Official Thread For Upcoming Eastern Canadian Cruises

Just got off the ship from the Inauguarl cruise to Canada. I strongy suggest you cancel the Bay of Fundy Railway Tour. Very little to see, most of the tour was spent getting there and back for not more than a fifteen minute stop. The tides were not reversing. The guide spent most of the time discussing a truck emptying wood chips at a paper processing factory for toilet paper. For people with mobility concerns there are several steps to get into the bus and train. Highly likely that Disney will cancel this excursion based on passenger feedback.

Can anyone tell me how to cancel this tour on-line? All I see is how to add an activity. Do I have to call? Thanks!
 
Disney Magic Eastern Canada Cruise Trip Report, June 10-15, 2012

Here are some notes from our trip last week on the inaugural voyage of the Magic to Halifax and Saint John. We had a fabulous trip. I’ve tried to include some details that may be useful for people taking this cruise later this summer. I’d be happy to answer any questions people have. On to my trip report…

June 10 – Sailing from New York

The Magic was at Pier 88 in New York. In the terminal Mickey was dressed as Uncle Sam for photos and Minnie was the Statue of Liberty. We arrived at our given time and were assigned to group 15 for boarding, but they were already boarding group 40. So, it seems like we could have arrived much earlier than our assigned time. The Intrepid was a couple of piers away from us and once the cruise ship next to us sailed we had a fabulous view of the Enterprise Space Shuttle from our room. The space shuttle will be open on July 19 for tours. We no longer have to wear life jackets for the drill (sorry if this is old news for more recent cruisers on DCL, but I wanted to note changes from our previous cruises on the Magic). We were about a half hour late sailing away, so you had to choose between being on time for the first dinner seating or staying out to see us sail by the Statue of Liberty.
Peter was the cruise director for our sailing, and we had Captain John. There is a new Castaway gift in the room. It’s a very nice backpack now with the new key ring design, Mickey pretzels, and Mickey “gold fish” treats inside. Sadly, there are no Canada themed dinners. The first three nights were show dinners, then pirates, then the farewell dinner.

There is a new photo deal where you pay $249 for the CD and then for an extra $50 you get unlimited prints.

The shops had some Canada and New York merchandise. There were t-shirts, vinylmation, and Christmas ornaments from New York. Canada had a few different styles of t-shirts, one was bundled with a cap, there were scrapbooking pages, a Mickey in yellow raingear statue, photo albums, and a postcard with the Canada cruise artwork on it. There were also Canada pins one with an overall Canada theme and one for each port.

June 11 – First Sea Day

We put our clocks forward one hour tonight. It has been cool on deck and breezy. No summer clothes today! Tonight is the formal night and Twice Charmed show. Lots of photo ops in the lobby. I saw a handful of long dresses and less than half dozen tuxes. People wore everything from cruise casual to formal. Most people were at least slightly dressed up from “cruise casual”. We went to the shopping talk, but it was mostly words and very few pictures of what was available in port. So, it was hard to get excited about shopping when you had no idea what things looked like. However, there were still some freebies thrown to the audience and the jewelry raffle at the end. Otherwise, we just hung out and enjoyed being back on the Magic. We didn’t go to the Art of Entertaining entrée demo, but it was the salmon in phyllo dough recipe. We had the Gold Castaway gift in our stateroom today and it was a nice leather diary with a pen, a luggage strap, and note cards. In the evening we got our gift commemorating our first time in Eastern Canada. It was a lovely set of note cards with the characters in Canadian dress on the paper and envelopes.

June 12 – Halifax

Blue skies and mild temperatures, a beautiful day to see Halifax. We woke up to bagpipes at 8am and felt like royalty since the Queen of England wakes up to bagpipes every day. The dock was on the starboard side of the ship. The ship was cleared at 8:30am. We chose the Hop On Hop Off bus for our excursion. They had three routes. All the guides were very good with lots of interesting stories about Halifax. The Halifax explosion story was so interesting we ended up buying a book about it to learn more. Each loop was about 20-30 minutes. We timed it so that we took the route that stopped at the Spring Garden Road shopping area around lunchtime. We had lunch at a pub called “My Father’s Mustache”. Two of us had some great fish and chips, and one of us had a salad that was very good. We asked if kids were allowed, and kids of all ages are ok. If teens come without adults there are some areas they can’t sit in. We went to several stores including Jennifer’s that had been recommended on this thread. Thanks very much for that recommendation, we really enjoyed the shop and bought a few things there. In the afternoon we walked along the waterfront. We were running out of time fast so we only had time for a Beavertail and no Cows. I took the Beavertails AND Cows advice very seriously, but there was no time to do both. The Beavertail was yummy! Thanks for that recommendation! The Beavertail stand is just a little farther than the Maritime Museum. DH went to the Museum and really enjoyed it. I spent the last hour at the shops at the pier. Halifax was great and we could have used much more time here. We got a great overview on the HOHO bus, with lots of notes of where we’d like to return to on our next trip. The Gold/Platinum Castaway Club party was that afternoon. They had a great selection of food and drinks, pictures with Goofy, and some nice videos of the Fantasy christening and future plans. We had bagpipes and drums at the sail away that were really enjoyed by everyone. You can hear the people cheering on the video of the sail away from Halifax that was posted earlier. This evening was the Villains show. In our cabin we got a limited edition lithograph commemorating the Magic’s first trip to Eastern Canada.

June 13 – Saint John

We wake up to blue skies, mild temperatures, and another beautiful day. We are adjusting to the time change and are up in time to see the sail in through the bay from the outside tables at Topsiders. The ship was cleared by 9am. We were docked on the starboard side again. I did not hear any bagpipes this morning. When we got off the ship there was a large welcoming committee with roses for the women, pins for the men, and flags for the kids. A really lovely welcome to Saint John. We did the Maple Syrup tour. While it wasn’t the season to get the sap, it was still interesting to hear about how trees were tapped and syrup was made both historically and currently. After the tour they poured maple syrup on ice and we could try that if we wanted to. Then we had a brunch with pancakes, local sausage, maple syrup and apple juice, coffee, tea, or water to drink. It was very good. Because of the warmer winter, there was not as much sap this year. The owners sold out of maple syrup before we had a chance to buy any. I’m not sure if they are sold out of everything for the year, or just the jars they had made up at that time and they’ll have more for later tours. We ended up buying maple syrup back in town at the port. The tour guide had lots of information about the area that he shared during the bus ride along with photos of the area in other seasons. The tour ran over by an hour so I was glad Disney did not let us book the afternoon blueberry tour as we would have missed it. (DS heard reports in the teen club that the blueberry tour was very good as well.) They apologized for running long and said they would try to fix it. We walked around town after that and explored on foot. There were bagpipes as we sailed away, also a few people waving from the dock. It looked like a preschool group was there in the afternoon looking at the ship from the dock. The Magic did a u turn in port to go back down the bay. It was pirate night on the ship. It was very chilly on deck and everyone was bundled up to watch the show and fireworks. There was a comedy show in the main theater. We set our clocks back one hour tonight.

June 14 – Second Sea Day

Today was mostly a sunny and warm sea day, with a brief window of cloudy and cool in the afternoon, then back to sunny and warm. Once again we just hung out and enjoyed being on the Magic again. The Art of Entertaining was an Apple Crumble Dessert demo. During the whole cruise they were refinishing the outdoor decking on Deck 4. So, future cruisers, please admire your newly refurbished deck. Disney Dreams was the evening show. We had a beautiful sunset, and the ship almost seemed to be standing still she was going so slowly. We picked up our photo prints in the evening so that we could pack them. Tips are done a new way since we last cruised. The standard tip amount is automatically charged to your room if you haven’t already prepaid it. We never took advantage of the pre-pay option as more often than not we wanted to round up our tip in appreciation of the great service we often receive. They say you can change the amount up or down if you want to, but I preferred the old way where they suggested the amount, but we chose what to do. We ended up putting cash into the envelopes of the crew that went above and beyond rather than standing in line to change the amount. Another thing that has changed is that there is no daily newspaper anymore with a recap of the news and sports for the previous day. We miss that. While internet is available everywhere, we usually turn off our phones when we leave port to avoid roaming charges, so we liked getting a summary of the news in the stateroom each day. I’m not sure when they stopped doing this as we had it on the Baltic in 2010.

June 15 – Back in New York

It’s all over too soon. Early risers can get up at 4am to see the Magic pass under the bridge into New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty, and Manhattan lit up at night. One of us manages to get up that early and said it was a fabulous sight. There is a new disembarkation option called Express, and since we have an appointment to see the 9/11 memorial, we take advantage of it. You keep all your luggage and take it off yourself. Topsiders is open with the usual buffet from 6 to 7 am (and you get to eat breakfast looking at the Manhattan skyline!). We pick up our photo CDs starting at 6:30am, and we’re off the ship by 7:30am. There were no lines to get off or at customs at that time. We get a taxi from across the street and are at our hotel before 8am! You can do Express from 6:30 to 8am. After that you have to get off at your assigned time and wait in a lounge after you’ve finished breakfast until your luggage tag color is called. I am a huge fan of the new Express and would probably use it even if we didn’t have a specific appointment.

That’s my trip report. I’ll try and monitor the thread for questions over the next couple of weeks. It was a fabulous cruise. I hope they do it again and make it a longer cruise.
 
Thanks for your review. Very informative. I thought I had read that there would be a semi-formal night on a 5 day cruise and not a formal night. DH puts on a tux for formal night, but I told him not to bring one this trip.....so it really is formal?
 
Thanks for your review. Very informative. I thought I had read that there would be a semi-formal night on a 5 day cruise and not a formal night. DH puts on a tux for formal night, but I told him not to bring one this trip.....so it really is formal?

According to the Navigators which were posted in one of the TR the second night is a "Dress-up" night. All other nights are cruise casual.
 

Another thing that has changed is that there is no daily newspaper anymore with a recap of the news and sports for the previous day. We miss that. While internet is available everywhere, we usually turn off our phones when we leave port to avoid roaming charges, so we liked getting a summary of the news in the stateroom each day. I’m not sure when they stopped doing this as we had it on the Baltic in 2010.

I'm not entirely sure but I think they only do this on cruises that take you really far away from the US. We didn't get any DCL-made "newspaper" on our Western Caribbean in 2010, but got it daily on the Mediterranean cruise in 2011. The fact that you got it on the Baltic cruise seems to assist my theory ...
 
I am so glad you had a great time. I can't speak for the maple Syrup Producer having more stock for the next set of tours, but you will find piles in the stores around both Saint John and Halifax, and maple fudge as well!

Of course the shortage might be due to my son being on a waffle kick, We are going through maple syrup like it was water.
 
Me neither. :confused: That said, with only one day in Halifax, I wouldn't consider Susie's a "must do".

Somewhat off topic, but if you have any time in NYC before or after your cruise, it is worth a visit to Carlo's Bake Shop (Cake Boss) in Hoboken, easily accessible via the Path train, NY Waterway Ferry or NJTransit.
 
"Now, what to do in Saint John? Ideas?

Any one ride the Hop On Hop Off, or the trolly, or the bus (highlights tour)?

I will cancel the rail tour here as soon as I figure out how to do it.....but not sure which of these other tours I will take instead. Thanks!
 
We did Peggys cove and hop on in Halifax and train (dont waste money) and hop on in St John . Some people including Disney person at Guest Services thpoght that because your ticket for the tour said 1 pm you could not do hop on before that. You can do hop on as soon as you get off and then come back for the tour . We rode each loop first and then decided what to see. Each ;oop is 40 minutes if you dont get off.
Whale watchers should check to see when the whales come into the area. Someone said they did not see any on their tour we saw one in Peggys Cove
If you go to the cove walk to the village you pass it on the way to the lighthouse (maybe quater mile) You can see the reversing falls from the hop on and there is a stop right there . They stop on the hill by the Saint John sign and it is a grat spot to see the ship in the harbor

How did you like the trip to Peggy's Cove? We are booked for Peggy's Cove and Titanic.

Anyone else take these tours? Thanks.
 
we canceled the rail tour also- based on the many bad reviews- I was able to do it online- by clicking the day (like day 3) up top and then it listed it and said modify/cancel and I was able to have it canceled.

Not sure what else we are going to do- with a 7 and 3 year old?

thanks for all the chatter!
 
Any good lunch recommendations near the Martime Museum of the Atlantic?

We had a FANTASTIC lunch at Salty's (right near the museum). Best fish & chips I've ever had, and local beer. DH had salmon, my friend had clams & chips. Great service, ate outside next to the water.
 
"Now, what to do in Saint John? Ideas?

Any one ride the Hop On Hop Off, or the trolly, or the bus (highlights tour)?

I will cancel the rail tour here as soon as I figure out how to do it.....but not sure which of these other tours I will take instead. Thanks!

We did the Trolley tour (adult one) and it was very informative. We had a good guide who didn't point out where she went to school (this happened on the bus tour, I heard), etc. We got off at the City Market (our choice) and took a leisurely walk back to the port.
 
We did the Trolley tour (adult one) and it was very informative. We had a good guide who didn't point out where she went to school (this happened on the bus tour, I heard), etc. We got off at the City Market (our choice) and took a leisurely walk back to the port.

Wish we had done that.

The Railway Tour guy sang three songs (poorly) and pointed out where his buddy was killed in a gas station explosion. He also told us about a woman who gave him the finger when he waved from the train (which he kept telling us to do "Remember, the rule is we wave first!") and said the Halifax Explosion happened during WW II.
 
So I went to the grocery store this morning, and this is what I saw from the parking lot:




It was a little cool this morning but it's sunny now and is shaping up to be a beautiful day. :)
 
we canceled the rail tour also- based on the many bad reviews- I was able to do it online- by clicking the day (like day 3) up top and then it listed it and said modify/cancel and I was able to have it canceled.

Thanks for answering......got it canceled now!
 
We were on the inaugural cruise also. Today was the first day back at work. Not as much fun as the vacation. We drove up from central Florida. Cruise day we were at the port at just a few minutes after 9 and had no problem finding a parking spot. We gave them our luggage and then we walked into Manhattan for sightseeing getting back at 2, lot was full then. Cruising out by the statue of Liberty was great.

We also got the previously mentioned everything photo package, so we took full advantage of the picture times. Last cruise we only bought 1 photo. This time several floders full.

In Halifax we just walked around. First we went down by the maritime museum so our daughter could play on the submarine themed playground. Next up to the Citadel. Spent a couple of hours there , but the guided tour is 45 mins. Lunch, the public gardens, very lovely, and slowly wandered back to the ship. Went by Freak Lunchbox, ok but wouldn't do it again but there was a nice bookstore with new and used near it. At 3:45 a ship officer was in the Pier shops asking us to get back on.

St. John, rented a van from Avis that turned out to be a new fully loaded Ford Flex. Picked up an $8 Canada hoodie on the way there. Went up to Hopewell, took 2 hrs one way. Walked around for a little over an hour. Stopped at the Sussex exit on the way back and went to a grocery store and a dollar store that had quite a few Canada things for $1-2. Back to town, $50 for the gas and back to the ship with 30 mins to spare.

Did the early walkoff back in New York and we were in Central park by 8. Parked next to the Natural History museum for $20. The museum has a Night at The Museum tour my daughter enjoyed.

Enjoyed the cruise. If Disney goes back, we'll be on it again.
 

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