7 Hrs on Newfoundland's Ferry from Nova Scotia (MARINE ATLANTIC FERRY)

Can you feel the excitement? Today is the day we put that RV on the ferry and head to Newfoundland. I'm so excited, let's go. So we're gonna be over there for three weeks. So get ready to have your eyes popping out of your head at the views because they are coming. Mine are already popping. Actually, all of the views on our way up here to this point have been amazing. Canada is really a lot of trees, a lot of green, cool weather, gotta love it. Make sure you stick around to the end because we're gonna tell you how to save money on your ferry and how to choose the right port to pop in. ♪ The best is yet to come ♪ Let's see what our cabin looks like. Boom, look at that, room with a view. There you go. We are on the bow of the ship. Let's look. You can see them, they're closing up the top deck. Oh yeah. Everybody's on board. This will be a great view. Yeah. We have elected to choose a cabin. I thought that would allow me to be in here with a little quiet, get some work done. If Phil wanted a nap, he could easily stretch out on the bed. That's gonna happen. And take a nap. We're on board for at least seven hours, possibly eight, depending on the weather and how choppy it is out there. So this is pretty nice. And I love that I can sit here and watch us pull away from the pier. Yeah. Right through the window. Let's check out the bathroom. So we get our own bathroom too, so we don't have to share. You feel like taking a shower? Yeah, I think I'm good. So it's pretty roomy for a ferry, I think. This is definitely spacious. Look here. Blow dryer at the ready. I think I've showered for today, so I think I'm good. Motion sickness bags. I like it. All right. I'm very excited. Let's go tour the ship. You wanna walk around? Yeah, let's go tour it. You wanna come with us? Let's go. There are plenty of areas to hang out on while the ship, or I should say ship, ferry, whatever you wanna call it, is underway. So right now we're gonna go topside and watch us leave from the docks. ♪ Give me, give me that sunshine, sunshine ♪ We were just on deck 10, which is the viewing area or sitting area. And it's all crazy from the wind. Yeah, the sun deck was hot up there, but it was good viewing as we pulled out. And the sister ship is coming in to offload and pick up for tonight's sail across. So let's go on deck nine and see what they have to offer there. We can't take you in here because we didn't reserve seats, but if you don't wanna reserve a cabin, you can also reserve a seat. And this will guarantee you a comfy spot for the next eight hours, seven hours. It also has outlets for USB to charge your phone and all that stuff. So they look pretty comfy. Looks like somebody's already catching a nap back there. Yeah, and right now everybody's watching the safety video, which we should be watching as well. Or we can read the pamphlet. That's true, we can read the pamphlet. Also here, there is a cafe here, so you see the drinks. And I'm not sure if and when they open, but it looks like they have ice cream. I don't think they're quite set up. They have linen in there. So I'm not sure if this one's gonna set up. It's ice cream, cones, and coffee. Yeah, I think it might be down on deck seven. Just testing out the chairs. Pretty comfy. I could nap here. This deck, which is deck eight, also provides chairs and plenty of seating, although these are not reserved. So they're first-come, first-served. It also has the first set of cabins. You can see down this hallway, cabins are on this deck as well. I think deck seven is gonna end up being Phil's favorite deck because I hear there's pizza and other goodies. The mother lode. I'm darned, but that's because look at our view. We get a window seat and a nice view. We have been lucky enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the bridge thanks to our friend Michael, who is also prior Canadian Navy, and he's also a master mariner. This is my bow thruster controls. Okay. That's my two biggest bow thrusters. This one here is just another small thruster. And that controls all my speed and everything from these two little telegraphs there. And the steering is done from there. But when I'm going in port of passage, when I'm docking after, that makes my swing so far. I'll split both thrusters because we got becker rudders on. So it acts like a stern thruster for me because we don't have a stern thruster. So that takes the place of the old port and starboard having to go back and forth on the controls. Yeah. So you can see right up to the pier. Yeah. So that's what happens. There's a red line here. That piece of wheat steel that's sticking it down there. Oh yeah. I line that up with a mark on the back. Okay. That shows me that I'm in position. Fully offload, if we're fully loaded with deck one, three, and five. That's pretty fast. Yeah. It is fast. Because we're on deck three. Yeah. Oh, you'll be out there. So do they go by deck or? I know we came in the bottom ramp. Five and three is offloaded at the same time. Okay. Got you. One of them will be the last one because they got to rise up that ramp. Got one of deck three is offloaded. They can rise up that ramp. Then the carrier says they're below. Oh, okay. So there's one below us. Yeah, that does make sense. Okay. Nice. A lot of people call it down in the hole. Down in the hole. Yeah. And not many like to go down there. I bet. I was on a few amphibious assault ships. They had the well deck so they could balance down. And a lot of people didn't like going down there even though it's wet, heavy, and damp. It's not bad in there. It's just that they know when they get to where they're going to the other side that they're going to be last to get off. Yeah. So then all the crew on board, they have cabins on board or? Yeah. Okay. So when they're in and they're done, they're down time there, they can go hit the racket. If they're not working, they can go to work. Take a rest. I live only 10 minutes away from where a docking ferry and port of S. Oh, okay. I only live 10 minutes away from. So they're allowed to dodge home. Quick train dodge home. It looks like we are pulling into port. All right. They're making the announcement. We need to go down to our car. It's going to be a madhouse. Somebody's puppy's going to be happy to see them. Hey, that looks like ours. Yeah, look at him. Oh, it's okay. It's okay. Everything looks good. You can see we're, we're packed in here. So there's quite a few RVers that are walking around doing the same thing. They're just checking everything. Making sure everything's good. Ha, right here. Look at that little guy. Just, just happy. People are coming back. So I think we're good. Although people can't walk by here because our, our steps are out. They were probably out the whole time. We probably should have put those up. I'm going to have Stacey just hit the brakes. Make sure we're connected and everything's tight. Yep. We're all good. We made it back to the ferry after three weeks in Newfoundland and we're getting ready to board again. So we thought we'd go over a few things you need to know before you come to the ferry. First of all, your arrival time. You should be here between two and four hours before your ferry is time to set sail. Yeah. And on the way over, there was a huge line. So it was highly recommended. We were there at least three hours early and going back, there's nobody here. So, I mean, we're here at, you know, two and a half hours early for the boarding time but you just never know. So plan accordingly. Also, when you sign up for the ferry you do have to say the length of your vehicle whether you're driving a car or an RV or a truck and don't fudge that thinking you're gonna save a few bucks because they will measure the length of your vehicle whether it's an RV and a tow car and you will be charged the extra that you left off. Luckily for us, we were within the same price range. We said we were 55 feet. They measured us at 57. And as Stacey was saying that, I just noticed the fence line is their measuring tape. So they can look at that and tell how many feet they are. They're a little fancier over here. They had the guys with the wheels walking it at the Nova Scotia side. Good morning. How are you? Good, how are you? Do you have your book there? Yes, ma'am. It is 411-3672. I guess I should use my glasses to read it. Okay, finally? Yes, ma'am. We do and it's off. Okay, so can you tell? Yes, ma'am. No, sir? No, ma'am. Okay, are you guys part of the crew? No, we're by ourselves. Okay. Oh, and you measured us. 57, she walked back and looked at the line. Okay. I got it all. Thank you. We have our room keys. We have our pass to get on and we have the tag out for our propane. They take propane very seriously here. At the last port, we actually had to sign a document saying that our propane was off and he said if they found it on, there would be consequences, although he never said what the consequences would be. And I found it funny that he didn't go to the tank to verify, he just took our word. Well, he did say that they do spot checks on the ferry, so he did say they go around and do that, so I'm not sure what that is. Right, I guess they're all a little different. Is she stopping us here? Yeah. Do you have a second agency? Yep. To ask you a few questions? Sure. Do we have any of that? We have cabbage, that's pretty much it. No, we just have cabbage. No. Thank you. Good morning. Good. It is? Yep. 12. Yep. Okay, thank you. One of the ways they keep traffic moving and actually load the ferry pretty quickly is actually loading two levels at the same time. The cars are up above and from what I can see, most of the big rigs, the RVs, the big trucks are down here below. ♪ These are the days where moments are made ♪ ♪ Now are ours, let's eclipse the stars and make it shine ♪ ♪ Now's the time, today's the day ♪ ♪ Now's the time, now's the time ♪ What, they pack us in here like sardines, don't they? They do a pretty good job. We're grabbing everything we need, including our computer, our water, whatever you need, our tickets. Did you get our room tickets? I have tickets up here. Okay. And because once you leave this area, you cannot come back no matter what. So if you want jackets, blankets, whatever, make sure you grab them on the way out. And pro tip, if your steps retract, make sure you turn them off so that when you close the door, they go back in. Last time, we didn't do that and people had to step over them to get by. And we actually thought a car was going to hit it before we could get them closed, so. Man, that is close to the mirrors. They pack us in like sardines. I'm not sure that this ferry is full, but when we came onto the rock, it was packed. So when you exit your vehicle, you're going to look for the purple tower. That's where the stairs are. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Make sure you know what deck you're on because you will get lost trying to find your car. And everyone is super friendly and will help you get to where you need to go. You know, they do this all the time, so they're pros at it. All right, let's talk about all the nitty gritty details that you need to know before you make your ferry reservation. And it all comes down to time and money. All right, so let's start off by letting you know there are actually two ports that you can hop on a ferry and sail to from Nova Scotia. And the first port is Port Abbas, which is the one we sailed in and out of. And it takes about six to seven hours to get there. And the second one is Argentia, and it takes about 16 hours to get there. Right, both of those leaving out of North Sydney or Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Port Abbas is on the west side and Argentia is on all the way on the east side of the rock, as they call it. Yeah. If you have pets traveling with you, Port Abbas might be your best option. However, there are a couple others to consider. The reason Phil is saying that is because pets will have to stay in your car during the whole entire ferry and you will not be allowed to go down even to see your pet. Or you can rent a kennel and board your pet in the kennel. You will be able to go to the kennel and take them out and walk them if you would like. Your third option is to actually rent a cabin that is pet friendly. They go quickly. There are three options when it comes to cabins. You can get one with two beds, like we have. You can get one with four beds, which really is a bunk on either side. So you have a bunk that folds down, yep. And the last one is a full size bed and that is the most expensive option. The kennel option also comes with a fee. Yeah, everything comes with a fee. The biggest decider on which port that you'll go to probably has the most to do with money. So let's talk about what this ferry round trip to Port Abbas cost us and we'll break it all down for you. The round trip cost for us from North Sydney to Port Abbas and back was $1,066, but there were a lot of fees included in that. Yes, and there is a breakdown. So let's show you exactly what we paid for. So our cabin, which is a two bed cabin, cost $53 each way. Well worth it. We also paid a passenger fare of $35 each, each way. Let's see, our RV and tow car, which we had measured at 57 feet, cost us $347 each way. And they will measure you. We're also charged a passenger and vehicle surcharge and a final charge of a security fee. So the fees stack up. So when it comes to choosing which port to pull into, what you need to know is if you go to Argentia, it is a 16 hour ferry, overnight ferry, and it's twice as much. Yeah, so a cabin is highly recommended, but again, it comes down to the price. When you're deciding on which port, you can choose to enter on one side of Newfoundland and exit on the other. So if you wanted to come into Port of Basque, drive all the way around one and at St. John's, you could board the ferry there and come back. Now this would be an intermediate price because you would pay the cheaper fare of Port of Basque and the doubled fare at Argentia, but it's gonna save you time because now you don't have to do that 800 mile route all the way back and waste, depending on what you're driving, one, two days of your vacation time to get back to catch the ferry. Like we did. If we had taken the ferry into Port of Basque and left out of Argentia, it wouldn't have been that much more and we definitely would have made a different route as we traveled through Newfoundland. Now, when you think about Newfoundland, remember it is a huge, huge province. So it is actually just under the size of California. So imagine trying to visit California in two weeks or even we were there 21 days and I can tell you 21 days is not enough time to leisurely explore everything you wanna see here because there is beauty around every corner. They just call for everyone with vehicles to go back to your vehicle. So let's go down so we can get on out of the ferry. Let's do it. Phil had a nice nap and I must say, I think I did too. You did. ♪ Leaving this place, the sun's about to break ♪ ♪ You're riding shotgun, the feeling would change ♪ ♪ I'm wide awake, take me away now ♪