Zenith Bermuda-Ship's Excursions or on our own?

[Joanandjoe]

Now that the e-brochure for Bermuda 2006 excursions is finally available, we've browsed the 21 pages, and are not impressed. On an island with lots of ferries, buses, and taxis, most excursions other than perhaps walking tours seem pricey, and easy to do on one's own. For example, if we want a boat ride, why wouldn't we take a ferry at twilight?

 

Are there some Celebrity excursions that are so good that they're worth taking?

[teacherman]

We did the Bermuda trip 2 summers ago. It is a beautiful place. If you buy a transportation pass (available on the ship-?) you can easily go anywhere you want. We rode buses all over. It is more fun that way and you can meet the locals. It is also nice to take different bus routes and see the different neighborhoods. The ferry ride across the harbor is beautiful. We visited some of the "excursion" places on our own, and we were glad we did not pay for the ship's trip. You are ther for 3 days, so you have enough time to see pretty much all of it.

[bauerdogs]

Going Sept.23rd,2006--this will be our 10th trip to Bermuda and our 7th on the Zenith. I'm 61 & the wife is 59, and we have always rented, and always will rent the Scooters to see Bermuda. We go where we want, when we want and have seen things that you can't see from the ferries or buses, and no waiting :) If your worry about getting hurt, than stick with the ferries and the bus--you'll be better off. :) Ron

[Cachecara]

We did this cruise last summer. :) After choosing what excursions I thought we might want to do--I did a search for their online websites and phone numbers. After short investigation, I was able to determine the cost of privately booked excursion vs. prices booked through Celebrity. Ironically, in my case, the prices were almost identical. SO I booked through Celebrity.

One benefit of booking through Celebrity--if for some reason you have to leave Bermuda early--weather related etc., I've heard it's easier to be reimbursed for an excursion that was canceled.

There were several cruises last season (due to possible pending hurricanes), that either left Bermuda early or did not port in St. Georges, but moved to tender at Hamilton. On the Wednesday that we were supposed to be in St. Georges, we ended up being tendered in Hamilton, due to possible bad weather. At 11 A.M., we left the ship and a sign was posted that we would be leaving Hamilton at 6 A.M. the next morning due to the weather instead of at 3 P.M that next day. So we left the ship thinking we had all day on our own.

We headed out on our own to St. Georges to explore the town and ended up at Tobacco Beach. Sometime midafternoon--I want to say 2ish, we heard a man announcing to people on the beach that Zenith was going to be LEAVING BERMUDA by 5pm and everyone needed to get back NOW by either bus or ferry. Thank goodness I was not snorkling and was on the beach to hear this as it was NOT a loud announcement. Things happen. I'm just glad it worked in our favor and we got back in time to catch the ship. :o

I guess the moral of the story: if the prices are real close --I would go through the cruiselines. Of course, if you are beaching it--you are on your own. In Celebrities defense--they did call all the major beaches and put a heads up to many of the stores and major excursions/sites about the early departure.:)

BTW--we did Hartley Helmet Dive one day and Reckless Native Catamarran another and thoroughly enjoyed both excursions.

[lionheart]

Bermuda is easy to do your own. I bought a transportation pass, close to where the ship dock and the ferry goes over to the dockyards.

http://www.gov.bm/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&cached=true&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=0&in_hi_userid=2&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=252&PageID=468

 

Bermuda transportation website.

The only shore ex. I did through the ship was a glass bottom kayak at St. Georges. It was May and a nice day and pretty fun.

 

Kurt

[psupa]

Going Sept.23rd,2006--this will be our 10th trip to Bermuda and our 7th on the Zenith. I'm 61 & the wife is 59, and we have always rented, and always will rent the Scooters to see Bermuda. We go where we want, when we want and have seen things that you can't see from the ferries or buses, and no waiting :) If your worry about getting hurt, than stick with the ferries and the bus--you'll be better off. :) Ron

 

In Bermuda they drive on the opposite side of the road. Bermuda is a beautiful island and the locals are very friendly. You can buy a 3 day bus/ferry pass and go all over the island at your convenience. Whatever you decide to do, enjoy.

[CaribbeanBound]

It's easy to do anything you want on your own, and I recommend taking the buses and ferries.

 

Here's what we did and how we did it on Zenith to Bermuda last October...

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/bermuda.html

[Gypsea]

I recommend this island to every first time cruiser in NE. It is clean and beautiful.

 

On your own or through the ship I recommend (after visiting many times) the helmet dive if you have never experienced it. It really is pretty cool and a fun day for any age. We had an older grandma with a 12 year old when we went. It costs about $75 through the ship. On-line maybe less.

 

Bermuda has an aquarium/zoo which is about $7 per person that is a great place. Then there are the caves, also reasonable, the perfumery, Swizzle Inn, museums etc. No need to pay big bucks for anything. The taxis are cheap too but most everyone uses the bus. For about $20 (whatever it is now) you can buy the three or four day unlimited pass. Bermuda is only 11 miles long but it does take some time to get around these busy, curvy roads.

 

Hopefully, you will get to St George's as this is a great place to walk around, see the Town Crier and the re-enactment of a public dunking (a neat site at 12pm weekdays). Very quaint if you have never been to Bermuda before. This is one of my favorite places in the world. The walk to Tobacco Bay Beach from port is about 20 minutes.