independant tours at pier

[Junebug1]

This will be our 1st Canada/New England cruise. Are there tour operators waiting at the pier that you can hire when you get off the ship? (Bar Harbor, Halifax, Portland, Saint John NB)

After reading some info here it seems like Halifax can be seen just walking around, correct?

What are your favorite things to do in Portland? This is the one place that I have no idea what to do.

I think I would like to go to Acadia National Park while in Bar Harbour. The carriage ride seems like a nice tour, but we'll be there in October so the weather maybe questionable.

anyway.................Are there Tour operators at the pier?


Thanks for any info.
June

[Lulu51]

Originally Posted by Junebug1

This will be our 1st Canada/New England cruise. Are there tour operators waiting at the pier that you can hire when you get off the ship? (Bar Harbor, Halifax, Portland, Saint John NB)

After reading some info here it seems like Halifax can be seen just walking around, correct?

What are your favorite things to do in Portland? This is the one place that I have no idea what to do.

I think I would like to go to Acadia National Park while in Bar Harbour. The carriage ride seems like a nice tour, but we'll be there in October so the weather maybe questionable.

anyway.................Are there Tour operators at the pier?


Thanks for any info.
June

Yes you can see quite a bit in downtown Halifax by walking, Pier 21, Maritime Museum, Historic Properties the Citadel is quite a steep uphill hike.
Visiting Peggy's Cove, Lobster Lunch, Lunenburg( World Heritage Unesco ), Mahone Bay all popular with cruise passengers you can do this by either renting a car or taking a taxi tour. We have done numerous tours with Halifax Cruise Ship Taxi Tours before we settled back here. All were excellent and very knowledgeable local drivers.

They also offer terrific winery tour, Nova Scotia now has many winereis mostly located in the Annapolis Valley in the Wolfville/ Grand Pre area
which has recently been designated world heritage site by UNESCO.

You mention October is when you arrive looking at cruise schedule for Halifax there is at least one ship per day some with multiples so would be advisable to book ahead if interested in either renting a car or taking a tour.

So there's lots to choose from for a days trip, hope you have great visit whatever you chose.

[sunshine002]

There is lots to do in all the ports.

There are private tours you can book ahead, or you can rent a car as suggested.

The first time we went to Halifax we found a tour at the Pier which was just what we were looking for. The took us around the town as well as Peggy's cove (worth going to) and the Titanic cemetery.

In Saint John you can walk around the town, or do a tour run by the town that you pick up a few blocks from the ship for about $20. If you want to do a taxi tour they charge about $50 an hour. They used to have vans outside the terminal going to St. Michael's (small fishing village) for a set price.

I have not cruised to Portland but have been there and really enjoyed walking around the downtown area.

Enjoy your cruise.

[scotian1]

While in Portland, I was very impressed by the collection of art at the Portland Museum of Art. If you enjoy art, well worth it.
http://www.portlandmuseum.org/

[FOLcruisers]

We are hoping to be able to join a tour the day we arrive. Know we are taking a chance of not being able to go to Peggy's Cove but I have had no luck getting anyone on our roll call to join us.

[maryann ns]

There have been quite a few reports of people hiring a taxi or driver at the pier in Halifax, so you should be able to find someone. However you will be taking a chance.

Here are the notes I have saved from previous posts:

http://visitors.halifax.ca/tours.shtml?getSearch=38
https://secure.shoretrips.com/default.asp
http://www.halifaxtaxitours.com/page2.html see http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1274450
https://secure.shoretrips.com/common...NEW&lcode=HAL#
The last time I visited Halifax I booked a three hours tours ( city & peggy's cove) with galaxy taxi & limo. They are very reasonable. http://www.galaxytaxilimo.com
We were in Halifax last week and had an amazing time! We booked a 3 hour private tour with Paul at Halifax Titanic Historical Tours and Car Service. You can look him up on Facebook - he was great! It ended up being our favorite port of call - thanks to him! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1669831

www.atlantictours.com
http://yourcab.ca/ http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#22416942

http://www.bluediamondtours.com/hali...excursions.php
garryjollymore@eastlink.ca This person also gets great reviews. I would get a quote from all of them and then decide. www.nova-scotia-van-tours.com http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1209935
We just toured Halifax Sept 25 with Darrell from Halifax Taxi. There were 4 of us, he picked us up with a cadillac and we had a tour of Halifax and went to Peggy's Cove. The highlight was a fantastic, fresh, terrific lobster...cooked fresh. We opted for lobster instead of shopping..Since there were 4 of us the cost was way down, we were not fighting crowds of buses, and Darrell kept us longer than the 4 hours and showed us more things in the area. This was a four hour scheduled tour, and was $180 total for the four of us………
Also same thread: We had a great 8 hour long tour with Bruce from Bruce's Tours in Halifax. There's so much to see in this beautiful area that we got only a taste of Nova Scotia, but I'd love to go back there. Bruce was very knowledgeable, professional and pleasant. He even kept a log of all the places I'd photographed. We went to Lunenburg, Peggy's Cove, Blue Rocks, and took a beautiful drive along the coast to see Mahone Bay. I'd definitely book this tour again http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1477106

__________________

http://www.novascotiatoursandtravel.com/Cruiseships.htm
http://visitors.halifax.ca/tours.shtml
http://visitors.halifax.ca/historic-halifax.shtml
http://www.greatearthexpeditions.com/ Includes Halifax history, photography walking tour, Peggy’s Cove Rock Walk http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserRe...a.html#REVIEWS


Instead of taking an excursion with the cruise line, we hired a cab from outside the pier. We were so lucky to have hired Peter with Casino Taxi (1-902-877-7627). There is a government-mandated flat rate for cabs taking tourists to Peggy's Cove. He not only drove us to Peggy's Cove, but gave us a narrated tour to several sites along the way: the "de Garthe's Fisherman's Monument", the Citadel, the Titanic Cemetery and Fairview Lawn, the SwissAir 111 Memorial, to name a few sites. He gave us tidbits of history of the area. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#29710608
We did our van tour while in Halifax. It was totally awesome. I want to thank Dave Marriott for taking excellent care of us on this tour. He met us just as we got off the ship and we took off for a wonderful day of site-seeing and adventure! If you plan to be in Halifax, be sure to book your tour with Van Tours of Nova Scotia http://nova-scotia-van-tours.com/Home_Page.html Much more personable, relaxed and enjoyable than a bus tour with 50 other people. This was absolutely the best tour of our cruise.
We just got back from our cruise which included Halifax. Had a wonderful van tour with Halifax Cruise Ship Taxi Tours. We toured Historic Halifax including Titanic grave sites and Peggy's Cove. The weather was gorgeous so we stopped for lunch at a lobster pound and ate outside at a picnic table. Wonderful relaxing time. Our guide driver was Richard 902-240-8476, born and lived in Halifax for years so was very knowledgeable highly recommend. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1472691
Good review for Bruce’s Tours: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1492801
Hi just wanted to share my experience from using an excellent taxi tour from Les Daurie of Halifax Taxi Tours, on 26th September 2011. http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-...va_Scotia.html

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[FOLcruisers]

Thank-you Maryann for the info, we will look into some of those.

[Lulu51]

Originally Posted by FOLcruisers

Thank-you Maryann for the info, we will look into some of those.

If I understand your 1st message correctly you are looking for some other individuals to share a taxi tour with you, unfortunately the info above doesn't help you there unless you want to share on a bus???

Advertising on the ship is the only way I know how to accomplish this, or go ahead and book anyway. I'm sure you'll find a couple of stragglers who didn't book as the time gets closer.You could always cancel day or so before if you still could not find anyone.

Not sure what day you are arriving but somedays there are 4 ships in port
so my advise would be better to be safe than sorry.