Zuiderdam - Canada & New England: UNESCO Sites & Quebecois Nights

Where this cruise calls, day by day

6 ports and 2 sea days over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Quebec City

   CanadaDepart

   The berth at Pointe-a-Carcy sits directly under the old city, which makes this one of the easiest walk-off ports anywhere - you come out into the Lower Town and the funicular up to the Chateau Frontenac is two blocks away. Quebec is walled, French-speaking, steep and a UNESCO site in its entirety. Some St. Lawrence itineraries turn around here rather than just call.

   • Quartier Petit-Champlain and the funicular up to Dufferin Terrace and the Chateau Frontenac
   • The Plains of Abraham and the star-shaped Citadelle
   • Montmorency Falls, higher than Niagara, with a cable car and a bridge across the top
   • The farm road and cider houses of Ile d'Orleans

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Port of Quebec terminal at Pointe-a-Carcy in the Old Port; Old Quebec begins at the gangway.

   Best months

   late Sep-mid Oct (fall colour); May-Oct season

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4

   Charlottetown

   CanadaPort

   Prince Edward Island runs a real tourism economy on a fictional orphan - Anne of Green Gables brings visitors, a great many of them Japanese, to the Cavendish farmhouse Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote from. Charlottetown itself is where Confederation was negotiated in 1864: small, red-brick, flat and walkable straight off the pier.

   • Green Gables Heritage Place at Cavendish, about 40 minutes across the island
   • Confederation Centre of the Arts, home of the long-running Anne stage musical
   • Victoria Row and the waterfront around Founders' Hall, both on foot from the ship
   • Red-sand beaches in PEI National Park and a church-hall lobster supper at New Glasgow or St. Ann's

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Port Charlottetown on the downtown waterfront; the historic centre is a five-minute walk, though Cavendish needs a tour or a taxi.

   Best months

   Jun-Oct; Sep for warm water and thinner crowds

5. Day 5

   Sydney

   CanadaPort

   Sydney is the way into Cape Breton rather than the reason for the day. The pier is marked by a giant fiddle sculpture on the boardwalk, and the town behind it has been quiet since the coal mines and the steel plant shut. Nearly everything worth the day is a drive away, so decide before you dock - unplanned, Sydney runs out in about an hour.

   • Fortress of Louisbourg, a reconstructed 18th-century French garrison town, about 45 minutes away
   • The Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands National Park, a full-day loop
   • Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site at Baddeck, roughly an hour out
   • Cape Breton Miners' Museum in Glace Bay, with an underground tour led by former miners

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion on the Sydney boardwalk; the town is a short walk, but the sights all need a coach or taxi.

   Best months

   Sep-Oct (Cabot Trail fall colour); Jun-Oct season

6. Day 6

   Halifax

   CanadaPort
   Halifax port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
7. Day 7

   Portland, ME

   United StatesPort

   Portland is the easiest stop in New England: larger ships tie up at Ocean Gateway, smaller ones at the Maine State Pier, and the Old Port's cobbled blocks of brick warehouses begin about five minutes from the gangway. It is a walking call, which means you can skip the excursion entirely and still fill the day.

   • The Old Port - Commercial, Fore and Exchange Streets for lobster rolls, bookshops and breweries
   • Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, 15 minutes out of town
   • The Portland Museum of Art, strong on Winslow Homer
   • A Casco Bay Lines mailboat run out through the islands if you have most of a day

   Getting ashore

   Ocean Gateway Terminal takes the larger ships and the Maine State Pier the smaller ones; both are a 5-10 minute walk from the Old Port, and the Jetport is about 15 minutes by road.

   Best months

   Jun-Oct (the season is short; late Sep-Oct brings foliage cruises and cold mornings)

8. Day 8

   Boston, MA

   United StatesArrive
   Boston, MA port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore