Long story short, we’ve made a number of changes to our plans for September 2026. Instead of southbound Quebec City to Philadelphia September 16 through the 26th in a forward suite, we’ve elected to move things back. We’re going to do the northbound trip Sept 26 through October 7 and are moving from forward to aft.
A lot of things are going into the decision:
- I feel the likelihood of peak fall color will be better on this schedule. That’s a fickle thing, of course; were we able to travel the first week of *this* October, all indications are we would be right at peak color for most of the trip. Our 2023 trip, while pretty, missed peak color by about 7-10 days, and it was the first week of October. So booking this far ahead, you takes your chances, y’know?
- We are hearing rumblings of a major life event (especially for our youngest daughter, but for the family as a whole) in early September, in fact it would have been the Saturday before we climbed on the train at 3am Sunday to start our trip. This schedule gives some room to flex.
- While I still want to do the forward suite right under the bridge on a Jewel-class ship, I decided the likelihood that seas might be rougher than I anticipate meant too much risk of an unpleasant time. I’ll save it for the glaciers sometime. We loved our aft balcony on Escape in 2023, and we love Jewel. I think the aft balcony experience will be primo for this trip!
There’s a lot to anticipate for this trip — not only the (3 months late, almost 4) 35th anniversary celebration but some small-group excursions on this trip. I put together one we enjoyed in Halifax in 2023; I’m going to repeat with the same private service this time around and do a different tour. Haven’t decided yet if it’ll just be the two of us or maybe 4 other people. I’m also going to book something smaller-scale in Bar Harbor. And there’s some opportunities for small-group tours in Boston and some of the Canadian stops, too.
As always, I’m planning to coordinate the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle event and to host the Facebook group for the trip. It will be my first cruise since my stomach sleeve surgery last month, so many changes are coming when it comes to eating and drinking on this trip but I’m ready to find out what the new me can love about that part of the cruise experience, too!