ADVENTURE (Canada/New England) Sept 16-27,2019 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

It was at this time we had to make a choice. Head over to the Anne of Green Gables Heritage Site and spend some time there, or continue on our driving route to see other sites.

 

 

Since the heritage site was only 5 minutes up the road, we headed there..... it was a tourist trap. You enter a huge parking lot, many buses and cars. Walking towards the main ticketing building there were several lines and many groups. So we simply hit the bathrooms and got out of there as fast as we could!

 

Continuing on our route westward away from Cavendish, there's several notable sites that are mentioned about in various writings, however there were very underwhelming such as the Stanley Bridge, Lucy Maud's birth house (creator of Anne of Green Gables) French River, and Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush.

 

 

However I will mention French River here as it's a very iconic photo that you may see in the future in a publication or on line somewhere. To get a good photo you really need a good zoom lens...

or have @twangster follow you around everywhere! 😄

 

 

Here's a pano photo of French River, as well as on the highway, so you can see the lay of the land... very green, very rural

 

 

 

We approached Anne of Green Gables museum and pulled in. Zero other cars there, and the building was as pathetic/un-interesting as Lucy Maud's house, so we pulled right back out and continued on to our target location Thunder Cove. And what's at Thunder Cove?

 

 

A beautiful cliff side walk with superb ocean views

 

 

And once you climb down the cliffs onto the beach, and go around this corner.... MONEY!

 

 

You come to the iconic Teacup Rock

 

 

We hung out here for a while helping another couple take photos and simply enjoying the moment. What a great setting! However it was time to go, so we climbed back up onto the pathway and headed for the parking area.

 

 

 

IIRC it was a good 45-50 minute drive back to downtown Charlottetown and the car rental area.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Hoopster95

[erinsmom03]

I am loving this review!  Such a welcome change!  Thank you for the beautiful ocean fix! 

 

[Hoopster95]

Our plan was to get back to Charlottetown around 2:30'ish in order to do a short walk around downtown Charlottetown according to the map as provided in the first post. We figured a 4-5 block walk up and down the heritage streets would be really easy for us as we're walkers. So we dropped the car off right at about 2:30 and off we went on foot.

 

We had a really nice walk up the main drag w/shops, however truthfully nothing impressive in my view.  St Dustin's Basilica Cathedral was pretty enough, however we did not want to visit a church on this go round.

 

 

We did want to have a harder look at the Province House Historic Site, however most of this site was fenced off for restoration.

 

 

Walking up and turning onto Kent, we viewed the beautiful City Hall building, but that was about it. A little tired after the long day of great sites and lots of driving, we turned back towards the pier to head home to Adventure.

 

As mentioned in the beginning, our plan for evenings was not so much the ship life... it was to have a very comfortable "hotel", a great dinner (hopefully), great company and then a good sleep in preparation for another early morning the next day. More often than not on this sailing, we booked late dinners for 8pm (that's not normal for us). We did that purposely for the long shore days, maybe having a nap coming back to the ship, have time to enjoy Happy Hour and VCL at the later hours (hopefully less people) and then simply retiring to the cabin after dinner (no shows).

 

So with GF having nap time, I left the cabin to go enjoy sailaway for a bit

 

 

I have many superlative one-of-a-kind memories from the Helipad on various RCL ships. I love this place when I'm walking around on my own.

 

 

Time to push off... goodbye PEI, thank you for a great day!

 

 

 

Heading back out through the channel we entered in the morning 

 

 

Happy Hour was a better experience on this evening.... we arrived a little later than normal, so we were able to be seated in a normal chair right away rather than fighting for one off the "doctor's office" chairs placed haphazardly in the middle of the aisle or against the back wall. 

 

No food photos this evening.... some in later days will come. We had a great dinner at Chops again. However I hate where the venue is located on deck 4 across from the Schooner bar. I really love Venues with full floor-to-ceiling ocean views (like Giovanni's & Chop's on Radiance Class for example). But oh well... turned out the dinners here were excellent on this sailing.

 

Bed time came early with Sydney Nova Scotia docking happening at 7am tomorrow morning!!

Edited May 29, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Cruising Lynne]

Thank you for doing this review. i am really enjoying all the photos. Feels like a virtual cruise. Even though I live in New England, we have done a Canada/ New England cruise. It did not include PEI which I hoped to visit since I read all the Anne of Green Gable books as a young girl. Now, if we ever get to PEI, I think I would rather see the tea cup rock. Were you lucky to see it due to the tides? Or, do you think it still shows at high tide? 

[Hoopster95]

20 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

Were you lucky to see it due to the tides? Or, do you think it still shows at high tide? 

 

You're right. We were lucky as we did not even think about looking at the tide charts. We got there when I believe the tides were rather low. By looking at google images on line, you can see the high tide comes way up, would have still been beautiful but there's no way we'd get the great experience walking on the beach and climbing the rocks.

 

One of many google images at high tide

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Our docking time into Sydney, Nova Scotia this morning would be 7am... and all aboard at 3pm, which made for one of the shorter days ashore on this cruise. Logistically, if you're in a port for only 7 hours, it's fine if the city is right there in front of you with plenty to see. However, Sydney has nothing remotely close to the port worthy of tourism.

 

 

The #1 attraction on most visited area of Cape Breton Island is the Cabot Trail

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

However, to do it "right" you should plan for 2-3 days in order to stay at one of the lodges and do the various hikes to the cliffs and shores (ie. google Cheticamp). Without stopping, the entire route by car is at least a 5 hour circle, plus the hour it takes to get there and another hour back... no way we were going to get this done on even a long port day.

 

Our other choices were Baddeck (Alexander Graham Bell Museum & 2 hour sail on Bras D'Or Lake), the Highland Village, or Fortress of Louisbourg. In speaking to a fellow colleague who is from the area, he said even a short time on the Cabot Trail is worth giving us the taste of the area, and would want us to come back someday. So on the above map, we chose to drive from the port area, over the Englishtown ferry, and up the Cabot Trail, hopefully reaching Neil's Harbour.

 

If I remember correctly I was up at 6am this morning..... YAAAAAAAAAWN!

 

 

Yep, heading over to the DL to get my triple machiatto's (not doubles... triple this morning lol)

Adventure top deck in this morning light is beautiful, I normally don't see it at this hour

 

 

We hastily prepared to get off the ship right at 7am. In researching car rental companies, there are a couple in town but not that close to the pier. I did assume that one or two would pick up and I tried to research reviews.

 

 

However, I keyed in on and chose Discount Car rental. They do not pick up, and they were a good 20 minute brisk walk up the main drag, however they opened at 7:30am rather than 8am... every 1/2 hour counts on this itinerary with a short port day... not only that the cost was a "whopping" $45.10 Canadian for a SUV, unlimited kms. Sounds good to me vs. two $150 excursions off the ship.

 

Sydney is a very small town feel. Easy to find your way around and using google maps we walked uptown to the car rental.

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Today's site seeing is all about the sites, the views, the land of Cape Breton. Many of the photos speak for themselves, and you may have seen many of them in various travel publications. I'll let them do most the talking.

 

We made a stop at the little town of Bras D'Or, at the Bras D'or Lakehead at the Seal Island Bridge for a great first views of the water and the land

 

 

 

 

There's quite an elevation into the hillside at this point. Our direction would take us up the highway until the Englishtown turn-off as we wished to ferry across, basically saving us at least 1/2 driving time (each way) to get onto the Cabot Trail. From a view spot above, I've placed an arrow of where the ferry is located (the tiny strip off land in the water middle right).... and then also at the cliff edge of where we are going (farthest right).... and we went farther than that to get to Neil's Harbour

 

 

We found our turnoff and several signs, indicating we were on our way to Ingonish & the Cabot Trail. Signage and the roads are super easy to navigate in most all Canadian cities.

 

 

And we arrived at the Englishtown Ferry

 

 

As I looked closer, the distance the ferry traveled from one side to the other is, no joking, maybe 100 yards maximum! Reading more about it, this is a "Cable Ferry"... it's pulled by cable back and forth.

 

 

This ferry holds perhaps 10 vehicles tops, so if there's a line, it could take a little time as they load from from each side on 10 cars at a time.

 

 

AT this hour of the morning, were were on right away, and provided us a super quick 1/2 cut-off to get to where we are going, let alone some more great views from the water

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Leaving the ferry area, we connect to the main highway 105, and proceed to Ingonish

 

 

We discovered that most of the best scenery comes in and around the Ingonish area, which is quite a long drive from the ferry. Keep in mind that the entire one-way drive from Sydney port to Ingonish is a good 1.5-2 hours, and also depends on stops.

 

However there were a few notable areas where we pulled into a side road, etc ... gorgeous

 

 

 

We arrived to the "head" of the Cabot Trail, at Park's Visitor Center where there is a nominal fee to enter $7.80 per adult, or a flat fee per vehicle (can't remember what that is).

 

 

The visitor Center is worth stopping at even for 5 minutes... maps, info, etc. If you haven't done your homework before hand like I had this would be the place to figure things out.

 

 

 

Once you pass the visitor center, Ingonish Beach is a short drive (5-10 minutes ahead) with various stopping points

 

 

And there's so much more!..... the next cove/beach

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Passing the viewpoints and beach, you go through Ingonish itself... just a little town.... has rest stop, general store, etc. You can also do whale watching tours, hikes through Cape Smokey Provincial Park,  and a few other things. I would say within 10 minutes of stopping for photos we pull in to the famous Keltic Lodge. RCL provides excursions there for lunch and a short walk around, however the drive time there is 2 hours (on a big bus) and another 2 hours back. It's a total of a 6 hour tour so you really don't see anything on the RCL tour at all. 

 

If you like driving, this winding scenic drive is awesome!!! And arriving at the Keltic Lodge even more awesome.... 

epic photo op here

 

 

Another famous epic photo op you find in their brochures....

 

 

If I ever get to do this trip on land driving through Nova Scotia & PEI, I will definitely want to stay here a couple of nights. The restaurant lunch area is on the bottom level of the lodge  facing the ravine in the first photo. There's a very large outdoor deck, so I assume lunches/gatherings/weddings are served there. And what do you see when standing on that deck in that direction? Ingonish Beach tucked away in the distances and the coves we drove through and took pictures of

 

 

 

This was a great stop. We chilled out a bit but still had a lot to see, so off we went

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Onwards we go.... target is Neil's Harbour ...  yet still so many more places to stop and enjoy

 

Lakie's Head

 

 

 

Green Cove

 

 

 

 

Black Brook Falls... the water was not running hard down the falls so underwhelming on this visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

On to Neil's Harbour we go, a gorgeous small fishing town, iconic (and I guess stereotypical) to what I feel the Maritime provinces should look like. I had looked up eateries and places to stay prior to the cruise, and besides the Ingonish Inn to name one, I also discovered this little Chowder House in the middle of nowhere in Neil's Harbour to dine at.

 

 

If you're on a tour or a bus, you're not welcome here! They're too small to handle large groups

 

 

We got there about 10 minutes before they opened so I was able to take photos all around, walking around the property and the cliffs, with the little town and fishing boats in behind the back cliff. This is where I took that amazing panorama shot of the bay and lighthouse.

 

 

 

Finally the place opened! Fresh seafood & lobster chowder , sitting on the park bench right on the cliff with this view. Supreme moment!

 

 

 

But alas, it was time to get on the road and get back to Sydney. Knowing there'a about a 1 hour 45 minute drive back, we did not want to hang around too long. All aboard is to be a 3pm, so we began our drive directly back with only one rest stop, a tourist overlook back at the Seal Island Bridge where we first came across this morning, with a great view of Bras D'Or Lake.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Jimbo]

You waste little time in any of the ports..............need to take you on next cruise as a tour guide so we don't miss anything.......

[Hoopster95]

We arrived back at the Rental Car Place with about an hour before all-aboard. So tired after a very early morning, exciting day and long drive back, we trudge through the town and back to Adventure's pier

 

 

We headed straight for the cabin to have a drink, clean up and chill out. Had a great view from the cabin of the port area, including the largest fiddle in the world

 

 

 

GF wanted a nap, but I wanted to enjoy sailaway, so I headed to one of my fave usual spots, the Helipad. Being farther forward and lower than my balcony, I got a better angle of the fiddle

 

 

And the view over to the other side is spectacular as well

 

 

Shortly after I arrived onto the Helipad, we were already dropping ropes and pushing off

 

 

Goodbye Sydney ... I will be back, however if so it will be on land, and with a rental car for a week... just wait until you see more of Halifax and area tomorrow

 

 

 

Great sailaway as we head out towards open ocean

 

 

 

I was not going to miss tonight's show, so we skipped the VCL, and after an early 6pm dinner we headed down to see Stephanie Parker, who I had assumed would predominantly do the larger ships. I feel she is one of the higher end entertainers and singers I have ever seen an RCL and she did not disappoint this evening either.

 

 

What a great day! But I tell you, we were tired!! Off to bed we went right after the show

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

16 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

You waste little time in any of the ports..............need to take you on next cruise as a tour guide so we don't miss anything.......

 

Your bill?? You may not like my driving skills ... Italian 🤪

 

I was nice & calm to a couple of other CC'ers here in Van so they'd probably (I hope 😏) refute the above statement, but I'd love to push my own car through the Cabot Trail winding roads... it's those kind of roads you see in movies. It's a fun drive if you're into that.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Ocean Boy]

Great pictures.

[bearette]

Fun! You have put Quebec on my must do list!

Edited May 30, 2020 by bearette

[Missusdubbya]

Beautiful photos Hoopster! 
 

I spent a week on Prince Edward Island in 2017 and visited the Anne of Green Gables sites (low season, not many tourists). As a committed fan of the books I adored them, so have to respectfully disagree with you that the historic ‘Anne’ spots are boring.

 

carry on 😁
 

 

[bobmacliberty]

On 5/28/2020 at 10:06 PM, Hoopster95 said:

 

Something about this photo makes it appear that the water is actually moving and shimmering a bit...probably what it was really like.  Maybe I need an ocean fix and my brain is forcing me to see things.

[ckmedsec]

11 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Something about this photo makes it appear that the water is actually moving and shimmering a bit...probably what it was really like.  Maybe I need an ocean fix and my brain is forcing me to see things.

Just like a mirage in the desert.

[sjf]

We were on this cruise with you last September but I don't think we met. I'm enjoying all your beautiful photos though, and hearing how you planned out your days. Thanks for taking the time to put your review together.

[Hoopster95]

On 5/30/2020 at 9:44 PM, Missusdubbya said:

Beautiful photos Hoopster! 
 

I spent a week on Prince Edward Island in 2017 and visited the Anne of Green Gables sites (low season, not many tourists). As a committed fan of the books I adored them, so have to respectfully disagree with you that the historic ‘Anne’ spots are boring.

 

carry on 😁
 

 

 

This is a great post, high lighting that everyone has their own things that are important to them. There's definitely not one way, or a right/wrong way, to do things when visiting ports. 🙂

[Hoopster95]

Sept 21, 2019 .... a full day in Halifax, again with an early morning wake up call. I believe our port time today was 7am - 4:30pm. So another reeeeeeeally early morning shuffle up to the DL for a our coffees and some night time photos top deck.

 

 

 

Arriving into port

 

 

 

Getting ready for the day, and also heading up for breakfast at the WJ, it was sun rise time.

 

 

This port is easy to navigate, and there's also plenty to do in town. However we determined we need to visit and see a couple of the most iconic spots to be seen in the Maritimes -  Peggy's Cove, and Lunenburg. Below is the map of Nova Scotia, and the proximity of where we were the day before (Sydney) to Halifax this morning.

 

 

A close up view... It's about 45-50 minutes from Halifax to Peggy's Cove, and also a little over an hour from Halifax to Lunenburg on the main highway 103. 

 

 

We had a car reserved at Hertz, which is only one block from the port area shown below inside the train station. We reserved a mid-size vehicle with GPS for $85 CAD. We ended up getting a larger and comfy Jeep... we did not pull roof 🙂 but could have. The lady opened the doors right at 8am and got us into our vehicle in 15 minutes... perfect! First stop.... Peggy's Cove!

 

 

Be careful when selecting rental car agencies... it seems they all have different hours (ie. 8am or 9am). Also being a Saturday, Budget for whatever reason closed at 2pm. 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

I couldn't wait for Peggy's Cove! I was really looking forward to this with anticipation. Everything I had read said to go there first thing in the morning before all the tours and throngs of people, at the bare minimum get there by 9am so that the first buses leaving Halifax do not arrive until 10am.

 

So speeding along Highway 103, I figured I'd stay on the highway rather than go through the winding direct road inland, instead opting to go further towards Lunenburg and turning down the coast line instead. About 10 minutes down the coast line, we come up to and slow down to about 10-15km per hour (10mph) of a line-up of traffic. I can way ahead a huge line-up of racing bikes... and right then and there on the radio we heard about a long bike race around the island.... UGH! We checked our GPS and we still had about 20km to get to Peggy's Cove. So 10-15km per hour to go 20kms.... that's over an hour.... UGH again!

 

So after discussing for a coupe of minutes whether to continue on, losing an hour of site seeing (getting to Peggy's Cove around 10am instead of 9am) we opted to about face, get back on the highway and head directly to Lunenburg.

 

 

This is a beautiful little town. Lunenburg has a ton of history and is designated an UNESCO world heritage site.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunenburg,_Nova_Scotia

 

We arrived early and it was a veeeeeery sleepy place, didn't seem like anyone was awake. Seemed like we had the place to ourselves. There's a few things to do here like a Schooner Sailing, the Atlantic Fisheries Museum and walking tours. 

 

 

 

 

On my cheat sheet I remember seeing a walking tour starting at 10am up at the well known "Academy Building", so we opted to try to make that. We were enjoying walking through the town checking out the old buildings and heritage sites 

 

 

 

We didn't make it to the walking tour, noting that a small group of 5 or 6 were already in the cemetery next door to the Academy being led by a guide. Instead of catching up with them, we googled things as we went and there were placards explaining the various buildings and site as you went along anyways.

 

 

 

Many cruisers take this cruise itinerary wanting to see the changing fall colors.... here on Sept 21 we were maybe one week away from seeing brilliant oranges and reds. The downfall of this itinerary is that a sailing in the first week of October could possibly produce foul weather. Early and mid-Sept are superb choices for better late summer weather.

 

 

We spent maybe a couple of hours here, doing our own walking tour, seeing the sites, stopping at a few shops and having a coffee with a great view of the Bay

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Approaching lunch time, we decided to make our way 10-15 minutes to Mahone Bay, another picturesque spot. 

 

We didn't know it, however the 23rd annual Scarecrow Festival was underway. Every property had some kind of display, or course in competition for bragging rights in the town. Many of them were based on celebrities, political figures, etc

https://www.mahonebay.com/scarecrow-festival

 

 

 

I had looked up places to eat, and found the choice I had made right away as we drove by it on the main drag

 

 

"Oh My Cod!"   Lol, great name for a restaurant.

 

 

We had a great view of Mahone Bay and one of the iconic three churches that create the prominent "skyline" from the other side of the Bay. Great view and totally awesome chowder + fish & chips!

 

 

 

 

Lunch finished, we walked around the corner checking out a few shops, then to look at the churches and more of the scarecrow displays

 

 

ON our way out of Mahone Bay, we stopped on the other side of the Bay. This is where a few of the iconic on-line photos of the town are taken. A great camera with a zoom lens is needed, however here's my attempt....

 

 

.... compared to some professional photography. I'd bet twangster's photos would rival these below

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Now we were going to head back towards Peggy's Cove... during prime time tourist hour. Oh well, not much we can do but make the best of it. It's a good 45 minutes from Mahone Bay to Peggy's Cove according to the GPS. Also before reaching Peggy's Cove I wished to quickly visit the SwissAir flight 111 Memorial along the way.

 

 

 

The Swissair disaster is the worst in history for the MD-11 jet, killing 229 people, and was caused by an onboard fire that raged out of control. The plane crashed only a few kilometers off shore. If you're interested, here's a great detailed video of the events

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcL0UYQm4OA

 

 

Peggy's Cove is only another 10 minute down the road from here. You can see the lighthouse way off in the distance

 

 

There are so many iconic shots of Peggy's Cove I won't bore you with another ten... when we got there, we had to drive super slow from all the hoards of people walking the streets of the little town. You can easily spend a couple of hours there... there's an information center and various buildings/shops to meander through. 

https://peggyofthecove.com/map-page/

 

 

Getting later in the afternoon, we made it up the winding hillside roads into the huge parking lot. Dodging various people running across the streets and not looking whatsoever, we finally find a spot to park, and we head to the main attraction of Peggy's Cove... the view & the lighthouse

 

 

The pictures don't show it well enough, however in the main buildings in behind as well as the town was extremely busy with tourists. Being later in the afternoon, I suspect many of them had already checked out the lighthouse the moment they got here and were now looking at other things. It gave us some freedom of less people.

 

 

We really enjoyed our time here, sitting back and taking it all in for a bit. We did not want to rush around the town whatsoever, would've been a waste as our time was limited to get back to port. Instead we meandered along the walkways, enjoying the sun and the amazing view 

 

 

Heading out from the parking lot, here's a shot of the town so that you can get an idea of the spacing/walking distance if you were to visit.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Hoopster95