Halifax and Peggy's Cove

[CarogaCruizer]

Has anyone done a private tour of Halifax and Peggy's Cove? We are looking for a tour for 4 people in October. Any one had a good experience or do you know if they are available at the port? Thanks!

[Clarea]

You may also want to take a look at the port of call forum:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/9-canadanew-england/

[dani negreanu]

I wanted very much to visit PC, but was afraid to commit and book beforehand, since, if it's raining and windy, it is not much fun.

Decided to "play it by the ear". And it worked.

The weather was good, and right in front of the terminal is a taxi station with the fixed rates per hour. It was either 50$ or 50 CAD. Paid in CAD.... Minimum 3 hours. It is almost one hour one way.

Found 2 other couples likewise minded, and off we went. The taxi driver waited for us, we had about 50 min to wander around. It was enough. We enjoyed PC very much.

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

It's a very short drive... less than an hour from Halifax. Once you are out of the city there is hardly any traffic.

 

Have you considered just renting a car. You can pick one up just a few blocks from the port. It would certainly be a lot less expensive and you will likely find that you will have time to do something else as well.  Check the port of call threads.

 

have a great cruise

[*Miss G*]

21 minutes ago, Nic6318 said:

Hi

 

It's a very short drive... less than an hour from Halifax. Once you are out of the city there is hardly any traffic.

 

Have you considered just renting a car. You can pick one up just a few blocks from the port. It would certainly be a lot less expensive and you will likely find that you will have time to do something else as well.  Check the port of call threads.

 

have a great cruise

 

That’s what we did.  In high season there’s a Hertz location right at the port.  We went in May so walked down to the Marriott location.  But we saw lots of taxis at the cove so I figured it must have been fairly inexpensive.  Certainly something I’d do if I didn’t feel comfortable driving.

[BallFour4]

At Peggy's Cove go to the little shop down the hill from the lighthouse and watch them make pewter sand dollars. They will stamp your passport too. 
 I didn't get one of the sand dollars when we went and wished I had!

 

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

Hey thanks Don! I learned a new term today PASSPORT ABUSE. I can't wait to inject it in the conversation with friends this weekend.
 Listen, if you don't have other plans try to be nice for an hour today. Tomorrow add one more and pretty soon you will be able to string a few days together. Heck, you might even make enough progress to enjoy a 4 night cruise.

.

 

This might be useful information -

 

"

The State Department Law on Passport Markings

The US State Department’s rules on passport markings are clearly stated on your passport. On Page 5 of all US Passports, in a section marked “Alteration or Mutilation of Passport,” is printed the warning that “only authorized officials of the United States or of foreign countries may place stamps or make notations or additions to this passport.” Authorized officials include US State Department staff, US Customs and Border Patrol officers, diplomatic and consular officials of foreign countries, and immigration officers at international borders.

Souvenir Stamps from Immigration Authorities

At many international borders, authorities no longer stamp passports as a matter of course, but you may request a passport stamp when you enter. This is a legal way to obtain a stamp, since it is placed into your passport by an official of the foreign government. In some countries, you may need to visit a special office in order to have your passport stamped.

Souvenir Stamps from Tourist Attractions

Many tourist attractions like parks, temples, and historic sites will have vendors who will stamp your passport with a souvenir stamp for a fee. Two famous examples are the “Checkpoint Charlie” stamp from Berlin, Germany and the Macchu Pichu stamp from Peru. This type of passport stamp is not legal under State Department regulations. Although it’s unusual for travelers to run into trouble because of these unauthorized stamps, it does happen on occasion. Some travelers have had difficulty entering countries like China because of the “fun” stamps in their passports. It’s not worth the risk!"

 

DON

[lynncarol]

Not to mention that there are countries that insist on two blank passport pages when you enter them.  We are going to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and our TA warned us one of the countries had that requirement, (although right now I can't recall which one). Since we travel a lot, both my husband and I rushed to check our passport availability. We learned it is very expensive to get additional pages. 

[GradUT]

22 hours ago, lynncarol said:

Not to mention that there are countries that insist on two blank passport pages when you enter them.  We are going to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and our TA warned us one of the countries had that requirement, (although right now I can't recall which one). Since we travel a lot, both my husband and I rushed to check our passport availability. We learned it is very expensive to get additional pages. 

South Africa is one of the countries that requires two adjacent blank pages for entry.  (Been there, done that.)

[maryann ns]

Dani (post##) my reports are that the taxi to Peggy's Cove and back is $150CAD which would have been $50 per couple.

 

 Halifax for Cruise Ship Visitors

[Cruise Cynic]

We rented a mid-sized SUV (Nissan Pathfinder) for $70CAD and drove to Peggy's Cove ourselves.

[*Miss G*]

Holy smokes!  $150!!  We paid $42 usd and got an suv as well.

[cknic]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

Holy smokes!  $150!!  We paid $42 usd and got an suv as well.

Are the taxi drivers open to bargaining?

[Topdog52]

Is it worth going to Peggy's cove or can you have a good time just touring Halifax itself?

[martincath]

5 hours ago, Topdog52 said:

Is it worth going to Peggy's cove or can you have a good time just touring Halifax itself?

Unfortunately the only way to answer such a subjective question accurately is in hindsight... of course you can entertain yourself for an entire port day in Halifax, it's a decent-sized city and has enough to do to keep non-cruise tourists busy for multiple days! The key question is whether you would enjoy Peggy's Cove more than the same amount of time spent in Halifax doing other things - and not knowing anything about you, nobody here can answer that question...

 

More research is the only way to make a rational decision - read trip reports, TripAdvisor reviews, and see whether what they describe about PC trips seems more like your kind of thing than the list of attractions in Halifax itself. Depending which cruise you're going on, you may have a longer or shorter day and be arriving or departing when certain attractions are closed - so you need to figure out how many hours you have in Halifax where you can actually Do Stuff. Then rank your Halifax attractions in order of priority and see which ones you'd have to skip for a PC trip...

 

Personally I enjoyed my one and only trip to PC, it was very scenic, but then we visited it by road-tripping to the area and choosing a day without any ships in Halifax - so the village was pretty quiet even when one tour bus did roll in. Trying to imagine how much less I'd have enjoyed the place with multiple busloads is tricky, but I know it would definitely have been less enjoyable due to the crowds and especially way more hassle getting photos without a horde of humanity in them. Plus we had a couple of days in Halifax itself and another three in the rest of Nova Scotia, so we didn't feel we had to skip anything in order to visit - so personally I would drop PC like the proverbial hot potato if I had just one day (but then I also felt like the Pier 21 museum was a complete waste of time despite it being a highly-rated place and us generally being very much 'museum people' - it's all subjective, so my tastes could be nothing like yours at all)

[p_e_snyder]

On 11/20/2019 at 2:14 AM, Cruise Cynic said:

We rented a mid-sized SUV (Nissan Pathfinder) for $70CAD and drove to Peggy's Cove ourselves.

That is what we are going to do in a few months. Do you remember who you rented it from? Was there a rental area at the port, or did you walk to one? Thanks

[Cruise Cynic]

There is a rental counter in the building next to the ship (on the opposite side of the building) . When we went, they were sold out of cars. So we walked to the train station down the street (5 mins. walk), and there were multiple counters with plenty of cars. We rented from National, I think.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Cruise Cynic

[p_e_snyder]

2 hours ago, Cruise Cynic said:

There is a rental counter in the building next to the ship (on the opposite side of the building) . When we went, they were sold out of cars. So we walked to the train station down the street (5 mins. walk), and there were multiple counters with plenty of cars. We rented from National, I think.

Thanks. I need to look it up and see if I can make a reservation beforehand.

 

[shipgeeks]

On 1/19/2020 at 6:34 AM, Topdog52 said:

Is it worth going to Peggy's cove or can you have a good time just touring Halifax itself?

We've been to Halifax at least three times, and always enjoy it.  The boardwalk, Citadel, Maritime Museum, Immigration museum, all close to the pier.

We haven't been to PC; never had a desire to do so.

[njhorseman]

We're still waiting for delivery of a post card we mailed to ourselves about 15 years ago at the former post office in the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse because mailings from there were postmarked with an image of the lighthouse.

I didn't have very fond memories of Peggy's Cove to begin with. Not getting the post card didn't help...