Saint John & Bay of Fundy

[sundae98]

My husband and I are booked on a Candian/New England cruise, and we have never been to Saint John, we are debating between the St John & Bay of Fundy Top 10 tour and the Saint John Bucket List.  Has anyone been on either excursion and can give feedback?

Thank you, 

I don't know if it matters but we are sailing on Adventure of the Seas with Royal Caribbean.

[BarbinMich]

I've been to St. John first on a car trip and years later on a cruise.  I was fascinated by the prospect of the huge tidal changes at St. John (10 ft or so), so have seen that several times.  I don't know what's on the St. John Bucket list.  Here's a website about the sights in SJ:  https://www.viator.com/Saint-John/d22871-ttd

Enjoy!

Edited May 30, 2022 by BarbinMich

[Ashland]

When we've had a port stop there (RCI) we booked directly with Dave's Taxi Tours....and this company and driver was great !!!

[JessyCruises]

I live in Saint John.  What do they both include?

[sundae98]

They both go to reverse rapids, sea caves st martins and the old market…one of them goes to an Irish pub and includes seafood chowder and the other goes to fort Howe 

[Diane67B]

I’m going on the New England/Canada cruise on the Norwegian Joy in September and I am debating on whether to do Hopewell Rocks with the cruise excursions. I don’t want to miss walking on the ocean floor.  We arrive at the pier at 8:30am and I know it’s a bit of a drive to get there.

[joyandjerry]

Following - it is such a long ride. Mixed reviews if it is worth it.

[shipgeeks]

We have been to Saint John several times, but not to Bay of Fundy.  It is my understanding that seeing the reversing tides is fully dependent on time of day, which varies every day.  Is that correct?  If so, a tour might or might not see the reversal.  

[joyandjerry]

3 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

We have been to Saint John several times, but not to Bay of Fundy.  It is my understanding that seeing the reversing tides is fully dependent on time of day, which varies every day.  Is that correct?  If so, a tour might or might not see the reversal.  

Nancy, the reversing tides are walkable from the port. It really isn't that big a deal to see, just some water rushing. If I didn't know it wasn't such a big deal, I wouldn't have thought much of it. We did a ship excursion in the area of the rapids with a zip line. The staff was very nice, but there wasn't much to the zip, and the pix do not show it is next to a malodorous factory and not very scenic.

 

Several year ago, I took an excursion to the St. Martin's fishing village and the sea caves, which were nearly at the lowest tide. (I checked the tide chart before booking, but it is hard to time them exactly, of course.) It was quite a lot of bus riding. Bay of Fundy was very interesting. Since Hopewell Rocks is a 2.25 hour drive, I was wondering it it were worth it. We really like walking and exploring on our own, and hate to spend all day on a bus.

[Diane67B]

2 hours ago, joyandjerry said:

Nancy, the reversing tides are walkable from the port. It really isn't that big a deal to see, just some water rushing. If I didn't know it wasn't such a big deal, I wouldn't have thought much of it. We did a ship excursion in the area of the rapids with a zip line. The staff was very nice, but there wasn't much to the zip, and the pix do not show it is next to a malodorous factory and not very scenic.

 

Several year ago, I took an excursion to the St. Martin's fishing village and the sea caves, which were nearly at the lowest tide. (I checked the tide chart before booking, but it is hard to time them exactly, of course.) It was quite a lot of bus riding. Bay of Fundy was very interesting. Since Hopewell Rocks is a 2.25 hour drive, I was wondering it it were worth it. We really like walking and exploring on our own, and hate to spend all day on a bus.

This is exactly what I am worried about. I don’t want to spend all my time on a bus and not actually walk on the ocean floor. 

[BarbinMich]

6 hours ago, Diane67B said:

This is exactly what I am worried about. I don’t want to spend all my time on a bus and not actually walk on the ocean floor. 

At St. John you can't walk on the ocean floor, at least not in town and there it is a river which you can't walk on either.  My DH and I had driven out there years before we did that cruise and I was quite into the tidal situation.  We were able to walk on the floor of a cove on our way to St. John and saw the effects of the tide at other places.

[BAYA]

This web site might be useful if you really want to walk on the ocean floor. https://www.discoversaintjohn.com/fundy-tide-watch

 

[fstuff1]

On 6/13/2022 at 11:05 AM, joyandjerry said:

Nancy, the reversing tides are walkable from the port. It really isn't that big a deal to see, just some water rushing. If I didn't know it wasn't such a big deal, I wouldn't have thought much of it. We did a ship excursion in the area of the rapids with a zip line. The staff was very nice, but there wasn't much to the zip, and the pix do not show it is next to a malodorous factory and not very scenic.

 

Several year ago, I took an excursion to the St. Martin's fishing village and the sea caves, which were nearly at the lowest tide. (I checked the tide chart before booking, but it is hard to time them exactly, of course.) It was quite a lot of bus riding. Bay of Fundy was very interesting. Since Hopewell Rocks is a 2.25 hour drive, I was wondering it it were worth it. We really like walking and exploring on our own, and hate to spend all day on a bus.

 

Back in 2015 when i first visted, i went on a cruise tour and walked the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks. i thought it was neat.

i dont remember the bus ride being 2 1/2 hrs though?

 

Google pic:

Edited June 17, 2022 by fstuff1

[Diane67B]

11 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

Back in 2015 when i first visted, i went on a cruise tour and walked the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks. i thought it was neat.

i dont remember the bus ride being 2 1/2 hrs though?

 

Google pic:

The picture that you show is exactly what I want to see. I wish that someone knew for sure that it was not such a long bus ride and that we could get at least an hour to experience the beauty. I believe the NCL Joy tour is 7.5 hours. Thanks for sharing.

[joyandjerry]

45 minutes ago, Diane67B said:

The picture that you show is exactly what I want to see. I wish that someone knew for sure that it was not such a long bus ride and that we could get at least an hour to experience the beauty. I believe the NCL Joy tour is 7.5 hours. Thanks for sharing.

I,  too, would love to see this. But I did note on RCCL (and maybe CCL) under their excursion to Hopewell, it was noted it was 2.25 hour ride. Trip Advisor tourists gave mainly excellent reviews of the site, but there were many that felt it was overcrowded and you could not see a lot, depending on the timing.

[Diane67B]

On 6/17/2022 at 11:29 AM, joyandjerry said:

I,  too, would love to see this. But I did note on RCCL (and maybe CCL) under their excursion to Hopewell, it was noted it was 2.25 hour ride. Trip Advisor tourists gave mainly excellent reviews of the site, but there were many that felt it was overcrowded and you could not see a lot, depending on the timing.

Unfortunately, that is what I have been reading too. I am trying to decide what to do.

[shipgeeks]

One of the usual excursions at Saint John is the hop-on-hop-off bus.  Does its route include any of this?

[milolii]

Is it easy to rent a car here? How close is a rental car location from the port?

 

Thanks 

[milolii]

Also does anyone have experience with go Fundy tours?   Or Freedom torus?   Road to sea private tours?  

Edited June 20, 2022 by milolii

[papa22]

I wish you got an answer on this, looking for same info about these tour operators!

[Tatka]

We rented a car and went to Hopewell Rocks in 2013. Loved it. We stopped at St Martins on the way there. Red Sea Caves.

 

I loved it so much that this September also on Adventure I booked a tour to the rocks. I booked at discount at $110.

 

If not there I would look at https://fundytrailparkway.com/

Beautiful vistas and views. It is closer. Not far from St Martins red caves.

[davekathy]

What is the name of the port where the cruise ships dock in Saint John? 

Edited August 1, 2022 by davekathy

[declansdad]

36 minutes ago, davekathy said:

What is the name of the port where the cruise ships dock in Saint John? 

 

Port of Saint John.

 

There are 3 terminals - Marco Polo Cruise Terminal, Diamond Jubilee Cruise Terminal, and Long Wharf. They are all together in one area.

[milolii]

On 7/29/2022 at 4:56 AM, papa22 said:

I wish you got an answer on this, looking for same info about these tour operators!

We booked with go Fundy tours.  Their tour has a coastal route.  One of the other two has an inland route, while the third was too long(maybe 9+ hours, can’t remember for sure) and was too expensive.  We cruise in September.  

[davekathy]

13 hours ago, declansdad said:

 

Port of Saint John.

 

There are 3 terminals - Marco Polo Cruise Terminal, Diamond Jubilee Cruise Terminal, and Long Wharf. They are all together in one area.

As far as the ArriveCAN app selection, it appears to be "Saint John Marine Terminal (New"

That's how it' shows on the app. The other choice would be "Saint John Marina". Doubt that one.