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Bermuda private guide

fancycroozer

By fancycroozer,
in Bermuda

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Bell Ringer

Bell Ringer

Posted
Posted
we are a party of 14. Does anyone know if any tour guides would have room for all of us in one vehicle? thank you!

George's van will hold 14, we enjoyed his tour and he stopped when ever we wanted, plus took us to places he thought we would enjoy.

http://www.gartours.com/html/about.html

He will respond to your inquiry rather quickly. Good luck, and hope he has your date available.:D

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teach21566

teach21566

Posted
Posted
Just booked David fox, already had three emails narrowing down what we should do. Can't wait to see him on July 7th.

 

 

Just got off the phone with David, what a great guy, he caught my error, and wanted to confirm, I am not going July 7th but August 7th.

 

Kudos's to you David. I guess it was wishful thinking that I was going in July not August.

 

I can't wait to tour the island with him.

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Donam

Donam

Posted
Posted
We just got home from Bermuda. We booked Timmie Mello recommended

by Mr. Fox. We had a wonderful day. We were able to see everything we

wanted plus more. Timmie even brought bread to feed the fish at the smallest drawbridge in Bermuda. He arranged for us to be on time to see

the dunking in St. Geroge, not to be missed. Our day was perfect. Our

tour was for six hours and the time flew by. Timmie also got us some

pink sand in a plastic bag which I now have in a vase in my home a lovely

reminder of Bermuda. He charged $40 per hour. His email is soniamello@logic.bm. If you contact him he will arrange to see everything that you desire. He is a lovely person and if you book with him I am sure

you will enjoy as we did.

 

Thanks for the review. Still doing my research and hoping to book someone for our September cruise. Was it just the two of you? Where did you stop for lunch?

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guidance lady

guidance lady

Posted
Posted
Bermuda Island Tours

 

I am on the 5/12 -5/19 Breakaway Inaugural Sailing

I emailed several drivers about a tour on 5/15 and got several responses. When I sent an email back to the driver's that I did not select -- some were very kind -- still saying they wanted me to enjoy the Island with the driver I did select and to remember them for future tours. I in turned told them I would pass their contact information along. Most names were from reading through this board for recommendations and viewing the Bermuda Attractions and go to Bermuda web sites. This will be my 1st visit to Bermuda so I do not have personal experience on any of their tours, just the email contact. So research , email, ask questions before selecting a guide ;). I'll be sharing my personal review of the guide I did select after returning 5/19.

Enjoy your trips and Thanks for all the posts, I've gotten so much great info for my visit. Please keep sharing.

 

 

Lewis Foggo

lewis_foggo@hotmail.com

 

Robert Minors

VLMinors@onelove.bm

 

Neli Lima-Outerbridge

info@bermudaislandtaxi.com

 

Colin Jennings

colinjenningstaxi@yahoo.com

 

David Fox

thefox@logic.bm

 

Kimmie Mello

soniamello@logic.bm

 

sekai waldron

sekaiwaldron@hotmail.com

 

We ended up with someone else altogether, Dennis Hollis, but this wll be helpful to many others.

:)

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  • 2 weeks later...
havoc315

havoc315

Posted
Posted

Not sure if this has been answered elsewhere in this thread -- is tipping generally expected, and if so, how much?

 

The typical 5-hour tours --- how much time do they include to get out and walk around at the various sites? For example, I wouldn't mind spending 15-20 minutes at Fort Scaur with my camera.

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grandmaR

grandmaR

Posted
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We tip. Bob usually figures out how much - usually 10-20% for a private guide - for a regular excursion guide about $1-2 each.

 

I don't know what constitutes a typical tour. I've never had one. All the private tours I have had, I tell them what I want to do. So my last Bermuda tour with a private guide, I gave him a list of places I wanted to go, and he arranged them. I wanted to go to Gibbs Lighthouse so we went there almost first thing because he said that if we waited there wouldn't be room to park. We also went to Fort Hamilton and he let us out to walk around.

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KrazyKs

KrazyKs

Posted
Posted

Just back from a Norwegian Breakaway cruise. We hired David Fox for July 4th. I didn't have any specific requests so we let him be our "guide". He was fantastic, and I would highly recommend him. We saw the whole island and stopped at various sites (details similar to past posts). He very obviously loves Bermuda and has a wealth of knowledge.

 

Regarding tipping, yes we did tip him. It ended up being a six hour tour rather than five. The total was $330 (for 6 people). I tipped him $45 for a total of $375. I had planned on tipping $50 for the five hours ($275), but didn't bring enough cash with me for the overtime.

 

He can be contacted at thefox@logic.bm. His cell # is 1-441-334-7965.

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beautifullady

beautifullady

Posted
Posted
We had Colin this past Monday (6/20) and had a great experience. We got to see so much of the island it was unbelieveable.

I don't think we would have been able to see as much as we did had we not booked a private tour. He was very punctual and yes, he fed the fish at the smallest drawbridge. He even offered to take pictures of my husband and myself several times while on the tour. The weather was not great that day, so we didn't go on the beach. He did take us to see them and we did get to walk on them and take some pictures. Again, he found a couple of scenic places to take our pictures. On our way back to the cab, Colin handed me a plastic bag of "Bermuda pink sand" from Horsehoe Bay. Since we couldn't be on the beach because of the strong winds, he wanted me to have some to take home.

It's the little things that Colin did i.e. taking the pictures, the sand, etc. that made this an extra special tour for us. I highly recommend him.

To everyone on this thread that did post their experiences with him, I thank you.

 

Glad you enjoyed!! could you please give me info to contact Collins?

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Clancy14

Clancy14

Posted
Posted
Would like to know if the tours were paid in US dollars or another form of currency.

 

All the tours I've taken ( 8, I think ?!) have all been in US dollars. There was never been any question, or request, to have any other currency. I actually used the ATM once on Front Street, by the Ferry Pier/Landing in Hamilton, and that gave me US dollars as well. (We were having such a good time on our tour, we asked for another 3 hours and needed to fill up the wallets again ! :D ! )

 

Hope this helps! - Miriam

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SF

SF

Posted
Posted
All the tours I've taken ( 8, I think ?!) have all been in US dollars. There was never been any question, or request, to have any other currency. I actually used the ATM once on Front Street, by the Ferry Pier/Landing in Hamilton, and that gave me US dollars as well. (We were having such a good time on our tour, we asked for another 3 hours and needed to fill up the wallets again ! :D ! )

 

Hope this helps! - Miriam

 

Yes, thanks it helps so we can now plan accordingly.

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grandmaR

grandmaR

Posted
Posted

The Bermuda dollar is tied in value to the US dollar. So the value of the US dollar is exactly the same as the Bermuda dollar.

 

I pay the guides in cash unless they have said that the accept credit cards.

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Comunc8

Comunc8

Posted
Posted

Based on reviews from Cruise Critic, I made arrangements with Lewis Foggo (Lewis_Foggo@hotmail.com) for a family tour of the island of Bermuda. There were five people in our group, and the price was more than fair for a private tour. When I emailed Lewis, he responded immediately. He and I had a few email exchanges before we arrived, and he was at the ship promptly when he said he would be there. As a local Bermudian, Lewis knows the island, the people, the sites, and the history. He was incredibly friendly and a real joy to spend the day with. I would STRONGLY recommend him to anyone wanting a private tour of the island, tailored to your own personal preferences. His taxi seats five very comfortably, and he has air-conditioning if desired (though we found we didn't really need it). Lewis recommended great dining options for lunch and gave us some insider points for the street party in Hamilton. I can't say enough positives about this great driver and our experiences!!:):):):)

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Margy23

Margy23

Posted
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I've seen a lot of posts lately asking about good taxi drivers in Bermuda.

 

On our recent cruise to Bermuda six of us booked a four-hour tour with Nevis Barboza, a blue flag driver who I had read on Cruise Critic was honored as the best taxi tour guide in Bermuda in 2011. We could certainly understand why.

 

First, by using a mini-van he was able to navigate small steep roads and we got to see much more than those who were limited by the maneuverability of buses.

 

Second, Nevis has lived in Bermuda his entire life and is very familiar with its history. He seemed to have a knack for realizing what would be of interest to Americans, which may be because he told us his wife is from America.

 

Third, he has a very pleasant manor and seemed through conversation to find out our interests and personalize the tour accordingly.

 

His phone number is 441-236-2581. We had booked ahead of time and he was waiting for us with a sign.

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brett9

brett9

Posted
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Just returned from our first cruise to Bermuda aboard the RCI Explorer of the Seas (7/20/13), and wanted to post a quick report about our private tour of the island with Colin Jennings (thanks to the many positive reviews of Colin here on CC).

 

Let me just sum it all up by saying we had an AWESOME day! I booked Colin to take us around the island, showing us as many "hot spots" as possible for a total of 5 to 6 hours. We had such a great time, and Colin was such a fantastic guide, that we ended up staying with him for around 7 hours! We had a group of 7 people, and we all were able to fit in his taxi van, which was very clean, well taken care of, and had great AC (which Colin kept ready and cool practically the entire time).

 

We saw so many things on our tour, it's hard to remember it all. But some of our stops included: Scaur Hill Fort, Fort St. Catherine, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, Sea Glass Beach (the one near Dockyard), Flatts Village, the sea turtle pool exhibit at BAMZ, Somerset Bridge, Hamilton (with a quick stop for some shopping), St. George, gathered some pink sand in bottles (which Colin brought for us!), lunch and drinks at the orignial Swizzle Inn (and ice cream across the street afterward) and SO MUCH MORE. A ton of short "photo op" stops...driving along back roads with incredible views and scenery...all narrated by Colin himself. We learned all about the history and culutre of Bermuda, from its founding all the way up to the present day, and what industry is creating a BOOM across the island (I'd never heard of the industry until this trip - let alone how huge it is here).

 

All in all, we had an incredible time. Colin was extremely professional, courteous, friendly, knowledgable, experienced...I could go on and on. We all felt 100% confident and safe with him during our entire tour. I would recommend him to anyone looking for the most thorough one-day tour of Bermuda possible. We ended up paying $60 per person for the whole day (about 7 hours, with 7 people) - we tipped him at the end as well - he deserved it. I understand the $60 rate may be higher than others are charging...so I can't comment on whether or not Colin provides "more for your money"...all I can say is that for $60pp, we received a fantastic private tour of the entire island of Bermuda with an awesome guy. It may be possible to do this for less money - but I'm extremely happy with the price we paid....especially considering it would have cost around $60 to get 7 of us to Horseshoe Bay by taxi - ONE WAY.

 

If anyone has any questions specifically about Colin or our tour, please feel free to contact me...I'd be happy to help! :-)

 

- Brett

 

Just to repeat his contact info here it is:

 

Reliable Taxi Service

Colin E. Jennings

Mobile: (441)799-2959

Email: colinjenningstaxi@yahoo.com

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