Choosing between Eastern Canada / New England cruises

 

Introduction:

Eastern Canada / New England cruises are some of the most popular sailing from ports on the east coast of the United States.  Although there are some cruises to this region sailing out of Baltimore, this entry will focus on cruises sailing out of Boston and New York due to the number of ships that sail from these two ports.

Itineraries:

The above is a typical Eastern Canada / New England 7-day cruise itinerary sailing out of New York. Cruises usually sail to both Saint John, NB and Halifax, NS in Canada and to 2 of the following 4 New England ports: Newport, RI; Boston, MA; Portland, ME; and Bar Harbor, ME.  Similar cruises sailing out of Boston may visit 1 or 2 port(s) in Maine, and 3 or 4 of the following Canadian ports: Saint John, NB; Halifax, NS; Sydney, NS; Charlottetown, PE, Cornerbrook, NL and Saint Johns, NL.  Of these cruises, the ones out of New York tend to visit the most popular ports, while the ones out of Boston visit the most distant ones.

Cruise Season:

The typical season for cruising in Eastern Canada / New England route tends to be from July through October, with the high point being in September when the leaves begin to fall.  Although most of the year-round businesses will be open in the destination ports, smaller tourist-oriented businesses may have closed towards the end-of-season in the smaller destination ports, such as Bar Harbor, ME. As a result, one should carefully consider when one chooses to cruise in this region. 

Cruise Line Choices:

From New York:

- Carnival
- Cunard
- MSC
- Norwegian
- Royal Caribbean
- Princess

Of these, only Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Princess are offering a significant number of round-trip cruises out of New York to this region after 2024.  Although there may be a handful of outliers, the vast majority of these cruises will be 7 days long, and sail out of Bayonne (Royal Caribbean), Brooklyn (Princess), or Manhattan (Norwegian).

From Boston:

- Celebrity
- Holland America
- Norwegian
- Royal Caribbean
- Princess

Like cruises sailing from New York, most of the cruises sailing out of Boston will be 7 days long. The important outliers in this list will be a small handful of 10+ day cruises that stop in Quebec, or include ports in Greenland and/or Iceland on their runs.  One should exclude these itineraries from the typical list of Eastern Canada / New England cruises, as including them is like comparing apples to oranges. 

Most people living near New York or Boston will tend to go to their nearest home port to take their cruises. However, New Yorkers looking for a change of pace might consider taking Amtrak to Boston, staying in a hotel overnight, then taking a cruise out of Boston, so that they have a chance to visit Sydney, NS; Charlottetown, PE; Cornerbrook, NL and Saint Johns, NL 

Destination Ports:

Although I have sailed this route out of New York several times, I have yet to sail out of Boston.  As a result, I cannot give a fair commentary on Sydney, NS; Charlottetown, PE; Cornerbrook, NL or Saint Johns, NL  Even though I set foot in Cornerbrook once on a cruise that had to reach a safe port in avoiding a hurricane, I was not able to visit the town or to take a shore excursion that would have made this stop worthwhile. Since I can't do justice to these ports, I will focus on the ports that I have visited when determining which cruise I want to take in this region.

My favorite ports on the Eastern Canada / New England run are: Portland, ME; Bar Harbor, ME and Halifax, NS.  Portland's shore front has been alive each time I visited the city, even after the tourist season has officially ended. Bar Harbor is a nice place to walk around, especially during the tourist season. Many of its shops sell the typical tourist goods (T-Shirts, Sweatshirts and other merchandise emblazoned with the town's name) as well as specialty goods not found in a typical mall store.  When in town, I always take time to visit a small bookstore on Main Street, as I usually find books that I never find in the local outlet of the mass market bookstore.  And then there is Halifax, a city with a nice walkable shore front district, along with a couple of museums near the dock.  In addition to the shore front area, one can take shore excursions to Peggy's Cove, one of the most picturesque towns on North America's Eastern Coast.

Newport, RI and Boston, MA are good places to visit.  But a 6 hour shore excursion cannot do justice to either of these cities. Both cities have long and important histories, and each should be visited for a minimum of 2 or 3 days.  Spending a short time in each city leaves me disappointed each time I have to leave. Another US port being added to cruises sailing in this region is Rockland, ME. This was caused by the number of cruisers from large cruise ships porting at Bar Harbor.  Since this is a relatively new port to visit, it is hard to judge the value of a future visit to Rockland.  Saint John, NB has only one important thing to offer the cruiser: a visit to see the ocean floor of the Bay of Fundy, a place where there can be a 53' difference in sea level between high and low tides. 

An incomplete sample of things to do and see in each port:

Boston, MA:

- Hop On/Off Bus
- Beacon Hill Walking Tour
- USS Constitution
- Quincy Market
- New England Aquarium
- Walking tour of Freedom Trail
- Historical Sightseeing Cruise

Newport, RI:

- Historic Mansions
- Cliff Walk
- Sightseeing Cruise

Portland, ME:

- Lighthouse Tours
- Narrow Gauge Railroad
- Shopping Trip to Freeport, ME
- Walking Tour of Portland, ME

Bar Harbor, ME:

- Acadia National Park
- Schooner Sail of Frenchman's Bay

Saint John, NB:

- Bay of Fundy tour
- Walking tour of Saint John

Halifax, NS:

- Peggy's Cove
- Lunenberg & Mahone Bay
- Canadian Immigration Museum
- The Citadel
- Hop On/Off Bus

Sydney, NS:

- Cabot Trail
- Walking Tour of Sydney, NS

Charlottetown, PE:

- Island Drive & Anne of Green Gables House
- Lighthouses
- Picturesque South Shore Tour

Cornerbrook, NL:

- Zodiac Boat Tour

Saint Johns, NL:

- Cape Spear Lighthouse Historic Site
- Signal Hill National Historic Site

Recommendations:

Please note that I have no preference in which cruise line I choose for this route, save for benefits accrued from my loyalty status. Given the timing of the Eastern Canada / New England cruise season, these are not "Sun and Fun" cruises. One will find many children on cruises taking place during summer recess, and fewer (if any) children on cruises that take place once school resumes. I recommend sailing out of New York for those not living in the Northeastern US, because these cruises spend more time in the US.  For those living in the Northeastern US, I recommend sailing out of Boston, so that the more remote ports can be visited.  Since there are a limited number of unique things to do in each port, cruisers may find that second sailings in this area might be boring.

If I were to choose a must visit port (exclusive of Newport, RI and Boston, MA), I'd find it hard to choose between Bar Harbor, ME for access to Acadia National Park, and Halifax, NS for access to Peggy's Cove, NS. 

What should happen when a cruise port is changed or skipped?

 

Itinerary changes:

A couple of years ago, I took a 10-day Eastern Canada / New England cruise with my partner. We were interested in seeing 2 ports I had never visited on my previous cruises in this region: Sydney and Charlottetown.  Since this was an unusual itinerary that had never been offered out of New York, we jumped at the opportunity to take this cruise.  However, we were never able to see either of these ports, as our cruise sailed a day after a hurricane hit this region. Unfortunately, the hurricane hit the Maritime Provinces hard, and the 2 Canadian ports we were supposed to visit were inaccessible during our cruise, and Cornerbrook was substituted in their place.

Some people might wonder: Why didn't the cruise just skip the Canadian ports and stay in less affected United States waters?  The answer to that lies in the US Passenger Vessel Services Act which prohibits a foreign flagged vessel from sailing between US ports without porting in a foreign country.  Since the nearest foreign nation is Canada, the cruise added extra sea days before porting in Cornerbrook to fulfill the requirements of US law.

This cruise had both elements which cruisers should consider when planning a cruise.  What happens to planned shore excursions already purchased?  And what can one do when making a visit to an unplanned port?

Skipping a cruise port:

Bad weather is the most common reason why a port is skipped or changed.  Usually, the captain of the cruise ship will make an announcement on the PA system to inform cruisers that the cruise itinerary has been changed.  (This has happened to me on several cruises.)  If one has bought cruise line excursions for the skipped port, the cruise line will usually apply a refundable cruise credit to the cruiser's account. However, the cruise line will not give any refunds for shore excursions purchased from other vendors.  Some vendors may give refunds, others may not.  Each shore excursion vendor has its own policy for refunding money for excursions that cannot be taken.

Many ports that get skipped are tender ports.  For example, Kona on Hawaii's "Big Island" is often skipped by the Pride of America as it sails its usual 7-day Hawaiian circuit.  Some cruise lines' private islands (e.g. NCL's Great Stirrup Cay and MSC's Ocean Cay Marine Preserve) are often skipped in Bahamian cruises.  Although my experiences with skipped ports were all weather related, some cruise lines have skipped ports due to mechanical issues on their ships, labor problems at some ports, and medical problems on the ship.  In all of these cases, passengers have been able to request refunds of port fees assessed to dock at the port.

Changing a cruise port:

In 2022, a rockslide in Skagway, AK made it impossible for many ships to dock at its Railroad pier.  As a result, most cruise ships bound for this port made itinerary changes to visit other Alaskan ports such as Icy Strait Point (Hoonah) and Sitka.  Assuming that the cruise line has had the time to prepare for the changed itinerary, it will often have some shore excursions at the new port for sale.  My 2023 cruise to Florida and the Bahamas had an itinerary change.  Instead of going to the cruise line's private island, they sailed to Miami in its stead, and had 3 shore excursions for cruisers to choose from.  This is not always the case, as my 2022 cruise which was meant to port in Sydney, NS and Charlottetown, PE replaced these ports with Cornerbrook, NL, a port where no shore excursions were offered.  One unexpected consequence of a cruise port change may be a premature reentry into US waters and a US port.  When this happens, US Customs requires all passengers to clear customs before proceeding onward with the cruise.  Procedures for this may vary between ports and agreements with cruise lines.

Conclusion:

Cruise itinerary changes are a common part of the cruise experience.  All cruisers should be aware that ports may be skipped or added with little notice.  Very rarely will cruisers see itinerary changes that cause a ship to sail to/from a different region than that on the ship's original itinerary.  For example, the ship on which I sailed my Florida and Bahamas cruise was forced by bad weather to change its next itinerary to sail to Canada in the middle of December.  At the Canadian port, cruisers were greeted with a sign that read: "Welcome to the Northern Bahamas."  Hopefully, none of us will have that drastic an itinerary change.