Tours for Canadian Cruise

[Giantfan13]

We just booked a NE/Canadian cruise on the Carnival Glory for July. We are fairly experienced cruisers who will never do a ship's excursion, prefer either to rent cars or do private excursions.

 

Our ports of call are

Portland

Halifax

St Johns

Sydney

 

Can anyone recommend a few options for these ports.

Are there good tour companies that any have used, that are reasonable

As of now, we are a group of 2 couples, all seniors.

 

I don't know if it against board rules to recommend tour companies. I post a lot on the Baltics board and we do suggest several private tour companies and it seems OK, so if anyone has suggestions for us, it would be appreciated very much.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[LHT28]

There are lots of options for the ports just depends on what your interests are

I would check the Tourists board for each stop then decide what works best for you

http://www.novascotia.com/en/home/default.aspx

http://sydney.capebretonisland.com/

 

If you like museums, hiking, forts or just wandering about ..they have it all

 

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/ThingsToDo

[LHT28]

I see you are going to SAINT JOHN not St Johns

two different Provinces

 

http://tourismsaintjohn.com/

[MommaBear55]

Portland waterfront area (old port area) has great architecture restaurants bars and shops. A number of the islands in Portland are inhabited and easily accessed by small ferries which are inexpensive and a great way to see the fights even if you just want to stay onboard. There are also a couple of museums a cheap cab ride awsy- art museum., the Victorian mansion and a children's museum. There is also a AAA baseball stadium that has a Red Sox farm team which is lots of fun. PortlNd is a great city.

[Giantfan13]

I see you are going to SAINT JOHN not St Johns

two different Provinces

 

http://tourismsaintjohn.com/

 

I am glad you pointed that out to me. Thanks

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Giantfan13]

Portland waterfront area (old port area) has great architecture restaurants bars and shops. A number of the islands in Portland are inhabited and easily accessed by small ferries which are inexpensive and a great way to see the fights even if you just want to stay onboard. There are also a couple of museums a cheap cab ride awsy- art museum., the Victorian mansion and a children's museum. There is also a AAA baseball stadium that has a Red Sox farm team which is lots of fun. PortlNd is a great city.

 

We spent a week in Bar Harbor last summer and stopped off in Portland on our way home. We have good friends who live outside of town who showed us some of the town.. We spent some real quality time at the Portland Head Light with some truly amazing pixs. So

we are looking for something else to occupy our time in this city. Thanks for some great ideas.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Giantfan13]

How far a drive is Campobello from Saint Johns? We visited there on a day trip out of Bar Harbor, but would love to go back and revisit if possible?

 

Cheers

 

Len

[MommaBear55]

Campobello is a few hours away. We lived just outside is Saint John for 4 years in the 80's.

[marys350]

Hi,

My husband and I are going on a New England/Canada cruise on Brilliance of the Seas (ports: Portland, Bar Harbor, Saint John, and Halifax) and I've found lots of great posts about the ports and tours on the Canada Ports of Call message board. The most helpful information that I found was on Tom's Port Guides website. I attempted to post a link to the website in this message, but it got xxx'd out. I'm sure that you'll find it by doing a web search.

 

There are specific port guides for Halifax and Saint John with very detailed information, maps, and photos which you can download and save. There may be one for Sydney, but I can't remember.

 

After doing a lot of research, we have decided to rent a car from Enterprise Car Rentals in both Halifax and Saint John. It is walking distance from the cruise terminal.

 

Have fun planning your trip.

[maryann ns]

Tom has an excellent guide for Sydney. I quibble with his Cabot Trail drive as I think with planning you can get to Neil's Harbour but other than that, it is great.

 

If you go back to the Ports of Call - Canada page and look for the search feature (to the right of the blue bar near the top of the page) you can search for previous posts. Put in the name of the port and what you are interested in (private tour, car rental, diy, etc.).

There are many, many previous posts.

[marys350]

Tom has an excellent guide for Sydney. I quibble with his Cabot Trail drive as I think with planning you can get to Neil's Harbour but other than that, it is great.

 

If you go back to the Ports of Call - Canada page and look for the search feature (to the right of the blue bar near the top of the page) you can search for previous posts. Put in the name of the port and what you are interested in (private tour, car rental, diy, etc.).

There are many, many previous posts.

 

Hi Maryann,

Your posts on the Canada Ports of Call message board have been excellent and have helped in our decision to rent a car to see the sights.

 

Thanks for your help,

Mary

[Giantfan13]

great info from the Tom's Port Guides site. But there was nothing for Saint Johns.

 

Aren't we on the Canada Ports of Call page?

 

Cheers

 

Len

[marys350]

great info from the Tom's Port Guides site. But there was nothing for Saint Johns.

 

Aren't we on the Canada Ports of Call page?

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

If you are stopping at Saint John, New Brunswick, then there is a port guide for Saint John. I have it saved as a favorite on my computer.

[LHT28]

great info from the Tom's Port Guides site. But there was nothing for Saint Johns.

Len

 

It is SAINT JOHN..no "S" in New Brunswick

there is a link on Tom's page for New Brunswick

[Giantfan13]

If you are stopping at Saint John, New Brunswick, then there is a port guide for Saint John. I have it saved as a favorite on my computer.

 

Thanks again. I was looking at an older web site and now I relooked and found it.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Mar56]

Last October 2012 we were on the Brilliance and we used Bluediamond Tours in PEI, Sydney and Halifax. They were an absolute pleasure to work with, our guides at all three ports were amazing - we told them exactly what we wanted - ie culture, history, geography of the area - and we fine tuned our tours prior to leaving. I would highly recommend that you contact Bob, the owner, and see what he can do for you.

 

We will be using him again in the future when we do a land tour of the area - it was so beautiful we are definitely going back.

 

Mar56

[maryann ns]

Aren't we on the Canada Ports of Call page?

 

You need to go back to the main page to search all the threads about Canada and not just this thread.

[Lulu51]

We just booked a NE/Canadian cruise on the Carnival Glory for July. We are fairly experienced cruisers who will never do a ship's excursion, prefer either to rent cars or do private excursions.

 

Our ports of call are

Portland

Halifax

St Johns

Sydney

 

Can anyone recommend a few options for these ports.

Are there good tour companies that any have used, that are reasonable

As of now, we are a group of 2 couples, all seniors.

 

I don't know if it against board rules to recommend tour companies. I post a lot on the Baltics board and we do suggest several private tour companies and it seems OK, so if anyone has suggestions for us, it would be appreciated very much.

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

Here is a link to reviews of private tours in Halifax from Trip Advisor, if you do not want to rent a car.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g154976-d2706014-Reviews-Tour_of_Halfiax_and_Peggy_s_Cove_Private_Tours-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipal.html

 

There are a number of small companies that give excellent tours at reasonable prices, get a few quotes as some up charge considerably.

 

Hope that helps.

[Giantfan13]

thank you very much Lulu. I have several emails out already.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Poohb]

For St. John I absolutely recommend http://roystours.webs.com/ He was busy but set us up with his friend. We had a ship 'layover' due to Hurricane Sandy. We were very fortunate. Our 4 hour tour turned into 6 1/2 hours and he only asked us to pay what we originally bargained for... (we gave extra) Very impressed. The only downfall on most of our private tours was that the vehicle size for 6 + driver was a little snug for the long hall, especially when 3 of us would have been considered xlarge.

 

In Halifax we had another OUTSTANDING tour with Paul from Halifax Titanic Historical Tours. His vehicle was huge and we had 'drop down' video screens. We didn't go to Peggy's Cove with all the tourists. He took us to a 'working' fishing cove for a wonderful lunch at (I think it was called) Boondocks.

 

Make arrangements early. Enjoy.