In August my wife and I will be taking a cruise from the fashionable Jersey shore to Bar Harbor, Halifax and St John. Eating too much on the ship will be fun of course, I would like to wander around town.
At our age, discount prescription medications are a lure. Of course I will want try cannabis edibles. (We are travelling with our church group and will share.)
What else is there to do in these towns, aside from the packaged tours that are available?
St. John’s:
Eat at Raymonds or the Merchant Tavern.
Go to Cape Spear and visit the eastern-most point of North America. There’s also Signal Hill.
Go whale watching if you have the time (you’ll see puffins too).
Just my personal preference would be to check out their distilleries. It depends on how much time you have on shore. But apparently North America’s oldest Single Malt distillery is in NS.
There is Alexander Keith’s brewery tour that seems to exist to both puff up the legend and ensure Dal Art student have a summer job
Pier 21 is an Ellis Island analog
The Citadel - up the hill 
Halifax Public Gardens is a nice wander
Halifax Seaport farmers Market
Titanic museum
HMCS Sackville - ship museum
There is/was a duck boat tour as well.
That covers a lot near the boardwalk area.
34 years ago when I was but a 16 year old boy visiting Nova Scotia I fell head over heels for a Canadian girl. It lasted for all of 2 days and she was the first girl to break my heart. Find her and let her know I said “Thank you for being sweet to a shy American kid visiting and I hope your life has been everything you hoped for.”
Or you know… go look at the boats and stuff.
These are all great recommendations, but
Paul in Qatar said he was going to St John, not St John’s. 
Ignore my earlier post, wrong place!
My parents did that cruise a few years ago. They had fun falconing.
One nice thing about Halifax is that quite a few of these suggestions are within reasonable walking distance of the cruise dock. I did just that stop myself on a cruise out of Boston a few years back. No planning really needed, get off the ship, walk until you see something interesting, and visit. They’re close enough together you could even do several in depth.
And it’s even less clear than that, since the other one is spelled Saint John.
Well timed post, since I’ll be in Halifax/St. John for 2.5 days in mid-June, so I’ll have time (and a car) to do some exploring. Want to see the Bay of Fundy of course, but looks like lots of other things are around there.
So what are the suggestions for a 2-3 days stay, folks?
Right. To be completely clear, Saint John is in New Brunswick, St. John’s is in Newfoundland and Labrador.
If you are a regular user with plenty of experience, go for it. Otherwise, start slow with small amounts of edibles (5-10 mg) and wait an hour or two for them to take effect. A good friend of mine likes to say “You can always add more but once you eat it you can’t take it away.” Edibles are a different kind of buzz from smoking. They last longer too.
There’s a shop on the waterfront that sells hand-made crystal glasses and such, and their factory is in the back of the shop. You can watch through the windows. Could just be a short diversion, but I find that kind of thing interesting. Check their website to see when they’ll be open and operating.
It’s about an hour’s drive down to Lunenburg which has a long seafaring history and is a UNESCO heritage site. They have some historic sailing ships along the waterfront. Some of them go traveling to different places during the summer, so check and see if any will be around when you’re in the area. Mid-June is just about when the Picton Castle, a 180-foot barque, is returning from its seventh circumnavigation.
I’m thinking of taking a trip up that way myself, at about that time.
Been there many times. Grey has the good list. Bay of Fundy is interesting, The tidal bore goes up the Salmon River in Truro. There is a toll-free number you can call that will tell you when the tide comes in (it basically comes in all at once as a tall wave) for the next day or two. There is a river overlook for this. Many of the bodies from the Titanic are buried in a cemetery in Halifax. Also worth looking into is the Halifax Explosion during WWI. Was at one time the largest non-nuclear explosion ever. Two ships collided in the narrows and caught fire. One was an ammunition ship. One He** of a bang. The maritime Museum has some stuff on this. Pier 21 is very much worth the visit. So are the public Gardens, and the pond where miscreants were hanged. The Citadel is terrific, it’s essentially right next to downtown. The HMCS Sackville is open for guided tours, schedule is online. It’s not really all that big, makes you realize what some people went through on our behalf.
Thank you all. I wonder how many hours we will have. I am looking forward to it.
Halifax and Saint John are both quaint towns.
Halifax has a nice waterfront market, an interesting fort (Citadel) and some nice public gardens. Saint John is somewhat quieter and more industrial but is close to an enormous whirlpool. Both have notable breweries (Alexander Keith and Moosehead), cheap generic medications and (I presume) places to buy edibles. Both have access to good seafood and good fishing spots.
The Titanic museum is excellent. But, to complete the experience, visit the Fairview Cemetary, where over 100 victims are buried.
Typically you will be in port from about 8 am to 5 pm. Just make sure you are back on the ship at 5 pm or whatever time they say the ship sails. They will not wait for late people. There are Youtube videos of people who are 5 minutes late, running (and failing) to catch the ship as it sails away without them.
You’re likely referring to Glenora Distillers on Cape Breton - a bit too far for a cruise stop in Halifax. I was there several years ago. I like single malts in general but didn’t care much for theirs. I haven’t seen it since. I’d give it another go, however!
I don’t mean this to be snarky, but the one time I was in St. John, the most exciting thing was watching the tide. Down at the dock there was a Canadian Forces ship the top of whose mast was below street level in the morning and whose deck was above street level after noon. You could literally see the water level rise.