Hotels connected to shopping and restaurants.
Hotels
For accommodations in Saint John nothing beats the Delta Brunswick, with a pool, a hot tub, a fitness center, flat-screen TVs in each room, connection by pedway to Brunswick Square with 3 levels of shops linked by escalators and elevators including a cool glass elevator, a restaurant with lots of great menu items, and a massive parking garage.
If you love seafood, try the hotel restaurant’s Fish and Chips. If you love pancakes, nothing beats a hotel restaurant’s pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and/or syrup. Rain Man would be impressed with the timing if Charlie Babbitt would order pancakes for them because as Rain Man says, “Maple syrup’s s’posed to be on the table before the pancakes.”
Escaltor
Another great accommodation is the Hilton Saint John. The rooms have a view of the harbour or the city. From some rooms, on Wednesday in summer, you can see Saint John Idol from the room. It is the same thing on Thursdays for Alpine Country Star.
There is a pool, a fitness centre, flat-screen TVs in each room, luxury suites, and a restaurant with great meals. There is a pedway link to Market Square, another mall with 2 levels lined by escalators and elevators with a library, a museum with historical and neat artifacts, some stores, a food court, and a nice fountain that gives it a park-like feel. Again fish and chips are a favorite here among seafood lovers and pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and/or maple syrup is a hit with breakfast lovers.
Cruise Ships
In summer cruise ships visit Saint John. The Cruise Terminals, the Marco Polo, and the brand new Diamond Jubilee, named after Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, are awesome to see, especially when cruise ships are in, because down the escalators at these places come visitors when the ships dock, and up they go when they are about to take off. These ships are fun to watch too. At take off time these ships slowly, in the same speed as the alien ships in Independence Day, turn around to prepare for takeoff, blare their loud, low horn, then take off, and you can wave goodbye to these ships’ passengers. These cruise terminals also host things like charity barbecues, dances, parties, and also conventions for organizations.
Digby Ferry
Digby Ferry
The Digby Ferry, also known as the Princess of Acadia is another fun thing. Although pretty soon this boat will be replaced with a new one in a year, this is fun To Do activity. The Digby Ferry will take off at a certain time, and prior to take off, foot passengers can board, while passengers with vehicles also board. The sailing will take approximately 3 hours. During the sailing the vessel’s Sea Breeze Lounge will play a movie on its huge LED flat-screen TV, while the Fundy Grill will serve great cuisine, like Fish and Chips, famous Digby scallops, and famous Digby clams. On the upper level there is an LED flat-screen TV and a Starbucks coffee shop. Sometimes if the weather and things are right, during the sailing there are whale-watching opportunities. After approximately 3 hours this vessel will dock at the Digby terminal. There is also a gift shop with books and lots of souvenirs. The best time to come back, if it sails at this time, is at night when it is dark, as the lights of Saint John are beautiful.
McKim House
McKim House
L’Arche Saint John, also known as McKim House, is home to residents with and without disabilities. Visit here and you get a tour, you may get a hot chocolate or tea, and you may be serenaded by someone with music. That someone is me. The people in this house travel, celebrate, and have had assistants from all across the globe, including Germany, India, Kenya, the Philippines, and other places.
L’Arche Saint John, AKA McKim House is not only welcoming, but also has friendly residents, tours, music by residents, and often tours around the neighborhood. Some residents can play the piano and guitar, some love traveling, some love dogs, cats, and children, and others love to talk about their family and past events. The house also has a lending library.
From some rooms or the fire escape you can see the buildings of uptown, cruise ships arriving and leaving, and fireworks for Canada Day and New Year’s Eve. This house is about to celebrate 50 Years of L’Arche International.
Martello Tower
Martello Tower
Across from McKim House, just a short walk, is Martello Tower, what CN Tower is to Toronto, Chateau Frontenac is to Quebec City and Cinderella’s Castle is to Disney World Orlando: skyline domination. You do not have to go into the tower or to the top of the tower if afraid of heights, just walk around, to get a good view of the city. You can see McKim House, its neighboring church Our Lady Of The Assumption, cruise ships if in or during cruise ship season, The Delta Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Square, Market Square, The Hilton Hotel, The Howard Johnson Hotel (formerly Fort Howe Hotel), The Harbour Bridge, St. Luke’s Church, The Digby Ferry and its terminal, St. Rose Of Lima Church, The Irving Pulp And Paper Mill, The Irving Oil Refinery, and Partridge Island. There is also a museum with audio narrations in English and French. Just take the phone receivers, put it to your ear, and press the buttons that read English and French, and a voice will come on the receiver telling you history behind the tower and the figures that made this spectacular attraction such a wonderful historical site. On Canada Day, tours of the tower and the museum are free.
O’Leary’s
Nothing beats pub life in Saint John. Its only Irish pub, O’Leary’s, does not serve lunch or dinner, but hosts concerts by well know artists and on Tuesday evenings, be sure to go there, order a club soda, Pepsi, Ginger Ale, or any kind of beer and a bag of chips, and go to the back area, and listen in as a group of Irish musicians sit in a circle and go around the circle, singing well known Irish tunes and reciting Irish poems and stories. On St. Patrick’s Week this pub hosts a breakfast to support L’Arche Saint John, so if you are here at this time, purchase a ticket, present it, get a nice breakfast of sausages, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and orange juice, go into the back area, and listen in while you enjoy your breakfast as Irish musicians play and sing well known Irish songs. Sometimes the main area where you were just served breakfast plays CDs of well known folk tunes like the Great Big Sea albums Play and Up, The Chieftains, and The Irish Descendents. The main area also has flat-screen TVs tuned to the important sporting events like C.I.S. basketball, CHL, NHL, NBA, soccer, and football.
Harbour Station
Harbour Station
Harbour Station is THE place to be for things like sporting events. The well known hockey team - the Saint John Sea Dogs, who were Memorial Cup champions in 2011 and Memorial Cup Runner Up in 2012 - play here. The city’s first professional basketball team, the Saint John Millrats, formerly from Manchester, also plays here. In winter 2014 the Ford World Women’s Curling tournament was hosted here and played on TSN.
Sports are not the only things hosted here. Well known musicians have concerts, like country sensations Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire, and pop sensations Rihanna and Fredericton’s own David Myles. Musicals come up as well. In October 2010 this fabulous facility hosted a wonderful musical in which the Saint John Chorale, the Saint John Theatre Club, and the Harbour View chorus, and a well known orchestra, all joined forces to create a wonderful musical, called Marco Polo: The Musical, about the world’s fastest ship (sorry, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow fans, not The Interceptor or The Black Pearl but it was savvy, and, to quote a repeated Commodore Norrington line with my own version, it was, without doubt, the best musical I had ever seen)The Marco Polo, after which our first Cruise Terminal had been named after. It was wonderful and spectacular. It outshined The Lion King. The Saint John Theatre Club also did comedy plays at the nearby Imperial Theatre, like The Importance of Being Earnest.