campground reservations necessary in Newfoundland?

We took the short ferry both ways. Next time we might do the long one overnight and have a cabin for fun, but the price is much higher that route.

The ferry operation is very well organized, and they will email you if there's a delay on your reserved departure.

One tip since you do have turn off the propane on the ferry. Freeze ahead some baggies full of ice cubes (or blue plastic packs) and put them below. Kept everything in there cold.

We didn't bother reserving a seat or cabin on the short ferry, didn't miss it. Bring anything you need like meds because you can't return to the vehicle deck. There are TVs in the seating area. Food was reasonable and good in the restaurants. You can go outside for fresh air and the view leaving and arriving.

You can pick up a little wifi on the ferry, not great.

Thanks everyone, just the info I was looking for.
We are debating taking the ferry back from Argentia, but i am not sure I want to leave the cat in the trailer that long, plus our refrigerator will be full and I understand we have to shut off the propane. We had thought that, as mentioned, we will just stop at different places on the way back.
We have a generator so dry camping isn't a problem. I thought it was frowned upon now,or is that only at Gros Morne?

thanks,

Sue

We were there for a month a few years ago. Never made reservations. Had no problems.

We did the entire west coast, bottom to top, and back down last week. no problem getting a site. Extreme north around the meadows, camps are scarce. Nice fenced camp at the ferry over to Labrador. Watch your gas, some stations are 100k apart up north.

If you want to stay at Pippy Park in St. Johns, make a reservation. It's a nice park, very central, near the University and has a very nice loop walk around a nearby lake. We didn't make any other reservations and always got a spot but some of the campgrounds were pretty full. Probably a good idea at St. Anthony and Gross Morne if you want hookups. We stayed at Berry Hill in Gross Morne a nice NP campsite with no hookups and had no problem. Another nice loop walk around a small lake and lots of moose around when we were there.

Last year from mid July into August for three weeks, I think the only place we recall that had a full sign was Grand Falls Windsor, per the other poster's same experience. It's a really nice RV facility mid-way on the long cross island drive. Plus there are seasonal locals in some sites there.

Also on some of the outport peninsulas to the north, like Baie Verte, there's not a whole lot of RV parks to choose from if/when you want electric hookups. But I don't think it would be hard to find somewhere to pull off for dry camping. Folks are quite friendly.

The advise about calling ahead would probably take care of your needs.

The biggest problem we found when we went three years ago, spending five weeks in August and September, was the caravans. They make reservations and if you don't have one, you may have to hunt for a campground. It actually got to the point to where I visited the caravan websites to see their itinerary so we could plan to avoid them. We did find one campground full at Grand Falls-Windsor and had to go on to Gander to find a place. The place in Gander only had the one overflow site we took next to a utility building with a 15 amp outlet on its side. The people in NL like to camp too and the time we were there was during some sporting competition which increased the problem.

I probably wouldn't make long-term reservations except at Grand Codroy, but I would make sure I had a place for the next stop before leaving in the morning. Just Sayin'.....

woodhog wrote:
Newfoundland Loop...

You can do a loop, go to St Johns, go around the Avalon Peninsula and then take the ferry back to Sydney from Argentia.

If you do you would probably want to book a cabin.(well in advance)

This route saves back tracking to Port Aux Basque from St Johns, if you dont want to do that...

On the other hand you can make different stops on the way back. Compare the cost of gas with cost of Argentia ferry, http://www.pub.nf.ca/ppoprices.htm & maybe get yourself on the weekly fuel prices email from George Murphy.

The other thing is that you don't always have to stay in a campground in Newfoundland. It's a big sparsely populated land mass.

The one place I'd reserve, if you want it is the big cg in Gros Morne north of Bonne Bay and near Rocky Harbour.

Be sure to visit L'Anse aux Meadows.

:C
(one who lived there for 24.5 years)

Newfoundland Loop...

You can do a loop, go to St Johns, go around the Avalon Peninsula and then take the ferry back to Sydney from Argentia.

If you do you would probably want to book a cabin.(well in advance)

This route saves back tracking to Port Aux Basque from St Johns, if you dont want to do that...

We were in Newfoundland 3 years ago with a 45' MH and toad. The only CG we made reservations at was Grand Codroy in Doyles and that's because we planned to arrive in the middle of the night after getting off the ferry. We had no other problems at any other CG. We spent the entire month of August there. It is a wonderful place.