Canada Cruises from NYC (Halifax and St. John)

[Peaseblossom36]

Hello! We will be going on the November 17th Canada cruise to Halifax and St. John. I’ve not been able to find any trip reports where people had done this itinerary. If anyone has done it or stopped at either of these ports I would love to hear about it.

Also would love to hear about where people stayed near the port, how they got to the port, etc. I’ve read several posts about those topics but would love to know more. I’ve read a few posts that mention a ferry that crosses the river near the port, would this be a viable way to get to the port the day of the cruise? At this point we plan on flying in the morning of the 16th, as we don’t have a lot of interest in really exploring the city itself.
Thanks!

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

It depends on what airport you are flying into for NYC. The Port is west of Times Square about 1.3 miles. What area do you want to stay in NYC the night before? You can book a hotel off of Times Square and then take a taxi over to the Port. With traffic even that 1.3 miles can take 15- 20 minutes driving. But who wants to drag suitcases that far?

Or do you want to stay overnight across the street from the Port? There are a few options, nothing fancy though.

 

[DisBNewB]

I assume you mean October 17th?

Looking at the calendar, that's a Saturday, but still looks like you could take the ferry if you wanted to - weekend schedule from Weehawken to Mid-Town (it stops at (I think) pier 78 - you just wouldn't take the connecting bus to mid-town) has it leaving every 20 minutes, and there's a hotel you can stay at that is basically a ferry stop, but I'm honestly not sure you'd want to haul all your luggage on the ferry, and then up ~11 blocks to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. I'd probably rather take a cab, myself.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We stopped at St. John on our Canada Coast cruise and enjoyed it. We reserved a car at Avis, which was 3 blocks from our pier, to better explore the area. The countryside is fabulously gorgeous, and for sightseeing we enjoyed the Morello Round Tower (I know, odd, but very interesting and the view was great), the downtown museum of the area (forget the name but it was inside a mall of all places). Do not recommend the food market (it was...a food market; good gelato though) nor the general store downtown (had nothing but tourist trapclap).

Not sure about those who fly in, as we drove up from Virginia the morning of embarkation. Hitting the Holland Tunnel a bit past 9 left nearly no traffic and we shot up the west side to park overtop pier 90. I reckon that you'll uber/taxi/shuttle to the pier from your hotel (wherever you stay).

Enjoy your cruise!!

 

[hechris]

Disney Cruise Mom Blog covered St. John in one of her trip reports. I'm unable to post a link, but if you head to disneycruisemomblog dot com and click on the trip reports tab, you should be able to easily find it.

 

[nyweller6306]

We took the train into NYC, did a ride share to the Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Manhattan/Central Park, which was within walking distance to the pier. We thought it was really convenient for just the three of us (DH, myself, and DS10); however, would not suggest walking if you have a lot of luggage or are traveling with grandparents/large party. There is a little convenience store around the corner from the Fairfield, which made it easy to grab 2 six packs to take onto the ship.

 

[fredandkell]

Last year we stayed at the Residence Inn Weehawken which is right by the ferry pier. Good hotel - I recommend it. The ferry is easy to use and is a scenic way to arrive in NYC. It is about 3/4 mile away from the Disney terminal though. We boarded our ship right by the USS Intrepid if you want to Google Map it to see the distance between the ferry pier and the DCL pier.

As far as things to do, you can take my advice with a grain of salt because I didn't actually go on that trip. I was CONVINCED that DCL was going to switch our Bermuda cruise to a Canada cruise due to a hurricane but they didn't. Here's what I had researched. We had planned to rent a car in each port. My Bar Harbor info is slight because husband and I had been there on a land-based trip and had already done Acadia, etc.

Halifax: Things to do.
Peggy’s Cove: Lighthouse, granite shores (free)
Peggys Point Rd, Peggys Cove, NS B3Z 3S1, Canada
https://www.harbourhopper.com/shore-excursions - $120 for a duck boat/Harbour Hopper tour
5050 Salter St, Halifax, NS B3J 1T3, Canada
Fairview Lawn Cemetery – Titanic victims buried (free)
3720 Windsor St, Halifax, NS B3J 3A5, Canada
Public Gardens – authentic Victorian garden – free
5771 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS, Canada
Citadel Hill – historic site with panoramic view - $15 for 4 people to go inside
5425 Sackville St, Halifax, NS B3J 3Y3, Canada
Car rentals: w/in walking distance of port in order of closeness: (GET GPS w/ CAR)
Hertz: 1099 Marginal Rd SUITE 104, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7, Canada
Dollar/Thrifty: 1181 Hollis St, Halifax, NS B3H 2P6, Canada
Enterprise/National/Alamo: 1161 Hollis St, Halifax, NS B3H 2P6, Canada

St. John: Things to do.
Budget/Avis: only car rental w/in walking distance (GET GPS w/ CAR)
4 Water St, Saint John, NB E2L 2A5, Canada
Reversing Falls Lookout Point (see @ high and low tide, 8 min. drive from car rental)
(other side of bridge, 200 Bridge Rd, Saint John, NB E2M 7W7, Canada)
Tide tables: https://www.tideschart.com/Canada/New-Brunswick/Saint-John-County/Reversing-Falls/Weekly/
Drive to Big Salmon River Suspension Bridge, stopping on the way at St. Martin Sea Caves and Fuller Falls (1.25 hour drive w/out stopping from St. John to Big Salmon)
Sea caves: 82 Big Salmon River Rd, Bay View, NB E5R 1J7, Canada
Fuller Falls: Fundy Trail Pkwy, Salmon River, NB E5R 0B3, Canada, or try 9GXW+JW Little Beach, Saint Martins, NB, Canada or try 45.399522, -65.452406 (or if no GPS, drive 20 min total NE on Big Salmon, R on Little Beach, turns into Melvin Beach, turns into Fundy Trail Parkway)
Suspension Bridge: drive 10 more min NE on Fundy Trail Parkway
Fastest way back is to go back the way we came.


Bar Harbor:
LuLu’s Lobster Boat tour
Walk to Bar Island – must leave 1.5 hours before low tide and get back 1.5 hours after low tide

 

[Peaseblossom36]

We are currently planning on flying in to LGA, since that seems to be the most convenient for us. We really don't have any preference on where we stay as we won't be exploring the city and it will only be for the one night, we are flying in purely for the cruise. We just wanted to head in a day early since you never know with weather!

We took the train into NYC, did a ride share to the Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Manhattan/Central Park, which was within walking distance to the pier. We thought it was really convenient for just the three of us (DH, myself, and DS10); however, would not suggest walking if you have a lot of luggage or are traveling with grandparents/large party. There is a little convenience store around the corner from the Fairfield, which made it easy to grab 2 six packs to take onto the ship.

That was one I was looking at! I think we could manage the walk since it will just be two adults. Thank you!