Voyage Along the St. Lawrence: From Québec to the Canadian Maritimes - with Smithsonian Journeys

In alliance with Smithsonian Journeys. This cruise is part of a collection of Ponant voyages that are specially-tailored for English-speaking travelers who want to engage with the world. In addition to the usual elements of the Ponant experience, the listed price for these voyages includes transfers to and from the ship, talks and discussions aboard ship by world class experts, and a shore excursion or activity in each port of call that encourages guests to embrace the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of the local environment and culture.

The waterways of eastern Canada and northern...read more New England are among the loveliest in the world. The rock-bound coast, soaring cliffs, and idyllic waterfront villages have drawn visitors for more than one hundred years. After embarking in Toronto, Ontario, your first full day aboard ship is spent navigating the St. Lawrence Seaway, a network of lakes, canals, and locks that provides deep-water passage from Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River.

Montréal, the first of four calls in Québec, is a cosmopolitan metropolis, where you may tour the charming Old Town or explore the arts scene along St. Laurent Boulevard. Québec City, with its narrow cobblestoned lanes and historic battlements, is one of North America's most romantic spots. Tadoussac, the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in Canada, sits at the mouth of the Saguenay River, an area famous for the whales that congregate there to feed. And the picturesque village of Percé, at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, serves as gateway to the UNESCO Global Geopark of Bonaventure Island.

Cap-aux-Meules, in the Magdalen Islands, is a fascinating Acadian stronghold, where the legacy of the 17th-century colonists who settled here and defended their autonomy against both British and French lives on. Nova Scotia is next, offering the historical town of Lunenburg for discovery. Charming Lunenburg, whose Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is also home to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. A day at sea brings you to Eastport, Maine, where you will enjoy an opportunity to visit the Tides Institute & Museum of Art or Shackford Head State Park on Moose Island, or to join your local boat captain on a whale watching excursion, collecting lobster traps on the way back to port. Disembark the following day in Boston, Massachusetts.