Private tour in Charlottetown, PEI

[sailingwithmom]

Hi,

 

My mom and I will be in Charlottetown Tuesday of next week, Sept. 18th sailing on the VEENDAM. I would like to take a private tour but they are really expensive.

 

The tour offered by the cruise line is probably the Grey Line tour (Island Drive and Anne of Green Gables) but I don't want to spend a lot of time at a fictional character's pretend home even if I love the books and movies.

 

Any suggestions? Is anyone taking a private tour that would like to share with us? We are very nice people. :-)

[purduemom1]

Hello, We will be in Charlottetown in Oct and have the same question you have. We are wondering if there are tour companies available at the dock and while I did some research this morning could not come up with an answer I do know that one on our roll call organized a private tour but I don't remember who it is with. You can check the RCCL Brilliance roll call for Oct 22 sailing and all the posts about the tour will be on the last few pages. There are over 50 pages for the roll call so just jump to the last 3 or so pages and you will find the info. I believe Crusepup was the organizer. Somewhere in the her posts you will find the name of the tour company she used. If you come across any info on tour companies, maybe you wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks and good luck.

[canadarocks]

Well we haven't gone yet, but I have organized a private tour for next week.

 

Duncan's Island Tours - http://www.duncansislandtours.ca

 

Duncan has been wonderful to deal with. I will report back afterwards here on CC. I realize that is too late for the OP, perhaps you would like to email him now to ask about his tours?

[sailingwithmom]

I'll probably just go with the Prince Edward Tour company - I believe that is the one the cruise ship is using anyway and can get it for a lot less directly. I've read some reviews about the preserve shop being a little bit of a waste of time, but we'll take the bad with the good.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[maryann ns]

Your best option for a great day is to rent a car and drive. The driving is very easy.

Here are some previous posts:

 

boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1230792

 

boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1250994

 

boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1651619

[partymaker]

Duncan is booked for our date, has anyone heard of Bill Murray from Take The Island Adventure tour company???

Well we haven't gone yet, but I have organized a private tour for next week.

 

Duncan's Island Tours - http://www.duncansislandtours.ca

 

Duncan has been wonderful to deal with. I will report back afterwards here on CC. I realize that is too late for the OP, perhaps you would like to email him now to ask about his tours?

[travelbig]

We are booked with http://www.discovertourspei.com/

 

Easy to communicate with and we can customize our tour.

[canadarocks]

We just returned from our cruise and I can fully recommend Duncan's Island Tours : http://www.duncansislandtours.ca

 

Six of us from HAL's Eurodam enjoyed a wonderful day with Duncan on September 20th. He was very knowledgable about his lovely island, and was very agreeable about adapting one of his tours to my specifications.

 

It was so nice to be in such a small group, and I know Duncan showed us far more than we would have seen on a ship excursion with a big busload! :cool:

 

Having a pre-made lunch reservation at the very popular PEI Preserve Company was one of many highlights! :D

[sailingwithmom]

We sailed on the Veendam from Montreal to Boston. In Quebec, we just walked around but do suggest eating at Aux Anciens Canadiens restaurant: http://www.auxancienscanadiens.qc.ca/. It is a little pricey but we shared a lunch special and my mom, who was born in Canada, said it reminded her a lot of the food her grandmother used to make.

 

In Charlottetown, we walked around the town, you must visit Province Hall where the first convention was held to discuss the consolidation of all the Canadian settlements into one country: http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/pe/provincehouse/index.aspx

 

Then we took the North Shore & Anne of Green Gables Tours directly through Prince Edward Tours: http://princeedwardtours.com/tours/custom-tours/. It was the same one as what you could book through the ship but Cheaper! It was not as touristy as I thought it would be and I was actually very impressed by the information I learned about the Lucy Maude Montgomery, the author of the books. (She practically created tourism on PEI due to the popularity of her books). Lovely scenery, nice and informative driver, clean bus.

 

In Sydney, we couldn't find any independent tours not connected with the ship so eventually just booked the Bras d'Or Lake and Alexander Graham Bell museum tour. Again, beautiful scenery, clean bus, informative guide. The museum was fantastic. I never knew I knew so little about Alexander Graham Bell. I wished we had more time there but the driver was very time-conscious wanting to make sure we didn't miss our boat.

 

In Halifax, we took a Hop-On, Hop-off bus tour: http://www.ambassatours.com/hop-on-hop-off-double-decker-halifax-tour but the highlight of the day was taking a Tasting Tour led by Emily Forrest was the best tour we had on our entire trip: http://localtastingtours.com/ I really recommend you doing this! She was very informative about the restaurants, their owners, and where there food was coming from. A must for any foodie!

 

In Bar Harbor, we took LuLu's Lobster Tour: http://www.lululobsterboat.com/ and Oli's Trolley's tour: http://www.acadiaislandtours.com/. Both were excellent. Especially Capt. John's lobster tour. Very informative. Excellent views! Then we suggest eating at the West Street Cafe: http://www.weststreetcafe.com/default.asp?id=1 . Good food, fast, courteous service. Wonderful.

 

Also, in Boston, there is no longer any place to store your luggage at the metro South Station. We brought ours to the airport and checked it in early. From the cruise ship take the silver line bus.

 

We had a lovely time and met a lot of nice people.

 

Good sailing!

[jaynak]

Thank you for your helpful review!

[travelbig]

 

Also, in Boston, there is no longer any place to store your luggage at the metro South Station. We brought ours to the airport and checked it in early. From the cruise ship take the silver line bus.

 

We had a lovely time and met a lot of nice people.

 

Good sailing!

 

Thanks for your review. I'm sure many cruisers will find it helpful.

 

As far as the silver line bus, were you able to take it directly from the port to the airport? We will be flying into Boston Oct. 5, can we take the silver line from the airport to the pier? Where is the bus stop at the pier? Just wondered how close it is to the ship. Thanks.

[purduemom1]

Sailingwithmom, thank you for your review. Next month we will visit all the same ports with the exception of Boston and found your comments helpful. Glad you had a good time.

[maryann ns]

Sailingwithmom, thanks for a great review which will be very helpful to others.

[TheHappyWanderers]

We were on the Explorer of the Seas this past fall, and had a port stop in Charlottetown PEI. We did a private tour with Harbour Light Touring Co. Our guide was Harry Moreland. He was punctual and very knowledgeable. We did the northern route of the island with a stop at the Anne of Green Gables house. We learned a lot about the island and we were very comfortable in the van that was provided. We had 3 couples share the tour and the cost. The all-day tour cost each couple $60, so the total was $180. I highly recommend this tour. His website is harbourlighthaven.com and his email address is harbourlightpei@eastlink.ca

Edited November 6, 2013 by TheHappyWanderers

[maryann ns]

Thanks for telling us about this new company.