Saint John, NB - guided or self tour?

though this thread is over 10 yrs old, i am having the same questions about touring st john. what are the current options available? seems like you can do it on public transportation except for those points previously mentioned that are an hour or so away. i am also reading up on renting my own vehicle to go to those points. how crowded are these place with three ships in port in october? hoping you are still on here, mike (sjnb)

You might get a better response posting on the Canada ports of call forum.

though this thread is over 10 yrs old, i am having the same questions about touring st john. what are the current options available? seems like you can do it on public transportation except for those points previously mentioned that are an hour or so away. i am also reading up on renting my own vehicle to go to those points. how crowded are these place with three ships in port in october? hoping you are still on here, mike (sjnb)

I just did this itinerary last October, and decided to rent a car in both St John and Halifax. I'd much rather have the ability to explore at my leisure (and mostly away from crowds) than be stuck on a bus and herded around.

Both ports were very east to navigate (I printed a few maps from google before we left so I had some specific directions to where we wanted to go). In St John, I know there was at least 2 ships in port, maybe 3....? Thankfully, we got out before most of the bus tours, and had the Sea Caves and Fundy Trail pretty much to ourselves. It was perfect!!! WE got to the caves at low tide, and passed by them on the way back at high tide. On the way bad, we stopped for lunch (amazing lobster rolls) and there were about 6 tour buses just behind us. It was super crowded by then. I was glad we got to see it earlier in the day.

I posted this question on the Canada board as well but found this thread in New England too, so perhaps SJNB can answer this question for me?? We have booked the 7 hr.excursion to the seaside village of St. Andrews from St. John. The tour description mentions that the route follows the Bay of Fundy and that there will be commentary regarding the Bay but does not specificly mention the Reversing Falls. Does anyone know if we will see the Reversing Falls along the way or is it, perhaps, in the opposite direction? Most of the other tours specificly mention the Falls.

 

Also, how can I find the tide times for Oct. 22? Thanks!

http://www.tides.gc.ca/eng/station?sid=129

I just returned from our fall colors cruise, and we had a really nice tour in Saint John, New Brunswick. If anybody is interested in checking it out, the web address is http://gofundytours.ca/, and the tour operator is Alexei.

This tour took us to the reversing falls at both ends of the tide, to the village of St. Martins, and to the Fundy Trail Parkway. I'm not very fit, and this tour did have a little hiking, but I was able to handle the walking with no problems at all. Alexei took us to some spots that I'm sure most tourists don't get to go to, and it was nice seeing such a beautiful area without a bunch of other tourists.

His website says he can handle 6 people on the tour, but I wouldn't put more than 5 in his vehicle. The cost listed on his website right now is $495 Canadian, so the 6+ hour tour for the 4 of us was less than $100 US, which I thought was a good price for what we got.

Alexei provided us with cold water and treats from Tim Horton's, which was a nice touch. When he realized we weren't interested in the hot coffee and tea he had, he bought us canned Coke! He also was taking tons of pictures during the whole tour, and he loaded them on to Dropbox so we could have them available to us.

I would really recommend this tour if you like scenic tours instead of city and shopping tours. I did a ton of research before our cruise, and I'm so happy I stumbled across this tour. When we do this cruise again, I'm going to do the same tour!

We recently returned from a Carnival Sunshine cruise and we were in Saint John on Oct 19 2016. We also were trying to decide on which way to see the sites. We were with a group of 20 so our decision was to go with a group guided tour. The link below will show you the details of who we used and what we saw.

Our tour guide was very informative, patient and funny and never minded when we would ask him to stop for a photo opportunity. We saw so much in the 6 hour tour that I know we would have never seen on our own.

We ate at The Cave's restaurant in St. Martin and it was busy, but moved fast and it was so worth the stop as it was delicious. I had the Lobster roll and the fish chowder which were both excellent. My husband had the fish and chips and loved it.

https://carnivalsunshinecanadacruise.shutterfly.com/saintjohntour