Key West Port Excursion

[texlar1]

Hello, I am planning to visit Key West, Fl. in my next Carinival Cruise. But I'm confused about which excursion choose.

1.- City View Trolley.

2.- Old Town Trolley Tour

3.- Conch Tour Train

 

I'm traveling with my husband, my 13 year daugther and another family with two childrens.

 

I'll appreciate your help.

[cb at sea]

Unless a tour of KW REALLY interests you, KW requires NO excursions at all! Most everything is an easy walk.... Check out the "Port of Call" boards for Key West...lots of info on all the fun stuff there is!

[jmf123]

texlar1, I haven't taken any of those tours, just walked Key West. But check out the Key West Ports of Call forum for lots of excursion discussion: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=155. :)

[packedandready]

We've done the conch train and city view trolley.

 

Conch train is just a line of connected "cars" that gives a short tour around the city. Did this on our first trip to Key West because we didn't know any better. :o

 

Next couple of times we've used the City View Trolley. It's an on/off trolley that takes you on a good route through town. What we usually do is do a full loop the first time and then decide where we want to get off. Next loop we get off, stay away and then grab it again to make our next stop. Great way to spend the day sightseeing. You can buy your tickets when you get there and not have to go through the ship. An advantage to that is it might be a little cheaper (can't remember) and that if for some reason you change your mind when you get there you haven't already spent your money.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

We've done the Conch Train several times because we enjoyed it. One caveat I would advise is to sit close to the front if you can. One reason is that the Conch train is long and if you are near the back, the interesting sites the "conductor" is describing are at the front and you may not be able to see what he is talking about until your end of the train passes by. Secondly, one very hot, humid afternoon we rode the Conch Train seated in the last seat. I actually got seasick back there under those conditions.

 

We've also done the trolley, though I'm not certain which one we did. It takes a longer ride around the island and I did enjoy it. We weren't interested in getting on and off, but many people did. That is an advantage of the trolley because you can't do that on the conch Train.

 

Ww now no longer do either trolley or Conch Train finding it is easier just to set out for the specific sites that interest us most.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have walked Kew West many times.

But one time we did the Old Town Trolley Tour and loved it.

[rkacruiser]

The suggestion of taking the Hop On/Off tour is one I would suggest as well. Stay aboard for one complete loop to "get a sense of the sights" and then on the second round, get off where there are sites that interest you.

 

If you are literary-minded folks, the Hemingway House is very interesting.

[donaldsc]

Why do you feel that you have to take an escorted tour of Key West. It is not a large city and they do speak English there. Just get off the boat and wander around.

 

DON

[Hlitner]

it makes little sense to pay the extra dollars for a cruise line excursion in Key West....especially for an American. Key West is simply one more American city (and a place we vacation most years) with lots of charm. It is also a compact city that is walkable for anyone who does not have mobility problems. And if you want to ride around the town in a small train (Conch Train) anyone can buy tickets online...although we have long thought that the price of around $30 per adult is a bit much.

 

One nice thing about Key West is that one can walk from the pier into town...without the need for shuttles, a tour guide, etc. The Trolley Tour also costs about $30 per person...and if the cruise line is selling that excursion for more then $30 pp...it would be somewhat of a rip-off.

 

When we vacation in Key West we stay at a hotel that is located very close to the cruise pier (Pier B). On our many visits we have never found any need to use the Conch Train, Trolley Tours, etc. We simply use our feet which can carry us from one end of town to the other! For those with mobilty issues, one of those tour options does make a lot of sense or you could simply rent an electric car (about $99 for 4 hours if booked online) and drive yourself all over town at your own pace.

 

The irony (for us) is that we often go to Key West right after we disembark from a cruise that ends at the Port of Miami. We simply pick up our rental car and make the fantastic 4-5 hour drive down the Ocean Highway (one of the best drives in the US). Once at Key West we park at our hotel, and never use our car in town...as we can simply walk everywhere.

 

Hank

Edited June 6, 2016 by Hlitner

[headhunterke]

If you're into hot sauces, you HAVE to visit Peppers of Key West. This is kind of a hot sauce heaven, really.

The town itself is very easy to walk, so unless you want someone guiding you around, you can easily do this on your own. There's plenty of self-guided walking tours available or you just follow your nose. You can't get lost in Key West.

It's a pretty cool town with lots of options to eat and drink (specially near the NW part of town)

[zqvol]

I would not take any of them through the cruise line. You can easily purchase them when you get ashore. (Verify the prices and if by chance they are cheaper on the ship then buy them that way.)

 

Key West is so small that if you get rushed for time you can always hop off and walk back to the ship pretty quickly.

[terri-eddie]

We stopped in Key West on a cruise a few years ago, and used the City Trolley. I checked the price online, and it was only a few dollars less than the cruise price. So we booked through the cruise, using OBC.

 

The hop-on-hop-off aspect was great. We saw a lot of the city, and made stops at the butterfly sanctuary, Hemingway's house and a few other places. We are not accustomed to walking in high heat and humidity [we're from Canada] so it was nice to see so much and not have to walk a lot to do so.

 

After the tour, we had plenty of time to wander through the shops near the port.

 

It was a very enjoyable excursion.

[SOMBRERO6]

Search for Free things to do in Key West! We did the City Bus Tour once around and then were able to get on and off at the stops we chose. We had fun doing this, it was more like a challenge. You can go to the Southernmost point (which had very long lines), an Episcopal church with beautiful stained glass windows, the oldest house in Key West, and the oldest school. There are lots of other free things to do if you do some research!