RC Bay of Fundy Excursion help

I'll be on the Grandeur, stopping in St. John, NB in early October. Ever since I've seen pictures of people walking through the Bay of Fundy sea caves at low tide, this has been on my bucket list. There are a few excursions offered by RC, and I'm trying to decide which (if any) is best for my hubby and me. Any opinions are welcome! The three most intriguing are:

1. St. Martin's and Bay of Fundy-- 5 1/2 hours Starts at 8:30 am.

2. Big Pink Bus-HOHO (90 minute Route)

3. St. Martin's and Bay of Fundy Express-3 1/2 hours. Starts at 11:30 am.

I'm not sure if the HOHO gets us to a point where we can see the tide as dramatically as those classic advertising pictures!

If I'm reading the tide correctly, low tide is at 12:06 at St. Martin's. (4.9 feet)

I know nothing about the area other than the little bit I've learned from the shore excursion descriptions. Any help or insight would be much appreciated!!

Tides are dependent on the specific date. The tide time changes about 50 minutes per day.

Tides are dependent on the specific date. The tide time changes about 50 minutes per day.[/quote

 

Yes. I looked up the tide chart and the 12:06 pm low tide is specific to our port day. The chart specified St. Martins also. Thank you:)

 

Any opinions on the various excursions?

Can't give an opinion based on having taken any excursions (we road-tripped to this area from Toronto, so drove ourselves to places) but your instincts about the HOHO are correct. Checking the route online it's strictly urban - while you could watch the waterfront for hours and watch the water level rise/fall a lot, the famous 'walk on the sea floor' spots are well out of town. St Martins that you already flagged is nearer than the Hopewell Rocks, the even more famous area (2 hours drive away, so unless you have a really long port stop perhaps too risky to visit).

The HOHO will take you to the Reversing Rapids - but the time to see this is actually around the halfway point. At high or low tide, it's boring - it's the in-between part where it changes, when the waters start flowing inward instead of out, that is the unique sight (and frankly even that was seriously underwhelming to us - this is one of those experiences that unless you spend the full six+ hours between a low and high tide watching you don't get the full show, so a sped-up video on Youtube is a better way to actually see it!)

Since St Martins is about 45 mins drive away, and both the other excursions specifically mention it in the name, I'm guessing they both have you there at a time you could do the walk into the sea caves on your date. The short one seems to go straight there, arriving just after low tide on your date, leaves you for a couple of hours then takes you back; the longer (from Googling) sounds like it literally just adds time at the Reversing Rapids and Old City Market in Saint John, so it's a pretty minimal 'upgrade' from the short one.

Frankly I'd be inclined to hire a car and drive yourself to St Martin, and even push on an extra 20mins to Big Salmon River (Fundy Trail interpretive centre and a suspension bridge are here, and as a narrow river feeding into the bay it will also have some pretty impressive tidal variance). It'll likely save you buckets of cash compared to the ship tour, especially if you split the car with another couple...

We did a private tour organized by our roll call last October.....Dave's Taxi Tour's....worked out so great for us all.

We did a private tour organized by our roll call last October.....Dave's Taxi Tour's....worked out so great for us all.

I will look into that for the 2019 Snowbird Migration Cruise. Any one of their tours you recommend?

I will look into that for the 2019 Snowbird Migration Cruise. Any one of their tours you recommend?

Our roll call group did a 5-6 hour tour ... Just the main tour that included everything and went all they way out to the caves...luckily the tide was low and the men in our group walked all the way out. We also stopped by a well known farm house/antique store for some homemade cookies on the way back. Great full day tour.

We'll be on that Snowbird Cruise too but since we saw and did it all last October we'll probably look to do something else in that port.

The pictures you saw were mostly likely from St Martins. I would do one of those excursions if that is what you are looking for. The HOHO bus would be city only and to be honest there isn't a lot to see just in the City of Saint John.

Two times that we went to St John we rented a car and drove to St Martin - Bay of Fundy. You not only get to walk around on the beach and caves but you can also drive the Fundy Trail. Make sure you try some of the lobster chowder at the the little restaurant right on the beach near the caves... best I have ever had.

About $20 cab ride away on the west side of Saint John is MacLaren’s Beach, it has an amazing walk on the ocean floor experience and is a nice hour walk along Sheldon’s Loop to the Saint’s Rest Beach and Irving Nature Park. You don’t get the 2 covered bridges and caves but you get the next best thing without an hour and a half drive both ways.

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I'll be on the Grandeur, stopping in St. John, NB in early October. Ever since I've seen pictures of people walking through the Bay of Fundy sea caves at low tide, this has been on my bucket list. There are a few excursions offered by RC, and I'm trying to decide which (if any) is best for my hubby and me. Any opinions are welcome! The three most intriguing are:

1. St. Martin's and Bay of Fundy-- 5 1/2 hours Starts at 8:30 am.

 

2. Big Pink Bus-HOHO (90 minute Route)

3. St. Martin's and Bay of Fundy Express-3 1/2 hours. Starts at 11:30 am.

 

 

I'm not sure if the HOHO gets us to a point where we can see the tide as dramatically as those classic advertising pictures!

If I'm reading the tide correctly, low tide is at 12:06 at St. Martin's. (4.9 feet)

 

I know nothing about the area other than the little bit I've learned from the shore excursion descriptions. Any help or insight would be much appreciated!!

I don't know where the sea caves are that you are looking for - St Martin's and Hopewell Rocks both have sea caves.

If you are looking for the part of the Bay of Fundy where you can walk on the floor and see little islands protruding up from the ocean floor you need a tour that goes to Hopewell Rocks, it's about a two hour ride each way from port. If that is what you are looking for just ask if the tour is going to Hopewell Rocks. Walking on the ocean floor is only available during the low tide cycle.

The Bay of Fundy is a huge area and on our first visit I too was excited to be visiting then Bay of Fundy - when we stopped at a dock in the Bay of Fundy there boats were sitting on the floor but it was nothing like I imagined...needless to say I was disappointed. It was then that I found out that those iconic images are from Hopewell Rocks, a two hour bus ride from port. Next time we went I picked a week where we will be there at low tide and booked an excursion to Hopewell Rocks. See image below.

St Martin also has sea caves but not as dramatic as Hopewell Rocks. We visited this place on our first trip...we did not have access to the caves since the tide was high.

Hope this info helps you.

 

About $20 cab ride away on the west side of Saint John is MacLaren’s Beach, it has an amazing walk on the ocean floor experience and is a nice hour walk along Sheldon’s Loop to the Saint’s Rest Beach and Irving Nature Park. You don’t get the 2 covered bridges and caves but you get the next best thing without an hour and a half drive both ways.

 

 

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This is what you can see at McLaren’s Beach without even leaving Saint John, Keep in mind the beach is not there at all at high tide.

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Not our attraction on cruises. Could have cruised this year but St John's on list and we passed it by.