Jump to content

Acadia National Park Tours


leetompkins
 Share

Recommended Posts

My DW and I are cruising on the Regal Princess in September and while in Bar Harbor wondering which is the best tour company to visit Acadia National Park. I am going back and forth deciding between Oli's Trolley or Acadia National Park Tours. Can anyone on Cruise Critic provide some advise, insight, and/or recommendations? Thank you. Lee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My DW and I are cruising on the Regal Princess in September and while in Bar Harbor wondering which is the best tour company to visit Acadia National Park. I am going back and forth deciding between Oli's Trolley or Acadia National Park Tours. Can anyone on Cruise Critic provide some advise, insight, and/or recommendations? Thank you. Lee

 

 

Since both have equal reviews on TA, I would select Oli's Trolley because it has a 4 hour tour. That tour has 4 stops of 30 minutes each while the shorter tour and the Acadia National Park Tours only have 3 stops of 15-20 minutes each. All the tours offer the same stops..

 

SBtS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would and did this past October opt for the Acadia National Park Tour...booking directly with them online.

 

We passed the pickup point for Oli's Trolley what a madhouse mess (drizzleing rain) that was....and their trolley's looked so uncomfortable and those plastic roll up shades on the window's...No thanks...so glad we didn't choose this.

 

Acadia NP tour had a comfortable bus and we had the most amazing tour guide Heather...she has worked for several NP's a true professional and the experience she has with Acadia NP was just amazing !!! She stopped at places (way more than 3 and took the time she needed) she decided to and gave us a history lesson when stopped and when driving...with a great personality to boot.

 

All other tour's had trouble parking at certain spots...Acadia tour had their own designated parking spots.

 

Opt for the 9:00am tour...make your way up the main street to Testa's restaurant from the tender and checkin there with your emailed confirmation...the bus will be parked across the street..get on (the bus door will be open) as seating is first come.

 

When you return you'll have a discount for dining at Testa's best lobster and fish-n-chips ever !

 

We'll be back in Bar Harbor for the Oct 2019 Snowbird cruise (RCI) and will definitely book this particular tour again.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have used Oli's Trollies, and were very pleased with the quality of the narration and length of stops. Our driver was a retired science teacher and did a great job. Our trolley stopped at parking spots designated for "Ollie's Trolley." And our trolley definitely had glass windows.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're sailing on the Regal in October, and I've been trying to decide between these 2 tours as well. I'm confused about the Oli's Trolley comment about the roll-up windows -- I've read this same comment on other TripAdvisor reviews as well -- but on the Oli's Trolley website the pictures clearly show glass windows on the trolley. Do they have multiple trolleys -- some with glass and some with roll up windows?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
Do either Oli's Trolleys or Arcadia National Park Tours pick up at the port?

It's a small area surrounding the port of Bar Harbor. When you exit the tender head right for Oli's . For the Acadia National Park tour just walk up the hill straight ahead of you towards town (so quick and easy) to Testa's restaurant to check in and the bus is parked right across the street.

 

We did the Acadia National Park tour last October...just amazing !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was looking at Ollie's tour. Would you suggest the 2.5 hour or 4 hour tour? We would like some time to explore the town. We will be in port 8am-5pm.

 

I would suggest the 4 hour tour because the stops are longer, 30 minutes vs 15, and there are more stops, 4 vs 3. Anyway, the town of Bar Harbor is not that big.

 

SBtS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will be there in late June. Does anyone have a recommendation about what time to do the tour as to avoid fog? I have read that the view from the mountain top can be obscured by fog sometimes. Is that just an morning issue or time of year?

Thanks,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

overall, which one is better? Ollie or Acadia national parks tours? both seems to be about the same

 

On TripAdvisor, both Oli's Trolley and Acadia National Parks Tours have ratings of 4.5. You could read the reviews of each looking for something that would give an edge to one. Or you could decide that you don't want to ride in school bus or trolley for 3-4 hours. I really think you could not go wrong with either.

 

SBtS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

We just returned from Acadia national park and went with Ollie’s trolley. We did the 4 hour tour and would recommend that over the 2.5 hour if you have the time. We spent about 20 minutes at each stop before we leisurely headed back to our bus before the 30minutes ended and thought if we only had 15, you wouldn’t have seen everything. Another thing that I want to pass on, when you get on the bus, sit on the driver’s side. Most of the roads are one way and the good views are on the left side. We had sat on the right side and saw lots of rocks and trees [emoji52].

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just returned from Acadia national park and went with Ollie’s trolley. We did the 4 hour tour and would recommend that over the 2.5 hour if you have the time. We spent about 20 minutes at each stop before we leisurely headed back to our bus before the 30minutes ended and thought if we only had 15, you wouldn’t have seen everything. Another thing that I want to pass on, when you get on the bus, sit on the driver’s side. Most of the roads are one way and the good views are on the left side. We had sat on the right side and saw lots of rocks and trees [emoji52].

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for the review and tip regarding best side of the vehicle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

We just got back from our Canada/New England cruise and visited Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  We took a tour with Rich from The Natural History Center.  We took an all day tour which was about 7 hours and got to see the highlights of Acadia and many places on the rest of the island.  He also provided a narrative history of the island and area.  He is very knowledgeable about the area and provided us with a custom tour.  We asked him a variety of questions and not only did he know the answers but learned what our interests were and made sure to include information about our interests in his narratives. There were only 4 of us on the tour (we could have added a few more) and it was fantastic.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...