from our diets earlier this year, and really cut down on carbs, but we just had to try those BeaverTails.  Thankfully, there are none anywhere near us in the U.S. 😋

[Turtles06]

We returned to Sydney just around lunch time, and got a walking tour map from the Information desk in the cruise terminal.  There really isn’t that much of interest in Sydney -- a few 18th Century houses and old churches.  We soon saw them all.

 

 

   

 

For lunch, we chose the Governor's Pub and Eatery, near the water and doing a lively business.  I had -- surprise -- a lobster roll, the second best of the trip.  And a side of poutine.  😂

 

 

 

After lunch, we walked down along the water.   I was enthralled by this monument to the WWII Merchant Mariners, men in their 40s and 50s, teenage boys, and some women as well, who sailed the convoys from Sydney across the Atlantic, bringing coal, steel, and other critical materials for the Allied war effort, at great danger to themselves from German U-boats.  Thousands lost their lives to torpedoes.

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked back to the cruise terminal, the Caribbean Princess served as good perspective on the size of the fiddle.

 

 

And, of course, we had to buy BeaverTails before we returned to the ship.  This time, I tried the chocolate/peanut butter/Reese's Pieces.  Each of those elements is delicious on its own, but together they were a bit too much, and really changed the texture.   The chocolate/hazelnut that I had in Quebec was much better.

 

 

Finally, it was time to board a tender.  Since it was such a gorgeous afternoon, we decided to sit up top on the outside.  It was a beautiful ride back to the Summit.  I know that tendering can be a PITA, but I really do enjoy seeing whatever ship I’m on from the water. 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

Edited October 4, 2019 by Turtles06

[Cachecara]

I have enjoyed your review immensely.  Big thank you! We have been on Summit several times and it made me homesick for her.  This itinerary is on my bucket list.  It looks like you had beautiful weather. Again, thanks. 

[OnTheJourney]

Turtles...thanks so much for the most interesting and enjoyable review. Great pics too!  Safe travels home....

[Turtles06]

Not done yet -- Halifax coming, and a few miscellaneous items... Plus our beautiful sail-in to Bayonne.   Stay tuned, and thank you all so much for reading this far, and for the kind comments!

[OnTheJourney]

Oh, right...not sure why I got it in my head that you were doing this live....senior moment, ya know?. Just went back to the first page...saw your cruise started back on the 8th. Was this your first time doing a Canada / New England? We were on this trip 5 years ago and really enjoyed it. Did not have Boston on the itinerary though. 

Edited October 5, 2019 by OnTheJourney

[Holly g]

Thank you for a great report. We are leaving tomorrow for this same cruise so your trip report was a fun read.

[Turtles06]

8 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Was this your first time doing a Canada / New England?

 

Yes it was!

 

7 hours ago, Holly g said:

Thank you for a great report. We are leaving tomorrow for this same cruise so your trip report was a fun read.

 

Thank you, and I hope you have a wonderful trip!

[Turtles06]

Our final port was Halifax, Nova Scotia.  My wife and I had visited Halifax just a year ago on another cruise.  That time, we went out to Peggy’s Cove, visited the “Titanic” Cemetery and the Citadel, had a great lunch at The Five Fishermen, and walked around the city.   We enjoyed that visit very much, and were looking forward to this one.

 

Most ships dock in Halifax alongside the downtown waterfront, which makes it possible to walk to just about anything you are likely to want to do in Halifax itself (though some of that may be up a very long and steep hill!). As the Summit sailed in, we noticed that the Caribbean Princess was already docked, but this time, she did not have the prime spot.  We did!  (And then the NCL Escape arrived and took the next best one.)  Also, we had a great view of Georges Island the entire time we were docked. 

 

 

 

 

Just after a ship docks in Halifax, and the gangway is connected, it’s traditional for a bagpiper to welcome the ship with some music.  (The bagpiper also returns to play before the ship sails.)  So I quickly went down to Deck 4 to listen to the piper.  It’s a really nice welcome to the city.

 

 

Then it was time to go ashore.  On this visit, our plan was to start with the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, very close to where the Summit was docked.  Pier 21 is Canada’s equivalent of Ellis Island – the place where immigrants arriving by ship were processed.  But the similarity pretty much ends there.  The Canadian Museum of Immigration is a wonderful celebration of the diversity of Canada’s immigrants and their continuing importance in building the nation; it was upbeat, emotional, and refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Museum is also very upfront about the black stains in Canada’s past, including Canada’s turning away of the St. Louis, the ship carrying nearly 1000 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in 1939 (Cuba and the U.S. had already turned the ship away), forcing the refugees to return to Europe, where many perished in the Holocaust.  And, like the U.S., Canada also interned thousands of its Japanese citizens during WWII.  I had not known either of these facts about Canada. 

 

A work of art called "The Wheel of Conscience" stands in the Museum's lobby, a memorial to the passengers of the St. Louis and a stark reminder of the social evils that resulted in the refugees being turned away.

 

 

 

 

 

The Museum was absolutely fascinating, and we had not expected to spend as much time there as we did. 

 

(photos by turtles06)

 

[Turtles06]

After leaving the Immigration Museum, which is at one end of the waterfront, we began walking toward the other end, planning to have lunch along the way and then visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, farther along the boardwalk.  It was about as sunny and beautiful and comfortable a day (low 70s) as one might get in Halifax, and it was wonderful to be walking along the water. 

 

 

 

We soon came upon the perfect lunch spot: a cluster of huts and stands selling all of the Canadian food you could want – lobster rolls, BeaverTails, poutine, you name it.   The line for lobster rolls was insanely long, and no one who’d ordered seemed to be getting any food, so for our first course, we had BeaverTails, this time sticking by the fabulous chocolate/hazelnut.  There was also a Cows Creamery, a well-known ice cream shop based in Charlottetown; since we’d not had time to try it there, I was happy to run across it in Halifax.  I am sorry to say, however, that I found their ice cream – at least here in Halifax – to be virtually flavorless.   

 

  

 

 

When we arrived at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, there was a long line to get in, the place looked very crowded, and we decided that it was just too nice to be indoors, especially in a crowd.  So we took a cab up to the Public Gardens, near the Citadel and at the top of a very steep hill.

 

Before entering the Gardens, we saw some very visible damage from Hurricane Dorian, which after coming up the eastern seaboard had made landfall about two weeks earlier near Halifax and caused a great deal of damage in the city, most of which had been repaired by the time we’d arrived.  But this had not: a huge crane had broken apart in Dorian’s high winds, and was still hanging over some buildings.  The street was still closed, and we heard workers say they were still trying to figure out how to get the crane down.

 

 

 

 

 

The Halifax Public Gardens -- which are free by the way!  -- opened in 1867 and are the oldest Victorian gardens in North America.  Occupying 16 acres right in the city, the Gardens are colorful and beautiful, and we had certainly made the right choice to spend part of this gorgeous afternoon walking around them. 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful surprise to see this Rainbow Flag in the Gardens, creatively made from flowers and plants.  In fact, some of the crosswalks in the city were still adorned with their Rainbow Flags from the city’s LGBT Pride celebration earlier in the summer.

 

 

 

 

After visiting the Gardens, it was getting to be time to return to the ship.  As we were walking down the long hill to the waterfront, we saw a Bud the Spud “old fashioned chip wagon,” and stopped for a serving of fries.  As we’d learned from our prior visit to Halifax, potatoes are a local crop, and the fries have a wonderful freshness and flavor to them.   These did not disappoint.

 

 

 

Back at the waterfront, we had a few final looks at the Summit from land.  Then it was time for our last walk up the gangway.

 

 

 

 

(photos by turtles06)

[jimbri]

Still enjoying your review.  Thanks to you, we will be trying the Beaver Tails in Sydney.  I messaged them and they will be at the waterfront by the fiddle the day we arrive.

[Turtles06]

7 minutes ago, jimbri said:

Still enjoying your review.  Thanks to you, we will be trying the Beaver Tails in Sydney.  I messaged them and they will be at the waterfront by the fiddle the day we arrive.

 

😄🤣😋

[Barwick Cruiser]

Have to chime in regarding the beavertails...as a Canadian I've had my fair share but still always revert to the original cinnamon and sugar...feel like they're the best.

 

Great trip report, have been enjoying very much so thank you for all the work and pictures you've put into it.  So glad you had great weather while visiting our beautiful country and your photos are showing it off nicely!  Too bad about the crowds at the Maritime Museum, we visited many years ago while on a family camping trip to the East Coast and enjoyed it very much...great section on the Titanic disaster.  

 

Although we live in Canada this cruise is def on my bucket list, would love to revisit all these Canadian cities from a ship and discover some of the American ones too!  

 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

Have to chime in regarding the beavertails...as a Canadian I've had my fair share but still always revert to the original cinnamon and sugar...feel like they're the best.

 

You and President Obama!  😊

 

 

2 hours ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

Great trip report, have been enjoying very much so thank you for all the work and pictures you've put into it.  So glad you had great weather while visiting our beautiful country and your photos are showing it off nicely!  

 

Thank you so much, I'm very glad you're enjoying it.  I hope you can tell how much we love your country!

 

(photo by turtles06; Quebec City BeaverTails)

[Jim_Iain]

What a wonderful review.   Thanks for all your efforts.   Love the pictures.   I feel like I am with you on this voyage.   

[Turtles06]

We had one last, beautiful sea day after Halifax.   We spent much of it playing side-to-side tag-team with the NCL Escape, which left Halifax after we did, but apparently was determined to beat us back to NY Harbor.

 

 

 

As gorgeous as it was outside, I went indoors for Captain Matt's Oceans Ahead talk. I always go to whatever talks the Captain or other officers are giving, as they are usually very informative, and so I've been to many of them over the years.  Hands down, Captain Matt's was the best.  Don't miss this if you are ever on a ship with him.

 

 

Time for one last walk on Deck 4.  I still did not understand why I hardly ever saw anyone down here!

 

 

It's my tradition on our last night on a ship to take a photo of all the suitcases lined up outside the cabins along our corridor.  But the crew on our deck were so incredible, they were whisking luggage away as soon as it was put out!  No photo op for me! 😊

 

(photos by turtles06)

Edited October 7, 2019 by Turtles06

[puppycanducruise]

Loved those garden photos.

Thanks.

[dutchclogs]

Wonderful review. I especially enjoyed the pics of Portland, Bar Harbor and Halifax, all stops on our Grandeur cruise in July. You were lucky not to have a long line outside Holy Donut -- we were there on a Sunday and there was a 20 minute wait to get to the head of the queue!  Luckily, we were being met by family friends, and were able to visit the other shop on outskirts of the town. It is indeed a phenomenon -- very effectively marketed.