We were sailing on the Disney Magic last week. This was our first time to Charlottetown (and the first time for Disney Cruise Line as well). We arrived here for the day on Tuesday, October 24, 2017. The weather for the day was amazing. Temperatures were roughly 20 degrees above normal, with a high of 71 degrees for the day (the low temperature was 52 degrees, which is warmer than the average high for the time of year of 50 degrees), and it was partly cloudy to mostly sunny all day, except for the fog at the beginning of the day when we were docking. This location is on Atlantic time, so it is one hour ahead of U.S. Eastern time.
Due to the morning fog, it put us about an hour behind for the day. It was all good though, as our all aboard time was pushed back an hour, making up for the delay. This is not a very big port, but it isn't surprising since the population for the island is around 35,000. There are plenty of indoor shops inside the terminal. For excursions, it was laid out nicely, as we went into the terminal and they had a very good flow to get to the buses for the tours. They were regular coach buses, not the small sardine packed buses you would see in the Caribbean.
After the excursion was completed in the afternoon, we had about 20 minutes to look around the shops in the port, as well as take a few photo opportunities before having to get back on board before leaving port. While in the shops, I found out that our ship was the last of the large ships for the season, so many items in the port were deeply discounted. After going through there quickly, I went out to get a photo of the sugar maple leaf (the symbol for the Canadian flag). After that, the ship blew the horn for all aboard, so that was the end of our day in Charlottetown.
Overall, the port was beautiful and the people here are genuine and friendly. You don't have anyone begging you to buy something from them like you see commonly in the Caribbean. It was really nice to see the port as we were sailing away, as the entire port area was filled with residents waving us out of port. I've never seen that many people out there leaving any of the ports I have done in the past.
If you're looking for a different place to visit, this is definitely a place to visit. The leaves were beautiful as they were getting close to peak leaf colors (a few weeks behind actually due to the warmer weather). Overall, there was great scenery and the place wasn't overcrowded with traffic. There is quite a bit of open space to come...
Read moreI am a resident of the Charlottetown area and work as a driver guide in the summer. It is great to work with very pleasant and friendly cruise ship visitors. Everyone I work with is also knowledgable and pleasant. The guides all have to be professionally certified and take refresher courses each spring.
I feel sure that visitors will experience friendly, knowledgable and helpful guides as well as friendly merchants and locals.
The port will service juat under 100 cruise ships during the early May to late October season.
The port terminal building is large, clean and well organized and located a comfortable walk to historic Charlottetown. Many tours are available to attraction such as Ann of Green Gables and the Falcon Experience.
Charlottetown is open and ready to...
Read moreGreat cruise port! Easy to get from the ship to town on foot. There is a decent sized building with shop vendors you walk thru to enter or exit the port. The shops have great selections of local items with very little "tourist crap" that you see in many cruise ports. The vendors are not pushy and we're helpful answering questions.
The port is in close proximity to the town itself. There is a map i will post here with walking routes laid out by types of services...food, shopping etc. The colors routes from the map match up with lines painted on the sidewalks around town that are easy to follow. I recommend eating at Lobster on the Warf. It's a couple hundred yards from the port and the...
Read more