Best way to see Saint John's AND Hopewell Rocks

[cruiseliz44]

First time to Saint John's.   Coming in for the day off the Anthem of the Seas in October.    I really would like to see Hopewill Rocks but I have told it is a 2 hour drive there and back.

I still would like to see the caves (in St. Martins, I believe) and the reversing rapids and the covered bridges...... I want to see it ALL!    I guess the best way to do this is to rent a car?

Has anyone know the best place to rent a car that is closest to where we dock?   Is it walking distance. 

OR, does can anyone recommend a different way to see it ALL?

[declansdad]

You are visiting Saint John not Saint John's; two different places in two different provinces.

 

To visit the Hopewell Rocks you would need the entire day. With a rental car you visit the caves in St. Martins as well as the covered bridges that are there. You could also visit Reversing Falls (Rapids) in the city as well. You will not be able to do it all.

 

You will also need to look at the tide tables to determine what your best bet will be..

[Ashland]

Have you considered just doing a private group tour? We were very happy using "Dave's Taxi Tours" during our port stop there on Anthem.

[cruiseliz44]

7 hours ago, Ashland said:

Have you considered just doing a private group tour? We were very happy using "Dave's Taxi Tours" during our port stop there on Anthem.

Hi,

Yes, read and heard a lot about Dave's Taxi Tours.  I just booked a Hybrid Tour with Dave and enlisted 4 other shipmates to join us.   Saving Hopewell Rocks for another trip one day (hopefully).   Glad for another good recommendation.    Thank You.

[kmerlin14]

I was in Saint JOhn this weekend so I went to their private tour booth in Babour's Store to see if they had a tour to the Hopewell Rocks and they said they don't. It is a two hour drive to get there and another two hours back so the timing is very tight. They usually do tours to the Fundy Parkway/St. Martin's area which would give you the tidal experience as well. Some ships do offer a ships excursion to the Hopewell Rocks site though.

[bayou cruiser]

I'm very interested in this as well.  It looks like the Anthem docks at 11 a.m. in St. John.  The ship is offering the tour to Hopewell Rocks, but that doesn't mean they will arrive/stay for low tide.  I'm torn.

 

[kmerlin14]

Www.thehopewellrocks.ca has some tide tables if you are able to check the day you are in port. You can usually access the ocean floor for about seven hours of the twelvish hour cycle

[wannavacay]

I went to Hopewell Rocks on a road trip with a friend who lived in Maine, many years ago.  We were there for low tide in the morning (had stayed in the motel next door), then left to go shopping in Moncton to kill the time before returning at high tide.  My husband has never been, so on this cruise, first thing I did was look for an excursion.  RC is offering one, but like everyone is saying, it takes 2 hours each way to get there, and honestly, if I went all that way and it didn't coincide with the tide schedule, that would be a bummer.  The magic is in seeing the difference in the tides at Hopewell, and "walking on the ocean floor."  Sadly our arrival that day does not match up well with the tide schedule so we are choosing to meander around Saint John and check out the Reversing Falls.

[toras]

What we did last time was we rented a car from Saint John and made our own way to Halifax to catch the ship next day, so we can see things along the way at leisure, including Peggy's Cove. Stayed one night in a motel in Truro NS.

We're Canadian so there were no issues and we were cleared by the ship.

[pmjnh]

St Martins caves are pretty cool  BUT the tide needs to be low, just like Hopewell Rocks. So watch your tide chart. If its high tide, I would not bother.

Edited September 10, 2019 by pmjnh

[TOCruisers]

On 7/29/2019 at 1:46 PM, cruiseliz44 said:

First time to Saint John's.   Coming in for the day off the Anthem of the Seas in October.    I really would like to see Hopewill Rocks but I have told it is a 2 hour drive there and back.

I still would like to see the caves (in St. Martins, I believe) and the reversing rapids and the covered bridges...... I want to see it ALL!    I guess the best way to do this is to rent a car?

Has anyone know the best place to rent a car that is closest to where we dock?   Is it walking distance. 

OR, does can anyone recommend a different way to see it ALL?

 

Just back from Canada/New England cruise.  I also wanted to do it all or the worst Hopewell Rocks but the tide did not co-operate.  Check the tide schedule someone posted and see if possible.  

We rented a car and went to the Reversing Falls first, spent some time.  Then we went to St. Martins, but the tide was not low enough so we had something to eat at a restaurant and waited.  Then I went into the Caves.  We then went back to Reversing Falls to see the difference.  Easy drive and parking.  If the tide schedule works out, I will do Hopewell Rocks through the cruise tour.  Or come back by land tour to do it all as it takes time to enjoy the changes happening.  We rented a car from Enterprises at 10 Crown as Avid and Budget near the port had nothing available.  Enterprises picked us up and dropped us at the port.

 

If I have seen the post below before our cruise, I may have considered doing what they did so that we can do the Hopewell Rocks, St Martins and St. Andrews and Peggy's Cove all at once.  Oh well, the next time.

 

On 9/7/2019 at 10:34 PM, toras said:

What we did last time was we rented a car from Saint John and made our own way to Halifax to catch the ship next day, so we can see things along the way at leisure, including Peggy's Cove. Stayed one night in a motel in Truro NS.

We're Canadian so there were no issues and we were cleared by the ship.

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by TOCruisers
missed a few words