Background

We are a family of four - DW, 2 DD (ages 9 and 6, respectively), and myself. DW and I decided to book a cruise at the end of June 2013, after getting an email from HAL which had a promotion that the third and fourth passengers would sail for free. A seat sale from Porter Airlines kept the travel costs to a minimum, with the combined cost cruise and flights to Boston and Quebec City to and from Toronto was as much as we would have paid if we just booked just a cruise to the Caribbean for Allure of the Seas at an off peck time.

We picked the m/s Veendam cruise scheduled for Aug 24 to 31, 2013. The Canada and New England itinerary was 7 nights and we would sail out of Boston, MA and be visiting five ports of call - Bar Harbor, MA (via Tender); Halifax and Sydney, NS; Charlottetown, PE; and Quebec City, PQ (overnight) and disembark from Quebec City. Read more