Things you wish you knew before you went

[DeeDee1214]

People always have small regrets after leaving from vacation, whether it's wishing you brought more spending money, or something as small as wishing you brought more bathing suits.

 

Is there anything you wish you knew before you headed to Bermuda?

[DeeDee1214]

Anyone? Anyone? :D

Any little tips that you could give?

[familycruzer]

The first thing that comes to my mind about Bermuda is Bacardi Breezers. They are not available in the states and we bought one of each flavor to bring home. Too late to buy more!

[Optifire]

We went to Bermuda last year in May. I followed the message boards at that time and read the posts, however, we really didnt follow through and research things or make any plans or itineraries. It was a 7 day cruise. We thought that we would have enough time each day to decide what we wanted to do. However, because of not doing our homework, we missed out on alot of things. I really regret not finding out where everything was located before our cruise. Some things, like the Dolphin Quest was in the same area that we were in, however, we missed it.

So my advice to all cruisers, is to do your homework on your port of calls and have all the knowledge you can before you go.

We are going again to Bermuda this November on Voyager of the Seas, and I know everything we want to see, and exactly where it is located. I even have a Taxi Tour booked ahead of time. This time I did my homework and there will be only one regret with this cruise and that will be happening when I have to get off the ship to come home.

[old bag]

Opti, I am interested, what are you planning to do in Bermuda this trip?

[familycruzer]

. I even have a Taxi Tour booked ahead of time. This time I did my homework and there will be only one regret with this cruise and that will be happening when I have to get off the ship to come home.

 

 

How much did you pay for the tour? You can get a great price from the taxis right in front of the Hamilton dock on Front Street. I believe $25 was the going rate last time I was there.

[smokefinder]

We want to see the Somerset Bridge, Gibbs Lighthouse, drive through Hamilton and see the bird cage, even though saw it once we want to do the Aquarium and Zoo again, Horshoe Bay, The Bermuda Underwater Explortaion Institute, Eat at the Swizzle Inn, Shop in St. George. St. George is my favorite part of the island. Take a buggy ride in St. George. Then back to the ship. Then on our second day there, we will stick close to the ship and do the Dockyard as we missed Dolphin Quest, The Maritime Museum and shopping in the Clock Tower. All that in two days. Phew, good thing we have a sea day to rest on the way back.

 

As for our Taxi Tour, we booked through VIP Taxi Service, with Lloyd Smart, lsmart@northrock.bm he does not have a web site, only an email address.

His cost is $35.50 per hour for 4 people. We booked him for 6 hours which comes out to $53.25 each. There will be 4 of us traveling together which makes it nice. For an all day exclusive excursion, we all felt it was well worth it. We wont have to worry about buses or ferry schedules or the crowds.

 

So do you have any suggestions of seeing something that I may have left out that you recommend? Thanks for the insight. By the way this is Optifire, i didnt realize my hubby was signed on when I answer this.

[wolfpack]

Bring cash. Even the bus passes on board the ship was cash only. ATMs can get expensive. I also agree with another reply about doing your homework. I researched, read these boards, called Bermuda a few times, and knew what excursions we wanted and how to map out the activites, so we'd get to point A and then B without backtracking. We found Bermuda very easy to get around.

[billdaffy]

The first time I went to BDA I had some Outerbridge's Sherry Pepper Sauce -- Didn't buy it then -- then started to purchase it online -- next time we went, we realized we could purchase a big bottle from the supermarket in Hamilton for about $12.00 -- what a deal -- what a product!!

[littlej]

DeeDee, if you're going on the VOS 5-day cruise, there are so many great things to do in Bermuda, you will be happy with whatever you get to do in the short 2 days you have. We just did the 5-day in May. My suggestion: we bought one of those guides (can't remember if it was Foder's or Frommer's) and followed a walking tour of Hamilton. I highly recommend doing this, if you don't mind some walking! By doing this, we saw lovely Victoria Park, and my favorite part of the trip, Fort Hamilton all the way on the east side of the city.

Just a tip: Voyager of the Seas now leaves bus/ferry pass order forms in the staterooms. You can order one or two day passes, charge them to your seapass ($10/day), and they will be delivered to your stateroom before docking. We did this, it was very convenient.