New England/Canada excursion considerations

There appear to be three options for excursions on a New England/Canada cruise: (1) purchase the ship-sponsored tours (which use local tour operators); (2) arrange something directly with a local tour operator; or (3) rent a car and explore on your own. What would be your preferences, and why?

Depends on the port and what I want to do, although in countries where I speak the language I will only take a ship sponsored tour if:

A) I really want to do that trip

B) The only way to book it is through the ship

If I go an an organized excursion, I will go with ship-sponsored excursions. All the work is done for me and I know the providers meet certain standards and have a certain level of insurance. I know many people do not like ship-sponsored excursions, but for me, this is my vacation and I do not want to put in the work required to figure out independent providers. Also, I like having the peace of mind that if I'm on a ship-sponsored excursion and something goes wrong, it's the tour company & ship's responsibility to get me back to the ship. The extra money is well worth it for me.

Otherwise, I'll get a guidebook or a map and just go for a wander in the port. Usually on my first stop at any port, I'll take a ship's tour to get a lay-of-the-land from people who know where they're going and where they are. But after that, I'm happy enough to explore the town on my own.

The ports in Canada/New England are easy enough to explore on your own, so I'd be okay with just heading ashore, though if there was something special I wanted to do, I would book it through the cruise ship.

Also, I've noticed that ship's tours tend to stay together and skip the lines independent travelers have to wait in. This was particularly nice for me on my first stop in Newport when the ship's tour entered The Breakers no problem, skipping the line and many people who wanted to tour the mansion on their own had to stand in long lines and some were rushed through their visit in order to get back to the tender on time.

If I go an an organized excursion, I will go with ship-sponsored excursions. All the work is done for me and I know the providers meet certain standards and have a certain level of insurance. I know many people do not like ship-sponsored excursions, but for me, this is my vacation and I do not want to put in the work required to figure out independent providers. Also, I like having the peace of mind that if I'm on a ship-sponsored excursion and something goes wrong, it's the tour company & ship's responsibility to get me back to the ship. The extra money is well worth it for me.

 

Otherwise, I'll get a guidebook or a map and just go for a wander in the port. Usually on my first stop at any port, I'll take a ship's tour to get a lay-of-the-land from people who know where they're going and where they are. But after that, I'm happy enough to explore the town on my own.

 

The ports in Canada/New England are easy enough to explore on your own, so I'd be okay with just heading ashore, though if there was something special I wanted to do, I would book it through the cruise ship.

 

Also, I've noticed that ship's tours tend to stay together and skip the lines independent travelers have to wait in. This was particularly nice for me on my first stop in Newport when the ship's tour entered The Breakers no problem, skipping the line and many people who wanted to tour the mansion on their own had to stand in long lines and some were rushed through their visit in order to get back to the tender on time.

Us also...1st trip to any port...we do a ship sponsored "all around" tour...then if we return some day (as we have on Canada/Ne itinerary) ...we zero in on places to re visit on our own or stay onboard enjoy the ship..

We did a Canada/NE cruise last summer. We often use ship tours but on this cruise we did not. In Bar Harbor doing our own booking of Olie's Trolley worked great. We DIY'd Quebec. In the other ports we went with roll call people on private tours. The main reason was that the ship tours did not cover the places we wanted to see in a single tour.

We never do any ship's excursions. We like the freedom to go where we want, stay as long as we want, stop whenever we want and not be part of a herd of cattle.

If we cannot do something on our own, we use local tour companies who are recommended here on CC or have good ratings on Trip Advisor. We know these groups and companies will bend over backwards to assure you have a good time as they live by your recommendation. NO ships tour really cares if you have a good time they just want people to fill up their buses.

Cheers

Len

NO ships tour really cares if you have a good time they just want people to fill up their buses.

Len

This is completely incorrect. I have had plenty of ship-sponsored tours where they actually wanted everyone to have a good time. Maybe I've just been lucky, but almost every ship-sponsored tour I have been on cared about the the passengers, and most asked people what they wanted to do, especially if there was time to deviate from the advertised route.

It would really help if you would name your ports. The best option in one port may not be the best in another.

I will speak to three ports in my area:

1. Halifax

You can easily spend the day exploring the waterfront and downtown on your own and there is lots to see and do.

Or you could rent a car to visit Peggy's Cove and/or Lunenburg.

2. Sydney

The best things are out of town. Rent a car and go to Louisbourg or drive around Bras D'Or Lake visiting Baddeck and Iona which both have interesting museums. Or you could drive on a small part of the Cabot Trail.

3. Charlottetown

You could spend the day in the town or you could rent a car and drive around the central area of the province, including Cavendish and other beaches, Green Gables and the little village of Victoria.

Here is a great free resource: http://www.tomsportguides.com/

You can also use the search feature at the top of the New England/Canada page and put in the name of your port. You will find many previous posts.

This is completely incorrect. I have had plenty of ship-sponsored tours where they actually wanted everyone to have a good time. Maybe I've just been lucky, but almost every ship-sponsored tour I have been on cared about the the passengers, and most asked people what they wanted to do, especially if there was time to deviate from the advertised route.

I use a combination of DIY, private tours and ship tours. Depending on the port I try to figure out which will be the best choice. Like this poster I have found the guides on ship tours are local guides who want you to love their locale. I know that some people avoid ship tours because they don't like the big bus. Last year on our Canada cruise a private tour company (that was strongly recommended on cc) put 6 of us in a 7 person minivan. While the guide was great, I would opt for the bus when it comes to comfort.

There appear to be three options for excursions on a New England/Canada cruise: (1) purchase the ship-sponsored tours (which use local tour operators); (2) arrange something directly with a local tour operator; or (3) rent a car and explore on your own. What would be your preferences, and why?

Kerry & LuAnn, I was just wondering when you are taking your cruise. We are going on the Maasdam, B2B, July 4th-18th. Maybe we will see you on our cruise.

Thanks,

Charliebeth & Jim

Hi All ..... Just wondering. Will there be taxis, tour companies etc. waiting at the ports when you dock to book sight-seeing or tours. The Caribbean ports generally have tons of these options? How about Canada & Bar Harbor?

Thanks ....

In Bar Harbor there will be none. If you want to tour, you will either have to pre book if you can find a local who does tours, or use Ollie's Trollies which do tours.

In the Canadian ports, at least Halifax and Sydney, we did see taxis around the port and several of our cruise mates said they used some to take tours around the ports. There are no set fees like in the Caribbean, you just have to have a general idea what a tour might cost and negotiate from there. Most are very reasonable.

Cheers

Len

We walked (only) at all our CNE ports, after doing some pre-cruise research on the sights. We plan to do that again. Many interesting things are close to the ports.

It is true that you can visit most of these ports and do a walking tour on your own. But you are missing some great rural and coastal scenery.

PEI has wonderful neat rolling farmland, and the spectacular north shore cliffs and beaches among other things.

Cape Breton (Sydney port) is full of wonderful scenery and world class attractions such as Fortress Louisbourg and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Saint John is the jumping off spot to get a glimpse at the Bay of Fundy and its amazing tides.

There is more to see and do right in Halifax, but the drive to and visit at Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg are well worthwhile.

Many, many options, but these our our choices:

Bar Harbor:

Oli's Trolley (Acadia National Park Tour) + Shore Path walk

Halifax:

Car rental with drive to Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg

Sydney:

No decision yet

Charlottetown:

Walking tour

Quebec:

Car rental with drive to île d'Orléans and Parc de la Chute-Montmorency

The choices are greatly influenced by our knowledge of the ports, having lived in Halifax and having visited all of these ports for periods of a week or more at a time on business or holiday. In most cases, we could do something else and be just as happy, but we simply agreed on the choice shown. For example, we could just as easily decided to spend the day driving around PEI instead of walking around Charlottetown, or conversely, decided to do a walking tour of Quebec City instead of driving outside the city.

Whatever you pick, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves!

Many, many options, but these our our choices:

 

Bar Harbor:

Oli's Trolley (Acadia National Park Tour) + Shore Path walk

 

Halifax:

Car rental with drive to Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg

 

Sydney:

No decision yet

 

Charlottetown:

Walking tour

 

Quebec:

Car rental with drive to île d'Orléans and Parc de la Chute-Montmorency

 

The choices are greatly influenced by our knowledge of the ports, having lived in Halifax and having visited all of these ports for periods of a week or more at a time on business or holiday. In most cases, we could do something else and be just as happy, but we simply agreed on the choice shown. For example, we could just as easily decided to spend the day driving around PEI instead of walking around Charlottetown, or conversely, decided to do a walking tour of Quebec City instead of driving outside the city.

 

Whatever you pick, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves!

Where is Oli's Trolley tour location in relation to where the cruise terminal is located?

Thanks for your help!

Tom😎

Where is Oli's Trolley tour location in relation to where the cruise terminal is located?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Tom😎

They have a gift shop in the Harbor Place Building beside the tender dock where you can buy tickets or exchange your e-receipt for tickets. That's at 1 West Street, and then you have a short walk to 55 West Street to the boarding location.

All very close and easy to get to when you get off the tender.

There appear to be three options for excursions on a New England/Canada cruise: (1) purchase the ship-sponsored tours (which use local tour operators); (2) arrange something directly with a local tour operator; or (3) rent a car and explore on your own. What would be your preferences, and why?

I'm taking a NE/Canada cruise this fall, and for the most part I'm going to do my own exploring (but not renting a car...because I just don't feel like driving on vacation). There are some walking and public transit options. I may take one tour with a private operator in Bar Harbor, I haven't decided yet. Definitely not taking any ship-sponsored tours.

It appears that at least for now, NCL offers very few excursions for the Dawn between Boston and Quebec so it looks like DIY for me ;)

They have a gift shop in the Harbor Place Building beside the tender dock where you can buy tickets or exchange your e-receipt for tickets. That's at 1 West Street, and then you have a short walk to 55 West Street to the boarding location.

 

All very close and easy to get to when you get off the tender.

They also have a little building/kiosk at the boarding location that you can also exchange your e-receipts. Depending on how many ships there are in port, you might actually get off your tender at the docks at 55 West Street as we did last fall on the Brilliance.

Where is Oli's Trolley tour location in relation to where the cruise terminal is located? Thanks for your help! Tom��

Aloha trbarton/Tom :D

Bar Harbor has no cruise ship dock. The ship's tender takes you to the tender dock at the Bar Harbor town pier, which is right next to Oli’s Trolley Gift Shop, 1 West Street, where you can buy your tickets.

Aloha :D

Bar Harbor – We pre-booked Oli’s Trolley online and enjoyed a nice tour of Acadia National Park including Cadillac Mountain. Afterward we walked around the town on our own.

Halifax – We had reserved a rental car with Enterprise, which was located at the Via Rail station across the street from the cruise terminal, and we spent a beautiful day visiting Peggy’s Cove and the area fishing villages.

Sydney – We had reserved a rental car with Enterprise, the shuttle picked us up at the cruise terminal, and we spent a beautiful day visiting Baddeck and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Charlottetown – We had reserved a rental car with Enterprise, the shuttle picked us up at Founders Hall near the cruise terminal, and we spent a beautiful day driving through Prince Edward Island, seeing the red cliffs and sand dunes, and the Anne of Green Gables House.

Quebec City – In the cruise terminal we purchased tickets for the double-decker hop-on-hop-off bus tour, and then explored the old city on foot.

In each port, we were able to see what we personally wanted to, on our own timetable, and at a considerable cost savings from the organized excursions.

Bar Harbor – We pre-booked Oli’s Trolley online and enjoyed a nice tour of Acadia National Park including Cadillac Mountain. Afterward we walked around the town on our own.

Halifax – We had reserved a rental car with Enterprise, which was located at the Via Rail station across the street from the cruise terminal, and we spent a beautiful day visiting Peggy’s Cove and the area fishing villages.

Sydney – We had reserved a rental car with Enterprise, the shuttle picked us up at the cruise terminal, and we spent a beautiful day visiting Baddeck and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Charlottetown – We had reserved a rental car with Enterprise, the shuttle picked us up at Founders Hall near the cruise terminal, and we spent a beautiful day driving through Prince Edward Island, seeing the red cliffs and sand dunes, and the Anne of Green Gables House.

Quebec City – In the cruise terminal we purchased tickets for the double-decker hop-on-hop-off bus tour, and then explored the old city on foot.

 

In each port, we were able to see what we personally wanted to, on our own timetable, and at a considerable cost savings from the organized excursions.

Aloha Kerry&LuAnn :D

Thanks for reporting back & sharing your itinerary. What/when cruise did you take that you went to these different places? Was the driving easy, did you use maps or gps, were the roads good roads or gravel roads?

Aloha :D

Aloha Kerry&LuAnn :D

 

Thanks for reporting back & sharing your itinerary. What/when cruise did you take that you went to these different places? Was the driving easy, did you use maps or gps, were the roads good roads or gravel roads?

 

Aloha :D

We did this itinerary using Holland America in late June.

In New England, we generally rent a car and do it on our own. We have done 2 ship tours in this area and felt we were better off on our own. In September, we are doing the New England/ Canada again, and renting a car in each port. We have done this in Boston, Portland, Halifax, Sydney, and Gaspe. Only time we would do a ship's tour is if they offered something we could not do on our own like we did in Saugenay. Quebec is easy to navigate on your own. In Corner Brook, we did a ship's tour and had an excellent guide but I did not like the restaurant and would have liked to see some other things. The ship's tour ee took in Bar Harbor was just a carriage tour which was okay. We did the rest of the day on our own.

We have also done two European cruises. In St Petersburg, we took SPB tours, and in Ephesus, we took Ephesus shuttle which were private tours. In Berlin, we did private SPB tour. Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm, we did on our own using local transport. Same with Santorini and Venice. In Olympia, we took the ship's transfer only which was okay because they did not allow us enough time.

Alaska was our first cruise. We took several ship's tours and two private tours. If I went back, I would definitely skip the ship tour in Alaska and not do any flightseeing.

I think alot depends on your age, mobility, and tolerance for planning. I like planning my own stuff. I worked in the airline and travel field for years. I find the things I plan to be much more work, but so much more rewarding and I am not herded like cattle.