Blue Diamond Tours - Halifax

[CRUISEBOY305]

Hello,

 

looking at booking a private shore excursion with Blue Diamond Tours to Lunenburg, mahone bay and peggy's cove.

 

Has anybody used there company before? Not much on them on trip advisor. Or has anybody been to Lunenburg before? I've been to Peggy's cove before and would love to go back.

 

Thanks

Erik

[maryann ns]

http://www.bbb.org/maritime-provinces/business-reviews/tours-operators-and-promoters/blue-diamond-tours-in-halifax-ns-21288

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1209598

[pizzalady1]

Lunenburg was a great walking-around town. Lots of neat buildings, houses and shops to look at, with a lot of local artists' work. At the time, the shipyard was building a new Blue Nose and they were giving tours. I don't know if that is still available.

 

Mahone Bay was pretty but we did not stay there very long as we were heading to Peggy's Cove.

 

We rented a car to do this trip.

Edited February 19, 2014 by pizzalady1

[stubbornoldowl]

We're looking at the same tour - hope you get a reply as we would be interested as well.

[Atlantis Aura]

I am also looking at this tour.... I see they don't post current prices...

for a 7 hour tour...can someone give me an estimate of what they are

charging? I assume its per hour, not per person?

[Atlantis Aura]

Also, I clicked on the link for the BBB provided above and there

has been one complaint filed for Blue Diamond. It shows an "F"

rating-with this notation:

BBB Accreditation

 

On 01/28/2014 this company's accreditation in BBB was revoked by BBB's Board of Directors due to failure to participate in BBB arbitration despite pre-committing to do so.

[maryann ns]

Here are my notes on private tours from Halifax. These are taken from previous reports;

 

List of Halifax tour companies;

http://www.ambassatours.com/halifax-big-pink-hop-on-hop-off-tour

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/search3.asp?rcode=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

We recently had a four-hour tour (with an hour for lunch and a great lobster at Boondocks Restaurant) on a cruise ship stop with Halifax Titantic Historical Tours. Paul McNeil, the owner,and Darrell, our tour guide, made it the most meaningful stop on our 11 day cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas. Darrell, having been a polijcemen in Halifax for nearly 40 years, knew every nook and cranny in Halifax. If you are going to be in Halifax and want experts to avoid the touristy stuff and get you inside the real Halifax, contact Paul. We had my 89 1/2 year old mother-in-law with her electric scooter. Darrell and Paul got us to places that were accessible to her as well as us. This is a great company and you will not be disappointed. We could not have been more pleased with our tour. Our tour was in a roomy, beautifully maintained Cadillac. I just want to get back to Boondocks as well. Yummmmmmmmmm! Paul's email address is HalifaxTitanicTours@yahoo.com Don't miss this one. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1735436

 

http://www.atlantictours.com

We just got back. In PEI we used Bill Murray from Take the Island Adventure Tours. We enjoyed that tour a lot. He was very friendly, nice and filled with info. In Sydney we used Blue Diamond Tours. They were also very good. We used Your Cab Tours in Halifax and were very pleased with them as well. All 3 of these tours were good and we were very happy with all of our choices. You can easily find websites and contact info by googling those names. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1849629

 

We did a couple of tours last year with Halifax Cruise Ship Taxi Tours and had great tours,very knowledgeable local drivers. http://www.halifaxcruiseshiptaxitours.com

We enjoyed our trip to Halifax/Peggy's Cove, we were a large group and used Halifax Cruise Ship Taxi Tours. All the drivers stayed together and all met at the same places and all were very good tour guides. They arranged our lobster meal and it was ready when we arrived. We had a great time. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1705545 and 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 and: Cannot say enough about our tour guide Al ( aldeslaurier@gmail.com)...HIGHLY Recommended http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154976-i327-k5873323-Halifax_Tour_Guide_goes_above_and_beyond_your_typical_tour-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.html#45046510 and http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1731597

 

 

http://yourcab.ca/ http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g154976-i327-k3084504-l22416942-Halifax_Private_Tours-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.html#22416942

I HIGHLY recommend Jonathan Duru, Your Cab Bus & Van Tours for Halifax and Peggy’s Cove tours. http://www.yourcab.ca/ http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154976-i327-k4661003-Halifax_Nova_Scotia_guided_tour-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.html

 

http://www.bluediamondtours.com/halifaxshoreexcursions.php

garryjollymore@eastlink.ca This person also gets great reviews. I would get a quote from all of them and then decide. http://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/ShowUserReviews-g154976-d1875137-r134031076-Great_E_A_R_T_H_Expeditions-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.html#REVIEWS

I wanted to see the city and Peggy's Cove when I came to Halifax last year but I didn't think I had much time since we were leaving port later in the afternoon. On TripAdvisor I found Great EARTH Expeditions and decided to book with them. The tour to Peggy's Cove included stops at Fort George (Citidel), Halifax Public Gardens, then onto Peggy's Cove where we had a wonderful short hike and fresh lunch on a warf. Our guide introduced us to her local friends and you could tell she was passionate about Nova Scotia's history and preservation. It was a small tour in a 15 passenger van and it was a highlight of the cruise. I recommend looking into their tours. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1868955

 

 

We used Paul at Halifax Titanic Tours. We had a LARGE GMC Yukon. That, by far, was the most comfortable vehicle we had ever been in. Paul wore s suit, had speakers in the back and drop-down screens (each row) for a video about the explosion in the harbor. He was very knowledgeable, polite and fascinating. We also were lucky enough to walk thru the public gardens (where there is a mini Titanic in the lake) and got free ice cream 'cuz it was the end of the season. I most say, every tour we did on our 11 day cruise, Quebec to NJ was outstanding. We were very lucky with the weather also. I would recommend Paul. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1727212

 

 

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-g154976-i327-k4060735-Excellent_taxi_tour_from_cruise_port_to_Peggy_s_Cove-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.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.

 

 

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-g154976-i327-k4927342-Excellent_Taxi_Tour_Halifax_and_Peggys_Cove-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.html

We just got back from a cruise and we pre-planned a private tour for 5 of us in Halifax with Robert Young of Tall Tale Tours. You won't find anything on the web for him since he used to work primarily with international groups through the Canadian tourist office. He is now out on his own and we told him he better get known! He was just terrific! He met us at our ship and had a large, comfortable late model van with leather and good views all around. He listened to what we wanted and went over and above. He was so funny and interesting. We went to the Titanic graveyard and his stories of the survivors was riveting.He took us shopping at special areas off the beaten track and to lunch for lobster and fish on the way to Peggy's Cove. Not another tourist in sight. We loved him and you would too! He charged $320 for an entire day and his phone is (902) 830-9179. We all agreed Robert was the highlight of our entire trip! http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154976-i327-k5635664-Halifax_NS_in_March-Halifax_Halifax_Regional_Municipality_Nova_Scotia.html#43700049

 

[kimkencruzers]

Wow.. Mary Ann.. I like your style. Thanks for posting. I'm curious, after all your research, which company did you/are you booking with?

[maryann ns]

I live in Nova Scotia! I take notes to help others.

[kimkencruzers]

Wow.. even better! I plan to rent cars in sydney, halifax, Saint John and bar harbor... is this easy in your opinion, or should I look for private tours? Blue Diamond wanted a large deposit so I am not interested in that. Thanks!

 

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