Community Forums

Triangle Drifter · 05-23-2025, 06:42 PM

For anyone planning to travel to Newfoundland this summer hope that you have already made your ferry reservations.

We were looking forward to our third trip to The Rock next week and spending nearly two months there. Not going to happen.

On two previous visits, also crossing late May, we did not reserve ferry space until about a week before the trip. No problem. The boat was never near full. This year we tried yesterday since we knew when we could be there for the ferry, and weretold that it is booked until late July. Bummer!

It seems that there are a number of issues at play this year. Vessel maintenance. Space reserved for commercial cargo on wheels. Space held for Newfoundland residents. A huge increase in demand most likely caused by Canadians 'staying at home' exploring their own provinces rather than travelling south across the border.

We were expecting something of an increase in Canadians exploring thir own country but not like this.

Soooo, what do we do with ourselves now? We are in Moncton, NB with a couple of months to kill. We have already done most of the Maritimes on previous trips. DANG! and I hear NL is having a great iceberg season this year.

Skip426 · 05-23-2025, 06:55 PM

Are the ferries totally booked ; or are just the reservation spaces sold out ?

Can you get on a cancellation list ?

Here on the the other coast , there is a limit on the reserved spaces to leave room for drive up , ( 70/30 on most routes )

I do realize there is a HUGE difference between the two systems , and sailings every few hours verses only a couple a day.

BC Ferries , has more ships than the Canadian Navy .

kenandterry · 05-23-2025, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triangle Drifter

For anyone planning to travel to Newfoundland this summer hope that you have already made your ferry reservations.

We were looking forward to our third trip to The Rock next week and spending nearly two months there. Not going to happen.

On two previous visits, also crossing late May, we did not reserve ferry space until about a week before the trip. No problem. The boat was never near full. This year we tried yesterday since we knew when we could be there for the ferry, and weretold that it is booked until late July. Bummer!

It seems that there are a number of issues at play this year. Vessel maintenance. Space reserved for commercial cargo on wheels. Space held for Newfoundland residents. A huge increase in demand most likely caused by Canadians 'staying at home' exploring their own provinces rather than travelling south across the border.

We were expecting something of an increase in Canadians exploring thir own country but not like this.

Soooo, what do we do with ourselves now? We are in Moncton, NB with a couple of months to kill. We have already done most of the Maritimes on previous trips. DANG! and I hear NL is having a great iceberg season this year.

Staying at home because of the current political situation is also combined with the ever increasing poor exchange rate for us Canadians spending money in the US. It’s evident everywhere we’ve scheduled to camp in Ontario so far this year too. The Maritimes is not the only area seeing a significant increase in Canadian RV traffic.

You’re very lucky being in the Maritimes though. We’ve done the Maritimes several times, including coming up later this summer. We have a number of favourite spots to visit/stay, but always find new ones too. Enjoy.

JandJae · 05-24-2025, 12:04 PM

Sorry to hear you've missed the boat (pun intended)! We've been following the tourism sites as well as social media sites. Newfoundland will be slammed this summer. We booked in January for our crossings from NS. Will be our first time there and from all that I've read, we may fall in love with the province and want to head back time and time again like so many visitors.

Last summer we were in the Maritimes and had a wonderful time. Happy to spend our money in Canada and be among some of the finest people on the planet!

Do you have any recommendations for things to do, restaurants, free camping spots, etc? We have some campsites booked and plan to free camp in between our reserved sites. We're fairly new to RVing and don't have much boon docking experience. But NL seems a great place to get our feet wet!

-2019V Winnebago Navion

Triangle Drifter · 05-24-2025, 01:49 PM

Still suffering from travellers disappointment. Right now the idea is to do the southern half of NS, not done before, then head up to the Gaspe area. From there, we don't know.

Skip426 · 05-24-2025, 06:03 PM

When you're heading from the Gaspe east bound , check the weather , the route along the St. Lawrence River is the only place I've seen signage that say storm waves may wash your vehicle off the road .

Coral · 05-29-2025, 11:08 AM

We are booked on a Fantasy tour this July that includes the ferry ride. We have a total 24 rigs going.

Triangle Drifter · 05-30-2025, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coral

We are booked on a Fantasy tour this July that includes the ferry ride. We have a total 24 rigs going.

An advantage of a caravan tour I suppose. By averages they know the space that they will need and book waaay in advance.

Not our style. We don't travel with a herd doing a landbound cruise. We have a rough itinerary that is always, and often is, subject to last minute changes.

Stircrazy1 · 05-31-2025, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triangle Drifter

We were looking forward to our third trip to The Rock next week and spending nearly two months there. Not going to happen.

.

maybe thats a sign to explore somewhere else in Canada, head west check out niagra region in Ontario, Banff or Jasper national parks, or where ever. two months is a lot of time to discover things.

Lv2Roam2 · 05-31-2025, 07:04 AM

On our trip I remember something akin to a stand-by lane on both the short and long routes - that combined with a cancellation list may get you there if you've got some flexibility.

Triangle Drifter · 05-31-2025, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stircrazy1

maybe thats a sign to explore somewhere else in Canada, head west check out niagra region in Ontario, Banff or Jasper national parks, or where ever. two months is a lot of time to discover things.

Since 2007 well over 250,000 miles have been driven across all states and all provinces. The only areas missed are southern FL and southern CA. No desire to visit either.

Right now we are doing sort of a coastal crawl around the southern half of NS only planning a few days at a time ahead.