sousak78

Apologies if this isn't the best place to post this.  I'm booked to go on my first solo cruise at the end of May (leaving husband and kid at home), sailing from Miami.  I'm flying in the day before but not staying near the port or the airport so my hotel won't have shuttle service to either location. 

I've read mixed reviews on traveling via taxi or Uber/Lyft in Miami (taxis see a single woman rider and will drive you all over Miami just to drive up the fare, etc, Uber drivers are crazy/dangerous drivers and they don't speak English etc). 

As a solo middle-aged woman traveling in Miami, a place I've never visited before, has anyone had issues using Uber/Lyft or other modes of transportation?  I'm from a small place with minimal crime so being in a place like Miami, alone, does make me a little nervous.  I do want to go to a few places to get some things prior to sailing and do some shopping and not everywhere I want to visit is within walking distance of my hotel and I will need transport from the Airport to my hotel and from the hotel to the port.  Using rideshare would be the most convenient and cost efficient way for getting around outside of using public transportation.  Where I come from, we drive on the left so I wouldn't be comfortable renting a car to get around in a place I am not familiar with.

Happy to hear any experiences/tips/etc for getting around Miami as a solo female traveler.

Thanks!

Yup, I think Fay was the dress rehearsal for Gonzalo. Hoping he turns and misses us. Last thing we need right now is another storm. I didn't prepare for Fay (aside from digging out some flashlights and pulling the bbq into the house on Saturday evening) but will definitely be preparing for Gonzalo, should he choose to visit us.

One good thing about Fay, she took all the heat and humidity with her. Loving the cooler weather we're experiencing right now!

Sousak, where have you been? Missed you around here.:)

Thanks iheart :)

I know I've been a stranger lately but that's because I had a baby 3 months ago (on Valentines Day of all days!) so he has been keeping me pretty busy ;)

Those bottles of sand are everywhere. Not only are they where iheart suggested but I've seen them in the Craft Market in Dockyard. Might be an idea to run the idea of using the prepared pink Bermuda sand and using your receipts as proof by the Customs Officers there at the wharf before you head out to buy the sand, just to be on the safe side.

The souvenir bottles of sand are tiny (think miniature liquor bottles like the kind you'd find in a minibar) so you may need quite a few. I've heard you can buy bigger bags, but I've never seen it myself, but, then again, it's not something I go looking for ;)

One minor correction to the info I gave you earlier. I had to drive out to Dockyard (Kings Wharf) today and noticed a flower shop that's located closer to Kings Wharf than The Roses Flower Shop. It's called El Shaddai and while not located at Kings Wharf, it is in Somerset - there are two grocery stores located around the corner from El Shaddai where you could pick up some wine or champagne to have a toast on the beach, along with some nibbles.

First of all, congrats to you both! I can answer some of your questions - here goes:

1. It's a bit hit and miss, this one. Some I have heard get it through with no problems, others have had their sand confiscated. Depends on the mood of the customs officer on duty when you go back to the ship. Probably best to err on the side of caution and not count on being able to bring your sand back, but it's up to you. They do sell small bottles of pink sand (profits support programs at our mental health facility). Maybe buy them each a bottle of sand as a memento of the ceremony?

2. Astwood Park is nice and located along a bus route so you wouldn't need a taxi. Not a long walk from the road either. Another option is Whale Bay. It's closer to your ship and located on a bus route. Only downside is that it's a 5-10 minute walk from the bus stop. If it's just the two of you renewing your vows with no officiant involved, I see no reason that anyone would need to be informed of what you're doing.

3. I can't comment on the cost of taxis as I rarely use them, plus, I think rates just went up. Sailbadthesinner is the Betmuda transportation expert on these boards so maybe he (she?) will chime in, or you can post something asking SbtS directly. We don't have any towncars here in Bermuda but our taxis are pretty nice - large, comfortable minivans which are well maintained (usually) and air conditioned. Buses are an option too.

4. No florist at Kings Wharf - closest one would the Roses Flower Shop, which is located near Somerset Bridge. Maybe arrange to have some flowers delivered to the ship? We have loads of great florists here - a Google search should give you a good listing of them (as a local, I'm not able to make suggestions, but, IMO, they're all great so you can't go wrong with any of them).

5. Drawing a blank on this one - sorry!

Hope I have been able to help in some way. Enjoy your cruise and Happy Anniversary.

Something similar happened to my sister before we went on our cruise on the Independence a few years ago - she broke her fibula and was wheelchair bound due to all the hardward in her leg.

The wheelchair doesn't fit in the room, unless you have a suite, as a previous poster mentioned, but if you bring your walker or a pair of crutches along so you can get in and out of the room and move around the room, you should be ok (my sister brought her crutches). Only time we struggled with going through the hallways to get to our cabin was on the last night, when everyone had their luggage out for collection. I was moving luggage out of the way a fair bit just to be able to get her through the hallways.

When we boarded, we requested a shower chair from guest services and one was brought up for us that evening (we didn't think to contact special needs beforehand to ask for the chair, so you probably should contact them ahead of time, just to ensure you get one).

She did have to skip a few excursions due to accessibility but we were in the Med so it was to be expected - they weren't thinking of wheelchair access in Roman times!

We found that all of the staff on the ship went above and beyond to help us. We did eat a lot of meals in the Windjammer and the Windjammer managers went out of their way to help us find tables among the crowds. We also had loads of help when getting on and off the ship. She did have to get a pat down by security every time but they were very discreet and made sure it was a female officer doing the pat down.

Only issue we had was with people rushing in front of us to get on the elevators so we often had to wait a bit to get on them. We also found that for sailaways, people liked to stand in front of us without realising they were blocking our view, so get as close to the railing as you can if you want a view.

Finally, I would suggest investing in a pair of fingerless gloves (like weightlifters use) if you plan to manoeuver yourself in the chair in order to protect your hands. My sister got some nice blisters on her palms from trying to manoevuer herself around.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Bermuda is a beautiful place to get married (but maybe I am a little biased, being a resident and all)! I, too, am in the process of planning a destination wedding (fiance is Canadian so we're doing the wedding in his hometown - better on the budget!) so I understand how nerve-wracking and stressful it can be doing the planning from a distance!

You may have issues with getting the sand taken from the beach back onto the ship. I've heard stories of many a traveller that had their sand confiscated by Customs as they went to reboard the ship. Stores here do sell the pink sand already bottled at a reasonable price, if you want to consider doing that instead. One of the companies actually has the sand bottled by patients at our local mental health institute as a way for them to make money and get a bit of therapy at the same time. I always like buying those bottles as they come with a little description of how the sand is made and it goes to a good cause.

Also, what sort of sand were you thinking of using for the sand ceremony? Sand from our beach or your own sand ceremony sand? If it's your own sand ceremony sand, you may want to contact Bermuda's Department of Environmental Protection to see what they say about using the sand (cause I know I would be heartbroken if some heartless customs official took my sand!). Unfortunately, I don't have an email address for them but I do have a phone number - 441-236-4201. Just make sure you get any answers from them in writing!

As for how to keep your guests entertained while you are doing pictures, maybe the private transport company will consider taking your guests on a short tour of the West End of the island while you are getting photos done?

A lot of the restaurants and hotels located along the South Shore of the island would do a cocktail hour and dinner so that your non-sailing guests could join in on the festivities. The Frog & Onion Pub, which is located right by your ship, has a private dining room which probably would accommodate your needs as well. Friends of mine used Henry VIII restaurant for their wedding supper when they were married here. The Reefs Resort, Coco Reef Resort, Elbow Beach Resort and Southampton Princess are other locations to consider. Restaurants to also try are Blu at Belmont Hills, Beau Rivage at Newstead and the Dining Room at the Lighthouse (all with great views of Hamilton Harbour). *DISCLAIMER* I'm not recommending any of these places and realise this is not a comprehensive list of all of the options you can consider - these were just the places I could think of off the top of my head!

As a resident, I cannot make recommendations for any local vendors or establishments, however, if you have any other questions about Bermuda, at all, please do not hesitate to ask!

Again, congratulations and GOOD LUCK!!!

Not a steep hill at all. As you are arranging private transportation, you will be dropped right next to the beach. A few steps down and you'll be on the beach. Have the driver take you to the Jobsons Cove entrance to WLB. Easiest access to WLB from there, IMO.

The long tails nest in the cliffs so you may have inadvertently come too close to one of them, hence the attack. They can be pretty protective over their domains. The photos are beautiful though - the Bermuda Dept of Tourism needs to pay you for the free promotion of Bermuda.

Hi gambee, just wanted to let you know that you did get the right church in your picture (the grey church on pg 43) it's called St Peter's Church.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my home as much as I am enjoying reading your review. Your reviews need warning labels though - reading them makes me want to book more cruises, which is not good for my bank account ;)

Awhile ago I mentioned some improvements to one of the papers in Bermuda. One of those was a dockyard cam and now there is one! Thanks for posting this and now people will be able to stay on top of the progress at Heritage Wharf and the happenings in the dockyard area.

Whoever is responsible for making this happen I salute you!!!

Now how about the weekly column dedicated to the events at the dockyard and happenings throughout the rest of the island so people on and off Bermuda can keep up with the goings on in Bermuda?

GeneD, there actually is a website which I think might have just what you are looking for - http://http://nothingtodoinbermuda.com/

I've never used either of these services, however, I did see the Affordable Ride minibus on the road a fair bit last year so he was quite popular. It's an older vehicle that is used by that company, but the driver is as Bermudian as they come. I believe he has some YouTube videos which will give you an idea of what you can expect on his tours.

I believe the GAR vehicles are a bit newer, but your driver may not be as much of a 'personality' as the driver of the Affordable Ride minibus, however, that's not to say you won't get a tour that's of the same quality level. They're just a little more 'low key', from what I can tell.

You probably can't go wrong with either one, to be honest. Just search around online a little more, see what you can find out about each and go with the one that gives you the best "vibe".

Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.

If Wedco was so concerned about sea glass being depleted, they could very easily and relatively cheaply get a few tons of broken glass bottles and dump them a bit offshore. After a few years, the broken glass would be worn down by tidal/wave action and eventually washed up onto the beach.

While this is a nice idea, I don't think polluting the ocean on the off chance the glass will end up as sea glass and be deposited conveniently at Sea Glass Beach is something WEDCO wants to be known for...ocean currents are rather unpredictable.

As far as I am aware, there isn't any legislation in place that that bans people from taking sea glass from the beaches (or else the sea glass jewelers wouldn't still be in business), however, the beach is the property of WEDCO (the Government quango that runs the Dockyard area) so they have a say as to whether or not the sea glass should be removed from their property (as cruiseclues clarified).

Also, if it is unlawful for anyone to remove sea glass from Sea Glass Beach, it includes the residents of Bermuda as well, not just the visitors from the cruise ships (so the sea glass jewelers cannot use Sea Glass Beach as their source for jewelery making supplies either).

I can see why they would post the sign - think about it, we get 2-3 cruise ships a week from May through October, with each ship carrying approx 3,000 pax, plus, we have the local hobby jewelers using the sea glass for their jewelery. If each person went to the beach and took a "small baggie" of sea glass, the beach would be depleted pretty quickly.

Not saying I agree with the sign, however, it is a unique feature for a beach to have that much sea glass on it, especially here in Bermuda, so I imagine they want to preserve it for many years to come.

So, moral of the story is, visit Sea Glass Beach, marvel at the amounts of sea glass there, enjoy the sound of the water running over the sea glass, have a good chat with the guy that hangs around down there and ensure that, when you leave, all you are taking with you is pictures.

We embarked in Lisbon on 7/17 and had a fabulous tour to Fatima with Jorge Bras (jmvbtours@gmail.com). I highly recommend Jorge as the tour was professional, extremely informative and customized to us. When my sister mentioned needing to get an official Renaldo soccer jersey, Jorge's adult son tried to find one while we were exploring Fatima without us even asking!

 

Charlotte

A second for Jorge Bras. My parents are Portuguese (originally from the Azores) so we hadn't booked anything prior to our Lisbon arrival, figuring we would just walk around, since Mom and Dad and our other two travel companions were fluent speakers of the language.

However, when we docked, Jorge was on the dock offering to take us on a tour. So, off we went with Jorge - figured it would be the best way to see everything in a short amount of time. He was very friendly, knowledgeable, was really patient as my parents took forever to shop in Sintra, spoke fluent English and all in all, showed us a great time. He also took us to this amazing restaurant in Cascais which had the best Portuguese style shrimp I have ever tasted!

It was due to Jorge that Lisbon ended up being one of my favourite ports. Even my fussy father (who is convinced every private tour guide's purpose in life was to rip off unsuspecting tourists) wanted Jorge's details so he could call him to take him around the next time he is in Portugal. I will definitely be calling on Jorge again if I ever make it back to Portugal.

Oh, almost forgot, for the six of us, the cost of the tour was EUR240 for the entire day. We were gone from when the ship docked until about 1/2 an hour before we were due back onboard. Jorge was very good at ensuring we would be back to the ship on time as well.

I'm adding my recommendation for Rome in Limo as well - we were a family of 6 adults and booked them for our visit to Livorno and Civitavecchia on our cruise at the end of August.

Because of Rome in Limo, we had the most amazing time in Italy and all agreed wholeheartedly that the Italian ports were our favourite ports of call. Vinny (our driver for Pisa/Lucca/the winery in Tuscany), Maurizio (our driver in Rome) and Massimo (our Vatican private guide), went above and beyond to make our experience a positive one.

Their restaurant recommendations were fantastic (Maurizio - I want the recipe for that pizza dough from that restaurant you sent us to and Vinny, Dad really loved that codfish dish in Lucca, which is pretty amazing considering he's a hard core Portuguese that doesn't tend to like anything not prepared by my mother!), they were so friendly and helpful and they were so full of knowledge and passion for their country!

The vehicles were very clean and extremely comfortable and getting picked up and dropped off at the door of the ship was an extra bonus!

To complicate our trip, my sister had broken her leg a few weeks before we set sail. Unfortunately, by the time we sailed, her leg had not healed enough to enable her to put any weight on it so she had to go around in a wheelchair.

No matter for the guys at RiL - they somehow managed to tailor and adjust the tour so that she could get as much out of the experience as we did. For the places she could not access (because, let's face it, they weren't thinking of wheelchair access when they originally built some of these places), they were more than happy to have her sit in the van with them and keep her company while we quickly explored the sites. I think she made Maurizio into her personal shopper while we looked around the Coliseum (lol!)

Special kudos go to our Vatican guide Massimo, who managed to get us around all of the lines in the Vatican and convince the guards to let my sister use the elevators to get around so we were able to see quite a bit of the Vatican and St. Peter's in the short time we had there (the banter in rapid-fire Italian between Massimo and the guards was also entertaining to watch). Other disabled individuals on the ship we were talking with afterwards who had opted to use the ship's transfer bus to get to Rome told us that they ended up having a disappointing time in Rome as they lost a lot of time trying to locate the ramps and met with resistance from some of the guards re. using the elevators in the Vatican - one pair never even made it inside, which was a real shame. If we didn't have Massimo there to guide us, I think we would still be standing in line trying to figure out where to go! I totally need to go back and spend a week with Massimo so he can show me the bits of the Vatican that we missed!

RiL were worth every single penny (and then some)! Book with them, trust me, you won't regret it!

My mother lived in that area when she was a child and said there was an unofficial neighbourhood dump near Sea Glass Beach back then. The former Sally Port Dump, which was located just up the road a ways, was where a LOT of people used to dump their garbage so I imagine a fair bit came from there as well. Sally Port was in operation until the early 80's.