Saint John, New Brunswick Itinerary Help, Please

[MalibuCA]

We are taking the fall foliage cruise on the Crystal Symphony next year. After much deliberation, we have put together a plan for our day in Saint John next October. Please advise! I welcome all kind tips and recommendations.

 

Our plan is to rent a car and drive to St. Martins to see the caves, visit the village of St. Martins, have the "world famous clam chowder" at the Cave View Family Restaurant, and drive the Fundy Trail Parkway. Crystal offered a shore excursion this year to St. Martins (which they will likely offer again next year), but it did not include the Fundy Trail Parkway, and it seems that we are so close to it in St. Martins, that it is not to be missed. Here are my questions:

 

1. Has anyone taken the Crystal shore excursion or any other ship excursion to St. Martins? What did you think? Is the "world famous clam chowder," really that good, or is it over-hyped? Is St. Martins the best use of our time (as opposed to staying within the city of Saint John?)

 

2. Has anyone driven the Fundy Trail Parkway? Your impressions and recommendations?

 

3. Has anyone rented a car and driven this route that I am proposing? My research revealed that Enterprise is located at 132 Station Street, and Avis is located at 4 Water Street. I think that Avis is closer to where the ship docks, correct? Has anyone rented from Avis or Enterprise in Saint John? Can I arrange for them to meet us at the ship with the rental car, or do I need to go to them? Are the cars located at these addresses on Station Street (Enterprise) and Water Street (Avis), or do we need to go somewhere else to pick up the car? Can we drop the car at the pier before re-boarding the Symphony, or do we return the car to the same location where we picked it up?

 

4. My research indicates that Crystal docks at either Long Wharf or Pugsley. Is this correct? It is a "docking" port, not a "tender" port, correct?

 

5. I have considered the possibility of driving all the way to Hopewell Rocks, but I'm afraid that I will not get back on time. I would HATE to miss the ship! Has anyone gone this far? And made it back on time?! We are docked from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

 

I have considered hiring a private guide, but I don't think it's necessary. Besides, most of the guides require a minimum of 4 passengers, and we are only 2. We prefer to pair up with others only if we know them prior to the tour -- if others prefer to go at a much slower (or faster) pace, for example, then it could be problematic. I love being with fellow passengers on the cruise, but I'm always a little nervous about pairing up for private tours pre-cruise without our knowing each other well. So, we are only 2 passengers for the private guide. Those that will take only 2 charge so much, that it would be much, much cheaper to take a Crystal excursion. We prefer to stay away from the large number of passengers on a ship excursion, which is why I concluded that renting a car would be our best plan. Being that it's Canada, and not CHINA, my husband is convinced that driving on our own will be easy. Please give me your advice.

 

Thanks!

Shelley:)

[travelbig]

I can only answer a few of your questions. We had a private tour over to St. Martins and stopped at the restaurant on the beach by the caves. My BIL had the chowder, which he liked but my SIL said it tasted "fishy", so if you don't like that - beware.

 

The Fundy Trail closes after the Canadian Thanksgiving (that was Oct. 12 this year). The only way to gain access after that day is to be on an official tour (either a ship tour or a private tour company which has made prior arrangements for someone to unlock the gate for them). If you are going there before their Thanksgiving, then you are OK to gain entrance with a rental. We have been on the Fundy Trail Parkway, it is well worth the drive.

 

Yes, this is a docking port.

[sapper1]

We are taking the fall foliage cruise on the Crystal Symphony next year. After much deliberation, we have put together a plan for our day in Saint John next October. Please advise! I welcome all kind tips and recommendations.

 

Our plan is to rent a car and drive to St. Martins to see the caves, visit the village of St. Martins, have the "world famous clam chowder" at the Cave View Family Restaurant, and drive the Fundy Trail Parkway. Crystal offered a shore excursion this year to St. Martins (which they will likely offer again next year), but it did not include the Fundy Trail Parkway, and it seems that we are so close to it in St. Martins, that it is not to be missed. Here are my questions:

 

1. Has anyone taken the Crystal shore excursion or any other ship excursion to St. Martins? What did you think? Is the "world famous clam chowder," really that good, or is it over-hyped? Is St. Martins the best use of our time (as opposed to staying within the city of Saint John?)

 

 

 

St. Martins is a very quaint, picturesque fishing village. There are two covered bridges in the centre of the village and the fishing boats ground out at low tide and of course are stuck there until they float up on the rising tide. You can walk out to the caves from about two hours before to two hours after low tide. Outside those times it is too dangerous or impossible, depending on the stage of the tide. Wear comfortable sneakers, not sandals to walk out to the caves as the beach is uneven and rocky----not big rocks but you need proper footwear.

2. Has anyone driven the Fundy Trail Parkway? Your impressions and recommendations?

 

 

The Fundy Trail is about a 15 minute drive from St. Martins and there are several parking areas along the trail where you can leave your car and walk along the paved path along the water. There are also places where you can walk down stairs to the beach. At Salmon River there is an interperative centre for the trail as well as a very pretty walk down over the suspension bridge.

 

 

 

3. Has anyone rented a car and driven this route that I am proposing? My research revealed that Enterprise is located at 132 Station Street, and Avis is located at 4 Water Street. I think that Avis is closer to where the ship docks, correct? Has anyone rented from Avis or Enterprise in Saint John? Can I arrange for them to meet us at the ship with the rental car, or do I need to go to them? Are the cars located at these addresses on Station Street (Enterprise) and Water Street (Avis), or do we need to go somewhere else to pick up the car? Can we drop the car at the pier before re-boarding the Symphony, or do we return the car to the same location where we picked it up?

 

 

Avis is located across the street from the new Pugsley Terminal. Just turn left and walk up the street a bit. Enterprise is closer to the Long Wharf Terminal. Keep checking on www.cruisesaintjohn.com and the 2010 schedule will be posted. 506-693-8688 for Enterprise and 506-634-7750 for Avis. If you use a 1-800 number, make sure they know you want a car in Saint John, New Brunswick and not St. John's, Newfoundland----happens all the time.

4. My research indicates that Crystal docks at either Long Wharf or Pugsley. Is this correct? It is a "docking" port, not a "tender" port, correct?

 

Saint John is a docking port

 

 

5. I have considered the possibility of driving all the way to Hopewell Rocks, but I'm afraid that I will not get back on time. I would HATE to miss the ship! Has anyone gone this far? And made it back on time?! We are docked from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

 

 

I love Hopewell Rocks but I would not do it in the time you have allotted. You won't get off the ship until about 9:30 and it will be at least 10:00 before you clear the rental car place. There will be others in line to rent also. At least half the drive to the rocks is on low speed limit, twisty two lane roads so that will take the better part of three hours to get there. It is now 1PM and people are hungry. You need a few hours at the rocks to appreciate the tide and you will be disappointed if it is not low tide when you arrive. You then have to drive back and return your car and get back on board by 5:30. Our uptown streets have convoluted traffic patterns so that could slow you up a bit. That's the long answer. The short answer is that you would find it very frustrating as time would be so short and you risk missing the ship.

If your next port of call is in the US you would have a real problem because I don't think you can take a rental car across the border and you can't fly to the US directly from SJ. You have to connect in Montreal.

 

 

I have considered hiring a private guide, but I don't think it's necessary. Besides, most of the guides require a minimum of 4 passengers, and we are only 2. We prefer to pair up with others only if we know them prior to the tour -- if others prefer to go at a much slower (or faster) pace, for example, then it could be problematic. I love being with fellow passengers on the cruise, but I'm always a little nervous about pairing up for private tours pre-cruise without our knowing each other well. So, we are only 2 passengers for the private guide. Those that will take only 2 charge so much, that it would be much, much cheaper to take a Crystal excursion. We prefer to stay away from the large number of passengers on a ship excursion, which is why I concluded that renting a car would be our best plan. Being that it's Canada, and not CHINA, my husband is convinced that driving on our own will be easy. Please give me your advice.

Thanks!

Shelley:)

 

In your time alloted you could have a very relaxing, enjoyable day doing the Fundy Trail and St. Martins and probably have time to visit the Reversing Falls on your way back to the ship.

Our speeds are given in kilometers with 60MPH being 100 km and 30 MPH being 50 km---or klicks as we call them.

[AliCat22]

This past Sept./Oct. we did a very similar trip from Saint John. Just a little background: my husband and I are in our mid-30s. We like exploring on our own and really wanted to see fall color in the Saint John area rather than stay in the city.

 

Ahead of time we rented a car from Enterprise. Since it's pretty close to the dock we assumed they didn't pick up. They did. We saw them pulling away with a carload as we got off at the dock. We walked anyway. It's only a few blocks away, but we had to walk under an interstate to get there. Not a big deal, but I wish we had thought to ask for pick up. Anyway, the staff was great and we were on our way.

 

The drive to St. Martins was absolutely gorgeous and a highlight of our trip. It was pretty easy to find our way since we had a map and directions. It was nice to be on our own and be spontaneous. We found a side road which we took and ended up finding an old covered bridge.

 

St. Martins itself is quaint, but it doesn't warrant a lot of time spent there. There is a convenience store on the righthand side of the road when you first get to town (wish I could remember the name). They have the best cookies baked there and also friendly staff.

 

Most of our time was spent on the Fundy Trail Parkway. It was wonderful. Nice variety of scenery. We could park and get out and hike where something caught our eye. Lots of fall color. Not very crowded, except for the busload of cruise passengers on an excursion! =) We dodged them when we could in order to enjoy the scenery in peace. The visitor center was nice, as was the river and suspension walking bridge right below the visitor center.

 

On the way back we had just a few minutes to stop at the sea caves in St. Martins. Pretty cool. Back at Enterprise, an employee dropped us off at our request a few blocks away at the Old City Market. We had just enough time to breeze through there and make our way through downtown and back to the ship. In my opinion, attempting a trip to Hopewell Rocks would rush the day too much. I'd rather do this itinerary again, taking the time to enjoy.

 

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have other specific questions. Have a great trip next fall!

[AliCat22]

P.S. I missed answering a couple of your questions. As for Enterprise, their cars are right there at the office.

 

As for the docks, both Long Wharf and Pugsley are close together and close to downtown. Pugsley is newer and only slightly more directly empties into downtown. Our ship docked at Long Wharf.

[MalibuCA]

Thank you for all of your helpful replies!

 

Shelley

[MalibuCA]

AliCat22--

 

Thanks for your help. You say that you stopped at the caves at the end of your day after the Fundy Trail. It looks like we would need to do the same thing in order to catch the caves at low tide. It looks like low tide for us will be at 5:08 p.m. Obviously, we can't wait until then to explore the caves and make it back to the ship for our 6:00 p.m. sailaway. Do you have any idea what time prior to the actual 5:08 "low tide" that the tide would be low enough to explore without getting wet? Maybe 4:00 p.m? How long did it take you to drive from St. Martins back to the car rental drop off at the end of the day?

 

Again, thanks so much for the advice.

 

Shelley

[sapper1]

AliCat22--

 

Thanks for your help. You say that you stopped at the caves at the end of your day after the Fundy Trail. It looks like we would need to do the same thing in order to catch the caves at low tide. It looks like low tide for us will be at 5:08 p.m. Obviously, we can't wait until then to explore the caves and make it back to the ship for our 6:00 p.m. sailaway. Do you have any idea what time prior to the actual 5:08 "low tide" that the tide would be low enough to explore without getting wet? Maybe 4:00 p.m? How long did it take you to drive from St. Martins back to the car rental drop off at the end of the day?

 

Again, thanks so much for the advice.

 

Shelley

If your sailaway is 6PM you will have to be on board by 5:30. The drive to Saint John from St. Martins takes 45 minutes but bear in mind you will be encountering rush hour traffic at the time you plan on returning.

It takes about 15 minutes to walk out to the caves as the terrain is very uneven.

You can walk out to the caves from about two hours prior to low tide so you should be able to start out by 3PM.

[AliCat22]

Shelley,

 

I wish I could remember when low tide was predicted for us that day, maybe an hour or so after we would be able to stop there. Whatever time it was, we were assuming that it wouldn't be low enough when we passed through St. Martins on the way back to town.

 

As it turned out, it was pretty low when we were there. We hadn't scheduled time to stop, so we just hopped out and spent about ten minutes there. It takes a few minutes to make your way over the stones and pebbles (the beach exposed by the low tide) to the caves. We got pretty close and saw that the water was only about six inches deep but about ten feet wide in order to get to the caves themselves. Others sloshed through it, apparently; there were half a dozen people who were in and around the caves. That's as far as we went, but the stop was still worth it.

 

From the Fundy Trail it took about 15 minutes to get to St. Martins. From St. Martins it took no more than an hour tops to get back to Enterprise in Saint John. That time would be similar for Avis, too.

 

Your questions help me relive our wonderful vacation, so thanks! Hope it's helpful. Feel free to ask anything else.

 

Alison

[MalibuCA]

Thanks so much for the replies. Frankly, I'm really not looking to "slosh" in the water on a cold Canadian day. Coming from Southern California, I think the cold shock could just kill me! If I can get anywhere near enough to at least see the caves, and if I can do that no later than 3:00 p.m. for a fairly quick look, then I think I will be able to do it all and still get back on board in plenty of time. I will plan for most of our time to be spent on the Fundy Trail with a shorter stop in St. Martins. Oh, BTW, AliCat22, I wish my husband and I were still in our 30s like you:( -- I'm mid-50s and my husband turns 60 next week, so we probably won't be as adventurous hikers as you, but we definitely look forward to exploring the Fundy Trail by car and stopping at all of the lookouts. I expect it will be an extraordinary adventure!

 

Shelley:)

[AliCat22]

The nice surprise was that the caves are right by the main road going through St. Martins. You'll be able to get a decent look at them without going out very far at all. A pair of binoculars might come in handy.

 

Have a wonderful time!

 

Alison

[sapper1]

Thanks so much for the replies. Frankly, I'm really not looking to "slosh" in the water on a cold Canadian day. Coming from Southern California, I think the cold shock could just kill me! If I can get anywhere near enough to at least see the caves, and if I can do that no later than 3:00 p.m. for a fairly quick look, then I think I will be able to do it all and still get back on board in plenty of time. I will plan for most of our time to be spent on the Fundy Trail with a shorter stop in St. Martins. Oh, BTW, AliCat22, I wish my husband and I were still in our 30s like you:( -- I'm mid-50s and my husband turns 60 next week, so we probably won't be as adventurous hikers as you, but we definitely look forward to exploring the Fundy Trail by car and stopping at all of the lookouts. I expect it will be an extraordinary adventure!

 

Shelley:)

I think the water the other poster is referring to is the little brook that runs across the beach at low tide. It is only about six inches deep and if you look there is a sturdy plank spanning the brook at one point. People use that to cross the water at low tide. It is no big deal.