"Scenic Cabot Trail" excursion or "Bras D'or Lakes Grand Tour" in Sydney, which one?

I signed up late for the Norwegian Dawn Oct. 3rd trip and have limited choices. One of the things I most want to see is wildlife/nature.

Which of these two NCL excursions would you pick and why? TIA!

The Bras D'or Lake excursion (6.5 hours) says this:

"Experience the rich Scottish heritage of Cape Breton Island with a visit to the Nova Scotia Highland Village and the Village of Baddeck. Travel to Iona and immerse yourself in the Scottish pioneer culture at this living history museum located on a hillside overlooking the Bras d'Or Lake. Featuring a journey through 180 years of Cape Breton architecture, step back in time as your costumed guides provide meaningful commentary. Each structure, from the simple one room Scottish Blackhouse to the more advanced, multistoried colonial homes are filled with furniture and interesting artifacts.

You'll travel by cable ferry to the seaside community of Baddeck, home of Alexander Graham Bell. Nestled along the shoreline of the Bras d'Or Lake, this picturesque village features plenty of interesting gift shops and cozy cafes. You'll be served a buffet lunch at a resort hotel and then enjoy leisure time strolling the main street while window shopping or perhaps relaxing for a bit while watching the pleasure boats ply the calm waters of the lake. You'll tour the Alexander Graham Bell Museum prior to your scenic drive back to Sydney. "

The Scenic Cabot Trail (7 hour excursion) description:

"Experience the Cabot Trail as you drive along a small portion of the Atlantic shore from the port of Sydney to Black Brook. You'll view some of the most dramatic and pristine scenery in North America including spruce covered mountains, tranquil rivers and ocean beaches. This tour reveals vistas that inspired Alexander Graham Bell to observe, "I have traveled around the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all."

Picture stops along the way will help you remember some of the most dramatic and unspoiled scenery you experienced while on Cape Breton Island. Enjoy a buffet style lunch along the Cabot Trail before returning to your ship. "

There will almost certainly be more wildlife seen on the 'Cabot Trail' excursion - except for lunch you'll be driving along coastal roads most of the day with a fair whack of forest on the inland side.

I assume they mean Black Brook Beach - it's pretty and has a waterfall but it's barely a quarter of the way up the trail... Here's the map of the trail - Black Brook Beach is close to Ingonish. You'll basically drive up the part from St Anns to BBB then return the same way - which means you'll be on the water side one way and the land side the other if you keep the same seats.

The museum you mention as well as Baddeck are both excellent - but given you hit them both on one trip and have a group lunch, you'll be indoors for most of your trip. Speaking as a Scot, with lifetime membership of Historic Scotland, the Scottish heritage stuff in NS is better-handled than the majority of sites in Scotland are.

Personally, at that time of year, I'd take the Bras d'Or over the Trail excursion - if you really want to do the Cabot Trail, take a road trip with some flex time built in so you can ensure you drive it in clear weather (we stayed in Cheticamp an extra two nights back in '03 because the fog was so thick we literally could not see the front of the bonnet from inside the car!)

Regardless of how little of the trail you're covering, if you can't see the scenery the trip is worthless - whereas Baddeck & the Highland Village won't be ruined by rain or fog.

Cabot Trail to be appreciated fully needs to be done in clear sunny weather. It is beautiful.

The other tour can be be done in rainy weather and is interesting as well. I would opt for this second tour rather than the Cabot Trail as you cannot guarantee decent weather at this time of the year.

I visited the Highland village last year - did the Fortress of Louisborg in the morning and then the Highland Village in the afternoon.

Here's a link to my photos of those excursions - the Highland Village ones start about 1/2 way down.

https://plus.google.com/photos/106928179206906309023/albums/5939653387965500001?banner=pwa

Hope this helps

Cheers!

Dennis

The partial Cabot Trail excursion does not get you to what I think are the most scenic parts of the trail. They would be the section past Black Brook to Neil's harbour and from Pleasant Bay to Margaree Forks.

You cannot see the entire Cabot Trail on a cruise ship stop. I hope you will realize when you get to the Maritimes that we are a very safe and friendly place to visit and that you will want to come back for a proper land trip.

If you could predict the weather then you could consider renting a car and driving the Cabot Trail as far as Neil's Harbour. This would be possible because you would not take the time the ships' tours take for lunch and shopping.

The trip around the Bras D'or Lakes is very scenic. Baddeck is a lovely village. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum is world class. The setting of the Highland Village Museum is Iona is very beautiful and the museum is very interesting.

You could easily do this tour on your own by renting a car. That way you could time things the way you want.

Beware of hyperbole in tour descriptions:

You'll travel by cable ferry to the seaside community of Baddeck

Here is a recent thread with lots more information: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2094409

So if you decide to rent a car, you can decide where you will go when you get there.

Be sure to look at tomsportguide for Sydney. However, for his Cabot Trail drive I don't believe he went to Neil's Harbour so he missed a scenic section of the trail.

So funny.. I am on this cruise and asked a similar question about the Bras d'or lakes tour and then it was sold out. They must have just added another bus. By this time, I have convinced myself that we can do it by renting a car so I will be sticking with my car reservation. My advice to you is whatever you decide, if your heart is set on taking a ship excursion this trip, book the excursion you want asap before it sells out again.

Should you decide to do the tour which includes the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and the Highland Village on your own, apportion your time carefully. We got so engrossed at the Alexander Graham Bell museum that by the time we got to the Highland Village, we realized we would only have about 30 minutes to see it, so we had to skip it. I don't regret it as the Bell museum was so good and the drive around St. Andrew's Sound was quite scenic, but you really need to watch your time if you want to see it all. (We even skipped lunch and just had a quick coffee at the Bell Museum.)

BTW, the driving times from Sydney to Baddeck, from Baddeck to Iona and from Iona to Sydney are each about 1 hour (or a little more). So allow for at least 3.5 hours of driving on this route.

Thanks, everyone, for your input. Pictures of the Highland Village helped, but I'm still torn on which tour to do. Any other input or suggestions?