Official Thread For Upcoming Eastern Canadian Cruises

[peachygreen]

*Whew!* Made it through the whole thread and now my brain is bursting at the cranial sutures!

I mentioned we're doing shore excursions in both Halifax and St. John. We're doing the Halifax Highlights tour, and hopefully we will have JUST enough time to grab a Beavertail (in the words of a famous Canadian, "YEEEEE-UM-meh!" - but where exactly are the stands located?), have lunch in a pub near the water (dang, what was the name of the place people said was good near the ship?), and maybe stop by the Maritime Museum (looking at the tour this seems a little redundant as they discuss the Halifax disaster there too, but we're Bostonians and want to pay our respects.)

As for St. John...



Good to see this isn't as lackluster as it looks in the Disney website description. Still, mom booked this without really knowing what there was to see in the province. We all love beautiful landscapes, and it seems a shame to go to St. John and take the tour that generally stays in town and doesn't appear to explore the unique geography.

I don't think mom could do the Hopewell tour, but I may be able to sell her on the less-strenuous St. Martins/Sea Caves tour. And despite the silly name, St. John Rocks, which focuses on the geology of the region, looks very nice too. Has anyone done that tour? How far away is Rockwood Park?

And finally, where's a good place to eat right near the ship in St John?

(OK, time to plow through the thread for my specific cruise... )

If you want to get out of town you might want to look into the Bay of Fundy Photography Tour. My sister did that in the afternoon after having done the city tour in the morning. They said they drove by a lot of the same sights in town, stopped 2x's a reversing falls and got to get out of town to some really nice out of the way places.

 

[Prinny27]

Hi everyone! DH and I are trying to decide what to do in St. John. We've narrowed it down to two - St. Martins and Bay of Fundy, and the St. John Highlights. Has anyone been on either of these? How were they? Can anyone compare the two?

And in Halifax, where can we find the best poutine?

Thanks!

 

[declansdad]

Hi everyone! DH and I are trying to decide what to do in St. John. We've narrowed it down to two - St. Martins and Bay of Fundy, and the St. John Highlights. Has anyone been on either of these? How were they? Can anyone compare the two?

And in Halifax, where can we find the best poutine?

Thanks!

Can't help you with Halifax but being a New Brunswicker I would pick St Martins over Saint John any day.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I read about half of this thread and then my head exploded.

I need some advice. We're driving down and we're going to park at a hotel near Newark airport (park and fly). We're wondering if we should:

a. just pay for the DCL transfers from Newark (there are 3 of us so return trip would be $216) -- we'd take the hotel shuttle to the airport and hook up with DCL there

b. take a taxi to the cruise terminal ($$??)

c. arrange for a car service (like dial 7) to pick us up and bring us back to the hotel

Driving into NYC and parking at the cruise terminal is not going to happen (I want to avoid driving in NYC).

 

[Anonny]

As for St. John...

I don't think mom could do the Hopewell tour, but I may be able to sell her on the less-strenuous St. Martins/Sea Caves tour. And despite the silly name, St. John Rocks, which focuses on the geology of the region, looks very nice too. Has anyone done that tour? How far away is Rockwood Park?

And finally, where's a good place to eat right near the ship in St John?

(OK, time to plow through the thread for my specific cruise... )

We drive from Maine to vacation in the city of Saint John.

Food
Big Tide Brewing Company is a restaurant a five minute walk from the cruise terminal. We eat / drink & snack a couple times each trip. Food is always good and they brew their own good beer.
http://www.bigtidebrew.com/

Steamers Lobster is right across from the terminal. If you are from Boston I don't think it would be special. I have read lots of good reviews about it. I have never eaten there. I think it is only open when ships are at dock.

In my opinion, Hopewell Rocks is too far to drive for the time you would be there. Depending on the time of the tide, what you see may not be at all impressive.

St. Martin's - if you get there at high tide, no sea caves to explore. If the tour is timed so you get there at low tide, they are very cool!

Rockwood Park is a very nice city park. You may live very near a very similar park. There are woods, walking trails, a small lake. You can rent canoes to go out in the lake. Nice, but not really special. You would need a taxi to get there.

Saint John the city, could easily spend an hour or two exploring on foot. The tourist info people can give you free brochures for different walking tours explaining architecture and cultural significance. There is also the very nice New Brunswick Museum, one -two hours, $8.00

For geology, check out the Stonehammer site.
http://stonehammer.nbm-mnb.ca/main.html
This is an recent endeavor to promote the geological significance of the area and tie together the activities that help you explore it.

Have fun!

 

[peachygreen]

We did the Saint John Highlights tour so I can tell you about that. We didn't do the other one obviously so I can't compare.

The Saint John Highlights tour left met in the Buena Vista Theater at 9am. We were one of the first groups off the ship that morning. We walked off the ship to our tour bus. It is just a normal tour bus, air conditioned and comfortable. The bus left around 9:30am. We had a tour guide and a bus driver. The tour guide was dressed in period clothes. We started with a nice history of Saint John including the fire and the buildings that were built prefire and post fire. The great fire was in 1877.
After about 30 minutes, our first stop was the City Market. We had about 30 minutes of free time to walk around the market. We were given a mission to count moose heads. My daughter had fun being serious and creative with the moose counting.
After the stop at the City Market we countinued our tour. We drove past the Fort Howe Lookout with a great view of the ship. I was able to snap a few pictures from the bus, but we didn't stop here. We learned about the Irving Family and that you basically had 2 types of people that used to live in Saint John, the sailors and the ones who worked the river/lumber mill. After a 30-40 minute ride, we stopped at the Reversing Falls Park. We were given descriptions of low tide, high tide and slack tide and were told to figure out which we were. We were at high tide (not peak high tide but high tide) and the water was reversing (going upstream). After a 20 minute stop we got back on the bus and continued our tour.
We rode for another 30 minutes and saw the Public Gardens, Rockwood Park and more of Saint John on our way to the Carelton Martello Tower. We had 30-40 minutes to explore the tower and visitor center. The kids were given a Canada Explorers Book with questions to answer and if they answered them they would get a certificate and a prize. We went up to the tower where we were able to get some beautiful pictures of the Magic in the Harbour. We explored the tower and the kids go to try on red coats and use wooden guns and explore the ammo storage. Then we went down to the visitor center where they could learn about the tower and arches and saw some historical artificats from the tower. My parents watched a nice film about the tower, but we didn't have time to watch it after exploring the tower with the kids. If you didn't spend much time at the tower you could watch the film and explore the visitor center or you could send time exploring the tower and really rush through the visitor center but miss the film. You couldn't really do both. We left the tower at about 12:15 and went back to the ship. We reboarded, went back to the room to drop some stuff off and were having lunch at Luimere's by 1pm (and that was when the food arrived, I'm using time stamps on my camera so I'm not sure what time we actually got to lunch).

It was a nice way to spend a half a day and get a nice overview and history of Saint John. It is not an active tour. We had the afternoon to explore on our own so after lunch we walked to the New Brunswick Museum which is about a half a mile from where the ship docked.

I enjoyed the tour and learned a lot on it. I think if I had to do it again we might have done the Hop On Hop Off instead so we could explore sites that interested it us at our leisure and not felt rushed (or felt like we were waiting around - but waitin on the next bus to come might have left us feeling the same way).

 

[peachygreen]

I read about half of this thread and then my head exploded.

I need some advice. We're driving down and we're going to park at a hotel near Newark airport (park and fly). We're wondering if we should:

a. just pay for the DCL transfers from Newark (there are 3 of us so return trip would be $216) -- we'd take the hotel shuttle to the airport and hook up with DCL there

b. take a taxi to the cruise terminal ($$??)

c. arrange for a car service (like dial 7) to pick us up and bring us back to the hotel

Driving into NYC and parking at the cruise terminal is not going to happen (I want to avoid driving in NYC).

Which hotel?

Another option would be to take the hotel shuttle to the airport, take the air train to Penn Station and then a taxi from Penn Station. The practicality of this would depend on size of family and amount of luggage. The airtrain is like $12.50 per person and kids under 12 I think were free.

 

[Prinny27]

We did the Saint John Highlights tour so I can tell you about that. We didn't do the other one obviously so I can't compare.

The Saint John Highlights tour left met in the Buena Vista Theater at 9am. We were one of the first groups off the ship that morning. We walked off the ship to our tour bus. It is just a normal tour bus, air conditioned and comfortable. The bus left around 9:30am. We had a tour guide and a bus driver. The tour guide was dressed in period clothes. We started with a nice history of Saint John including the fire and the buildings that were built prefire and post fire. The great fire was in 1877.
After about 30 minutes, our first stop was the City Market. We had about 30 minutes of free time to walk around the market. We were given a mission to count moose heads. My daughter had fun being serious and creative with the moose counting.
After the stop at the City Market we countinued our tour. We drove past the Fort Howe Lookout with a great view of the ship. I was able to snap a few pictures from the bus, but we didn't stop here. We learned about the Irving Family and that you basically had 2 types of people that used to live in Saint John, the sailors and the ones who worked the river/lumber mill. After a 30-40 minute ride, we stopped at the Reversing Falls Park. We were given descriptions of low tide, high tide and slack tide and were told to figure out which we were. We were at high tide (not peak high tide but high tide) and the water was reversing (going upstream). After a 20 minute stop we got back on the bus and continued our tour.
We rode for another 30 minutes and saw the Public Gardens, Rockwood Park and more of Saint John on our way to the Carelton Martello Tower. We had 30-40 minutes to explore the tower and visitor center. The kids were given a Canada Explorers Book with questions to answer and if they answered them they would get a certificate and a prize. We went up to the tower where we were able to get some beautiful pictures of the Magic in the Harbour. We explored the tower and the kids go to try on red coats and use wooden guns and explore the ammo storage. Then we went down to the visitor center where they could learn about the tower and arches and saw some historical artificats from the tower. My parents watched a nice film about the tower, but we didn't have time to watch it after exploring the tower with the kids. If you didn't spend much time at the tower you could watch the film and explore the visitor center or you could send time exploring the tower and really rush through the visitor center but miss the film. You couldn't really do both. We left the tower at about 12:15 and went back to the ship. We reboarded, went back to the room to drop some stuff off and were having lunch at Luimere's by 1pm (and that was when the food arrived, I'm using time stamps on my camera so I'm not sure what time we actually got to lunch).

It was a nice way to spend a half a day and get a nice overview and history of Saint John. It is not an active tour. We had the afternoon to explore on our own so after lunch we walked to the New Brunswick Museum which is about a half a mile from where the ship docked.

I enjoyed the tour and learned a lot on it. I think if I had to do it again we might have done the Hop On Hop Off instead so we could explore sites that interested it us at our leisure and not felt rushed (or felt like we were waiting around - but waitin on the next bus to come might have left us feeling the same way).

Thanks so much for this review!

 

[Chirple]

Which hotel?

Another option would be to take the hotel shuttle to the airport, take the air train to Penn Station and then a taxi from Penn Station. The practicality of this would depend on size of family and amount of luggage. The airtrain is like $12.50 per person and kids under 12 I think were free.

This is not a bad idea, except AirTrain will only take you to the Amtrak/NJ Train station at Newark Airport. From there you will need to take the NJ Transit train into New York Penn Station (there's a Newark Penn Station, too, which is not where you are going).

If you do this, have the hotel shuttle drop you off at the P4 parking garage; it's only one stop on the AirTrain from this point to the EWR train station. There is no drop off at the train station. You will need to scan your NJ Transit tickets to get through the turnstiles.

 

[peachygreen]

This is not a bad idea, except AirTrain will only take you to the Amtrak/NJ Train station at Newark Airport. From there you will need to take the NJ Transit train into New York Penn Station (there's a Newark Penn Station, too, which is not where you are going).

If you do this, have the hotel shuttle drop you off at the P4 parking garage; it's only one stop on the AirTrain from this point to the EWR train station. There is no drop off at the train station. You will need to scan your NJ Transit tickets to get through the turnstiles.

The HOtel shuttle takes you to P4. Then you take the airport train to the EWR Train station. I guess it is technically called the NJ Transit. I was told it was the AirTrain. The train schedule I printed had the train leaving 2x's an hour on a Saturday and it takes about 25-30 minutes.

http://www.panynj.gov/airports/ewr-to-from.html

 

[Chirple]

The HOtel shuttle takes you to P4. Then you take the airport train to the EWR Train station. I guess it is technically called the NJ Transit. I was told it was the AirTrain. The train schedule I printed had the train leaving 2x's an hour on a Saturday and it takes about 25-30 minutes.

http://www.panynj.gov/airports/ewr-to-from.html

Sorry if my post was confusing! AirTrain is the internal airport train that runs from parking lot P1 to the Amtrak/NJ Transit train station (and back) at EWR. Once you get off the AirTrain, you can connect to the NJ Transit train into NY Penn.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Well, I'm travelling with almost octogenerians who want the simplest and most direct way to the cruise terminal. One is already balking about taking the hotel shuttle to the airport! (oh boy, the 8 hour drive down is going to be fun. ) Getting her to take the bus or train into the Port Authority or Penn Station would be a miracle. If it were just me, I'd take the bus to the Port Authority and then either walk it or cab it to the terminal but ... I'm not alone.... and they don't seem to do public transit very well.

We've got ressies at the Hampton Inn Newark Airport.

 

[U2FanHfx]

First "bad" day of weather here in Halifax for a Disney Magic visit. At least the rain held off for the most part. If I told you we have had only about 3 or 4 days of rain since mid-June you probably wouldn't believe your luck. Hope all of you still had a great day touring our city!

PS - The Magic being right outside my window tends to brighten my day no matter what!

 

[silmarg]

does "ship time" on the Magic mimic local time?

 

[Thorb73]

does "ship time" on the Magic mimic local time?

Yes it does! You will get information in your daily navigator when to adjust your watch and how.

 

[wdwnut76]

We're sailing on the September 2nd cruise from New York to Canada.

Will I need to pack mosquito repellant? I'm especially concerned about biting insects on the Maple Sugar Farm excursion.

Thanks!

 

[Michellynn]

We're sailing on the September 2nd cruise from New York to Canada.

Will I need to pack mosquito repellant? I'm especially concerned about biting insects on the Maple Sugar Farm excursion.

Thanks!

Wow..I hadn't even thought of the mosquito aspect. We are going on the September 7 cruise and we are also doing the Sugar Shack excursion.

 

[jkpmac]

We're sailing on the September 2nd cruise from New York to Canada.

Will I need to pack mosquito repellant? I'm especially concerned about biting insects on the Maple Sugar Farm excursion.

Thanks!

YES!!!! The squeeters can get pretty annoying by times, but there are black flies and these little itrritating creatures we cal no-see-ums, so small you can barely see them, but a bite worse then a blackfly.

 

[darsura]

First "bad" day of weather here in Halifax for a Disney Magic visit. At least the rain held off for the most part. If I told you we have had only about 3 or 4 days of rain since mid-June you probably wouldn't believe your luck. Hope all of you still had a great day touring our city!

PS - The Magic being right outside my window tends to brighten my day no matter what!

The rain did not stop us from enjoying your city! We rented a car and drove around, and then headed out to Peggy's Cove. It was a lovely drive and the Cove was beautiful. We also stopped by the Swiss Air memorial while out there. Then we drove back and visited the Fairview Lawn cemetery. We dropped the car off and walked over to Tug's Pub on the waterfront. We had some oysters and fish and chips and local beer. Really enjoyed that!

 

[steelfish535]

We're sailing on the September 2nd cruise from New York to Canada.

Will I need to pack mosquito repellant? I'm especially concerned about biting insects on the Maple Sugar Farm excursion.

Thanks!

wdwnut76 - We will be on the same cruise! Where abouts on the island are you?