Bermuda private guide

[moobear67]

Amy,

 

We went to Bermuda a few weeks ago and used Dennis Hollis, who was recommended by several people on this board. He was great! Here is is e-mail address:

DWHollis@IBL.BM

 

 

Marcy

[jrmende63]

We needed a private tour taxi for 4, but since we did not reserve one of those blue flag taxis in advance (and since we were not among the very first ones off the ship), we could not find a blue flagged taxi. The only one I saw already had a group booked. So I walked among all the vehicles and finally found a man who did not have passengers, and asked him about his price. He said it would be $50pp for 4-5 hours. When I asked him about the govt. rate of $40pp, he just said that was his rate, and if we did not want to tip him, that was fine. So, not having any other choices, we all climbed into his light beige Mitsubishi van. He turned out to be a wonderful tour guide. He took us to every single parish on the island and educated us about everything we saw. His name is Lewis Foggo, and he was born and raised in Bermuda.

Here is his information: RELIABLE TAXI SERVICE

TEL: (441) 704-2109 email: lewis-foggo@hotmail.com The dash after lewis is the top underline lower dash on the same key, but it blends in with the blue underlining that came on automatically.

Lewis took us everywhere we asked him to go, and the five hours went by with us feeling like we got a great value for our money. We tipped him 20 percent and he earned it.

Awesome! Glad to hear. We have also booked with Lewis Foggo for our October Bermuda trip. I found him recommended on a Bermuda attractions sight. We are a party of six and our rate is 55 per hour. We think this is awesome as the Cruiselines was charging much more for what we want to do!

[jrmende63]

In the Fantasy cave was there a handrail on the steps leading down into the cave? My DIL is pregnant and we all want to see the Cave, but I don't want her walking down steps that have no hand-rails. I have seen pics of the Crystal cave and know it does have handrails, but I did not know that doing both caves ( Crystal and Fantasy) would take 1.5 hours. We are only in Bermuda from 4pm on Saturday, October 8, 2011 to 4pm on Sunday, October 9th at 4pm.

This is our first visit to Bermuda. As posted before, I have hired Lewis Foggo to be our private guide. We have told him that we would like to see Warwick Bay Long Beach ( for the pink sand),the caves, the smallest drawbridge, the Aquarium, and Zoo. Possibly shopping in St. Georges. Do you think this is feasible? Thanks, Julie

[grandmaR]

You have three things which have hours that they are open. The BAMZ (Bermuda Museum Aquarium and Zoo), the caves, and the St. Georges shops. (Plus you need to figure in lunch.) You know the caves will take a couple of hours. The last tour is 4:30 so you would have to be pretty nifty to do that on Saturday.

 

The BMAZ will take an hour or so depending on how thorough you want to be. The last admission is a 4 pm so it will have to be done on Sunday

 

The smallest drawbridge will take no time and is very close to Kings Wharf and could be done Saturday evening.

 

The beach has no hours and the time it will take depends on if you just want to see it or if you want to swim. If you want to swim, you'd need to do it during the day Sunday at that time of year and there's probably not enough time to do that and everything else.

 

There is other stuff to see in St. Georges - you ought to go to the town square and see St. Peters Church - but since you are going on Sunday, you need to be aware of the times when there are services and proper dress.

 

The stores will probably be open until 5:30 pm on Saturday. So you might want to go out to St. George on Saturday and do your shopping then. But there is also good shopping at Kings Wharf and you can get there much quicker (if that is where you are docked) and many of the shops are the same. The Clocktower Mall is a good place to start. Some shops will also be open on Sunday for the cruise ship people

[SailBadtheSinner]

jrmende63 asked: ...In the Fantasy cave was there a handrail on the steps leading down into the cave....

 

There is metal hand rail on each side of the stairway into Fantasy Cave. The stairway is narrow enough so that you can have a hand on each rail. When we visited in October, the air inside the cave was very warm and very humid. Everything you touched was clammy. There are 85 steps (or is it 88?), and there are at least 2 rest areas on the stairway.

 

 

SBtS

 

[jrmende63]

You have three things which have hours that they are open. The BAMZ (Bermuda Museum Aquarium and Zoo), the caves, and the St. Georges shops. (Plus you need to figure in lunch.) You know the caves will take a couple of hours. The last tour is 4:30 so you would have to be pretty nifty to do that on Saturday.

 

The BMAZ will take an hour or so depending on how thorough you want to be. The last admission is a 4 pm so it will have to be done on Sunday

 

The smallest drawbridge will take no time and is very close to Kings Wharf and could be done Saturday evening.

 

The beach has no hours and the time it will take depends on if you just want to see it or if you want to swim. If you want to swim, you'd need to do it during the day Sunday at that time of year and there's probably not enough time to do that and everything else.

 

There is other stuff to see in St. Georges - you ought to go to the town square and see St. Peters Church - but since you are going on Sunday, you need to be aware of the times when there are services and proper dress.

 

The stores will probably be open until 5:30 pm on Saturday. So you might want to go out to St. George on Saturday and do your shopping then. But there is also good shopping at Kings Wharf and you can get there much quicker (if that is where you are docked) and many of the shops are the same. The Clocktower Mall is a good place to start. Some shops will also be open on Sunday for the cruise ship people

Thank you GrandmaR. We are docking at Kings Wharf, so I think I will do some shopping there and get a dark and stormy at one of the pubs there at Kings Wharf. We are being picked up at 0900 on Sunday. We don't have to do both caves and with our pregnant daughter-in-law, it is best that we only do one of them. I saw pics of the Fantasy cave and it is stunning...that is why we chose it.

We plan to exit the ship as soon we are allowed to do so on Saturday afternoon. That is when I will pick up the souvenirs and get the Dark and stormy drink. I also want to get some seaglass...but am not sure if I want to run there on Sunday and then on to Warwick Long Bay to see the sand. We will not be swimming this time. ( I think we are going to have to go to Bermuda again!)

Do you have any suggestions for lunch? We thought about Swizzle Inn, for a Rum swizzle drink and a burger. BUT we also might want a traditional Bermudian lunch. I was going to ask Lewis, our tour guide where he would go for a bite to eat.

[jrmende63]

jrmende63 asked: ...In the Fantasy cave was there a handrail on the steps leading down into the cave....

 

There is metal hand rail on each side of the stairway into Fantasy Cave. The stairway is narrow enough so that you can have a hand on each rail. When we visited in October, the air inside the cave was very warm and very humid. Everything you touched was clammy. There are 85 steps (or is it 88?), and there are at least 2 rest areas on the stairway.

 

 

SBtS

 

Thank you SBtS! I was just worried about her slipping..but it sounds as though she will be fine doing these steps at Fantasy Cave.

Same question to you as GrandmaR...Where would you eat lunch at? This is our first time in Bermuda so we want to get as much in as we can. ( That is why we hired a personal taxi/ tour person.)

[grandmaR]

I have not eaten at many places in Bermuda recently. I would say it depends on where you are when it is lunch time and I would go with what your guide says. Mostly we eat where it is the cheapest rather than for atmosphere and we do not drink, so we have never had a Dark and Stormy.

 

The total number of places we have eaten (not including eating at the Hamilton Princess when we had a meal plan there in 1995) are:

 

1) Weds in 1995 on a land visit we ate lunch at the Dockyard Mall in the cafeteria there. No point in eating there as it is close to where the ship docks.

2) The next day (Thursday-1995) we ate at the White Horse Pub in St. George and hated it - but that was 16 years ago and I know this has gone through some changes since then. Lots of people like this place.

3) We have twice eaten lunch from the cafeteria or snack machines in the Botanical Garden - once in 1995 and once in 2007

4) We ate at North Rock which is a pub in 2004

5) We ate dinner at the Hog Penny in Hamilton in 2004 and liked it and I think it would also be OK for lunch. I would recommend it.

6) We ate lunch in St. George at Freddies in 2004

7) In 2007 we ate lunch at Kings Wharf at the Frog and Onion. But I don't think I would eat here on your guided tour time - it is real close to the ship dock

 

Most people try to eat at the Swizzle Inn, which is near the caves, but I have not been there.

[Laszlo]

There are 4 of us going with Colin the day we depart Bermuda. Did you have a plan or did you just let Colin take you? We do want to get to Swizzle Inn for lunch and our last stop will be the beach with the seaglass. Thats all we have planned so far. :)

 

My wife and I did not really have a plan. We did have a few things and places we wanted to see. Gibbs lighthouse, the Dunking of the Wench, which was pretty funny. We let Colin fill in the blanks, in a nutshell we spent 5 hours with him and saw 99% of the island. Our final stop was on front street in Hamilton were we said our good byes. If you plan to see the caves and have seen caves in the US, skip it. My wife and I thought it was really no big deal, we also ended up spending about 90 minutes there were we could have been doing something else

 

Colin is a great guide and gentlemen.

Edited July 13, 2011 by Laszlo

[Host Caroline]

We had a great time w/ Colin in June as well; my only comment is that we have seen a few of the caves in the U.S. but found the Fantasy Caves to be gorgeous and full of unusual formations... like you would imagine "middle earth" complete with rowboat in the water.. very very humid and warm down there though. We didn't "do" both caves though, chose Fantasy bec. that tour was leaving in 5 mins when we arrrived

[ashmac8]

We are thinking of going this route so that we can see what we want at our own pace. We have a few different beaches/attractions we'd like to see and I'd like to be able to linger if its a spot my son is enjoying and likewise move along if it is not a hit.

 

Are these tour drivers opposed to a lot of waiting around? I imagine we could be at some spots for up to an hour?

 

Thoughts/suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Ashley

[Laszlo]

We had a great time w/ Colin in June as well; my only comment is that we have seen a few of the caves in the U.S. but found the Fantasy Caves to be gorgeous and full of unusual formations... like you would imagine "middle earth" complete with rowboat in the water.. very very humid and warm down there though. We didn't "do" both caves though, chose Fantasy bec. that tour was leaving in 5 mins when we arrrived

 

 

You were lucky, we we arrived it was very crowed (1 pm) We were also hoping to "Cool" off which did not happen in the caves lol

[jrmende63]

Ahh grandmaR the Swizzle inn is near the caves. We do want to see Fantasy cave so that would work. I have looked at their prices and for Portuguese red bean soup, fish n chips n a rum swizzle is 40$. I think he and I will be sharing a meal!!

[phyzz]

i too tried to contact Colin with no response .

[terry55]

i too tried to contact Colin with no response .

 

It was almost 2 weeks before I heard back from Colin, and unfortunately he was already booked the day that we wanted to take his tour.

[tiggrbaby]

It's been over a week since I sent an e-mail to Colin - no response. I heard back from Duke right away, but since he works alone he cannot help our group of 8. Has anyone used/heard of Winsome Transport? They have a large van that can accommodate our group, and is the same price as two taxis.

[FoodieNJ]

It was almost 2 weeks before I heard back from Colin, and unfortunately he was already booked the day that we wanted to take his tour.

terry55, hello again.

 

I will be taking a taxi tour with George Trott (gltrott@logic.bm). Based upon this thread, I contacted Duke Soares about a taxi tour--but unfortunately he did not have availability. I thanked Duke for his quick reply and asked him if he would recommend another driver (i.e., how I obtained George's name). I reached out to George as well as Colin -- George quickly responded as well as called me (he seems very nice) and I have still not heard back from Colin after several weeks [my assumption is that he is booked.]

 

Particularly given how quickly Duke Soares (dukesoares@gmail.com) replied to me (i.e., within 24-hours) and the many people recommending him on CC, you may want to contact Duke. Alternatively reach out to George -- although I have not otherwise found anyone on CC who has mentioned using George Trott, given he was recommended by Duke, I am assuming he is a good choice.

[jrmende63]

We needed a private tour taxi for 4, but since we did not reserve one of those blue flag taxis in advance (and since we were not among the very first ones off the ship), we could not find a blue flagged taxi. The only one I saw already had a group booked. So I walked among all the vehicles and finally found a man who did not have passengers, and asked him about his price. He said it would be $50pp for 4-5 hours. When I asked him about the govt. rate of $40pp, he just said that was his rate, and if we did not want to tip him, that was fine. So, not having any other choices, we all climbed into his light beige Mitsubishi van. He turned out to be a wonderful tour guide. He took us to every single parish on the island and educated us about everything we saw. His name is Lewis Foggo, and he was born and raised in Bermuda.

Here is his information: RELIABLE TAXI SERVICE

TEL: (441) 704-2109 email: lewis-foggo@hotmail.com The dash after lewis is the top underline lower dash on the same key, but it blends in with the blue underlining that came on automatically.

Lewis took us everywhere we asked him to go, and the five hours went by with us feeling like we got a great value for our money. We tipped him 20 percent and he earned it.

this is who I have booked with. He answers emails within a day or two and is 55 for 6 of us. I have heard good things about him!

[grandmaR]

terry55, hello again.

 

I will be taking a taxi tour with George Trott (gltrott@logic.bm). Based upon this thread, I contacted Duke Soares about a taxi tour--but unfortunately he did not have availability. I thanked Duke for his quick reply and asked him if he would recommend another driver (i.e., how I obtained George's name). I reached out to George as well as Colin -- George quickly responded as well as called me (he seems very nice) and I have still not heard back from Colin after several weeks [my assumption is that he is booked.]

 

Particularly given how quickly Duke Soares (dukesoares@gmail.com) replied to me (i.e., within 24-hours) and the many people recommending him on CC, you may want to contact Duke. Alternatively reach out to George -- although I have not otherwise found anyone on CC who has mentioned using George Trott, given he was recommended by Duke, I am assuming he is a good choice.

 

I tried emailing Colin and got no response. I also tried another person who was listed as arranging tours for handicapped but did not get a response. So yesterday I emailed Duke and he emailed me back this morning. So I booked him for our visit in November. Near as I can tell, we are the only ship there on Weds the 9th of Nov although one of the RCI ships is there on the 8th. The number of ships in port may have something to do with availability.

[Addictedtocruising]

We will be on the Explorer of the seas which will be in Bermuda Nov 7 and 8. I also emailed Duke yesterday and he got back to me this morning stating that he is available both days.

 

I also e-mailed Colin and he didn't get back to me so since both are highly recommended and I have an answer from Duke I will using him :)

[kzooknoedel]

Is it really essential to reserve in advance? We will be there the week of 7/25. Are there likely to be drivers available on the spot?

[goldiemd123]

I just got back from the 5 day cruise to Bermuda on the Enchantment out of Baltimore. After reading these post we arranged a 3 hour tour with Duke as our private guide and we were very happy. Duke showed us all the highlights, stopping for photos along the way. We also wanted to be dropped off so we could see the Crystal Caves and took a separate taxi to Tobacco Bay and St Georges. From there we rode the ferry back to the dockyard. I just wished we had more than a day and a half to spend in Bermuda.

 

I would highly recommend Duke for a tour guide.

[louigi]

terry55, hello again.

 

I will be taking a taxi tour with George Trott (gltrott@logic.bm). Based upon this thread, I contacted Duke Soares about a taxi tour--but unfortunately he did not have availability. I thanked Duke for his quick reply and asked him if he would recommend another driver (i.e., how I obtained George's name). I reached out to George as well as Colin -- George quickly responded as well as called me (he seems very nice) and I have still not heard back from Colin after several weeks [my assumption is that he is booked.]

 

Particularly given how quickly Duke Soares (dukesoares@gmail.com) replied to me (i.e., within 24-hours) and the many people recommending him on CC, you may want to contact Duke. Alternatively reach out to George -- although I have not otherwise found anyone on CC who has mentioned using George Trott, given he was recommended by Duke, I am assuming he is a good choice.

 

 

Thanks for posting this new email address...I sent an email to his old address earlier this week, but I will resend to this new email address.

 

Fingers crossed! :o

[namaste1223]

Has anyone taken a private tour in Bermuda and if so who did you use and how were they?

 

We were in Bermuda last summer for 3 days on the NCL Dawn. We had booked a tour in advance for our 2nd day in port with:

 

Lloyd Smart

VIP Taxi Services

His phone no. is 441-236-2957 (home) and 441-534-8688 (in-car, which is probably his cell).

His e-mail address is lsmart@northrock.bm

Website:www.viptaxibermuda.com

 

He was a wonderful guide, well-spoken, patient and very knowledgeable. We left our tour open-ended and flexible, having e-mailed him in advance a list of things we wanted to see. He showed us all that and more...We wound up touring with him from one end of the island to the other for about 9 hours (our choice - he told us most tours were nowhere near as long), which seemed to go by in a flash! He was such a lovely man that we invited him to join us for lunch and he even did a quick drive by his own house on our way back so we could see where he lived and explain about Bermudian houses!

By the end of the tour we felt like we had made a friend!

I found a recommendation for him on these boards and we were very happy that we used him. Good luck in your search!

[namaste1223]

We are thinking of going this route so that we can see what we want at our own pace. We have a few different beaches/attractions we'd like to see and I'd like to be able to linger if its a spot my son is enjoying and likewise move along if it is not a hit.

 

Are these tour drivers opposed to a lot of waiting around? I imagine we could be at some spots for up to an hour?

 

Thoughts/suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Ashley

 

I just posted a reply to another question before I read yours (see #274). If you read that one too, it will give some background to this reply! When we were on our 9 hour tour, we had requested to see several spots where we were left off to tour at our own pace. Our tour driver was right there waiting for us when we came out (for example: Crystal Caves, Aquarium, time to explore St. Georges). I don't know if all drivers are as great as he was, but he seemed to not mind at all. Actually, if you think about it, you're paying an hourly rate, so I'm sure any driver would not be opposed to having a little time to relax while on the clock! :)