Ferry reservation to Newfoundland

[Whale1999]

We are traveling to Newfoundland mid- June. How far in advance should we make ferry reservation from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland ?

[trailerbikecamp]

If you end up around St. John's let me know. I have a book you can look at. It's called Newfoundland and Labrador Book of Musts-The 101 places Every Newfoundlander and Labradorian Must see. Or I may have the boat ready. Maybe take a trip out on Conception Bay?

How long will you be here? I know its early, but in early August is cod season.

[Whale1999]

Thanks everyone for the information. We have started our trip prep and are very excited.

[trailerbikecamp]

Here is a link to the Marine Atlantic website. It should have all the info you need for booking and deciding when/how to book.


Ferry

[dcason]

I called Marine Atlantic on that one as we were planning on going in 2015 but that has now been put off until next year. They said as soon as you have your dates because Caravans will come in and book their allotted spaces. July and August they claim to be fully booked.
Donna

[hclark]

We are from Michigan and went to Newfoundland last summer with a 32 fot class A and a toad. A great trip. We spent 6 weeks there from mid June to August. Took the ferry both ways from Port Aux Basques. It is much cheaper than the Argentia ferry. Got ferry reservations about a week in advance each way.

Loved the beautiful and friendly Provincial parks ( which usually have no services ). The camping rates are a bargain.

We did not have campground reservations. Almost all the time they had a available openings. A few times we would have to wait til later in the day. People were reserving sites and not showing up, and after a certain time of day the park would release those sites to travelers like us if the reservists did not show up.

Pre booking a campsite is no problem, but we usually decide where we are going after we have morning breakfast. Some private campgrounds can fill up with caravans for a day or so.

[trailerbikecamp]

Newfoundland has a provincial park system. To reduce operating cost, the campground portion of these parks has been sold off to private organizations to run. These private companies want a steady income, so they rent the majority of the sites to seasonal users for a flat yearly fee.

For example, a campground where we have a seasonal site has a out 160 sites. There are only 6 designated for people traveling. There are, however, some people who take there RV's out for a few days making the actual number of sites available to people travelling up to around 10-15. Still not many out of the total of 160 sites.

Not all campgrounds are to this extreme, but I'm sure you get the idea. This is where pre-booking makes sense.

[kohai]

trailerbikecamper wrote:
Which ferry are planning on using? To Port Aux Basques on the southwest trip (8hr trip) only a short period may be required. But to Argentia near the southeast (14 hr trip) a longer period is definitely recommended so you can get a berth(cabin). They are limited in number. It is worth it to get the berth going to Argentia so you are more refreshed when the ferry docks.

Like any ferry once underway you are not allowed to return to the vehicle, so having a bed to sleep in makes the next day much more enjoyable. Also take the time to book some of the campgrounds ahead of time.

It was said in another thread about the campgrounds here that they are privatized. This leaves a limited number of sites available for travellers.

What do you mean exactly by privatized and why would that limit the number of sites?

[trailerbikecamp]

Which ferry are planning on using? To Port Aux Basques on the southwest trip (8hr trip) only a short period may be required. But to Argentia near the southeast (14 hr trip) a longer period is definitely recommended so you can get a berth(cabin). They are limited in number. It is worth it to get the berth going to Argentia so you are more refreshed when the ferry docks.

Like any ferry once underway you are not allowed to return to the vehicle, so having a bed to sleep in makes the next day much more enjoyable. Also take the time to book some of the campgrounds ahead of time.

It was said in another thread about the campgrounds here that they are privatized. This leaves a limited number of sites available for travellers.

[tonyandkaren]

We went to Newfoundland last summer. We made reservations a couple of weeks in advance. Our RV is pretty short though so it might be different if you need a long space. Have a great trip! It's a beautiful place.