Boarding whale watching catamaran -- St John/Bay of Fundy

[solotrip]

Hello all,  

 

Has anyone taken the whale watching excursion out of the Saint John, Bay of Fundy cruise port?  What was it like to board the catamaran? 

 

I found a description on Royal Caribbean's site, but it notes that this is not good for folks with limited mobility.  I plan on taking my 60+ year old mom, who struggles with inclines.  We did another catamaran style whale watching tour out of Cape May, NJ but we were able to slowly walk up a ramp.  I'm honestly only looking to book this cruise so she can go whale watching (she doesn't fly, so my options are quite limited.)  So if she can't get on the catamaran, then I'll just book something else.    

 

[martincath]

Here's the thing - cruiseline whalewatches are overpriced to the point of insanity (if they were offering a loan with the same % markup, it would literally be illegal in Canada due to usury laws). There's only one reason ever to do them - you are solo AND you have issues that make it impossible for you to do it yourself. Given that they actually specify this is not a good trip for the mobility challenged, you would be better off both qualitatively and financially to simply rent a car, drive yourself & mom to St Andrews by the Sea (where all the whalewatches go from), take an indy tour booked directly with one of the several companies there - and contact them all in advance to see whose boats are the most 'Mom friendly.'

 

Here are links to the four still-operating local whalewatch companies:

Quoddy Link

Jolly Breeze

Fundy Tide Runners

Island Quest

 

You'll immediately notice that the pricing is ludicrously lower than the line's excursion - and it's in Canadian Dollars too so a hefty discount on top! even if you do not drive, for two of you it would be cheaper to hire a cab for the whole day (ballpark $30 an hour) to drive you there and back and just wait for you while you take the trip. But if you can drive, it's a steal of a deal even if you load up on optional coverages, hire a GPS for the day etc. Highway drive, really no chance of getting lost, and since the car will have Kph on the speedo dial you don't even have to worry about 'foreign driving' as you still just match the speed limit signs to the speedo dial numbers - all the other road signs follow almost identical formats to the US.

[solotrip]

On 6/27/2020 at 2:47 PM, martincath said:

Here's the thing - cruiseline whalewatches are overpriced to the point of insanity (if they were offering a loan with the same % markup, it would literally be illegal in Canada due to usury laws). There's only one reason ever to do them - you are solo AND you have issues that make it impossible for you to do it yourself. Given that they actually specify this is not a good trip for the mobility challenged, you would be better off both qualitatively and financially to simply rent a car, drive yourself & mom to St Andrews by the Sea (where all the whalewatches go from), take an indy tour booked directly with one of the several companies there - and contact them all in advance to see whose boats are the most 'Mom friendly.'

 

Here are links to the four still-operating local whalewatch companies:

Quoddy Link

Jolly Breeze

Fundy Tide Runners

Island Quest

 

You'll immediately notice that the pricing is ludicrously lower than the line's excursion - and it's in Canadian Dollars too so a hefty discount on top! even if you do not drive, for two of you it would be cheaper to hire a cab for the whole day (ballpark $30 an hour) to drive you there and back and just wait for you while you take the trip. But if you can drive, it's a steal of a deal even if you load up on optional coverages, hire a GPS for the day etc. Highway drive, really no chance of getting lost, and since the car will have Kph on the speedo dial you don't even have to worry about 'foreign driving' as you still just match the speed limit signs to the speedo dial numbers - all the other road signs follow almost identical formats to the US.

Thank you so much for the info!  I never even though about just renting a car.  You have made her birthday -- thanks again!