Please help with planning our short itinerary

[CruisinCrow]

We'll be in Bermuda on Grandeur of the Seas in May.  This is our first trip to Bermuda but since our time in port is so short, I think we will have to stick to the west end area.  We arrive at 1 PM one day and leave at 2:30 PM the next day.  Hopefully we can plan a land-based vacation another time to see the rest of the island. 

 

Right now, my thoughts are to spend one of the days going to Horseshoe Bay and the Gibb's Hill lighthouse and the other day exploring the Dockyard area.  We'll probably take some kind of sunset cruise too.  Which day would be better for Horseshoe Bay?  Is morning or afternoon a better time?  What are our options for getting there and back?

 

I'm also looking into getting a private guide for the second day but I'm not sure if any of them will do 4-hour tours and what they would be able to show us in that time frame.  

 

Thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.  For some reason, I'm having a hard time planning this trip.  Too much to see and not enough time!

[Charles4515]

That short itinerary is difficult. If you go to both Horseshoe Bay and Gibbs the same day  you are not going to have much time at Horseshoe with those short days. If you do both the same day it would be better to take taxis rather than public buses as you are thinking about doing in the other thread because public  buses could be 30 minutes apart and are not that reliable. You can't really time when the next public bus will be there unless you have just missed one. 

 

You can definitely do a four hour tour. The Blue Flag taxis drivers will do it. Three hours is the minimum. You can do a lot in four hours if you stick to either the West End or East End for the tour. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Charles4515

[CruisinCrow]

Yeah, I wish we had more time!

 

Reading up on the buses, I was starting to think that taxis would be a better option.  If we take a taxi to the lighthouse would it be hard to catch another taxi to get from the lighthouse to Horseshoe?  Still debating between doing this on our own or hiring a Blue Flag driver.  It might depend on if my mom and sister want to join me and my husband.  A tour would be a better deal for 4 people.

[Charles4515]

48 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

If we take a taxi to the lighthouse would it be hard to catch another taxi to get from the lighthouse to Horseshoe?  

 

I took the public bus there so I didn't try to get a taxi there. The lighthouse is well worth visiting and climbing in my opinion, if the weather is clear you get a great view of Bermuda but when I climbed it there were not many people there. Literaly two others. There were not taxis hanging around. I have had good luck in Bermuda in those situations, when I wanted a taxi somehow they appeared. Dropping off someone else or just driving by.There is a gift shop and restaurant and I expect they would call a taxi for you. 

Edited February 28, 2019 by Charles4515

[CruisinCrow]

14 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

I took the public bus there so I didn't try to get a taxi there. The lighthouse is well worth visiting and climbing in my opinion, if the weather is clear you get a great view of Bermuda but when I climbed it there were not many people there. Literaly two others. There were not taxis hanging around. I have had good luck in Bermuda in those situations, when I wanted a taxi somehow they appeared. Dropping off someone else or just driving by.There is a gift shop and restaurant and I expect they would call a taxi for you. 

 

Good idea about asking the gift shop to call.  I love lighthouses and try to visit them whenever possible so Gibb's Hill is definitely on my must-do list.

[Fishkillbill]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 4:14 PM, Charles4515 said:

That short itinerary is difficult. If you go to both Horseshoe Bay and Gibbs the same day  you are not going to have much time at Horseshoe with those short days. If you do both the same day it would be better to take taxis rather than public buses as you are thinking about doing in the other thread because public  buses could be 30 minutes apart and are not that reliable. You can't really time when the next public bus will be there unless you have just missed one. 

 

You can definitely do a four hour tour. The Blue Flag taxis drivers will do it. Three hours is the minimum. You can do a lot in four hours if you stick to either the West End or East End for the tour. 

 

How much does that cost?

[CruisinCrow]

5 minutes ago, Fishkillbill said:

 

How much does that cost?

 

From what I've read, $50 an hour for 1-4 people, $70 an hour for 5-7 people.

[Charles4515]

22 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

From what I've read, $50 an hour for 1-4 people, $70 an hour for 5-7 people.

 

That is correct. 

[Fishkillbill]

2 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

From what I've read, $50 an hour for 1-4 people, $70 an hour for 5-7 people.

 

So, for my wife and I it would be about $200, (with a tip),  for a few hour tour.

Last year we took the BKG6 tour for $95.75 each. I see it's $129.00 each now. It was 5 hours though. 

[Charles4515]

 

So, for my wife and I it would be about $200, (with a tip),  for a few hour tour.

Last year we took the BKG6 tour for $95.75 each. I see it's $129.00 each now. It was 5 hours though. 

 

Different kind of tour. The taxi tour is a private tour where you can direct where to go and how much time to spend at stops. Your tour probably had ten to twenty people. Understandably some have to be price conscious, we were lucky to do it a year I went with 6 friends. You can do a shared less expensive tour shared minibus tour like the cruise line tour less expensive than with the cruise line. For example Ricky’s minibus tours are about $65 per person for a five or six hour tour.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fishkillbill]

6 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Different kind of tour. The taxi tour is a private tour where you can direct where to go and how much time to spend at stops. Your tour probably had ten to twenty people. Understandably some have to be price conscious, we were lucky to do it a year I went with 6 friends. You can do a shared less expensive tour shared minibus tour like the cruise line tour less expensive than with the cruise line. For example Ricky’s minibus tours are about $65 per person for a five or six hour tour.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Where can I find something like "Ricky's" ?

[Charles4515]

 
Where can I find something like "Ricky's" ?

https://www.rickysminibus.com/bermuda-island-tours




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk