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If fall is the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as poet John Keats once wrote, there’s no better way to harvest its beauty than from the deck of a cruise ship as it sails along the rugged coastline of maritime Canada and New England. After all, this is the season when tree-lined bays explode into a kaleidoscope of flaming colour, picturesque ports are bathed in golden sunlight, and lobster traps sit on pretty wooden docks next to weather-beaten houses.

With Keats’s vision in mind, we boarded the Celebrity Constellation in early October to begin our 13-day New England/Canada cruise from Bayonne, New Jersey to Quebec City and back. In between, we would be calling at Boston, Massachusetts; Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. 

Since this is my fourth time cruising New England/Canada and we are now several days into this voyage, I thought I’d share some thoughts on how prospective cruisers can get the most out of sailing in this region:

1. Departure Port: Our journey began with a 25-minute taxi ride (fixed rate of US$48) from Newark Airport to Cape Liberty, the port in Bayonne, New Jersey that services cruise ships from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. This section of the “Garden State” has to be one of the ugliest areas in America, and the port area is drab and lifeless. I much prefer departing from the ports of Manhattan and Brooklyn, where there’s much more to see and do. So if you are starting or ending your cruise in Bayonne, don’t bother with an overnight stay unless it’s in nearby Manhattan.

2. Timing of your Cruise: New England/Canada cruises are available throughout the summer and fall, and the experience will be quite different depending on when you choose to sail. The summer offers the best weather and the least chance of rain, but you won’t see any of the spectacular fall foliage colours. So if you’re more interested in seeing the architecture, history, culture and shopping in the various ports of call, July, August and early September are the best times to cruise New England/Canada. However, if it’s the bursting kaleidoscope of red, orange and yellow trees you’ve come to see, then late September and October are the best periods to be touring the region. Just make sure you bring some cool-weather clothes and a raincoat.

3. Type of Cruise: If you sail one-way between Montreal or Quebec City and Boston or New York, you’ll be able to see more ports in less time. The other option is to sail roundtrip from New York, Baltimore or Boston, which may be more convenient for flight connections. The latter option will take more time, and may exclude ports further south along the St. Lawrence River such as Montreal and Quebec City. In order to include most of the best ports, you’ll need a minimum of 10 days.

4. Ports of Call: I love a New England/Canada itinerary that includes a few large ports with lots of great architecture, history and shopping as well as some small fishing villages with beautiful scenery and fresh seafood. As a result, I think the ideal itinerary in this region should include some if not most of the following ports: Boston, Massachusetts; Newport, Rhode Island; Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax, Nova Scotia; St. John, New Brunswick; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Cornerbrook, Newfoundland; and Quebec City and Montreal, Quebec. If you can get 90% of these ports on your itinerary, you will get a real taste of what this region has to offer.

5. Size of ship: I love small ships, but I think New England/Canada is a region that lends itself to medium and large-sized ships. Most of the ports have large enough docks for the ships to tie up near the centre of town, the bigger ships are better at handling any rough seas that may appear in the North Atlantic, and they have more dining and entertainment options on board ship. Small ships can get into some of the smaller ports like Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and Kennebunkport, Maine, but these towns are also accessible by shore excursions from nearby ports like Halifax and Portland.

6. Budgeting: The cost of shore excursions in New England/Canada are more reasonably priced than in regions like the Mediterranean, Baltic and South America. This is probably because North American passengers feel more comfortable touring on their own in Canada and New England, so the cruise lines have to offer a more competitive alternative to get their business. However, we’ve more than off-set the lower cost excursions with more restaurant meals ashore. After all, when you’re in ports where you can see fresh lobster being taken out of traps and brought into a seaside restaurant, it’s much harder to return to the ship for a cheeseburger lunch.

Blessed with spectacular forests, beautiful bays and pretty seaside villages, the maritime coast of Canada and New England offers some of the most stunning scenery in the world.  And from late September through October, the region explodes into a kaleidoscope of blazing red, orange and yellow as billions of leaves begin to change colour under the retreating autumn sun.

“I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes, the Alps and the highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all,” Alexander Graham Bell once wrote about his favorite patch of the Maritimes.

And there’s no better way to appreciate this amazing beauty than from the deck of a cruise ship as it sails along the magnificent waterways of Eastern Canada and New England and drops anchor at some of the most picturesque ports in North America.

A wide variety of cruise lines offer Canada/New England cruises from May to October including Carnival, Celebrity, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, NCL, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn and Silversea. They usually range in length from 4 to 16 days and sail one-way between New York and Montreal or return from New York, Boston, Baltimore, or New Jersey. A number of ships repositioning from Europe also include the coast of Canada and New England on their voyage across the Atlantic.

While ports of call will vary depending on the length of the cruise and the size of the ship, they typically include destinations like Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine; Newport, Rhode Island; Saint John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; St. John’s, Newfoundland;  and Quebec City, the Saguenay Fjord and Montreal in Quebec. Smaller ships may also include ports like Kennebunk Port in Maine; Baddeck in Cape Breton; Lunenburg in Nova Scotia; and Corner Brook in Newfoundland.

Besides the marvelous maritime scenery, whale watching and delicious lobster, the highlights of a Canada/New England cruise will likely include visits to historic ports like Newport, Bar Harbor, Halifax, Quebec City and Montreal.

Newport is famous for its yachting tradition and the mansions that grace its shores. The most famous of these 19th-century “summer cottages” is the Breakers, built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt. It and other mansions from the “gilded era” are publicly owned and open for public viewing.

Nestled on the east side of Mount Desert Island, Bar Harbor (or “Bah Hahbuh” as the locals call it) is one of the prettiest fishing villages in all of Maine and offers some of the best shopping on the east coast. It’s also surrounded by the stunningly beautiful Acadia National Park, which boasts soaring granite cliffs, a natural fjord, and several beautiful bays.

Canada’s historic port of Halifax is just north of Maine and offers a number of interesting sites. These include the city’s 19th-century Citadel, three cemeteries bearing black granite headstones that mark the graves of victims from the Titanic disaster of 1912, and the tiny fishing village of Peggy’s Cove some 30 minutes southwest of the city. The village is famous for its landmark lighthouse perched on a precipice of huge boulders, its craggy coastline and the Monument to the Fishermen of Nova Scotia.

While shorter cruises sail no further north than Halifax or Saint John, longer cruises usually sail around the top of Cape Breton to visit Prince Edward Island before proceeding into the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the spectacular voyage along the river to Quebec City, the Saguenay Fjord and Montreal.

Discovered by French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1608, Quebec City features cobblestone streets, elegant limestone buildings, charming old churches, and lots of quaint cafes and bistros reminiscent of rural France. The Upper Town is located on a cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence River framed by the fairy-tale façade of the Chateau Frontenac at the top, the remains of an old stone wall at its sides, and the historic Old Quarter on the banks of the river below.

Montreal is more like urban Paris, with its chic boutiques, sidewalk cafes, wrought-iron balcony railings and stylish subway system known as Le Metro. Carved into the sides of majestic Mont Royal and extending down to the old quarter of Vieux Montreal on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, the city is a vibrant mix of old world charm, modern office buildings and a European joie de vive.

As the early explorers discovered in the 17th century when they sailed their ships along the maritime coast of America and into the St. Lawrence River, the spectacular beauty of this region is truly captivating. And some 400 years later, the wonderful waterways of New England and Eastern Canada are still worth discovering.