Bermuda private guide

[SailBadtheSinner]

Originally Posted by workinmom3

Will be in Bermuda on Sept 1 on Explorer. We only have 1 day & have never been. We have 3 previous cruises under our belts & would feel comfortable navigating on our own from what I've read about Bermuda. Was thinking we would head to Horseshoe & then back to the Dockyard. Should we rethink our day & get a tour since we have never been to Bermuda before?

If your priority to do is a beach day in Bermuda, then you have a good plan; but if you desire to see Bermuda, then I would suggest you take the taxi tour and let the driver show you his Bermuda. Maybe, you could end the tour at Horseshoe Bay and spend time there. Be careful, the return buses will be packed with passengers trying to get back before the cruise ship departs.


SBtS

[grandmaR]

Originally Posted by Frup

Since September 1 is a Saturday, the ferry to St. George's will probably not be operating. When we were there last week, it was only M-F. The Hamilton Ferry was operating, though, and they had extra runs for the cruise ship. Quite a few people bought a bus pass for the day, which got them to Horseshoe. One person said it took a long time for the bus to come by, though, so check the schedule. While we were on our taxi tour, we met up with a couple that had come by bus all the way to St. George's, so it can be done, too. The advantage of the taxi tour was all the neighborhoods we went through that you won't see on your own.

It is perfectly possible to get to St. George by bus and the buses are frequent. The Bus pass includes the ferries and you can get it on the dock or sometimes the Concierge desk of the ship sells them.

Get on the ferry to Hamilton, and then walk up to the bus terminal which is by the City Hall. Take one of the buses to St. George or wherever you want to go. You can also get another ferry in Hamilton and get to Somerset Bridge. Or you can get off in the Flatts and go to the Aquarium there. Just be sure to check the frequency of the buses and remember to stand on the wrong side of the road to get the bus.

[adjoankora]

Originally Posted by Frup

A friend in Bermuda recommended Bermuda native, David Fox. He was fantastic and very flexible!
We had booked him for 5 hours, but had him extend to 6, so we could get lunch and a beer. He was first in line at the cruise debarkation point, waiting for us with a sign. We took many side streets, saw residential areas as well as commercial areas. We avoided the places that charged admission and enjoyed stopping, touching, photographing everything. He is thefox@logic.bm (441)334-7965. He called us twice before our April 21 tour to confirm and plan our itinerary. Great service! We shared his year old minivan with two other cruise critic couples at the regulated $55/hour. Hope you enjoy him as much as we did!
Fran

I contacted David Fox this morning and heard from him in two hours. We will be on the Veendam arriving in Bermuda (docking in Hamilton) on May 22nd. We have booked 5 hours with David for the 23rd. Thanks, Fran, for your recommendation.

[Kathie13]

We are just off the Summit and had a wonderful tour with David Fox on Wed. May 9th. We met David at 9:00 holding a sign with our name on it. He took us on a 6 hour tour. We went to St George's & Hamilton & all points in between!!! He stopped at the 2 light houses , lunch at a beach side cafe & many photo ops! He is very knowledgable and has a Great Personality!!! You are in great hands with David!!
Kathie, Tony, Tim, Maria & George

[Boardwalk]

We used Nadanja 2 weeks ago - were in on the Dawn. He was wonderful - we did a 4 hour tour on a Sunday afternoon...from one end of island to the other and back again - took us to feed fish, St George's, Swizzle Inn, and lots of sights in between. He even brought us back to the ship to change for our dinner reservation and left us off at Gibbs Lighthouse for dinner as our last stop. Quite polite, great personality, and very funny (he is actually a comedian as well in Bermuda!). Highly recommend! - Cindy, Frank, Bob and Denise

[WNCtourist]

Another recommendation for Colin Jennings -- we did a 5-hr. tour with him on Sunday, May 20 (I can't believe it was already a week ago!). We wondered if there would be enough to see on a Sunday, but it was fantastic. He met us promptly at 9 a.m. We didn't have specific requests other than to try to see as much as we could. The weather was windy and overcast with rain threatening, so it wasn't a good beach day. We had already toured the museum and Dockyard area the previous day.

Colin is extremely personable and we enjoyed talking with him and learning about life in Bermuda. He took us to all the areas people talk about, such as the little drawbridge, stopping at the beaches along the way so we could take photos and he collected a zip-lock bag of pink beach sand for us. We stopped at the lighthouse and looked around. Not much was going on in Hamilton on a Sunday morning. Flatts Village was charming and we stopped to look at the sea turtles.
We spent about 30 minutes in St. Georges (it was just after church) but nothing was open there -- if the retailers want to encourage tourism now that the cruise ships don't dock there, they will need to revisit their days and hours of operation.

I'm leaving out many details but I will say we were completely satisfied with Colin and our tour. We were able to see and learn so much that otherwise we would have missed. And there's absolutely no way we would do scooters on the island -- just in that 5 hours we say many near misses and people forgetting about which side of the road to be on!

[jefarl]

seems like a lot of you have had great experiences with local taxi drivers as i did a few years ago.. We were thinking of just finding a pleasant chap either at the dockyards when we disembark or maybe later downtown. Are the rates per hour fixed for the taxis?

[grandmaR]

Most taxi rates are per mile which is expensive.

Some of the taxi drivers in Bermuda are government certified tour guides. They usually charge by hour and their taxis would have a blue flag fluttering from the bonnet.

There may or may not be enough of these to go around.

A cheaper option is the bus and ferry pass

[gilmore177]

sorry repeat message

[gilmore177]

Originally Posted by JBert

I emailed Duke last night, and had a reply from him at 7am! Set him up for our group of 4+1 baby for $40/hr. Cant wait for our 5 nt on Explorer!

Hi I emailed Duke in Feb for a tour on June 27 and am trying to reconfirm our date and I cant get a response so I am a little worried. He confirmed it then.

[ejw]

Hi,

we are a group of 9. does anyone know of private operators who can handle our size?

thanks, ellen

[gilmore177]

Originally Posted by JBert

I emailed Duke last night, and had a reply from him at 7am! Set him up for our group of 4+1 baby for $40/hr. Cant wait for our 5 nt on Explorer!

Hi I emailed duke in feb for a tour in June and he confirmed yes but I can't seem to get an answer now that it is a few weeks away. Not sure if he will show up. Would you have any suggestions? It was for June 27th. Thanks

[grandmaR]

Originally Posted by gilmore177

Hi I emailed duke in feb for a tour in June and he confirmed yes but I can't seem to get an answer now that it is a few weeks away. Not sure if he will show up. Would you have any suggestions? It was for June 27th. Thanks

Duke isn't really on the internet himself. He gets his email through his wife. The same happened to us and it took him several days to respond. But he did come just as arranged.

[cruiselover48]

Originally Posted by ejw

Hi,

we are a group of 9. does anyone know of private operators who can handle our size?

thanks, ellen

Just got back yesterday from nine day Explorer, we are a group of nine(some kids) and we toured with Colin Jennings. he did a great job for us and he was great with the kids. You can't go wrong with him if he can hold your group Roz

[ejw]

Originally Posted by cruiselover48

Just got back yesterday from nine day Explorer, we are a group of nine(some kids) and we toured with Colin Jennings. he did a great job for us and he was great with the kids. You can't go wrong with him if he can hold your group Roz

Hi Roz, thanks for the response.

we have kids with us too. what kind of vehicle were you in? Also curious what you did on your tour and how long it was. what did Colin charge?

I already emailed Colin so just waiting for a response.

ellen

[knots4crewzing]

Hi,

Just booked with Dennis Hollis.
Has anyone toured with him?
What did you think?

TIA

[cruiselover48]

Originally Posted by ejw

Hi Roz, thanks for the response.

we have kids with us too. what kind of vehicle were you in? Also curious what you did on your tour and how long it was. what did Colin charge?

I already emailed Colin so just waiting for a response.

ellen

We were in a van type vehicle he picked us up
right on time with a sign with my name on it-he charged us $60 a hour. He will take you where you say you want to go & we told him we wanted to go to the pink sand beach-sightseeing-shopping. He even got a zip lock baggy & filed it with pink sand for the grandkids. You won't be sorry if you tour with Colin. Tell him we said Hi. Roz

[mamaofami]

I'll be touring with Dennis in two weeks and will come back and let you know all about it.

[knots4crewzing]

Originally Posted by mamaofami

I'll be touring with Dennis in two weeks and will come back and let you know all about it.

OOOh! Thank you


Have a wonderful cruise.
Will look forward to hearing all about it.

Bon Voyage!

[klscaz]

We had Duke's son Nick on Sat. May 12, 2012. My e-mail was answered right away and Nick was there waiting for us with a sign when we got off the ship.

He did a great job and we even got to meet his Mom, Sandy. The only minor glitch was we had asked for a 5 hour tour and he took six so it cost us an extra $40. Not a big deal but you may want to re-confirm at the beginning of the tour if you want to stick to your budget.

We went to Fort Scaur, the lighthouse, Horseshoe Bay, lunch and sightseeing in St. George, shopping in Hamilton and stopped to collect some sea glass. It was a very nice day and you are picked up and dropped off right in front of the ship!