Ashley Harris / Hidden Gems of Bermuda?

Forgive me starting a new thread, the search function is down :confused:

Has anyone taken a tour with Ashley Harris, "Hidden Gems of Bermuda"? Feedback? She's highly rated on trip advisor, but there are only 22 reviews and they only go back to 2013. She's PRICEY too (way more than the government set blue flag rate) but gets around that by offering 'all inclusive tours.' All the reviewers on trip advisor rave about the tour and say it was well worth the money.

TIA for any input!

I would also be very curious to hear the answer to this! We were thinking about her tour for this upcoming July.

I also read all those raving reviews on TripAdvisor, and really wish I could afford to go on that tour, but I thought, maybe I can do it on my own....is there anyone that has gone on this tour that can tell us the name of the caves and beach she takes you to? I'm more interested in the cave and blue hole to swim in.

Thanks!

Christina

I also read all those raving reviews on TripAdvisor, and really wish I could afford to go on that tour, but I thought, maybe I can do it on my own....is there anyone that has gone on this tour that can tell us the name of the caves and beach she takes you to? I'm more interested in the cave and blue hole to swim in.

 

Thanks!

Christina

Have not done the tour, but here are my guesses as to what is on some of the tour:

• cave swimming at Blue Hole Park which is near Crystal Cave;
  
• the jungle seen in several pictures is could be Tom Moore's Jungle which is near Crystal Cave or the Cooper's Island Nature Reserve which is on St David's Island;
  
• the lighthouse is St David's L/H on St David's Island;
  
• the cannons mentioned could be part of Great Head Battery and Park on St. David's Island;
  
• the beach may be the beach at Cooper's Island which is just past Clearwater Beach on St David's Island;
  
• the ice cream store is most likely Bailey's Ice Cream which is opposite the Swizzle Inn.
  

SBtS

Great! Thanks for the info, SBtS!!!:)

As an FYI her summer excursions are now available for booking.

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if you are planning to do what she includes, I'm thinking that it might be easier having a person guide us through this in 7 hours-- I wish the cruises would be more than 3 days--even the HAL which looks like 4 days, really isn't due to late arrival and early departure--

We were planning on doing this stuff seperately, but due to time constraints, may be she is well worth the price-- (rave reviews on trip advisor)...

Has anyone taken this tour on the day of departure? We are on NCL Dawn departing 5:30 p.m. so I am assuming all aboard is 3:30. Hidden Gems tour lasts from 8:00-3:00. Emailed Ashley and she stated this is done all the time. It would put my mind at ease hearing from a past guest that this worked out well.

Has anyone taken this tour on the day of departure? We are on NCL Dawn departing 5:30 p.m. so I am assuming all aboard is 3:30. Hidden Gems tour lasts from 8:00-3:00. Emailed Ashley and she stated this is done all the time. It would put my mind at ease hearing from a past guest that this worked out well.

Normally, "all aboard" is 30 minutes prior to departure, so if the Dawn is departing at 5:30, you have until 5 pm. A scheduled 3 pm return gives you plenty of leeway. (The two hour advance boarding time listed on NCL's website refers to your original port of embarkation, not to ports of call. Also just be aware of the fact that there is a half hour inconsistency between the departure time listed on NCL's site and the time listed on the official Bermuda port schedule. The port schedule lists the Dawn's usual departure time as 5, not 5:30. You should go by the information that will be provided to you when you're on the ship. NCL has lots of inaccurate information on its site. For example it lists the Dawn as docking at Kings Wharf, when it actually docks at Heritage Wharf, and has for many years. I'd be inclined to believe the official port schedule rather than NCL's site.)

Thank you for the info! I found a recent freestyle daily that also confirms the Dawn docks at Heritage Wharf and all aboard is 5:00

Just a follow up. We took the tour and it was FANTASTIC! worth every penny.

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Just a follow up. We took the tour and it was FANTASTIC! worth every penny.

 

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I was looking into booking this tour as well. Did you end up taking it on the last day as you had mentioned? We were thinking of doing that but worried about the time. Also, how far in advanced did you book the tour and did you have to pay for it right away at booking or could you wait to pay until closer to the date? Thanks so much!

Took the tour on the last day, plenty of time to get back on the ship. Due to the tropical storm we lost a day arriving to Bermuda. We feel this tour helped us make up time. We got to see and do so much!

We prepaid the full amount online when we booked (several months before)

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We felt that we would probobly be to exhausted after this tour to do the Hamilton Nights which is day 1. Too paranoid to do this on day 3- due to reports of a few people barely making it back to their ship on time-- though I think the "kinks" have been worked out so it is no longer an issue. So we are looking forward to doing this on the second day. I'm sure it will be great-- it better be for the price!

Day 2 tour was sold out so we took the tour day 3. I wouldn't delay in making reservations.

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I booked day 2 as soon as it was available to book for that reason.

This will be my 8th cruise to Bermuda - and have done some excursions and plenty of getting around on my own. I thought this was expensive but sounded like I would be seeing new places and having a new experience and it was wonderful trip advisor reviews. Last time I did the helmet diving - that was pretty cool.

Some free advertising for Ashley Harris and Hidden Gems courtesy of the Royal Gazette:

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20150407/ISLAND03/150409824

The $20 refundable security deposit...it this on top of the $175 or is it part of it?