Advice re ports

[Martin15]

My wife and I are doing a Celebrity Cruise in September and we have booked a number of excursions. We haven’t booked excursions for Sydney, Bar Harbour and Charlottetown. Are these towns close to the respective cruise terminals and can we get shuttle buses or taxis to take us to and from these towns?

[1025cruise]

At least for Bar Harbor, the tender dock is right by the main street. 

[martincath]

Sydney you are also downtown, whether docked or tendering, but you DEFINITELY need to consider what you're doing in advance as it's a very small town and ALL the popular sites to visit are out of town; while you can use public buses to get to the Mining Museum in Glace Bay there would still be a fair bit of walking and the frequency of the services isn't fantastic so driving yourself there would be much more efficient. The Bell museum, Highland Village, Louisbourg Fortress, and the Cabot Trail all require your own transportation, either an organized your or a rental car. This is not a port to just hang around in unless all you want to do is shop (with a poor selection of options compared to larger ports) or get liquored-up in a vaguely-historic pub.

 

I think that they might put on a Ceilidh of sorts for you at the port since it's a cruise day (traditional Scottish dancing & music for an admission fee) and there's a walking tour of a handful of historic buildings but those pale into insignificance next to the out-of-town options...

[maryann ns]

I agree with martincath.  Here is a document with information for Sydney.    

 

 

[mets123]

Acadia in Bar Harbor is a must. And get some lobster rolls and blueberry pie when you're done.

[Ashland]

For Bar Harbor look at the Acadia National Park tour offered on their website (book directly)....This was one of our favorite tours at this port.

[Northern Aurora]

We have been to Bar Harbor as a port call several times.  We did a tour of Acadia National Park using Ollie's Trolley, and were very pleased.  Since we also like to eat our way through a port we have found a lovely cafe just half a block or so off of the main tourist drag -- the cafe is Cottage 59 and is located on Cottage Street.  Lovely lobster offerings.

 

In Charlottetown there is a historic home which can be easily reached by foot.  Also a number of lovely restaurants downtown.  If there is interest in visiting the Ann of Green Gables property, you will be driving.  Also, when we have called at Charlottetown there have been some (but not many) excursion vendors offering tours.

 

In Sydney Celebrity will most likely offer a ship sponsored excursion to Louisbourg.  We were there ten or so years ago, and my recollection is that it is located a distance from the port.  And we actually enjoy the food at the Governor's Pub which I suspect is the "vague-ly historic pub" mentioned by a prior poster.  Last year they had wonderful seafood chowder. 

[Martin15]

Many thanks for all the advice. It is much appreciated.

[BarbinMich]

On 7/25/2019 at 10:53 AM, martincath said:

Sydney you are also downtown, whether docked or tendering, but you DEFINITELY need to consider what you're doing in advance as it's a very small town and ALL the popular sites to visit are out of town; while you can use public buses to get to the Mining Museum in Glace Bay there would still be a fair bit of walking and the frequency of the services isn't fantastic so driving yourself there would be much more efficient. The Bell museum, Highland Village, Louisbourg Fortress, and the Cabot Trail all require your own transportation, either an organized your or a rental car. This is not a port to just hang around in unless all you want to do is shop (with a poor selection of options compared to larger ports) or get liquored-up in a vaguely-historic pub.

 

I think that they might put on a Ceilidh of sorts for you at the port since it's a cruise day (traditional Scottish dancing & music for an admission fee) and there's a walking tour of a handful of historic buildings but those pale into insignificance next to the out-of-town options...

I disagree about the undesirability of "hanging around" town.  That's what I did when we stopped there a few years ago on our Can-NE cruise.  Enjoyed walking around the older part of town.   Also found a Tim Horton's for a cup of coffee.  Finally, there was an Arts and Crafts expo in the building where the Visitor's Info Center is near/on the dock.  And I'm pretty sure there was a musician or two performing in the vicinity.  Low-key stuff, but at the end of a fairly port-intensive cruise, it was a welcome change.

Edited July 28, 2019 by BarbinMich