My daughter and I will be visiting (for the first time)St. John's, New Brunswick on a cruise ship around September 12th and I am seeking advice on possible land tours or ways to visit St. Andrews, St. Stephens, and St George area. Will it be possible to fit this in with Reversing Falls in the one day we will be there (about 8 hours).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Crystal

Hi There,
First off, it is Saint John, not St. John's (that is in Newfoundland)

I think you will only be able to do St. Andrews or reversing falls, not both. Reversing Falls isn't really worth a vist anyways. St. Andrews is about an hour away for Saint John, so that is 2 hours right there. It is a cute little town, and I am sure that your cruise ship will probibly offer a tour there.

Lissa: Thank you for the reply.
You could be right that the cruise line will offer the trip to St. Andrews.
I haven't received the list of options as yet.
We are looking forward very much to this trip, the beautiful folage and the history,and especially the churches.
Thanks again. Have a blessed day. Crystal

Hi Crystal,
Which cruiseline are you on? I was curious and looked at Royalcaribbean.com and they do offer a tour to St. Andrews for like $60 or so. Now, try not to be too disappointed, but we usually don't get the colour's until closer to October. Now it is different every year, but the beginning of September there will probibly be only a few leaves turned. I hope you do get to see it though. it is one of those things I have gotten to experence my whole life and still look forward to it every year. I love it. (I only live about 1 hour away from Saint John, and went to college in St. Andrews actually) Now for churches, too bad you couldn't come to Fredericton (the Capitol city of New Brunswick) the Christ Church Cathedral is amazing. St. Andrews has a ton of churches. The population of the town is around 2500 people, and I think there must be at least a dozen churches there. I think there were like 3 on the street I lived on alone.

Hey Crystalz:

It's been just a little over a year since my first visit to NB. My air/rail/car tour included Moncton, St. Andrews and Saint John.

My DB loved St. Andrews! It's a cute little quaint town, with magnificent views to Maine. The town has a golf course, and if you get a chance, grab a cart and just take a go around the course. The views were just beautiful. We arrived in town during the last days of June first days of July and even though we went whale watching, the season had just begun so we had no luck spotting one of the enormous mammals. Instead we zipped out into the bay and watched the seals and birds cavorting.

The main strip/drag in St. Andrews is cute with lots of interesting shops and even a 99c store (for magnets and mugs). Some of the other stores have local art and stuff that pretty decent. If you get a chance stop by the ice cream shop in the middle of the strip. They sell videos in the front and really good icecream in the back!

Oh yeah, If I can remember I'll get the name of the place we had lunch. It was a real mom & pop joint, with good Halibut and Lobster, lots of beer and a deck if you want to wander outside.

Saint John was a pretty port. We stayed in Hilton Downtown and all I had to do was pull back the shades every day and a watch the cruise ships pull right up to my window. Once you come off the ship you'll be really close to the indoor, mall, market. Inside is a really good Museum, a day spa (Aveda) and lots of shopping, including a market in the back that sells lots of goodies that you can't get back home.

If I have anymore information, I'll be more than happy to share it. The trip brings back great memories. I'm now a big fan of NB/Canada.

Don't underestimate the impact of the reversing falls. If you get there at the right time of day - you can witness the ocean push the river water up stream. The falls essential is the tides changing and pushing the Saint John river back up stream - The current is one of the strongest you will ever see with a tide change as much as 40Feet. I just came back from St Andrews - It is a pretty town with local artists. If you didn't take the drive down from Saint John you could visit the Irving Nature park. Saint John is known for its heritage building in the down town area - You could spend the day walking the loyalist trail and tracing the steps of the English or Irish depending on your preference.