Canadian Maritimes and Coastal Wonders

It was a fabulous tour with a wonderful tour manager and coach driver. A great combo with Bernadette and Peggy. The sites were spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience.

The tour was more than we expected. The tour manager made it extra special. She kept us entertained on the bus. The sites were fabulous and the food terrific.

seeing the tide change at the Bay of Fundy

Our tour manager, Bernadette Walsh, and our bus driver, Rick, were great. Bernadette was very organized, entertained us with her humor and knowledge of the area. Rick was a very good driver and a gentleman. I enjoyed seeing new places and meeting new people.

Absolutely beautiful country. Excellent local tour guides. 3 out of the 4 hotels were very high quality.

I liked the Cabot trail drive and the Bay of Fundy trail and Hopewell Rocks.

Our tour manager and driver made all the difference in making the Maritimes Coastal tour a total success! Bernadette was extremely knowledgeable and I learned so much. Our driver, Rick, was professional, an exceptional driver, and such a gentleman! I enjoyed every excursion, restaurant, and hotel choices (other than the "resort" hotel which needed renovations). Also, Bernadette had a great sense of humor which kept us entertained! Loved it!

The tour was lovely. The Westin, Hilton and Grand Hotels were very nice and the breakfasts were excellent. My only complaint was the one night at a four story motel. The room was not cleaned properly. I needed to plug in my CPAP machine and the plug in was behind the curtain. It was very dusty and apparent the floors were not vacuumed properly. As well it was in desperate need of upgrading and paint. The driver Steve, always had a smile, and was right there to help with umbrellas, walkers and luggage. Darren, our tour guide, was very informative for every city and province. Overall, I was impressed with Collette Tours. Loved Halifax. Esther

Nice tour, interesting sights, loved Bay of Fundy trail, Acadian site, lobster dinners, Mi’kMaq visit, Gaelic College, Peggy Point Lighthouse

Bernadette Walsh/tour guide was the best storyteller and guide I have ever met. Would love to go again someday.

Our Tour Manager was really great! She provided many details & was outstanding in her presentation! A nice dry sense of humor!!

Bernadette Walsh our tour director was fabulous. Her humor and her knowledge of the area were great. She often told us about her life growing up in the Maritimes, making our tour a personal experience. Also, the tour was well organized and she made sure to see to every person's well being. Bus driver Randy was also great. This was our 5th Collette Tour and all have been really good.

Prince Edward Island was wonderful

Great trip, amazing scenery, Bay of Funday amazing, freshest seafood ever!!!

It exceeded my expectations. Darren's love for Cape Breton, especially was infectious. The cooperation between the tour manager and the driver made for smooth logistics. I particularly loved the Cabot trail and the bay of Fundy area for scenic beauty. The accommodations suited me. The group dinners added to the enjoyment.

I loved it all! I wouldn't change anything about the tour venue! We enjoyed everything! Peggy's Cove, Amos Pewter Co, all the church tours-- simply beautiful! Prince Edward Island with the Anne of Green Gables Museum, the Alexander Graham Bell museum, the visit to St. Martin on Cape Breton, the visit to Grand Pre', the lobster dinner was terrific, and these are not half the tour. It was WONDERFUL!!

Everything was great. I would recommend this tour to all. My only question is why do you have to squat to use the toilet and climb up onto a bed? I'm not sure what the median age is for travelers, but older folks with knee problems must find it difficult to use the facilities. When able, I went to the lobby to use the handicapped facility.

Although we spent a long time on the bus, we learned many interesting details about the area. The food provided by Collette was good.

The guide couldn't be better. He and the coach driver we very friendly while being totally professional. I enjoy having a 'local" guide for the special places we visited while our own tour guide was extremely well informed and helpful. I could have used some more exploring time in Halifax and PEI. Sites were wll chosen and met a wide variety of interests..

Tour Manager made the trip memorable. Bernadette was a gold mine of information with local stories. Her experience is what made our trip wonderful. The Maritimes is a spectacular part of the world.

I like the history of the places and the tour manager is very knowledgeable and a good storyteller. I like to be able to visit more places and this tour has too much down time on our own.

Meeting and talking with people from different US and country. Tour manger provided interesting facts of the 3 provinces.

tides

Tour should have included more of the meals.

Driver of motor coach was so helpful when entering and exiting motor coach.

This is a particularly difficult app to work with as it goes from good to excellent or poor to bad with no gradations.

Outstanding tour manager and visited numerous and very interesting places Group meals were very well done and delicious

Just visiting the Provinces and meeting the Canadian people was great but Collette’s organized agenda each day along with furnishing an exceptional Tour manager and bus driver made this trip a priceless experience.

Beautiful area and we liked learning about other cultures

Poor, unorganized schedule and flights arrangements. 1). Reason why we had to ride a bus from church to ATL when many flights are available from BHM to ATL?!?! 2) POOR Flight/Airline selections!! Arriving final destination @ Halifax after midnight is absolutely unacceptable especially the next morning’s schedule started at 8:00 AM on board the bus. If it is absolutely unavoidable, we should arrive @ Halifax one day before, I would rather pay extra day’s hotel bill instead of checking in at 3:00AM and no modification to the start of your at 8:00 AM was considered. 3). Selection of Air Canada was a huge mistake. Collette needs to do your homework to find out the situation at Montreal Airport, which was the poorest serviced airport. I have travelled internationally many times thru my life. Air Canada and Montreal Airport was the worst!! 4). Lost luggage: Half of our group’s luggage’s did not arrive at Halifax when we arrived. I saw a uniformed airport personnel was picking up luggages from our flight and piling them up in the middle of the floor. No one was picking up those luggage’s while we were waiting to make lost luggage claims. I was told by a local person who was also waiting in line to file her “routine” lost luggage claim that the air plain from Montreal to Halifax is too small to carry all luggage’s, so our flight had to carry half of the previous flight luggage thus did not have enough space to carry all luggages of our flight. They had to leave half of our luggage to be flown on the next flight!. JUST PLAIN VICIOUS CIRCLE!!!!! DO NOT USE AIR CANADA NOR CANADIAN AIR!!!!! Again, COLLETTE needs to do your homework!!!

A very large tour group. Older group. 17 members from a baptist church should have arranged their own small group.

Overall the trip was more than I expected. Having local guides accompany us to explain the local culture was great.

First time traveling with Collette and everything was as expected.

ALL of our trips with Collette have been outstanding. From the welcoming staff, the delicious meals, and the most interesting side trips. We have so many unforgettable memories that we keep talking about over and over again!

Totally enjoyed our free time in Charlottetoen, Prince Edward Island. It was an easy-walking city, and the people were very friendly and helpful.

This was a great tour and included interesting stops/activities. The hotels were wonderful and the included meals were very good. The pacing was good and allowed for some choices.

This was my 1st Collette tour. The tour guide was informative during the many bus rides (1800 miles of bus drives). We covered a lot of area and I enjoyed all of the local guides along the way as well. I learned a lot and had many wonderful experiences.

Well run and organized your with knowledgeable staff

Everything was on schedule,

Everything was just great

wonderfully planned and executed

Great trip. Not my style of travel.

Trip started out with delays - although flights were booked thru Collette, which they booked us with transfer point at EWR - one of the worst airports in the world - and why we always avoid it. Then when airlines cancelled both legs of our flights to Halifax, Collette was absolutely no help in getting us to Halifax. We had to handle everything ourselves. We ended up missing 2 days of tours. My wife isn't having any fun trying to get reimbursements, missed 2 days of tours + Accomodations ranged from Excellent to Poor. The one tour inclusion we took (Food Tour in Saint John) was a huge disappointment. Not much food - but offered a lot of beer and hard cider - neither of which we drink. Places didn't even offer option of a soft drink! + tour was to include a visit to the Saint John City Market - for which we were allowed a 5 minute walk through since the tour got scheduled to start around the time the market was closing. The Inverary Resort put us up in the oldest rooms in their oldest building. Noisy unit HVAC had controls that were either off or full on and you couldn't control direction the air was blowing. The room was dirty - including mold in shower/tub, and don't look under the bed. While taking a shower I got both scalded and then frozen - all without touching the water controls. The toilet sometimes wouldn't flush. The TV service kept cutting out - it seems the resort desk controls TV service for each room. The unit door didn't seal tight - you could see light through the bottom of the door. Whoever from Collette selected this place should be re-trained. The other 3 hotels we stayed at were all either good (Hollis Halifax & Holman Grand) or excellent (Hilton Saint John). Bus and bus driver were really good. Limo service to & from airports was excellent. The Travel Protection Service that Collette sells isn't worth the money. What they don't tell you is that you can't make a claim even if your departing flights get cancelled. TravelEx coverage only starts after you get to the airport - and our flights were cancelled before we left our house. This is a service we would never recommend that anyone buy through Collette - in fact has caused me to consider never using Collette again since I feel the benefit was misrepresented.

Would have liked to stop in more small fishing villages

To much time on the motor coach.

We had a very nice time exploring the Canadian Maritimes, an area that I was not familiar with. The tour did a great job sharing the history of the various provinces. However, there was very little downtime in each location; we spent quite a bit of time on the bus. I feel it would have been a better experience if we'd had the choice of excursions in each destination. Also, the hotel experiences were very hit or miss. We did have very a knowledgable and friendly tour guide and bus driver though, which enhanced the trip overall.

Great experience and staff!

The tour was great, however, the cancelled air flight and lost baggage put a damper on the beginning of the trip.

Overall experience of this tour was an A+

I really enjoyed the tour. I liked PEI the best. The good bye dinner was excellent. Bernadette went out of her way to help my husband and I get to both our Sunday services at two different churches. This was very important to us. Peggy watched out and quietly took care of our needs especially with water.

A 2 wk. Tour would allow things to be slowed down a bit & enable guests to see a little more of the provinces. Some features I found a bit tedious & inappropriate, eg. Gaelic College, launching the schooner at the Fisheries Museum, & would have welcomed a bit less of the musical & theatrical entertainment on the Funday trail. Lady taking the walking tour was great.Walking tour of Lunenberg was great.

Loved Fundy Bay and the beautiful rock formations

The places we visited were all amazing and we did not have to worry about finding them on our own,the ride just brought us to those spots

BAY OF FUNDY LUNENBURG CABOT TRAIL

Great tour, beautiful scenery and lots of great stops along the way.

I really enjoyed the Hopewell Rocks where we saw both the low and high tide the same day. It was totally amazing.

well organized and very interesting. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tour manager was delightful, well organised and personable/caring. Anne of Green Gables museum and the Alexander Graham Bell museum were fantastic. The Acadian settlement at Grand Pre and the Fundy Trail and the troubadours were superb.

The tour of the Fundy trail was awesome!!

Great pace of tour. Our tour manager, Maryse, is absolutely the BEST!! Our drive was wonderful. Our only issues were with the airline.

Lobster lunch was fun but meal was cold. Loved Hopewell Rocks, Fundy Trail, and crossing Confederation Bridge.

There are many, but the time in Lunenburg, NS, was so very memorable.

What's best about Collette is that they want you to learn & experience on their tours, not just sightsee & take pictures. I really enjoyed Peggy's Cove, Alexander Graham Bell's museum, the Hopewell Rocks, our kilt wearing local tour guide's walking tour of Lunenburg, the local tour guide & strolling minstrel performers on the Fundy trail, the St. John farmers market...and so many more. The morning of Hurricane Dorian, our tour manager was able to find us a Loyalist House/Museum open that "welcomed" a group of 40 with no notice, that turned out to be a cool addition to our tour. ….on another day, a group lunch was sabotaged as no place on our route had power. Our tour manager called every restaurant possible.... ended up finding an old small town converted movie theatre turned bar & grill that provided our group of 40, with no notice, a fantastic lunch. More than a vacation......an adventure I will most fondly never forget

Darren looking for ice cream locations and checking them out before letting us get off the bus. One lady was having a bad day he told us so we went on and that was fine with everyone!!

The coastal scenery (Cape Breton and Cabot Trail) were highlights for me. Also, I enjoyed our free time in the communities where we stayed; gave us a chance to explore for ourselves.

The stop at Wopewell Rocks.

It is hard to select just one thing as each experience was unique in itself.

I loved all the scheduled activities, cooking at the Culinary Institute, walking on the ocean floor, the botanical walk with Beverly, but would have enjoyed more spontaneity.

the selection of all the regions for our tour

The Maritimes of Canada are absolutely beautiful! Our tour manager was born and raised in the area and just knew everything!

Difficult to identity one because there were many. I thought Hopewell was especially interesting.

Everything was wonderful. Darren Stone was fabulous. I especially liked Prince Edward Island and Hopewell Rocks.

Hopewell Rocks (and the local guide) were so interesting and unusual. The tour met my expectations.

Bay of Fundy. I also enjoyed the Titanic cemetery, I learned so much there, very emotional

The Maritimes area is beautiful and peaceful.

Hotels were good. That is all I have.

Enjoyed Peggy’s Cove, Hopewell Rocks, Halifax and St, Johns. Enjoyed all stops.

Darren added extra outings well worth the money.

Too many to choose from....Peggy's Cove, coastlines, Bay of Fundy, Lunenburg, Mi'kmaq heritage center...

Loved the Bay of Fundy & all it offered, the lobster meals were a lot of fun & delicious

I enjoyed the whole trip but being a man maybe a little less shopping time would be good. Some of the other men on trip agreed with me. But hard to please everyone

Interesting & helpful, humor, kind

A great overview of the area.

We enjoyed everything. The extra step on guides, ranger, etc. are the reasons we go with a tour group. Our tour manager and driver were very knowlegable and helpful too.

I already complete this type of info at the end of the tour. Why are you sending this to me again. A whole day on a bus riding the Cabot Trail was a too much. If this had been my first Collette Tour, it would have been my last. I recommended this tour to friends who went traveled with us. I am so sorry I did.

Hotels were great. Food was great. Itenerary was great. Tour director and driver were great!

Ann of Green Gables, bay of Fundy. Cabot Trail, Fundy Trail. Country Lodge. Cooking school. Meals

Going to Peggy's Cove, the experience of walking on the floor of the Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Rock, the covered bridges of New Brunswick & the beauty of Prince Edward Island. Our guide at Hopewell Rock was so knowledge & engaging.

Our wonderful guide made the tour-had so much information on every place we visited. Hotels were also great

Every thing was perfect, except for too much time in the bus, some hotel should have been closed to our avenues.

Hopewell Rocks, Ludenberg, Fundy Trail, Green Acres. It was an amazing experience to actually see low and high tide at Hopewell Rocks and along the Fundy Trail.

Loved the tour of Lunnenberg The culinary institute The Gallic college

Fantastic tour guide (Goeff)😊 With so many great memories, it's difficult to choose between the Bay of Fundy and the town of Lunenburg as the best part.

hopewell rocks at bay of fundy

Too much coach time, not enough walking

The tour was very good, however we were disappointed with the Anne of Green Gables "theme park", which was not on the itinerary, the museum where the author had lived was interesting, then were due to either learn about cheese making or ice cream no mention was made of this. however we did receive vouchers for ice cream at a parlour in Charlotte Town

Visit to Bay of Fundy and to Peggy's Cove

I enjoyed the tour and places visited as the tour was done in reverse there were a number of changes made to balance out the days.

Loved learning about the history and culture of the area. Hopewell Rocks and Fundy Bay were incredible. Tour manager was the best!

Food, lodging, events, guides, pace and history were all good. Several things were our favorites including the Gaelic College, Cabot and Fundy trails. Lundenburg was wonderful.

I had two favorite experiences Peggy's Cove and Luneburg. I do wish we had had more time in Luneberg. In retrospect I would have skipped the maritime museum there and instead would have explored all the wonderful shops in the town. The local guide in Lunenburg was excellent.

There were several memorable experiences but Fundy Bay was impressive.

Guide, driver, itinerary and excursions were excellent. Hotels were mixed ( two did not have complete privacy in the rooms, one had poor housekeepeing, one was far away from the places to be visited).

The trip was everything that was listed in the tour listings.

see previous answer......

We got the worst meals and the worst hotels/motels. The only passable hotel was the Hilton in Saint John.

Best experience was walking on the beach at Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy,and crossing the Confederation Bridge

The tour guide was the worst we have ever had, he had no clue on what was going on. We even ate at a gas station with no other options. Also an included lunch was scheduled at a place which was closed for more than 3 months.

I have already done this, and also the task below. You have it.

Very good hotels, tourist stops and professional tour director. Highlights were Peggy's Cove, the Bay of Fundy, P.E.I.,Mahone Bay, Lunenburg and the awesome sight of the changing red and orange colours of the trees. Absolutely beautiful!

Peggy’s cove and Lununberg and Hopewell Rocks were my favorites, however there was a lot of interesting areas.

Many memorable experiences. Favorite was being able to go to place of Acadian expulsion since I am Acadian descendent. Did enjoy the French influence of the area.

Great Tour manager and bus driver. Also, the tour locations that we visited were all great.

the Canadian Maritimes were a beautiful place to visit.

There is so much history & beauty to take in on this tour...from the rocky shore of Peggy's Cove, the interactive learning experience at the Gaelic College, the gorgeous beaches of PEI, the Fundy Trail (with a wonderful & enthusiastic guide) to the amazing architecture of Lunenburg we were offered something new at each stop. The highlight though had to be the Hopewell Rocks. To be able to walk on the ocean floor at low tide & see these amazing rocks created a memory we will never forget.

Loved Fundy Bay Out tour manager *personal details removed by Feefo* was wonderful Funny, kind and extremely informative I would travel with him again

My favorite was Rockwell and the Fundy Bay. Also enjoyed PEI. In fact could have spent another day there.

Too many early mornings and long days on the bus.

Peggy's cove and Prince Edward Island. Love the Anne of Green Gables experiences. Funny Bay was fascinating

Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia very very nice

As I said before the last day was not very good. Spent all of our time being told about fishing. I wasn,t interested in fishing.

My favorite memory was Green Gables

Too many LONG BUS rides and too few of stops

some days were cramped too much with sitting and riding

Guide and bus driver were a wonderful team! Knowledgeable about the area and responsive to needs of the group.

The scenery is beautiful. I had not realised how much of the early First Nation and French inhabitants had been surpassed by the British rule. The tour helped to see what was being done by the First Nation population to share their recovering culture.

Prince Edward Island, the Hopewell Rocks, St. Peters Catholic Church and the Gaelic College

I loved the Alexander Graham Bell museum. It contained a wealth of information about this fascinating person that I do not remember being taught in school!

Several select stops very not favorable and the last hotel was not up to standards.

Fundy bay experience was the best followed by just getting to make a bunch of new friends.

We loved the scenery(especially the Bay of Fundy and Hopewell Rocks) and the history of the Maritimes. We felt that in some places too much time was spent when there wasn't a lot to see. The hotels we stayed in were great. The farewell dinner and the lunch we had at The Cookhouse on the Bay of Fundy Trail were highlights. We met a lot of interesting people which also adds to the travel experience

Tour guide was nice and knew his information. I wish I would have talked to him about the bus seating arrangement.. He moved us just two seats a day. That meant that many of us never got to the front of the bus. We always had to wait for the people in the front to get off the bus. If you were a woman, you always had to wait in a line at the bathroom because the woman at the front of the bus got off first. I should have talked to our tour guide about this but didn't. You should tell him. Bus driver, always helped us off the bus and I appreciated that. I would give him an outstanding because of the way he got the bus around the car that was parked in a no parking zone at the Citadel. He always made me feel safe when he was driving. The last day he looked very tired. August 2nd, your itinerary says that we would take a tour highlighting Public Gardens,---Citadel. We just drove by them. We should have gone into the Citadel and stopped for a short time at the gardens. We did go to the waterfront. The Inverary Inn Resort was the worst place we stayed. I would not recommend it. Several people complained about the hard mattresses. I had a back ache both days. Their TV's did not work,Their staff were young and did not know their jobs. The breakfast included canned fruit and the least selections of other food. They promised smores at the bonfire. Many people waited and waited, several went down to the office. It was a big mess and the tour people were not happy. The other hotels were good, but I wanted to write that the Hilton Saint John serves terrible food for dinner at very high prices. Many of the sites and experiences were great. Peggy's Cove, Alexander Graham Bell Museum, the ferry rides, trying blue mussels, the bed and breakfast we had dinner that same day. I especially liked Green Gables but would have liked to stay longer. The Confederation Bridge and Hopewell Rocks, walking on the ocean floor, and the barbecue salmon. The bad part of the tour, too much time on the bus with not enough breaks. I, also, think that Collette should discuss with the hotel about offering their tour clients tasty, reasonably priced food.

Attached are some pages from our album that were things that really interested us.

Bay of Fundy portion was very beautiful.

The tour guide was tremendous

We totally enjoyed the Cabot Trail, Pegg'sCove, Fondy Bay hike, Prince Edward Island, Gallic College and the information and trip to visit the Indian Community. Guides, there were super. Overall scenery, people and lodging were super. Food was good and plentiful. Tours of small fishing villages that were quaint and beautiful added to the overall experience. Final dinner was somewhat weak. Seeng and learning more about the mysterious Oak Island topped our list.. We are enthralled since watching the television documentaries. We believe Prince Edward Island was our overall favorite location! Thank you for a wonderful, busy yet relaxing ten day experience. We look forward to being able to afford more adventures with you.. Keep us informed about future discounted tours. Thanks again.

We were very fortunate that all the people in our tour group were very congenial, for that added to the enjoyment of the tour and events. We would have enjoyed having a "rest" day mid way through the tour, for we were tiring, but, I know, that would have been a challenge. There was no stand out place, for there were so many special places.

The tour is what I would describe as a highlight tour since we moved from place to place without time to visit places in depth. This is what was expected. The accommodations in Halifax and St. John were very good while the accommodations in Baddeck and Western Shore were ordinary. With one exception, the salmon at Fundy, the provided meals were ordinary mediocre. The steak option at the Hopewell Rocks was inedible. We got very tired of scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, and potatoes for breakfast. The Westin in Halifax was an exception.