Just returned from a fabulous one-week cruise on the Maasdam, from Montreal to Boston.

We arrived in Montreal on Thursday, which gave us a full day and half to see that wonderful city before embarking. Highlights in Montreal were the Botanical Gardens and the Biodome, as well as -- serendipitously -- the Jazz Festival, which was just starting as we arrived. We stayed at the Auberge Les Passants du Sans Soucy, a charming B&B-style inn so close to the port that we walked over with all our luggage on embarkation morning (I got up at 6:00 AM that day to watch the ship pull in).

On embarkation day, the only tricky part was finding the elevator in the old, nearly decrepit Iberville Passenger terminal. We were quickly waved through security and then pointed vaguely in the proper direction. By the time we found the freight elevator, tucked in a hidden dusty corner surrounded by old machinery, we had walked further inside the terminal than we had in getting there. Read more