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Boston to Bermuda with Young Kids: August 15, 2014--TONS of photos


lolavix
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Now, on to our actual story. Thanks to all who are reading along with me.

 

After we embarked, we walked along the Promenade Deck and it sunk in that we were on the ship and were actually going to Bermuda. It was just about lunch time, so we headed toward the Venetian, since I had read (here!) that the buffet was a zoo the first day and I thought it would be nice to have a leisurely lunch.

 

We found our way to the Venetian and it wasn't quite open yet! We thought we'd go to the buffet, then, since we were among the first to board and DH reasoned that it probably wasn't too busy yet. However, as we stepped off the elevator on Deck 12, we were met by Joe from Splash Academy, who introduced himself and mentioned that we could register the kids right then.

 

Why not? We thought. We went up to Deck 13 with him and completed the registration with Clover. The kids received their bracelets and by then, the Venetian was open so we headed back and enjoyed our first lunch on the Dawn.

 

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My boys ordered off the kids' menu:

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I think they both had an individual pizza. My daughter ordered chicken tenders, but I think it was off the adult menu. I don't remember what DH ordered, and I ordered a Philly cheesesteak with peppers and onions. It was OK.

 

For desserts, everyone ordered off the adult menu. I ordered a mango cheesecake, which I regretted when I saw the orange chocolate mousse that my older son, daughter and DH ordered.

 

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I had a taste and it was pretty good...a nice mix of orange and chocolate.

 

(Notice the map in DH's hand??)

 

By the time we finished, it was past 1 and we figured we'd try to see if the rooms were ready. We had adjoining balcony cabins on Deck 9, aft, fairly close to the elevators.

 

The kids were in 9698

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and DH and I were in 9696

 

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When we arrived, some of our luggage had been delivered, and the rest followed within a few minutes. Our steward, Navel, introduced himself and let us know about the "Do Not Disturb" wheel outside the door.

 

I was happy that we could put our things away. Normally, when we do our road trip vacations, we never unpack because we are normally not in one place for more than 2 nights. Being in one place for seven days was a novelty for me, but I was going to take advantage of this luxury. I unpacked the kids' things, and by the time I got to our cabin, DH had unpacked most of his and my items.

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A few photos of the rooms...

 

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Standing on the balcony to get this photo.

 

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The closet space. In the first photo, you can also see a stand of three drawers and an overhead cabinet which held life jackets (next to and to the left of the hair dryer). There was still room to store small items where the life jackets were.

 

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The safe, which we used a lot. We didn't bring a laptop, but it held my DSLR, passports, water camera, envelope of bills, wallets, lenses for my camera and other things I just didn't want to misplace. There was a cabinet above which was useful as well.

 

I will add that if you forget your combination, housekeeping can come and reset it for you. Ask me how I know this. Hint: I have three kids and the safe was a novelty.

 

The kids' room:

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Once that couch was open, it never was folded up again. Behind me and DS2 is our other room.

 

Balcony:

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Kids on their balcony:

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The kids were thrilled to have their own room. We made a rule about their not going on the balcony without our knowing, but a lot of the time we were in our rooms, they were happy just to hang out on the beds and watch TV or play with their stuffed animals. I think it was a novelty to be in a "hotel" without their parents right in the same space with them.

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We then decided to explore the ship a bit more.

 

We went back around to Deck 7, which is the Promenade Deck.

 

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Then up to Deck 12 and 13 to get a view from the bow:

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You can see some of the private balconies and the pool for the crew. You can see a view of the bow from your cabin's TV as well. DH and I found it comical at night, when it was pitch black, that you could still tune into the bow cam.

 

Sort of the opposite view from the photo above:

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Four of the five of us are in this photo, and a few others we don't know.

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But before we go, it's time for the muster drill. Our location was the Venetian, so back we went for the second time in three hours.

 

You do not have to bring life jackets or even try one on while you are there, but my son begged to.

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Now it's finally time to sail away!

 

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These boats may be going faster than us, but we're going further.

 

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We enjoyed watching the great scene of planes taking off from Logan Airport.

 

Meanwhile, back at the pool, Armen the cruise director (in black shirt on the ledge of the pool) and other staff were out celebrating, Gangnam Style.

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The three women in green are part of the Splash Academy staff. I also like the little boy in the center, caught mid-jump.

 

They fired up the grill and everyone enjoyed some barbecue.

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We took our barbecue and went to our balcony to enjoy it.

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After dinner, it was time for swimming. DH and the kids are in this photo, along with a bunch of others enjoying the last bit of time at the T-Rex pool for Friday.

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I had forgotten that the kids managed to get a little bit of time in the T-Rex pool this first day. They managed to sneak in under the 6 PM wire, I guess.

 

The wake behind the area is fun to watch, too.

 

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This slide had been calling DS2's name all day. He finally got to try it out.

 

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DD tried a different slide.

 

Once they closed the kids' area, we went over to Oasis.

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It wasn't very crowded because it was getting chilly.

 

So the kids played for a bit and then enjoyed one of the hot tubs.

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The sun was going down but our night was still young.

 

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Next up after changing was some time for the kids at Splash Academy and some time for DH and I to enjoy exploring the ship without the kids. :)

 

First we visited the Garden Cafe, where we had a little snack since the BBQ had been awhile ago...DH sampled the prime rib, and I had a little bit of French Onion soup and a blueberry coffee cake type thing. I also finally tried the famous pretzel rolls, and I will say that they are addictive!

 

We stopped in Tradewinds, the gift shop, as they were having a liquor tasting. It was quite crowded, but we managed to taste a few different liquors...something called "X", which was fruity/raspberry flavored, and something else that was coffee flavored but fairly strong--much stronger than Kahlua. There was a raffle for a few prizes, which we did not win.

 

We poked around for a bit longer and then headed to the Stardust Theater, for the Welcome Aboard Show.

 

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This was basically a sampling of some of the different shows to be held each night. We saw the singers and dancers, the illusionist and the stand-up comedian. I enjoy going to shows, so I was pretty psyched that we'd have entertainment every night.

 

For parents: I will also add that NCL is great in their timing. All of the 9:30 shows ended by about 10:15, which gives parents enough time to go to Splash Academy to pick up kids before the Late Night time begins at 10:30, where you have to start to pay for the service. The first night, DH and I were keeping an eye on the time and at 10:10, he said he'd leave in 5 minutes if the show wasn't over to go get the kids. But we needn't have worried, because we got there in plenty of time.

 

Day 1 was over and we were having a great time!

Edited by lolavix
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Ah, I missed a photo and I can't seem to go back and edit. I will add it here:

 

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The inside of the Stardust Theater as we waited for the Welcome Aboard show. You aren't allowed to photograph any of the shows, so this will have to do.

 

Johnsmomkathy--Thank you for reading along!

 

Untailored-Bostonian--It may be my first cruise but I've kept an online journal for years. :D

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I am not going to bother to post the last page of the Dailies from now on. I think it's identical to what I posted for Day 1's last page-all the hours of the restaurants.

 

There were two extra items of interest to us today:

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______________________________________________________________

 

I awoke somewhat early today, especially since we had bumped the clocks forward one hour and had lost an hour of sleep. I showered and peeked in on the kids and they were starting to stir. I decided to take them to the Garden Cafe and let DH sleep in a little bit.

 

My kids think that the Golden Corral is a treat--I think it's all the choices of food. You can imagine the fun they had at the Garden Cafe. I liked the ease of the Garden Cafe and the fact that my kids would normally find something to eat, but it's still not easy having to help them serve themselves and possibly having to jump up mid-meal to assist. The serving utensils are sometimes awkwardly placed there, and I heard adults comment about it to other adults as well. The shields to protect the food make for some interesting maneuvering.

 

Anyway, we enjoyed the choices the first morning. In particular, I liked my made-to-order omelet and the chocolate rolls, and my kids liked the juice choices and the tiny boxes of cereal (I think I mentioned that earlier with the photos). Bacon is always a treat and while I had read that there were "bacon police" on some NCL cruises, no one cared how much bacon you ingested here. :)

 

I decided to make up a plate to take back to DH as a sort of breakfast in bed treat, and I also didn't know what time breakfast stopped. I needn't have worried. It was only about 9:30 and breakfast goes on until 11 or so, but this worked out well because it saved a little bit of time. I brought him his breakfast and woke him up and then took the kids to Splash Academy.

 

While he showered, I took a few photos on the balcony:

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Isn't it just lovely? I never thought how mesmerizing just the ocean waves could be.

 

Once he finished up, we headed up to the Meet and Greet for our CC Roll Call group. It was held at the Star Bar on Deck 13. We were running late and missed most of the officers, but we had seen most of them the evening before at the Welcome Aboard Show. Our group had the room until noon and we all stayed and chatted until then. It was fun to meet others and I would recommend doing a Meet and Greet if your Roll Call group organizes one.

 

We left right before 12 and retrieved the kids from Splash Academy and headed to the Garden Cafe for lunch. After lunch, we changed into bathing suits and went to the Oasis pool.

 

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DS1 is contemplating the same blue water that his mother contemplated a few hours earlier.

 

I left my camera in the room, so I don't have any photos of our afternoon at the pools. We all went into the Oasis pool and had a great time. It was very refreshing and not too cold. We witnessed the Mr. Sexy Legs contest, which was funny. At one point, we headed over to the T-Rex pool and spent about 2 hours there. DH went back to the cabin to nap and I chatted with some nice people from Cape Cod and Long Island while our kids and grandkids frolicked in the pool and down the slides.

 

Around 3:45, we headed back to the room to change to go to the Garden Cafe for family cupcake decorating. We got there a little after 4 and the line was insanely long for cupcakes, so I told the kids they could have ice cream instead. No one complained about that switch. I will mention that the self-serve ice cream machine always seemed to dispense very melty ice cream. DH thinks it's because the machine gets such heavy use that the ice cream never has a chance to properly firm up, so it's basically in a liquid form. Nevertheless, we still ate it. :D

 

Back to the room to decide our plans for the evening. We managed to clean ourselves up for Norwegian's Night Out and headed out.

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We decided to get some formal photos of us taken. It seemed like we should take advantage of the opportunity since we think about it at home but have never moved forward to do so. The last time we had any formal family photos taken at all, DS1 was 6 months old. He turned 8 this past spring. :o

 

We didn't start out thinking we'd buy any, but after seeing some of them, we decided to get the package later that week. We also splurged on the extra $30 to get the digital copies of the photos we selected, so that is why I can post them here, too. There is one that we took later in the week that we love, and we wanted to be able to get it reprinted for my parents and mother-in-law, and it was cheaper to upgrade than purchase two more prints.

 

Of course, I wanted a photo with Captain Teo.

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We obviously didn't plan to get that dressed up, but I think we were OK. I did see a few families with kids in suits, and even a few tuxes, but I also saw many folks who didn't dress up at all. It really is true that it's all up to you with Freestyle cruising.

 

Here are the family photos we purchased from this night:

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We chose this photo because we didn't get any photo of us embarking. Both DH and I are regretting our decision to not pose for the photo when we were waiting in the terminal. We never had any intention of purchasing photos, but we didn't realize that we'd wind up doing family photos and buying a package. At least we'd have something to indicate that this was a cruise we were on.

 

One of the two of us:

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I usually hate photos of myself, because I normally blink or squint or do something very unphotogenic, but I am actually OK with these.

 

This is all we purchased from this sitting, but remember, there are 10 photos, so more to come in later days.

 

Proof that we did try to get photos of the kids in this session:

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We then tried to go to the Venetian for dinner, but the wait was too long (40 minutes) for our plans. I will mention here that I made reservations for all evenings at either the Venetian or Aqua before we left. My newbie reasoning was that if we wanted to go to a show by 7 (because that was the time I thought the shows were, not 7:30), we'd want to be eating by 5:30. For Sunday and Monday, the days we'd be overnighting in port, I made them for 6:30.

 

Let the record show that we only used one of those reservations.

 

Saturday was not one of those nights--since the reservation was for 5:30 and the photos with the captain were from 6-6:30, we were late to the reservation. Completely our fault. The hostess sent us to Aqua, but same wait.

 

So, back to the Garden Cafe for us! Note that we had eaten all three meals there this day, and it was a feat we wouldn't accomplish again. I was sort of bummed out that we were looking nice to go to the Garden Cafe, but we were not the only ones overdressed for it.

 

This was the night of the infamous lobster pasta that has caused quite a bit of a stir on the boards here.

 

I figured a photo of this meal was a must:

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I concur with the majority. This dish is nothing to write home about, although I did eat it.

 

We got through our meal and dropped the kids off at Splash Academy. We were headed to the Stardust Theater to see the 7 PM showing of

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DH and I figured we would enjoy the show, since we are old enough to remember when these late 70s songs were actually played on the radio. We figured the kids would be bored to sit through a 70s show.

 

However, as we sat and watched it, we realized that they probably would have enjoyed it as well. The colorful stage was so much fun, and they would even know the participatory YMCA rendition. DD learned how to play "We Will Rock You" on her trombone this year, and I thought of her when they played that song and saw the trombonist.

 

As we left, we discussed it and decided to go pick the kids up and take them back to the late show.

 

But first, we stopped for dessert at the Garden Cafe en route, as we had promised them we'd get some later. We hadn't had time when we ate dinner there earlier.

 

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I think this is the night we had various dessert crepes--apple, chocolate and maybe apricot or pear? (I had apple, so I am not sure of the other choices.) DS2 wanted ice cream again. We also sampled a peanut butter cake as well as a chocolate cake. These weren't bad. I have read many complaints about NCL's desserts, and I will say that some of them were tasty (to us).

 

Then we hiked back to the Stardust Theater. DS2 needed to rest for a bit, as this was the second night he was up past his bedtime.

 

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For some reason, DS1 did better, even though he was up past his bedtime as well.

 

I tried to stage a photo shoot of my own on the stairs, and this is the best I got.

 

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So nice to have cooperation, no?

 

As we predicted, the kids enjoyed the show, so much so that when passengers were invited on stage with the dancers, the kids wanted to get a photo with them.

 

This is another purchased photo. I took some but the lighting in the theater is tricky and I didn't have time to check the white balance (since remember, there is no photography during the show, so I hadn't bothered to play with the camera settings and the kids going on stage happened so quickly). Even with the professional photo, I did some editing to remove some greenish hues, although there isn't much that can be done to recover the boys' blown shirts.

 

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I will mention here that none of my photos are edited unless I specifically mention that I've edited them. It would take me forever to get this review done!

Edited by lolavix
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We headed back to our rooms and were greeted by these cuties:

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Although I knew that we should be getting towel animals, I hadn't mentioned it to the kids. I'm glad I hadn't, because we didn't get any the first night, and I figured we just weren't going to get them for whatever reason. As you'd expect, the kids really went gaga over these, and each night from there on out would run back to the room in the evening, wondering who would be there to greet them in their room. And then they'd run into our room to see who we got. It was a fun way to end the day.

 

It was late, so the kids went to bed. I sat on the balcony with tomorrow's Daily and just enjoyed the quiet of the ocean. Tomorrow would be our first day in Bermuda!

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I said that I wasn't going to post the last page every day when I posted Day 2. I had said that I thought it was identical to the first day. What I realized after is that Day 1 didn't have breakfast locations and hours, so I am posting the last page of Day 3 here and then I'll probably be done with it.

 

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___________________________________________________________________

 

I had been looking at weather websites a few days prior to our sailing. It was a bit amusing, because one website said that the likelihood of rain during our three days in Bermuda ranged from 50-80% (80% for Sunday and Monday). Another website was much more optimistic, and predicted scattered showers or a morning shower or something much less ominous. I figured, if the weather sites couldn't agree, I shouldn't worry too much. We'd been on vacations where it had rained for entire days while we were at amusement parks, and we still had fun.

 

With that said, though, I still didn't know for certain what we'd be doing this day, until we got there and saw the weather.

 

I will say, though, that when I awoke and pulled open the curtain and saw this:

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I figured we were set for the beach.

 

Slowly, everyone got up and got ready for breakfast. We hit the Garden Cafe, where I made the discovery that they did have skim milk in select places, which made me happy. We drink skim at home, and I figure, why drink more fat that I didn't even need, especially while I was on a cruise with lots of other delicious things?

 

After breakfast, we headed up to the bow to watch our approach to Bermuda.

 

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I knew I'd love the pastel colors of the houses and buildings. I did edit this photo just a bit, as the original did not do justice to the colors.

 

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See the difference?

 

I am thinking that I might need to do some additional editing for some of the island photos for this review. Given the number of photos, I don't want to edit all of them, but some might be calling out to me to do so.

 

 

My first view of the gorgeous water:

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The kids admired the views in the previous post for a few minutes, and then sat down to wait for their parents, who couldn't get enough.

 

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They seem to be entertaining themselves, and no one looks mad or upset. I count it a win!

 

All the following photos have been edited.

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Lovely Heritage Wharf, our new home for the next 2.5 days.

 

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The ferry which runs between Hamilton and the Dockyard:

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By 10:15, we were docked. Port was facing the Dockyard, so that would be our view for the next 2.5 days. My original thought was it would be fun to watch the activity, and it was. I will mention, though, that there is a bar very close to the ship which was pretty loud...we could hear it at night with the balcony door shut. It wasn't horrible, but it was a stark contrast to what we had heard for the previous two nights, which was pretty much nothing.

 

We collected our beach gear and went down to Aqua, where they were letting people wait to disembark. Right around 11, there was an announcement which said we were clear, but turns out it was a false alarm and we had to wait a few more minutes. I felt sorry for the NCL employee who was guarding the steps who broke that news to us.

 

Finally, it was time to head down to Deck 4!

 

We were reminded repeatedly of the 'curfew' (back on the ship by Tuesday at 5 PM), not to bring fruits, vegetables, soil, etc. off the ship or it could be a $500 fine, and to remember to bring a photo ID to be able to reboard the ship. Everyone needed their room key cards to disembark, but only adults over 18 needed a photo ID to return to the ship.

 

We were off!

Edited by lolavix
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Some logistics:

 

I mentioned that we selected this cruise, in part, because it would require very little driving for us to get to the port. Since it was our first cruise, we didn't have any basis of comparison, so I figured we wouldn't "miss" the amenities of a ship like the Breakaway.

 

What I didn't take into account was the fact that the first day would be Sunday, and since most shops are closed, you are pretty much limited to either a formal excursion or the beach or the Clocktower Mall.

 

I really wasn't that concerned about the weather. As I said, we've had our share of rainy days on vacation, and it's been fine. What I wasn't expecting, though, was having Bermuda change things up regarding transportation on August 4. On that day, the public express bus which would go directly to Horseshoe Bay from the Dockyard was eliminated. What people were left with was the local bus to the beaches, a $16 round trip mini-bus, or a taxi.

 

Some might be saying that it wasn't a big deal. However, we're a family of 5, so that bumps up the taxi fare (I think. I did read someplace that kids are half, but we'd still need a big enough taxi to fit all of us safely) and on a Sunday, there is a 50% surcharge on fares anyway. No one seemed to know if the kids fare on the new mini-buses was $16 or a reduced fare. (I think I overheard the woman selling the transportation passes that it was $10/kid, but don't quote me on that.) I had also heard that some tourists were denied entry on the local bus to the beach from the Dockyard. :(

 

I really wasn't relishing paying up to $80 to get my family to the beach, especially since it was round trip to Horseshoe and I wanted us to see the stretch of beaches from Horseshoe to Warwick Long Bay and I didn't know if we wanted to walk to and from Horseshoe. I had been counting on buying transportation passes anyway, and it just irritated me that we might have to go beyond the transportation passes, when they historically have existed to take people all over Bermuda and it had been fine up until 2 weeks earlier.

 

I came up with a plan, and it worked beautifully. I have posted it on the Bermuda boards, and I will say that on a Sunday, everything has to go like clockwork for it to work to its full advantage.

 

Because we were able to disembark by 11:05-11:10, I figured we'd go for it. (If you are going to do this, this is not the time to dilly dally. I will mention, though, that I have a slow-walking 6 year old and an 8 year old recovering from a leg injury earlier this summer, and we managed to successfully execute this plan.)

 

My family went to wait outside the terminal and I stood in line, cash in hand ($123) to buy the 3 day transportation passes. The line moved relatively quickly, except for one person who wasn't sure what she wanted to do. This is where I thought I heard that the kids' mini-bus fare is $10 round trip, as opposed to $16 for adults.

 

I caught up with my family and we walked the 5-8 minutes to the ferry terminal. The ferry was not even close to full.

 

We departed exactly at 11:30. I will say that all the public transportation leaves exactly at the scheduled times. If you are a minute or two late, you are likely to miss your bus or ferry.

 

How about some photos now, after reading through that lengthy description?

 

These photos were taken with my waterproof camera, not the DSLR which I have exclusively used on the ship. To just go to the beach, I didn't want to take the DSLR.

 

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I'd take any of those in a heartbeat.

 

Happy that the plan seems to be working!

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A first look at the Dawn, in all her glory. In port in Boston you can't really see her.

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And from starboard:

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As we approach Hamilton:

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The ride to Hamilton was about 15-17 minutes. The time is important because part 2 of the plan required that we walk the 5-7 minutes to the Hamilton bus depot to catch the 12:00 PM #7 local bus back to the Dockyard.

 

Why back to the Dockyard? Because en route, it goes by all of the south shore beaches, and we could hop off and go to whichever one we wanted.

 

Will we make it?

Edited by lolavix
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We arrived and hurried off the ferry. As we were walking away, I asked one of the employees how to get to the bus. He gave us fairly detailed directions and I only caught the beginning, but had the gist of them.

 

We started walking as quickly as we could. If we missed the noon bus, the next one was at 12:30, so it wouldn't be a huge deal, but it would be nice to get to the beach as soon as possible. We couldn't wait to see it.

 

We walked through the streets of Hamilton. Although we were in a hurry, I managed to snap this photo of some friends.

 

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So funny to see chickens out and about so close to the city.

 

Somehow, we managed to get to the bus station in time! There were a few other cruise passengers with us. We took the #7 bus to Horseshoe Beach and were off the bus by 12:20. I will mention that it takes about 35-40 minutes to get from Horseshoe to the Dockyard, so my plan took a little bit longer than if we had just taken a bus or taxi (assuming that the bus left the Dockyard at 11:30), but I was happy as we were able to get to where we wanted to in a reasonable amount of time without the transportation worries.

 

A random flower as we walked the path down to the beach.

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And finally, our destination!

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The sign doesn't lie:

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Breathtaking and gorgeous.

 

We stopped to use the facilities and then we headed over to the cove, which is known as Horseshoe Baby Beach. It's protected and not as intense as the main beach, but it is a bit slippery with the rocks on the bottom. There are a lot of rocks on the cove's bottom, so it's tough to avoid them on the bottom.

 

Still, though, that didn't stop my family from sporting the snorkeling gear and taking a peek.

 

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Almost done with the handouts!

 

Day 1's Daily also had a letter from the captain.

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And on the back, this schedule which I promptly forgot I had.

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Although we did not do any shore excursions, I'll include the schedule and pricing here in case anyone is interested or wants to get an idea of what is available. Prior to our cruise, I read over and over again that given the length of stay on Bermuda, it really wasn't necessary to book tours through the ship. I can see occasions why that might be true, but for us, doing things on our own worked out fine.

 

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Loving your review,, esp the photos!,, we leave next friday and finding pics of the dawn are tough!,, thank you! Looking forward to reading, seeing more...

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