Tips for New England cruise

Going to Halifax, St. John, Boston, and Portland in Sept. If you've been on this cruise already, do you have any tips you'd like to share? Anything I shouldn't forget to pack?

Not sure what your interests are so hard to recommend a tour etc. but I would say pack in layers.. I've been on this cruise twice in mid-Sept. - one time it was in mid 70s-80s in Halifax and Sydney and other time in the 60s... you never know. Take an umbrella or some inexpensive ponchos.

If you love seafood you're in for treat.. lots of delicious seafood restaurants in walking distance in St John, Halifax and Portland!

Portland, Boston and Halifax easy to do "on your own" when you arrive; HOHO trolley in Boston is great way to see the town and there is so much in walking distance in Portland and Halifax.

Thanks much. Any particular place that stuck in your mind that we should visit?

Going to Halifax, St. John, Boston, and Portland in Sept. If you've been on this cruise already, do you have any tips you'd like to share? Anything I shouldn't forget to pack?

I have notes on the ports. If you want them my e-mail is

gthiel at tampabay dot rr dot com

I have notes on the ports. If you want them my e-mail is

gthiel at tampabay dot rr dot com

If you have notes on the ports that would be helpful to others, we'd love for you to post them as applicable here so that all might benefit from them?

Thanks much. Any particular place that stuck in your mind that we should visit?

Titanic Museum in Halifax and fortress.. you can do trip to Peggy's Cove which we haven't done on either visit.. last time we went to Lunenburg.

In Boston the HOHO Trolley is good way to see the city and also if walking is not an issue the Freedom Trail. Lots of interesting sites along the way and amazing food! I like Union Tavern near Fanueil Hall for lobster lunches.

In St John which is lovely city we went to city market and did tour to reversing rapids which are a really cool thing to see.. wish we'd done the jetboat and will def. do next time. Lots of good restaurants around city market which reminds me a little of Pike's Market in Seattle.

Portland the trolley tour is quick and inexpensive for overview.. view from Portland Headlight is lovely and Gilberts and DeMilios are IMHO great spots for lunch, and along harbor.

If you have notes on the ports that would be helpful to others, we'd love for you to post them as applicable here so that all might benefit from them?

I have done that many, many times, just as you and others have.

If you are going to observe the tide change in St John, do it when the water is at its' highest/lowest:

http://www.bayoffundytourism.com/tides/times/

Thanks so much for all the helpful hints. We leave in 4 days. Woooo HOoooo!

Have a fantastic time!! I'll look forward to hearing your input on the trip when you return as we are planning this cruise for 2012!

I've done this cruise twice, once with my "relatively new" DH and we are going back next year; it's a wonderful itinerary

Although our cruise is a year away, I like to be prepared. Do you recommend gettnig Canadian dollars before our trip? Thanks

My recommendation is to wait until you get to Canada to get Canadian currency. Find an ATM OFF the ship - much better exchange rate than on the ship. Check with your bank and see if they have an arrangement with a Canadian bank which may eliminate the transaction fee. For example, Bank of America has an arrangement with Scotiabank which eliminates the fees.

Ah !! l never thought about Canadian dollars :eek::eek:

Bring layers of clothing, cold to hot

My recommendation is to wait until you get to Canada to get Canadian currency. Find an ATM OFF the ship - much better exchange rate than on the ship. Check with your bank and see if they have an arrangement with a Canadian bank which may eliminate the transaction fee. For example, Bank of America has an arrangement with Scotiabank which eliminates the fees.

I don't know if this still applies or not, but we have always made Canadian purchases using a Mastercard. The word I heard was that you got a better exchange rate than if you tried to exchange currency. I've also had experiences in Canada where the price of a purchase would actually increrase if I attempted to pay in Canadian currency. Sure, it's wrong, but who are you gonna complain to when you'll be out of town before the sun sets?

• In Newport, we did a segway tour. That was fun but we only admired the mansions from the street. If I go back, I'd like to tour breakers. Newport is a lovely town to walk around in. We had lunch at the Black Pearl and it was very good.
  
• In Boston, we walked the Freedom Trail which is a great way to see the points of interest in Boston. Highlights were USS Constition and Paul Revere's house. We took the Water taxi back to town and then walked to the original Cheers on Beacon Street. That was fun! Many on our ship toured using the hop on hop off bus and they liked that. It is a $12 taxi ride to Quincy Market where you can get tickets. Four in a cab.
  
• Bar Harbor was our favorite stop. We rented bikes at Acadia Bikes and biked the carriage trails in Acadia National park. Beautiful, beautiful scenery. Bar Harbor is a very walkable little town, cute and full of shops and cafes. We had the full lobster dinner topped off with blueberry pie ala mode at West Street Cafe. $21.00 Delicous! Skipped dinner on the ship that night :rolleyes:. There are plenty of choices of places to eat.
  
• Halifax is a nice harbor town. Cute harbor area to walk with shops and cafes. The titanic cemetary is worth seeing. I think you can go inside the Citadel and there is a maritime museum. Peggy's Cove is cute but you need a tour or ride to get there. The Bluenose II is recommended for lobster as they bring it in fresh each day. It was the best lobster we ever had.
  
• Saint John was a disappointing port. It is very industrial not a pretty area to wander around. There are 2 reasons to get off the ship. 1 is Reversing falls, but only if you know when to go. We where there at slack both times so it was just a river next to a power plant. :cool:. The other reason is pubs. We did stop at Saint John Brewery and BigTide Brewery. Both were fun and good. Canadians were very personable and loved to talk about beer. We wasted $100 per couple on a tour of Saint John. There is really nothing for a tour operator to show you. St. Martins wasn't worth the $100 to go see. Just a pretty beach, old fishing boats and a place to buy lunch. If you are thinking you need a break from the busy itinerary, this might be the port to sit out in my opinion.
  

The "power plant" s actually a paper mill and viewed as a public eyesore by the locals. There is a zipline in St. John which we found to be quite enjoyable.

 

• In Boston - Many on our ship toured using the hop on hop off bus and they liked that. It is a $12 taxi ride to Quincy Market where you can get tickets. Four in a cab.
  

There are two HOHO trolley companies which sell tickets a short walk from the ship. They are City View Trolley and Old Town Trolley. You can buy tickets at their tent and get on the trolleys there to start the tour. No need to pay for a taxi to get to the Quincy Market area. Both companies provide transportation back to that starting location, too. Look at the map for Old Town, the Seaport Loop, to see where the stop is (17A). If you look at the tour route for both companies, you will see how much longer the route is for Old Town.

to Caroline RE: "I've done this cruise twice, once with my "relatively new" DH and we are going back next year; it's a wonderful itinerary"

We went on this trip end of Sept and loved it

Our best tour was with Jonathan Duru in Halifax

The tour confirmed is the Peggy`s Cove/Halifax City tour with a duration of 4.5hrs at $54 per person for 6 people

in the city we went to the Citadel (changing of the guards was interesting), Public gardens ---gorgeous and the Titanic cemetary

Jonathan made the tour wonderful with all his knowledge and love of Halifax (FYI We did not know 4 other people --I asked in our thread if anyone wanted to join us on this tour and we met really nice people who

joined us and also loved jonathans tour)

Jonathan Duru B.A

General Manager.

Your Cab Bus & Van Tours

22 Rachael Avenue

Whites Lake,NS.B3T 2J2

www.yourcab.ca

E-mail:info@yourcab.ca

Cell:902-209-3355

Use for Reservation only:1-866-831-2277

We did not have a great experience with our private tour in St Johns New Brunswick (although we were fortunate to be able to see the reversing falls ---in both directions which was really something to see!) but Jonathan said he could recommend a tour company in New Brunswick too.

Although our cruise is a year away, I like to be prepared. Do you recommend gettnig Canadian dollars before our trip? Thanks

We were there in October and didn't bother getting Canadian dollars. We used credit cards for larger purchases and every place we visited had no problem taking American money, the exchange rate wasn't great, but since it was for the smaller purchases it wasn't a big deal and the convenience was worth it.

A warning though: Check with your credit card company before you leave home to find out what their foreign currency transaction fee is. This is a fee they charge in addition to the going exchange rate. Many are relatively low, like 1%, and one or two have no fees at all. We used to use a card that charged 3%, and that was a bad surprise after our return from a vacation to Canada where we had used the card to pay for hotels/rental car.

I'll second the post to pack layers and a rain jacket/umbrella. Twice we had showers/drizzle in the morning and then it cleared up to be a warm beautiful day. We got some awesome photos on this trip.

Sue

We did the Tall Ship tour in Halifax and it was wonderful! Not just the ship itself but also the history lessons and music. I would definitely book this again.