Any one taken canadian/new england cruise on Holland America?

[debfdej]

My husband and I have never cruised...a bit nervous about high seas, has anyone done this trip?? How far out into open water do you go? Can you see the shoreline?

[jhannah]

There are times you see the shoreline. It depends on your particular itinerary. You will see lovely scenery along the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Fjord. Our cruise went out to St. Pierre/Miquelon which I don't think they do any more. Out at sea for that part of the trip. But I don't recall any rocking and rolling on any of that trip. Our voyage took us from Montreal to Boston.

 

This is a lovely area. Prince Edward Island is charming. Bar Harbor is very nice. (I highly recommend a tour up to Cadillac Mountain and the lobster bake.) Check out the Ports of Call board here on Cruise Critic for more information regarding your particular ports.

[sail7seas]

You can only see land as you approach a port, are docked and are leaving a port. Sometimes you can see it in a distance as when we sail in the Caribbean, we can see some of the Bahamian islands and Cuba etc from afar.

 

There can always be 'motion of the ocean' when aboard a ship. Specifically saying what conditions will be for a given day/week in the future is impossible, of course. Can it be rough sailing from Boston to Montreal? Yes, sure. It can be rough almost everywhere. We have sailed that route three times and cannot remember any rough seas...maybe we were just lucky.

 

It is a fabulous itineraryand Maasdam is one of my all time favorite ships. She is beautiful and elegant and very comfortable.

 

I think her a wonderful choice for a first cruise.....but then again, I consider any HAL ship a good choice for a first or a eighth or thirtieth cruise :)

 

The Canada/New England itinerary has a lot of ports for a 7 day cruise and they are fun and interesting.

 

We are booked to do that trip again this August. This is our third summer in a row doing it. That tells you how much we enjoy it.

 

Any specific questions, ask away. We'll try to help.

 

BTW....Welcome to CC/HAL.

 

[sail7seas]

Jim is right.......I didn't mention the scenic cruising of St.

Lawrence/Saguenay which is beautiful. You can see land on both sides of the ship that day.

[kstemple3]

We sailed Montreal to Boston the end of May, 2005. We had some really windy weather, but never felt a thing on the ship. And I usually start feeling like a drunken sailor - bumping into walls, etc - when it's rough. It was still pretty cold at that time of year and if I did that cruise again, I'd wait till June or even July. But the scenery was beautiful, the service on the ship was great and we had a wonderful time. Hope you do, too.

[Druke I]

We did Montreal/NYC on Westerdam (now a Costa ship) 9-97, and enjoyed it very much. It was our second time - first was on Crystal Harmony, 10-92.

 

Saguenay Fjord was very pretty.

 

We had a bit of bumpy ride (but not bad) off the coast of Nova Scotia on Westerdam, and got to observe a helicopter medical evacuation of a sick passenger, by the Canadian Coast Guard.

 

If you hit the colors right, it is very beautiful, and still very pretty even if the colors haven't turned.

[NapTown Jim]

Hi there! I'm taking my first ever cruise on this itenerary in early May. My only concern is the weather, but I've never been one to allow lousy weather to spoil a good time. I am very much looking forward to it. I picked HAL because I thought they had the best Canada-New England itenerary. The fact that HAL departs from my favorite Canadian city of Montreal was also a big plus for me.

[cruisequeen10]

I did this cruise in 1994 (Royal Princess), 10 days from Montreal to New York. Was one of the best cruises I have taken. As you can see below I have been on many.

[CINCY40]

DH and I are on the same cruise on May 13th. Hope that it will not be too cold at that time.

 

I am wondering where is the best place for a lobster lunch? We've been to Bar Harbor several times on land trips so I know it is available there but do not know about Nova Scotia. If anyone has any tips, please let us know.

 

Nancy

[RuthC]

I've done the 10-day NYC to Montreal twice. The Atlantic can get rough as you are heading for the approach to the St., Lawrence.

For those of you crusing in May, yes it can still be very cold. The rule of thumb for plantings here is Memorial Day. That's the date to be certain of being past frost. :eek:

Be prepared to dress in layers. You might get lucky! Heat waves have happened.

[NapTown Jim]

DH and I are on the same cruise on May 13th. Hope that it will not be too cold at that time.

Nancy

 

Hi Nancy. :)

Are you and your hubby from Cincinnatti? My research seems to indicate that the weather in and around Montreal and Quebec in mid-May is similar to the weather around here in central Indiana in mid-April. Could be good, could be bad. Could be sunny and warm...could be cold and wet. Its really a tossup. My expectation is that it will be mild to comfortably cool during the day (which is freezing to thin-blooded southerners ;) ) and cool to cold at night.

 

I think we'd be up for a CC gathering of some sort. This will be a honeymoon cruise for us so we may not be up for a whole lot of social activities because we may be wanting 'alone' time.

[Copper10-8]

Great itinerary and even better cruise, done it twice:) The Atlantic portion of it can always be a little on the rough side depending on time of year and weather. But then again, you can have perfectly calm seas also! For 2006, if you're going to choose one, I would stay with the Aug and Sep dates. Maybe think about Boston-Montreal or vice versa cruises. The last (or first three - depending on which one you choose) days are usually in calm waters. As has been stated, all the ports on this itinerary are very interesting. Good luck to you!

[grannynurse]

We've also done this cruise twice. Once from NY to Montreal, and last summer from Montreal to Boston on the Maasdam. We prefer the southbound as we did not have to pay departure tax at the airport and did several days post cruise in New England.

 

The May 24 trip was not rough at all, temperature was in the 50's and 60's, ideal sunny weather except for a brief shower in the Saguanay fjords which are beautiful. The June 19 trip was great too except for arriving in Boston in 85+ degree temps which is unseasonably hot.

 

The ports are marvelous. I, too recommend the Cadillac Mountain and lobster bake shore excursion. The scenery and food were both extraordinary.

 

The only motion we felt was when the ship picked up speed at night, and that's just a rumble, no swaying or rocking. Nothing at all like a north atlantic trip across to Europe.

Try this trip, I'm sure you'll like it very much as a first cruise experience.

GN

[Rabbitlady]

Does anyone know why this particular cruise(Maasdam and New England-cAnada Cruise) costs more? I know it depends on the time of year you go but it seems like Alaskan cruises are less expensive then this one. I was wondering if anyone knew why- just curious. I was thinking of going this summer but as I said it seems more expensive.

 

Thanks for the info,

Rabbitlady:)

[Rabbitlady]

I am so embarrassed at this post. I apologize. When I clicked the button to post, it said website not responding so I decided to write a new thread on this very topic and now that has posted twice in addition to this post. I apologize for all the duplicates.

Rabbitlady

[CINCY40]

How about any places in Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia for lobster? At least a lobster roll or lobster stew?

 

NapTownJim...Congratulations on your coming marriage. No, we are not from Cincinnati. DH and I Live in the heart of Georgia (Macon) and although we are Yankee transplants, we no longer can take too much cold weather. Our "name" stems from my home town, which is a tiny little village in Central NY.

 

Hoping for answers and also for advice on shore excursions. I know DH wants to go to Maritime Museum. I believe we own every book ever written about the Titanic!

 

Nancy

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done this cruise a couple of times - both times on the Masdam. Once was in the spring and once in the late fall. One was a 9 day cruise and the other was a 13 day cruise. We were fortunate to have calm seas both times.

 

Hope to do this again in 2007.

[Jemima]

We did a 10 day NY to Montreal several years ago. It was wonderful and we don't recall any rough seas. This spring we're on the Maasdam's 15 day Fort Lauderdale to Montreal. Most likely it will be chilly, but we'll enjoy a chance to wear sweaters.

[Sunshine10]

Hey NapTownJim & CINCY40 (Nancy).. Dh and I are on your cruise.

 

Congratulations to NapTownJim on your upcoming marriage. We will be celebrating our 7th anniversary. And Nancy... we are coming from Roswell, GA, just north of Ya'll :p

 

I'm getting real excited. So much so, I've booked most of our excursions. Now I'm stuck trying to figure out hotels in Montreal and Boston. Just hope the weather cooperates. Even if it doesn't, we'll still have a good time. :D

[gooselace]

How about any places in Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia for lobster? At least a lobster roll or lobster stew? .....

Hoping for answers and also for advice on shore excursions. I know DH wants to go to Maritime Museum. I believe we own every book ever written about the Titanic!

Nancy

 

 

Salty's on the waterfront in Halifax has a very nice lobster roll. It's right next door to an overcrowded food court in a mall. The bookstore there has a book you might not have, by a local author, Blair Beed, "Titanic Victims in Halifax Graveyards." If you have time, you may want to tour the cemetary where many of the victims are buried and memorialized.

[cruisequeen10]

When I went on my September 1994 (Royal Princess) cruise, we had stopped in Bar Harbour and there was an ice cream store and they served Lobster ice cream.

[jhannah]

Lobster ice cream???? I missed that. Sounds, um, interesting! ;)

[martini cruiser]

I was on the Maasdam over Memorial Day weekend, 2005. we had good weather and mostly calm seas. We left from Boston and ended in Montreal, I'd do the trip again, it was great! Like others have said you are out of sight of land at times, though mostly at night.

 

Bar Harbor was wonderful even in the rain, and Quebec City is worth the trip by itself. The weather was mostly sunny, I even laid out by the pool one day.

 

One of the neatest things was seeing the ship go under bridges, that you are sure were too low to allow passage, especially near Quebec City.

 

Go for it!

Martini Cruiser

[senator6]

We did a round trip from Boston in June of 2004 we enjoyed it a great deal, however there was so much fog in Bar Harbor we could not see the ship from land and vice versa, still had a good time, we felt sorry for those who had taken an island tour. The seas were fine for the whole trip.

Being from New England we know how true the old saying that if you don’t like the weather wait a few minuets it will change.:)

[CINCY40]

Gooselace -Thank you for the information. We will surely seek out the lobster roll as well as the book.

 

Sunshine 10 -We'll be celebrating our 22nd anniversary on the Maasdam.

 

Nancy