Today’s BearCruise group’s schedule of activities
Friday, October 3 – St. John, New Brunswick
Happy Birthday to Donna Jorgensen and Ken Greenlee!!!
11:10 – 8 pm – In port in St. John.
12:00 pm – 5pm – BearCruise NE – Private Bay of Fundy & Sea Caves Tour. Follow the meeting instructions on your voucher from Compass Tours.
4 pm – Pool / Hot Tub Takeover. If you are back on board, join other BearCruisers on Deck 15 midship at one of the pools or hot tubs.
6:00 pm – Cocktail Hour, Mixx, Deck 6, aft.
Dinner – Taste and Savor on Deck 6 aft and The Manhattan Room on Deck 7 aft.
After Dinner – Ship shows and activities – see today’s NCL’s daily program, the Freestyle Daily, below.
Today’s NCL cruise’s schedule of activities
We arrived into our final port — St. John, New Brunswick — at around 11 a.m.
This container ship beside us in the port:
reminded me of one of my favorite punny memes:
Private Bay of Fundy & Sea Caves Tour – our St. John, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick port call excursion
Step into the story of Canada’s first incorporated city with a journey that blends history, geology, and coastal beauty. We begin in Saint John, where your guide will share tales of the city’s rich maritime heritage and unique place in Canadian history.
Our first stop is the renowned Reversing Falls, a natural phenomenon where the Bay of Fundy’s powerful tides cause the Saint John River to flow backward — a mesmerizing sight that must be seen to be believed.
From there, enjoy a scenic 45-minute drive along the picturesque coastline to the quaint village of St. Martins, home to the breathtaking sea caves carved by the world’s highest tides. You’ll have time to walk along the ocean floor (tide permitting), snap photos of the dramatic cliffs and red rock formations, and browse local artisan shops.
Lunch is available at one of the charming seaside restaurants, where you can relax and take in the views before we make our way back to the city.
This excursion was very long (5 hours), and just what I would call “alright.”
The tour guide had 3 conversational affections that drove me to distraction:
1) He said “what we call” and “what I would call” so many times it was excruciating. Examples: “This is what we would call igneous rock.” Guess what. That’s what everyone would call igneous rock. By the end of the tour, Bob and I were saying things to each other like, “I’m going to take what I would call a picture of that bridge.”
2) He said “of course” so many times, most times it being incongruent with what he was saying. An example, “When I was growing up, I would of course walk to school.” Why say “of course” here? We don’t know that he’d naturally be walking to school.
3) He told 3 or 4 jokes during the tour and for each of them, he said, “When I pass this area I always tell the joke that…” Why that pre-amble? Just tell the joke!
A couple of other very annoying things he did:
1) He stayed seated behind the bus driver while talking and said things like, “Coming up on the right, you’ll see one of the oldest houses in the area,” but we had no idea how much farther it was. We were toward the back of the bus, so we’d be like, “Is that the house he was talking about?” Then passing another, “Or is this the one?” He didn’t follow up when we actually got to it to say, “Here’s that oldest house I was talking about.”
2) When we stopped at a place where we’d get off the bus, he would alternate the sides of the bus that could get off first. “At this stop, everyone sitting on the side behind the bus driver will get off first.” What are we, 12? I’ve never had a bus tour guide do such a thing, and I’m pretty sure everyone on the bus knew how to alternate sides, from front to back, to get off the bus in an orderly way.
Our first stop on the tour was of course my namesake town of St. Martins.
Here there were two what I would call covered bridges, and it’s the only place in Canada where you can get a picture of 2 covered bridges in one picture.
This is the single picture with 2 covered bridges; the second bridge is to the right and down a little. It’s actually the “old bridge” that cars could only go through one way at a time, and which was replaced by the big two-way bridge.
I’m not sure if it’s the only place where you can see a lighthouse through one of the covered bridges, but here you have it:
All of the guys sitting behind the bus driver were first to get to the ice cream shop at this stop. The ice cream was fantastic, because they make their ice cream in Canada with more milkfat than usual.
And here are Bob and I walking through the covered bridge enjoying our ice cream. I had a waffle cone of Maple Walnut, which I love, and which was my mother’s favorite flavor, and Bob enjoyed a cup of Dutch Chocolate.
The next stop is what they call the sea caves part of the tour. Some people got the world famous chowder, but we didn’t, so I’m not sure if it was clam chowder or seafood chowder or what they would call something else.
And of course the sea caves:
The next stop was at the renown Reversing Falls, a natural phenomenon where what I call the Bay of Fundy’s powerful tides cause the Saint John River to flow backward.
From what we understood, it changes direction when the tide changes, but to us of course since the tide wasn’t changing, it looked like a river flowing one way, which is pretty much what all rivers do.
More interesting to us were the restroom signs in both English & French.
The last stop on this too-long excursion was Saint John City Market, an iconic market that dates back to the 1870s with vendors carrying local produce, meat, seafood, & crafts.
Not being shoppers and having already purchased a refrigerator magnet for this trip at the Anne Murray Centre during our Halifax port call, we didn’t buy anything.
Inside the market we gathered under this clock so the tour guide could tell us what he called some facts about the market.
He asked us who noticed anything odd about the clock.
Back on the ship, Bob and I had a small snack, since we hadn’t had lunch, and then I joined our group’s happy hour in the Mixx bar.
I got there before Bob, and where I stepped up to the bar to order my Buffalo Trace & Soda, there were 4 women — Kathy, Bobbie, LouAnn, & Carol — sitting at the bar to my left. Kathy asked me where I was from, and then I asked her the same about their group.
She said, “Oh, we’re from the tiniest little place in western Pennsylvania that you’ve never heard of.”
“Near Erie?” I asked.
“Yes. A little place called Conneaut Lake.”
“I know where that is! I was just in Conneautville (town close by) in April.” I said.
Their entire crowd went wild. “No way!!!” they cried.
I had a fun chat with them, and they had a lot of questions about our BearCruise group.
Bob and I opted out of the buffet tonight and ate in one of the complimentary dining rooms.
For an appetizer, Bob had the Italian Beef Meatballs (spicy marinara sauce, Parmesan cheese) and I had the Brushetta (grilled ciabatta bread, ricotta cheese, roma tomatoes, garlic, basil, & olive oil).
For our entrees, Bob had 3-Cheese Baked Ziti (Parmesan, mozzarella, and ricotta cheeses, mushrooms, & chunky tomato sauce) and I had the Montreal Spice-Rubbed Brisket (french fries, horseradish jus):
And for dessert, we each had the Snickers® Pound Cake (Snickers pieces, peanuts, vanilla ice cream white chocolate curls, & cherries):
After dinner, I lay down for 30 minutes before “going out to da club,” and promptly fell asleep for the night. Bob went out and closed down 3 bars on the ship and returned to the room close to 3 am.
That is what we call a good time. Except for the sleeping part. 🙂
Hugs,
Sherry