Dusk in the Quartier Petit Champlain shopping district in lower Quebec City.

This image of Jan's was taken in front of Ville de Quebec (City Hall) in Quebec City.  It was all decked out in Halloween pumpkins (spotted, no less!), black cats, witches and spiders.  Halloween appears to be a big thing here in Quebec as there were Halloween displays in front of, or inside, many of the business in Old Quebec.

Maison Jacquet, built between 1675 and 1676, is the oldest house in Quebec City and is now the home of Aux Anciens Canadien Restaurant

Eight o'clock at night and pitch black.  Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens at 200mm on a moving cruise ship.  ISO 6400 - yes, there is noise all over the place in the photo!  Shutter speed 1/90 @ f/2.8.  I can't believe that I was actually able to capture anything remotely this sharp in what amounted to a full on, hand held night shot.

The quaint fishing village of Peggy's Cove, located west of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is one of the most popular places for tourists to visit in Maritime Canada.  There are usually so many tourists visiting during the summer that getting a photo with no one in it is a bit of a challenge.  This stretch of shoreline is behind the popular light house and, with no one else about, allowed me to capture a more tranquil scene than is usually possible.

As Jan and I explored the streets of historic Boston, one of the things we noticed was the fire alarm pull boxes on some of the street corners.  They were well maintained and obviously an important element in the protection of neighbourhoods and buildings from fire.  We couldn't resist the bright red color of the boxes or the large, red globe on top!  This one was located on the corner of Snow Hill and Hull Streets, about a block northwest of the Old North Church.

The Portland  Head Light located surprisingly, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is probably one of the most photographed lighthouses in the United States.  There has been a light in this location since the 18th Century and was not automated until 1989.

Shot from the terrace of the Novotel on Broadway and 52nd Street in the Times Square district of New York.  I was looking for a way to compress all the activity and advertising that washes over you in this part of the city.  It doesn't seem to matter if you are on the street in the middle of the day or the middle of the night, there is always a flurry of activity with people and vehicles always on the move.

While the Caribbean is one of the most popular cruise destinations in the world, a transit of the Panama Canal is still seen as rather "exotic".  Several things make these itineraries seem more  unusual than the regular "island hopping" cruises:

•  a different beginning and end to the cruise.  For full transits of the canal, ships can start in LA and end in Ft. Lauderdale (or the other way around), so passengers need to make two, one-way travel plans,
• the Panama cruise season does not go all year but is basically a mirror of Alaskan itineraries and runs from October to April with the Central American rainy season not ending until November/December,
• Panama transits tend to be 14+ day plus, making them more of a time commitment than the 7 day Caribbean cruise.
• because of length of the cruise and the cost of the canal transit, these are more expensive than a usual Caribbean cruise.
• the canal can only accommodate ships up to "Panamax" size, making ships like Coral Princess the largest ones that can transit the canal.  This leaves the new mega ships unable to do the crossing at this time.

A Panama transit can seem more like an urban tour as the ports of Cartegena, Panama City and Acapulco are large cities and offer a different atmosphere than smaller ports in the Caribbean.  Be assured, with stops in Huatulco, Aruba, or Cabo San Lucas, there are still plenty of beaches to explore. With cruise lines also including stops in Costa Rica or Nicaragua, passengers can also do a little jungle exploration.

The transit of the canal itself takes ships through three different sets of locks and Gatun Lake.  This literally immerses you in the history of another time as two nations, France and the United States, designed and eventually completed what was the most ambitious engineering achievement of its day.  If you approach the canal from the east, your ship will enter the first set of locks at dawn and will take until mid to late afternoon to clear the last locks on the west side of the canal. 

Along the way you will see engineering activity maintaining the current canal and work on the addition of new, longer locks to allow larger ships through the canal system.  Jungle crowds in on both side of the navigation channel and it is easy to see how difficult it would be to build anything in this area during the dry season let alone the rainy one.
 
If you have "done" the Caribbean and are interested in a different itinerary in this part of the world, consider a Panama Canal cruise - either into and out of Gatun Lake or a complete transit.  The ports are varied and interesting and the transit itself is a true wonder.





 

When we first cruised to Alaska this was a question we asked as we wanted to know if we would be near to town or if there was a walk involved.  Have no fear, as most Alaskan ports of call are relatively compact, you are likely to be docked close to the action. 

If you are off on a shore excursion, the buses will be right at the pier regardless of where your ship ties up.  If you want to explore on your own, you likely will not find the walk from the pier to the sights to be long. 

Be aware though, on busy days when there are many ships in port, someone will wind up with the short straw and your ship may not have a berth to tie up at.  In this case, you will be shuttled to shore on one of the ship's tender boats.  Usually your cruise itinerary will tell you if you will be tendered. Regardless, this is a rare occurrence.

For the major ports of call, this is most likely where you will dock if you are on a ship of one of the major cruise lines:

1. Icy Strait Point: you will always be tendered to shore as the cruise ship dock has not been put in yet.  The tender ride is 10 - 15 minutes in length.

2. Juneau: has a downtown dock for most cruise lines - while this is at the south end of town, it is also where most of the shopping is.  Princess ships tie up five to ten minutes further south at their own dock.  There are a couple of shops located adjacent to the dock here as well.

3. Ketchikan: again, there is a downtown dock for all cruise lines.  You can literally step off the ship and start shopping.  The only exception is if the dock space is all taken and your ship has to tender its passengers to shore.

4. Seward: the docks are at the north end of town and it is a bit of a walk to some of the prime sites such as the Marine Rehabilitation Center.  If you don't mind the 20 - 30 minute walk to get to the south end of Seward, the town is still fairly compact.  As this is usually the start or end to a cruise, most passengers don't spend much time looking around Seward.

5. Skagway: Princess ships dock at the railway pier at the east side of the harbour.  As the name implies, the Yukon Whitepass Railroad line is 30 meters from the gangway.  It is about a 10-20 minute walk to town from the ship depending on how fast you are and whether your ship is number 1 or 2 at the dock.  Other ships dock to the west of the harbour, have their own railroad service and are a similar distance from town.

6. Sitka:  if you are lucky enough to visit Sitka, you will always be tendered to shore as there is no dock capable of handling a cruise ship.  The tender ride to shore is about 15 minutes.

7. Vancouver:  ships dock either at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver or further east, at the Ballantyne Cruise Terminal.  Both are excellent facilities and easy to reach by taxi from the airport or your hotel.

8. Whittier: the ship docks just east of the access tunnel to the town.  Shops, such as they are, are a few hundred meters from the dock. This usually isn't a worry as this is a terminus or start to a cruise, not a place that passengers usually spend much time exploring