Adventure of the Seas Canada & New England Cruise – Day 5
Adventure of the Seas Canada & New England Cruise – Day 5 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Adventure of the Seas Canada & New England Cruise – Day 5
By WAVEJourney
WJ Tested: A Day Spent Exploring Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas
DAILY CRUISE LOG
DAY 5: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Tuesday September 11, 2018 – 100% heavy rain and 62F
Ship’s arrival in port: 6 AM
Expected ship’s clearance: 6:30 AM
All aboard: 2:30 PM
Dinner dress suggestion: Formal. No shorts in the dining room at dinner.
Saint John in New Brunswick is the only city located on the Bay of Fundy. The cities history dates back to 1604 when French Explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived on St. John the Baptist Day (June 24) and proclaimed the river and harbor be named St. John. The spelling was originally Saint John, but was changed so not to be confused with the city of St. John’s Newfoundland.
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Saint John’s shipbuilding history is one of the oldest and largest in the world. With a population of approximately 68,000 there is so much history to discover in the city and area, that a day is definitely not enough to take it all in.
Torrential rain and cooler weather greeted us in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada – our first Canadian port of call on this itinerary. With the weather forecast predicting this atrocious weather for the entire day we decided to keep our touring to mainly indoor activities around the city – easy to do with the inside connection pedway system.
Market Square is about a 5-minute walk from the Saint John Cruise Terminal
A 5-minute walk outside from the cruise terminal and we were at Market Square.
Inside Market Square in Saint John, New Brunswick
We started off visiting the 3-storey New Brunswick Museum (Canada’s oldest continuing museum) for a couple of hours. This was an excellent option for getting a feel for Canadian and local history and learning about the Bay of Fundy tides.
New Brunswick Museum in Saint John
New Brunswick Museum in Saint John has a vast assortment of exhibitions.
We were able to stay indoors via a skywalk to the mall at Brunswick Square, and a tunnel to the City Market. The market is a great place to find souvenirs, local crafts, enjoy lunch (lobster rolls, whole cooked lobster, fish and chips, and chowder were reasonably priced and very popular with locals and visitors alike).
City Market Saint John, New Brunswick
Inside the City Market Saint John, New Brunswick
Venturing outside we walked up to King’s Park to see the monuments, and took a peek inside the Imperial Theatre (from 1903).
Imperial Theatre in Saint John, New Brunswick
A Big Pink Bus Tour (Hop-On/Hop-Off) bus stops outside the Imperial and we jumped on for the rest of the tour (about 75 minutes) that was a good overview of the city, surroundings and to see the Reversing Tides.
Reversing Falls Rapids in Saint Johns, New Brunswick
Carleton Martello Tower in Saint John, New Brunswick – dates back to the War of 1812
The last stop on the tour before it went back to the cruise terminal was at the Market Square Mall where we jumped off and went inside to the Saint John Ale House and did some beer tasting before returning to the ship.
Saint John Ale House in Saint John, New Brunswick
Sampling a flight of local craft beers at Saint John Ale House in Saint John
This evening we actually made the effort to dine at the Sapphire Dining Room. When we made our initial cruise reservation, we had opted for the My Time Dining (you decide what time you want to dine each day). Upon getting our SeaPass cards we noticed we’d been changed to the late dining (8 PM) and a table for 8 – too late for us to eat each night. We were able to get it changed to the early sitting (5:30 PM and a table for 2), but that wasn’t working for us either as it was too close to when we’d get back on the ship and interfered with our trivia games.
Escargot Appetizer
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out – we did not enjoy our main dining room experience. Our waiter, Ida, and his assistant, Arianne, were really lovely and super welcoming. They seemed happy to see us, plus pleased to not have an empty table missing the assigned diners. Our assigned table (509) had to be one of the absolute worst – stuck in a corner with only the service area and food scraps from finished plates to look at. Also, the pace of courses coming out of the kitchen was just too slow for our liking (not that we like to rush, but waiting 75 minutes for the main course is painful).
Australian Bass
When the main courses finally did arrive, neither of us could eat the items we ordered – Australian Bass that was extremely over cooked, and Linguine Vongole that smelled and tasted far too fishy.
Linquine Vongole
So we left without eating, and went to the Windjammer Marketplace buffet where the food was consistently good.
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NOTE: WJ were guests aboard Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas in September 2018. All information was correct at time of writing, but be sure to check for current details. All opinions and recommendations are completely our own. Read our full disclosure statement to see our review policy.
