my 3 day plan (and a ? about transportation)

traveling with our nearly 7yo daughter.

 

day 1: ferry to hamilton, bus to the aquarium

day 2: horseshoe bay

day 3: snorkel park (easier to stay close to the ship on the last day)

 

day 1 is the only day we overlap with Breakaway in port so it seems to make the most sense to getaway from the Dockyard and Horseshoe as they are likely to be more crowded those days (ideally i'd break up the beach days from being back to back, but i dont want to fight 5000 other people for a beach chair. i was on the BA last summer and while it wasn't that crowded, it sounds amazing ot have that many less people to bump elbows with in the more commonly visited locations.

 

so given that we'll travel on day 1 and 2, does a 2 day trans pass make sense? is it good on the ferry? or should we pay as we go day 1 and then do the horseshoe shuttle on day 2 (tempting since you have to walk up and down that hill and my 7yo will def complain)

I looked at some of your other posts and it appears you're on the Summit later this month. The Breakaway is in port for all three days your ship is. Both arrive in Bermuda Wednesday morning and depart Friday afternoon.

 

Don't buy a transportation pass for yourself if you're only using it for your trips to the aquarium and Horseshoe Bay...tokens will be slightly cheaper. Six tokens will cost $27 per adult, while the two day pass $ 31.50 per adult. However, buy the two day children's pass for your daughter...it will cost $16 as opposed to $16.50 for 6 child's rides on the bus and ferry.

 

The shuttle would cost $16 each...instead of that expense you can take the public bus and then if needs be, pay $2 each for rides up the hill from the person who's normally there offering this sevice.

Edited June 4, 2015 by njhorseman

I looked at some of your other posts and it appears you're on the Summit later this month. The Breakaway is in port for all three days your ship is. Both arrive in Bermuda Wednesday morning and depart Friday afternoon.

 

can you link me to the schedule you are looking at? the one i saw only showed BA in port on Wed, but i looked and you are right…BA is in port all 3 days. ARGH.

Edited June 4, 2015 by dorito6778

can you link me to the schedule you are looking at? the one i saw only showed BA in port on Wed?!

 

The Breakaway is there Wed. - Fri. every week through late October. Here's the official port schedule:

 

http://seaexpress.bm/Documents/Shipping_schedules/2015_Cruise_Ship_Schedule.pdf

thank you! it is what it is, right? lol

thank you! it is what it is, right? lol

 

It could be worse. I was there on the Breakaway in 2013 when the Explorer of the Seas was in port at the same time. That caused some real crowding on the buses and ferries.

i was there last summer on BA and i'm pretty sure the summit was there too. buses and snorkel park were crowded but it was also cup match too, so that prob didn't help since there wasn't much else to do!

 

hmm, maybe i'll flip flop day 1 and 2 now so we aren't back to back beach days….

Edited June 4, 2015 by dorito6778

I would do horseshoe on day 1 using the shuttle and not the public bus. To us, it was worth a few extra dollars.

 

We were on the 5/17 summit sailing. It was a unique situation because the breakaway was unable to dock that Wed morning. The Dawn was stuck in their spot!

We got off the summit first thing in the morning and walked straight to the shuttles. There were tons of them lined up. We waited a good 20 minutes or so for others. They run them when they are full. Only 2 other ppl showed up and we finally left.

Most ppl seemed to be going to the buses/ferries.

Horseshoe bay wasn't crowded at all when we first got here but got more and more as the day went on.

 

We saw Snorkel park on Friday...it was wall to wall people.

If you purchase a 2 or 3 day pass, can you use it to take the shuttle to Horseshoe Bay? Last summer we had the passes and somehow we were directed onto the Horseshoe Bay shuttle. We showed our passes and were not charged extra.

 

Curious if it was a mistake, have things changed or are the passes good for this shuttle?

If you purchase a 2 or 3 day pass, can you use it to take the shuttle to Horseshoe Bay? Last summer we had the passes and somehow we were directed onto the Horseshoe Bay shuttle. We showed our passes and were not charged extra.

 

Curious if it was a mistake, have things changed or are the passes good for this shuttle?

 

Transportation passes are not good for the shuttle, which is operated by private van owners, who obviously want to be paid for use of their vehicles. If you were allowed to use your passes last year you got lucky.

 

They also sometimes run express buses Horseshoe Bay. These are regular pink and blue public buses, and the transportation pass is good on them. Is there any chance that's what you took rather than a shuttle?

Edited June 4, 2015 by njhorseman

They also sometimes run express buses Horseshoe Bay. These are regular pink and blue public buses, and the transportation pass is good on them. Is there any chance that's what you took rather than a shuttle?

 

I bet that is what happened. I am not sure what the shuttles look like, but this was a bus that went directly to the beach. Since we intend to buy the passes again, hopefully we can find the express bus. I would hate to pay an additional $16 each way.

Edited June 4, 2015 by spdwain

They also sometimes run express buses Horseshoe Bay. These are regular pink and blue public buses, and the transportation pass is good on them. Is there any chance that's what you took rather than a shuttle?

 

I bet that is what happened. I am not sure what the shuttles look like, but this was a bus that went directly to the beach. Since we intend to buy the passes again, hopefully we can find the express bus. I would hate to pay an additional $16 each way.

 

The sign on the front of the bus says "Express" and there is usually a bus employee standing near the loading zone to help sort out the passengers. If you have a question, just say "Good Morning" to any bus driver and ask your question. They are very helpful in getting you to the correct bus.

 

I bet that is what happened. I am not sure what the shuttles look like, but this was a bus that went directly to the beach. Since we intend to buy the passes again, hopefully we can find the express bus. I would hate to pay an additional $16 each way.

 

The shuttles are vans of various sizes...10, 12, 15, maybe up to 20 passengers. They're of no particular make or style or color as they're privately owned, as opposed to the public buses which are all pink and blue.

 

The express buses are usually marked "Special" on the route sign.

 

I can't be sure of how many express buses they're running or if they're even running them at all now, because when they introduced the shuttle service last summer they said that the idea was for the shuttles to replace the express buses.

Edited June 4, 2015 by njhorseman

traveling with our nearly 7yo daughter.

 

 

 

day 1: ferry to hamilton, bus to the aquarium

 

day 2: horseshoe bay

 

day 3: snorkel park (easier to stay close to the ship on the last day)

 

 

 

day 1 is the only day we overlap with Breakaway in port so it seems to make the most sense to getaway from the Dockyard and Horseshoe as they are likely to be more crowded those days (ideally i'd break up the beach days from being back to back, but i dont want to fight 5000 other people for a beach chair. i was on the BA last summer and while it wasn't that crowded, it sounds amazing ot have that many less people to bump elbows with in the more commonly visited locations.

 

 

 

so given that we'll travel on day 1 and 2, does a 2 day trans pass make sense? is it good on the ferry? or should we pay as we go day 1 and then do the horseshoe shuttle on day 2 (tempting since you have to walk up and down that hill and my 7yo will def complain)

 

 

I would suggest adding the caves to the same day you do the aquarium. They are fairly close together and the aquarium/zoo (at least for us) only took about an hour to go through.