Help needed choosing ships and ports.

[paddingtonbear]

Hi, I haven’t been on Cruise Critic for ages but we have done two cruises - on the Star Princess (4300 passengers) and the Royal Princess (3080 passengers).  They are both big ships but we weren’t bothered by the passenger numbers but neither cruise had very many children.

 

We are looking at a New England cruise either on Emerald Princess (3080 passengers) or the Majestic Princess (3560 passengers) or HAL - Zuiderdam (1964 passengers) and the Volendam (1432 passengers).  Are any of these ships streets ahead of the others? We are in our 60s. 

 

Other than the ship size the main differences are the ports.  We really like nature and quiet places so we’d be looking for walks and things like that rather than cities.  To help us decide on one cruise over the other can you please tell me if any of these are must see ports or if are any not so memorable: Saguenay, Portland, Rockland, Bar Harbour or St Johns.

 

Thank you very much for your help.  I know I over think things but we will only be doing this once and we are trying to make the most of the trip.

[TMLAalum]

Re: Ports

St. John's Newfoundland for sure since that Canadian province is only reached by sea or air!

Bar Harbor gets you to Acadia National Park for nature.

Saguenay and Portland are fairly large cities, but going up/dpwn the Saguenay River should be a scenic cruise. We've visited both those on land.

IDK about Rockland except that it is one of the more unique, smaller ports on a NE/Canada itinerary which to me would be a PLUS.

 

[paddingtonbear]

Thank you very much for that rundown.  It was very helpful.

[Dancing Shoes]

I researched this too.  Ended up choosing Volendam 2024 Boston to Montreal. We like smaller ships.  Plus, we were on her back in 2018.  If you go to Montreal instead of starting/stopping at Qubec you will get to cruise on the Lawerence River.  Saguenay is scenic heading up the fjord I have read.  

Bar Harbor is limiting ships, and many itineraries end up changing it.  Portland is known for their Maine lobster, but it will be available in other ports too.  Happy Planning mate.

[LHT28]

Do you want large ships  with all the bells/whistles & lots of people ?

Or more subdued  cruise ?

 

 We prefer smaller  ships   but  go for the itinerary that  suits your needs /wants  best

[Dobby36]

I did HAL Zuiderdam New England/Canada surmise this fall, and wouldn’t suggest going on any ship larger than that.  Quebec City was plenty big enough to handle the crowds from the cruise, but Bar Harbor and Charlotte and Sydney (and I suspect others from your list) were small enough to see many stores and restaurants near the pier be over run with folks and hard to get a table, etc.  this was of course on top of the fall land tourists in these lovely places.  I would highly recommend this trip, however.  So beautiful scenery and wonderful people abound.  

[chengkp75]

On 12/13/2023 at 7:41 AM, TMLAalum said:

Portland are fairly large cities,

Don't know your definition of a large city, but Portland only has a population of 68,000.  The vast majority of downtown Portland is within a mile radius of the cruise terminal.  Aside from lobster, Portland has been a top 10 "foodie" city in the US for a few years now.  Great restaurants abound, lots of history to see, good walking trails.

[lx200gps]

On 12/13/2023 at 7:41 AM, TMLAalum said:

Re: Ports

St. John's Newfoundland for sure since that Canadian province is only reached by sea or air!

Bar Harbor gets you to Acadia National Park for nature.

Saguenay and Portland are fairly large cities, but going up/dpwn the Saguenay River should be a scenic cruise. We've visited both those on land.

IDK about Rockland except that it is one of the more unique, smaller ports on a NE/Canada itinerary which to me would be a PLUS.

 

The OP called it "St John'S", but probably meant "St John". That misidentification is very common here on CC. A lot of Canada/New England itineraries sail to St John, New Brunswick, but very few feature St John's Newfoundland as a stop, owing to its location on the far eastern tip of Newfoundland. Maybe the OP can clarify which city they were referring to?

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

The OP called it "St John'S", but probably meant "St John". That misidentification is very common here on CC. A lot of Canada/New England itineraries sail to St John, New Brunswick, but very few feature St John's Newfoundland as a stop, owing to its location on the far eastern tip of Newfoundland. Maybe the OP can clarify which city they were referring to?

Or maybe they meant  SAINT John NB  & not St John's  NFLD   many  people  get them confused

[CCJack]

Saguenay was my favorite port (next to our embarkation point of Quebec City).    The sail into the Fjord at Saguenay was beautiful.   The Ship docks in a smaller city (there are several cities close to each other.)   We took the excursion to the Saguenay National Park and hiked up the fjord with a park guide.   We really enjoyed it.

 

I think Quebec City would also be a do not miss port if you are traveling to this part of North America.