This North American region is surging in popularity as ports invest millions
Fall foliage may be the highlight for some, but a road trip through this part of North America is a delight in any season.
If you’re looking for a two-for-one trip, you’ll find it in New England and eastern Canada: two countries, two languages and two types of trips, as the St. Lawrence Seaway heads inland and often resembles a river.
You can satisfy both your interests, because there is a lot of history and culture in this region, but also wild landscapes. Cruise ships visit both major cities and small port towns in stunning countryside.
Routes generally run between New York or Boston and Quebec City or Montreal and pass through four Canadian provinces and five New England states.
The season runs from April to October, peaking in late September and October for leaf peeping, as Canadians call it. However, as demand increases, the season is extended. In 2025, a Ponant ship arrived in early March and an AIDA ship lingered until mid-November.
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Many cruise lines operate occasional or seasonal cruises to New England and Canada, including APT, Azamara, Cunard, Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian Cruise Line, Ponant, Royal Caribbean, Scenic and Seabourn.
This year, Oceania Cruises is celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with New England cruises that shed light on the country’s history in places such as Boston, the birthplace of the American Revolution, and Newport, one of the resort centers of the Gilded Age.
As annual passenger numbers rise to half a million, Boston is becoming a major cruise hub, 64 percent of whom go on New England and Canada cruises. The rest sail to the Caribbean, Central America or Iceland and Greenland.
It has been announced that a US$100 million ($144) investment will be made in the Flynn Cruiseport in Boston in 2024. In 2023, the Port of Montreal invested C$335 (US$353) million in sustainable infrastructure development with the goal of becoming a net-zero carbon facility by 2050.
As cruises around the world are on the rise, New England and Canadian cruises are also on the rise. Canadian Atlantic ports recorded 845,000 passenger visits from 610 ships in the 2025 season. Sydney, Nova Scotia, surpassed the 200,000 passenger and 100 ship mark for the second year in a row.
Other Canadian Atlantic ports also had a record-breaking 2025 season. As of July 4, Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island had already broken its passenger visitation record. Saint John, New Brunswick, had a record week in late October 2025, when 32,000 passengers disembarked 15 ships.
If you’re considering a cruise here, you have a wide choice. Last season also saw a record number of first visits by ships from various lines including Celebrity, Oceania, Ponant, Princess, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea and Virgin Voyages.
You may soon see larger small ship options as well, as smaller ports try to grab some of the cruising action. The port authority in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for example, says it is in talks with small ship operators to make it a regular port of call. Local player American Cruise Lines has more than doubled its calls to Portsmouth in 2025.
Brian Johnston seemed destined to be a travel writer: an Irish man born in Nigeria, raised in Switzerland, lived in Britain and China, and now calls Australia home.
