Sydney Port

[CruisnGram]

Hi everyone,  Can anyone give me some info on what the port is like in Sydney?  Our cruise line is showing zero excursions and I have done some searching for private tours and frankly, nothing appeals to me (not a big history buff).  So I am wondering what the area is around the port?  Is there shopping etc?  Or nothing to do?  Trying to decide if I want to book a tour just to drive around a bit and see Sydney or just hang by the port area. Are there taxi's standing by that offer a tour when you get off the ship that you can book? 

 

Thanks!

Joyce 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by CruisnGram
left out something

[njhorseman]

There's a recent thread just a bit further down on the board that you may find helpful:

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by njhorseman

[BklynBoy8]

12 hours ago, CruisnGram said:

Hi everyone,  Can anyone give me some info on what the port is like in Sydney?  Our cruise line is showing zero excursions and I have done some searching for private tours and frankly, nothing appeals to me (not a big history buff).  So I am wondering what the area is around the port?  Is there shopping etc?  Or nothing to do?  Trying to decide if I want to book a tour just to drive around a bit and see Sydney or just hang by the port area. Are there taxi's standing by that offer a tour when you get off the ship that you can book? 

 

Thanks!

Joyce 

 

 

We are going to Sydney in September on the Cunard Line and we have about 8-10 shore excursions available to us on our visit.

 

Maybe they don't release them till a certain amount of time before the sailing. May have to call the line and see when will be released.

 

Our's was release about 2 - 2 1/2 months ago.

[1kaper]

There is a market style shopping area at the port itself with a lot of nice handmade things (having sailed to other ports I found it wasn’t typical “junk”). There are a few shops on the Main Street not far away. 
 

Unfortunately the best of Cape Breton is a bit of a drive away. 
 

I’m not sure about taxis on standby though. 

[CruisnGram]

Thank you both for the info  

 

 

[Floridastorm]

On 5/3/2022 at 7:30 AM, CruisnGram said:

Thank you both for the info  

 

 

May I suggest renting a car which is only steps from the port. Everything to see is at least 1 hour easy drive from the port. The highways are beautiful in Nova Scotia with some excellent landscape.  The small city of Sydney is very quaint and modern. You can walk around easily. Ship parks right downtown.

 

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/sydney+nova+scotia?kw=&c3apidt=71700000027388020&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyYKUBhDJARIsAMj9lkEhVUeVueaDylpUbGVm5A-Y8fculOLf1ddY98RviFJfNfFCTAxESgkaAl-sEALw_wcB

[riffatsea]

Renting cars is very difficult or impossible at this time!

There will indeed be taxis at the port

The private tour I am planning is with the Sydney Cape Breton Island Taxi Tour company

The owner,Simon, told me he has the contract to provide taxis at the port in addition to offering premplanned tours

He has been very amenable to planning something not listed on his web site

 

[onelegcraig]

We just returned from a Montreal to Boston on HAL Zaandam.  Sydney was my favourite port stop.  We did a ship tour 'A taste of the Cabot Trail' which was about seven hours and included a very nice buffet lunch.  We usually try to avoid large bus tours but this one was exceptionally run.  We went as far as Neils Harbour then turned around and returned to the ship.   We would not have enjoyed the scenery as much if one of us was driving a rental car.   The locals were very happy to have the ships back in town.

[JTM-CAM]

During our stop in Sydney from the Zaandam in May we were wandering around the center of town searching for an inexpensive replacement for some luggage damaged by the airline.  A lady (Allie) came up to us on the street and asked if she could help with anything.  She was the manager for the local theater (Highland Arts Theater) and ended up giving us a suitcase from their stock of theater props.  It was impressive hospitality.

[billrco90278]

There is a company called Sydney and Cape Breton Taxi Tours which has some interesting options. Does anybody have experience with them?

[maryann ns]

This link has some good information even though it has not been updated since 2020:

Sydney cruise port guide

[roomba920]

On 4/27/2022 at 10:04 AM, CruisnGram said:

Hi everyone,  Can anyone give me some info on what the port is like in Sydney?  Our cruise line is showing zero excursions and I have done some searching for private tours and frankly, nothing appeals to me (not a big history buff).  So I am wondering what the area is around the port?  Is there shopping etc?  Or nothing to do?  Trying to decide if I want to book a tour just to drive around a bit and see Sydney or just hang by the port area. Are there taxi's standing by that offer a tour when you get off the ship that you can book? 

 

Thanks!

Joyce 

 

I always find a good way to see what a port offers is just to go to Google maps and zoom in. Use the little blue man feature to "walk/ride" the streets.

[1stItaly]

On 5/19/2022 at 5:55 PM, riffatsea said:

Renting cars is very difficult or impossible at this time!

There will indeed be taxis at the port

The private tour I am planning is with the Sydney Cape Breton Island Taxi Tour company

The owner,Simon, told me he has the contract to provide taxis at the port in addition to offering premplanned tours

He has been very amenable to planning something not listed on his web site

 

 

On 10/20/2022 at 12:45 AM, roomba920 said:

I always find a good way to see what a port offers is just to go to Google maps and zoom in. Use the little blue man feature to "walk/ride" the streets.

We are planning to use Sydney Cape Breton taxi tours also.  We are needing 2 more for  Sept. 6th if anyone is going to be there that day.  We are on Holland Zuiderdam.  

[riffatsea]

We actually did not have e a good day with this company 

Make sure you have your exact itinerary written down and check the day before to make sure it is doable

We were never notified that the stops needed to be switched around

[ColoradoMom!!]

 

18 hours ago, riffatsea said:

We actually did not have e a good day with this company 

Make sure you have your exact itinerary written down and check the day before to make sure it is doable

We were never notified that the stops needed to be switched around

 

Oh dear!  You are talking about Sydney Cape Brenton Taxi Company?  We were considering using them in later September.  Can you tell us what happened - which tour - was it more than 2 people in your taxi?

[riffatsea]

Just as I mentioned 

The itinerary was changed without prior notice because of roadwork

Still we could have been informed 

The owner was supposed to drive us but another driver showed up who was not as well informed 

We had asked to go to one of the first nations cultural areas a d had not been told that there was no cultural info available there but was just a walk in the woods 

We also had expected to be able to shop for native craft items but found ourselves at a shop with tourist trap junk

 

I am sure you h ave other interests so will probably have a better experience 

Edited July 14, 2023 by riffatsea

[ColoradoMom!!]

2 hours ago, riffatsea said:

Just as I mentioned 

The itinerary was changed without prior notice because of roadwork

Still we could have been informed 

The owner was supposed to drive us but another driver showed up who was not as well informed 

We had asked to go to one of the first nations cultural areas a d had not been told that there was no cultural info available there but was just a walk in the woods 

We also had expected to be able to shop for native craft items but found ourselves at a shop with tourist trap junk

 

I am sure you h ave other interests so will probably have a better experience 

Thanks for taking the time to reply. 

[itsanita]

On 6/3/2022 at 4:18 PM, onelegcraig said:

We just returned from a Montreal to Boston on HAL Zaandam.  Sydney was my favourite port stop.  We did a ship tour 'A taste of the Cabot Trail' which was about seven hours and included a very nice buffet lunch.  We usually try to avoid large bus tours but this one was exceptionally run.  We went as far as Neils Harbour then turned around and returned to the ship.   We would not have enjoyed the scenery as much if one of us was driving a rental car.   The locals were very happy to have the ships back in town.

Do you remember where you had lunch?