Halifax tour company limiting visits to Titanic cemetery due to sewer work

A Halifax tour bus company hastemporarily halted visits to a cemetery that houses 121 Titanic victims because of emergency repair work being done to a sewer line where its buses normally park.

The unexpected and urgent work on Chisholm Avenue is expected to take two more weeks to complete.The construction has blocked off one of the main entries to the Fairview Lawn Cemetery.

Ambassatours temporarily cancelled its hop-on, hop-off Titanic stop, while its other buses park a10-minute walk away.

"Unfortunately for those with mobility issues in wheelchairs, it does take a little longer," said Paula Foster,cruise operations manager of Ambassatours, one of the companies that offer tours to the cemetery.

"We do urge people who have severe mobility issues [that it's] probably best to stay on the coach and just hear the narrative of the Titanic story from the guides and not physically visit."

Some companies are giving tourists extra time to explore Citadel Hill and the Halifax Public Gardens, skipping the west-end Halifax cemetery all together.

Tourists from around the world visit the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where121 Titanic victims are buried. While there are also victims buried at other Halifax cemeteries, the bulk are at Fairview Lawn.

Angel and Robert Jacobsen, who travelled from Arizona, said the Titanic connection was one of the big reasons they decided to visit Halifax.

"Coming here to Nova Scotia, there were a number of things we wanted to do. But one of the things on top of our list was to come to this memorial to pay our respects," Robert Jacobsensaid.

"When you read their stories, it just gives a whole different human element to it. It's humbling," AngelJacobsen said.