Victory to Canada excursions?

[HelenKNY]

Hello! I'm sailing on the Victory leaving 8/28 to Halifax/St John's and am wondering what excursions I should book. I also thought about renting a car and driving around to some sights in both cities. I'll be with my mother who is in her 60's but has a bad arthritic knee so I don't want to do anything too strenious for her.

 

Any ideas?

 

Would love to hear from anyone who's just done this cruise! Especially since I've read both bad and good reviews, with the bad ones being the most recent.

[jeanbean]

We were on this cruise at the end of July. We didn't book any excursions through the cruise line. Having been to Halifax before, we knew we wanted to go to Peggy's Cove when we were in Halifax. When we got off the ship, we walked along the Harbor Walk (I think that's what it is called) until we came to a Gray Line Tours kiosk. They had a Peggy's Cove outing which we ended up taking. It was $49 pp CDN and they discounted 10% for AAA membership. This translated to approx $34 USD.

 

The tour lasted about 4 hours. We were back in plenty of time to make the ship (I think we still had 2 hours). Peggy's Cove is really pretty. However, if you've never been to Halifax before, you may prefer to tour the city. I would suggest taking some type of tour because parts of the city are rather hilly (especially near the Citadel) and walking could be a bit difficult for your mom.

 

I didn't think Saint John offered much in the way of interesting tours. The weather wasn't very nice the day we arrived so we ended up doing a little shopping.

 

The ship is very nice. You should have a good time. The food was much better than I had expected. Make sure you try the deli. I also found that the breakfast by the pool (omelette station) was better than that of the dining room.

 

Have a great time!

[justme_123]

We went 7/22 to Halifax and booked a car for the day. We booked from Budget and they came to the pier and picked us up with the car and even took us back to the rental place for us to sign our papers which was nice and saved us a walk. They gave us a map and we went to Peggy's Cove, just off the coast of Preggy's Cove is Swiss Air Flight 111 flight accident, and they have a memorial there, so we saw that, we found a little shopping place on our way back, had lunch and drank coffee at Tim Hortons (I would recommend you to try this coffee, I lived in Canada for 13 years..trust me) and then we went to the titanic museum. I would def. recommend you to rent the car. It was only 54 dollars for the day, and to do a excursion and be stuck with just that excursion for the day, its alot more...if you rent the car, it gives you a chance to see more... Hope you have a great time!!

[ldohe]

I agree with the above poster about renting a car - such a good deal. I sailed the Victory last week with my family of four. Even if there are two of you, the car is a good deal and gives you a lot of freedom. In St. John, we drove the Fundy Trail, which was less than an hour away and beautiful, even if you mother has a bad knee and can't walk too far. We also stopped at the sea caves and ate lunch on the outside deck overlooking a beautiful view in St. Martin's ( the restauant on the left, there are two side by side). Peggy's Cove in Halifax was also less than an hour drive, but requires a little bit of walking to see the view. Have fun!

[HelenKNY]

Thanks so much for the info!