Canada With Kids

[A&Jfamily]

We are just back from the 5 night Glory, with our two DSs (12 and 6). As I had a hard time collecting information, I thought I would start this thread based upon our trip.

 

We rented a car near the pier in Saint John and drove to the Sea Caves in Saint Martin. The kids had a blast walking on the ocean floor! We then continued on to drive the parkway along the Bay of Fundy. My kids liked the waterfall (parking lot 4) best of all; wish we had time to walk down to the beach by flower pot rock. They weren't as impressed with the suspension bridge.

 

In Saint Martin, we took a privately booked tour to Peggy's Cove. The drive was amazing and the boys loved climbing all over the rocks. On the way back, we stopped at the maple syrup factory and then got dropped in town after a tour around, for a lobster lunch. Also a great day.

 

If anyone has any questions about anything from times to tour companies, ask away!

[Warm Breezes]

We are just back from the 5 night Glory, with our two DSs (12 and 6). As I had a hard time collecting information, I thought I would start this thread based upon our trip.

 

We rented a car near the pier in Saint John and drove to the Sea Caves in Saint Martin. The kids had a blast walking on the ocean floor! We then continued on to drive the parkway along the Bay of Fundy. My kids liked the waterfall (parking lot 4) best of all; wish we had time to walk down to the beach by flower pot rock. They weren't as impressed with the suspension bridge.

 

In Saint Martin, we took a privately booked tour to Peggy's Cove. The drive was amazing and the boys loved climbing all over the rocks. On the way back, we stopped at the maple syrup factory and then got dropped in town after a tour around, for a lobster lunch. Also a great day.

 

If anyone has any questions about anything from times to tour companies, ask away!

 

We are doing this same cruise in July and have rented a car to go to St Martins to do the sea caves. What time did you pick up your rental car? Was it easy to get to St Martins? How much time should we allow for the caves and getting back to Saint John? Thanks for the info.

[bme]

Great post! That day trip in St. John sounds wonderful. Any suggestions for private tour companies either in Halifax or St. John? My group will be about 12 and renting multiple cars may be too much.

 

Thanks!

[A&Jfamily]

We are doing this same cruise in July and have rented a car to go to St Martins to do the sea caves. What time did you pick up your rental car? Was it easy to get to St Martins? How much time should we allow for the caves and getting back to Saint John? Thanks for the info.

 

The rental car place (Avis) opens at 9 Atlantic time - 8 am ships time. So, as soon as you get off the ship, it is a couple of block walk to your left. We were on the road by 9:30 AT. As for getting there, the man's directions were confusing - he should have just said go right out the garage and take Route ?? East. We had our GPS with us, so we just plugged it in and got straightened out quickly. It took 20-30 minutes to get to St. Martin - you basically followed the signs.

 

I was a little worried about finding the sea caves as I was not clear where they were and the GPS was telling me we were in St. Martin. If you have googled pictures of St. Martin, you often see a little cove with boats sitting on the sea floor - this is not it! It is a couple of minutes up the road - with a restaurant called the Caves. Hard to miss. Good food. We did the caves, and since we were done by 10:30, we did the Bay of Fundy stuff and came back for lunch. Amazing to see that 5 minutes after we arrived back at lunch, the people couldn't get in the closest cave - and we had been so much farther out!

 

I would say an hour max, from Bay of Fundy to the Avis - but is it pobably closer to 40 minutes. Which worked out great because they have a little market by the ship and found some cute, inexpensive souveniers. Much better prices than Halifax.

[A&Jfamily]

Great post! That day trip in St. John sounds wonderful. Any suggestions for private tour companies either in Halifax or St. John? My group will be about 12 and renting multiple cars may be too much.

 

Thanks!

 

We used Halifax cab. The driver told us they have 6 vehicles - we were in a van since there were 5 of us. So short of using them and splitting up, I don't know what else to tell you.

 

Saint John is much more provincial and I have not idea what to tell you for that many people. Might just be easier to book through the cruise line....though I hate to say that.

[Warm Breezes]

Thank you so much for the info. We got DH a GPS for father's day so we will be putting it to use. It's good to know that we should have time to do the sea caves and Bay of Fundy. Looking at the Tide schedule our best bet is to check out the Bay of Fundy first and then come back to explore the caves. How long did it take you to do the Bay of Fundy trail and how far is it from the caves?

[A&Jfamily]

Thank you so much for the info. We got DH a GPS for father's day so we will be putting it to use. It's good to know that we should have time to do the sea caves and Bay of Fundy. Looking at the Tide schedule our best bet is to check out the Bay of Fundy first and then come back to explore the caves. How long did it take you to do the Bay of Fundy trail and how far is it from the caves?

 

 

Make sure your GPS has Canada on it! And FYI - there was no entry for Bay of Fundy on DH's - St. Martin was the best we could do.

 

It is maybe another 10 minutes to the beginnig of the parkway. If you just drove it, it is like 13K? There are several look outs. The waterfall is a must @ parking lot 4 - wish I could have figured the best way to the beach where flower pot rock is (you see that at the 1st parking lot). If hiking to the beach interests you, I would email them and ask specifically what trail to take - looks like it might be best to walk from parking lot 1 on the map, but they told us 4 and it was a longer hike than my 6 year old was up for.

 

So, the short answer is you can spend as much or as little time on the trail as you want. The brochure they give you gives suggesions if you have one hour, 2 hours, 4 hours etc.

 

Make sure you swing into the parking lot at the Caves when the tide is higher and take a picture - it is really amazing how much ground that water covers and uncovers.

[Warm Breezes]

Make sure your GPS has Canada on it! And FYI - there was no entry for Bay of Fundy on DH's - St. Martin was the best we could do.

 

It is maybe another 10 minutes to the beginnig of the parkway. If you just drove it, it is like 13K? There are several look outs. The waterfall is a must @ parking lot 4 - wish I could have figured the best way to the beach where flower pot rock is (you see that at the 1st parking lot). If hiking to the beach interests you, I would email them and ask specifically what trail to take - looks like it might be best to walk from parking lot 1 on the map, but they told us 4 and it was a longer hike than my 6 year old was up for.

 

So, the short answer is you can spend as much or as little time on the trail as you want. The brochure they give you gives suggesions if you have one hour, 2 hours, 4 hours etc.

 

Make sure you swing into the parking lot at the Caves when the tide is higher and take a picture - it is really amazing how much ground that water covers and uncovers.

Again...thanks for the great info. One of the things I made sure when buying the GPS was that Canada was on it so we are safe there. We live in Michigan so with Canada as our neighbor, I wanted to make sure we were covered. I am so ready to go there and check this all out.:D

[travelbig]

Great post! That day trip in St. John sounds wonderful. Any suggestions for private tour companies either in Halifax or St. John? My group will be about 12 and renting multiple cars may be too much.

 

Thanks!

 

For St. John I would highly recommend Freedom Travel. Lots of good things said about them on these boards and we had a wonderful tour with them. They will be able to handle your large size group. www.freedomtours.com

[stefanny28]

Hi A&Jfamily;

 

Thanks for your great review. Unluckly, when we will be there (July 22nd) the tide will be high when the ship is in town. So we won't be able to do the sea caves.

 

About Peggy's Cove, I have a daughter (11), do you think that it is interesting for a teen ? How far is it from the port?

Besides the rocks and the lighthouse, is there anything else?

 

Your trip is coming soon and I haven't plan anything yet for Saint Jonh.

 

Thanks

[maryann ns]

To clarify - Peggy's Cove is near Halifax. Most kids, teens and grown ups love it. It is about a 45 minute drive by car. If you return to the Ports of Call - Canada section and look for the pink horizontal bar near the top, click on search and put in Peggy"s cove and you will get lots of previous posts with all kinds of good information.

[A&Jfamily]

Hi A&Jfamily;

 

Thanks for your great review. Unluckly, when we will be there (July 22nd) the tide will be high when the ship is in town. So we won't be able to do the sea caves.

 

About Peggy's Cove, I have a daughter (11), do you think that it is interesting for a teen ? How far is it from the port?

Besides the rocks and the lighthouse, is there anything else?

 

Your trip is coming soon and I haven't plan anything yet for Saint Jonh.

 

Thanks

 

My son is 12 and loved climbing on the massive rocks at the light house. The light house is relatively small, and you don't go in it. There are a bunch of little crafty touristy shops - Peggy's cove is a really tiny little village. It was about a 30-45 minute drive out there with beautiful scenery. It was neat to talk to the driver who had grown up there. On the way back we stopped at the maple syrup refinery which was yummy. Good place to find real, cheap, syrup. We got a tour around Halifax when he brought us back, and then we went to a local restaurant for lobster. Walked back along the water front which has some cute little stands and shops. There is a science museum in Halifax that sounded like something my boys would like, we just didn't have time.

 

The Canadian people are VERY very friendly. I would suggest that you plan something for St. John - it is a very sleepy little port town. And while I liked the little market they had set up around the port - more so than the bigger one in Halifax, there didn't appear to be much "to do" in St. John itself.

[catergirl]

which ports did you stop at on your cruise? thanks martha

[A&Jfamily]

which ports did you stop at on your cruise? thanks martha

 

Saint John, NB (Bay of Fundy) and Halifax, NS (Peggy's Cove)