Suggestions on Victory Shore Excursions

[Jarba]

I'm booked on the Victory 8/11 cruise to Canada. I'll be travelling with two children 10 and 13. We're thinking of booking the whale watching cruise. Does anyone have any feedback on that excursion or any others in St. John or Halifax? Is there enough to do and see on your own without booking an excursion? This is our 4th cruise, 1st on Carnival and 1st to Canada. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[NoPiratesPlease]

We did the St John's reversing falls / St Martin tour and it was DELIGHTFUL! We hoped it would be interesting but it was FAR better than we expected.

We went as a couple though.

 

The weather was cold and windy so we skipped the whale-watching in Halifax and just went into town instead and had a great time.

[nybumpkin]

Jarba - We're sailing 8/11 too! Come join our Roll Call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=420585.

 

We've always gone on our own in Halifax; last year, DH took two of our kids on the Harbour Hopper tour while I took youngest son on Theodore Tugboat's harbor tour. They're both available as Carnival excursions, but much cheaper if you do them on your own. This year, we've hired a driver to take us to Peggy's Cove for the morning, then we'll probably walk around the waterfront; if the weather's good, we might do the Harbour Hopper tour again, or maybe one of the other available tours.

 

In Saint John, we're going to walk along the Harbour Passage, then probably walk up to the City Market and have lunch.

[Jarba]

Thanks for the input!

[DiverGal]

For St. John, definitely take any tour that has riding the Reversing Rapids. This is one of nature's thrill rides! Our teens loved it. People in our group who went to St. Martin really enjoyed that trip also -- even though we had heavy fog! One woman took the St. John River Cruise, though, and had nothing good to say about it. The guides barely spoke and the ride uninteresting; that might have been due in part to the fog, but at least the guides could have been friendly.

 

Halifax is a better city for just walking around (though St. John isn't boring, but kids might not be all that enthused about the Loyalist Graveyard or the City Market). Halifax has a really nice harborfront. Check the Ports of Call board for info on the free tourist bus that makes a circuit around town. Peggy's Cove is well-worth a visit and our teens demanded to go there again this trip (our third to Halifax and second to St. John) just to climb around the rock formations. The fog didn't hinder them one bit.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

[cruisetmc]

Definitely the Reversing Falls. Your children may even enjoy the set boat rides there.

 

Halifax has so much you could just hop on the Green Bus that's free.

[RosieRoo]

Here is the website for the official reversing falls tours http://www.jetboatrides.com You can book them thru the cruise line or you can book them yourself at a huge savings.

[RatherBFishin]

I'll be going about a week after the OP.

 

If I didn't have my kids with me, I would definitely have signed up for "Lobster & Lighthouses" in Halifax.

 

http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcursionDetails.aspx?portcode=YHZ&excursionname=Lobster+%26+Lighthouses&excursioncode=224031

 

Unfortunately, I didn't want to take chance that the kids wouldn't like it. It's not innexpensive.

 

Also, in St John I'm going to try to eat at either Steamers Lobster Company, or Billy's. Being a Bostonian, I need my chowder fix!