Revised on 01/28/26
Introduction:
Itineraries:
The first cruise route above is a typical closed loop cruise. Eastern Canada / New England closed loop cruises usually sail from New York to both Saint John, NB and Halifax, NS in Canada and to 2 of the following 6 New England ports: Newport, RI; Boston, MA; Rockland, ME; Eastport, ME; Portland, ME; and Bar Harbor, ME. Additionally, closed loop 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 may visit the most distant ones.
Typical one-way cruises usually start/end in Quebec, QC or Montreal, QC, and sail through the St. Lawrence Seaway. Only on these cruises do cruisers have the chance to visit ports such as Saguenay, QC and Sept-Iles, QC. Both Quebec and Montreal are destination cities worth visiting in their own right, and I would suggest that cruisers plan to stay a day or two in these cities before or after their cruises.
Note: As of January 2026, only Holland America's MS Volendam is scheduled to/from Montreal, QC.
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 (ships over 1,400 passenger capacity):
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.
Intermediate Ports:
Although I have sailed closed loop routes from New York several times, I have yet to sail a closed loop cruise from Boston. Additionally, I have yet to take a one way cruise that starts/ends in Quebec or Montreal. As a result, I'm not able to give a fair review of the following ports as I either have yet to visit them, or visited them under circumstances which prevented me from having the chance to explore them properly:
- Sydney, NS (Raining hard during port stop)
- Charlottetown, PE (Port skipped due to weather related issues)
- Cornerbrook, NL (Emergency port stop with no shore excursions)
- Saint Johns, NL (Not yet visited)
- Saguenay, QC (Not yet visited)
- Sept-Iles, QC (Not yet visited)
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.
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.
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.
An incomplete sample of things to do and see in each intermediate port:
Boston, MA (For New York Sailings):
Newport, RI:
Portland, ME:
Bar Harbor, ME:
Eastport, ME:
Rockland, ME:
Saint John, NB:
Halifax, NS:
Sydney, NS:
Charlottetown, PE:
Cornerbrook, NL:
Saint Johns, NL:
Sept-Iles, QC
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 and to Lunenburg, NS.
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