Sail the Inland Sea: A Tale of Two Voyages from Thunder Bay to the Lower St Lawrence

Contributor to newspapers and magazines in Canada, Britain and United States on travel- and transportation themes.

Author: Empress of Britain: Canadian Pacific's greatest ship (Erin: Boston Mills, 1992).

Reviewer for CBRA since 1993.

The author and his wife spent one week travelling from Thunder Bay to
Montreal as passengers on the Greek cargo ship Pontoporos and, a year
later, one week aboard the small Canadian cruise ship Victorian Empress
between Kingston and the Saguenay. He writes in profuse detail of his
experiences, allotting one chapter to each day’s activities.

MacDonald appears to have the knack of readily engaging crew members
and fellow passengers in conversation, thus giving himself opportunities
to learn about their work, their homes, and their interests. However,
this is done at a sometimes superficial level, possibly inevitable when
one has only a few days to gain a degree of intimacy.

Perhaps the best part of this book is the author’s comments on living
aboard a Greek cargo ship and the cultural differences that separate him
from the crew. The sheer amount of minutiae, though, some of it
irrelevant to the book’s theme, and the often-mundane style are
discouraging. Several of the photographs and most of the maps have been
poorly reproduced. One is left with the conclusion that the book’s
contents could easily have been condensed without serious loss to
provide a couple of articles for a newspaper’s Saturday travel
section. Totally confirmed fans of freighter travel and small-ship
cruises may enjoy two vicarious voyages between the book’s covers, but
this reviewer feels that its shortcomings will limit its appeal.