Gibbs Lighthouse and Afternoon tea

[Nana57]

Docked at Kings Wharf. How do you get to Gibbs Lighthouse and which hotel offers the Afternoon tea? Taxi or Ferry?

[flowers44]

Gibbs Lighthouse is the easy part of your question. You take #7 bus from the Dockyard and just let your driver know that you want to get off for Gibbs Lighthouse. Remember to say "Good Morning" to the driver before you ask him to let you off at Gibbs Lighthouse. They are very polite in Bermuda and the bus drivers love the "Good Morning" greeting.

 

Now, High Tea seems to be a bit of a problem with a little research on this thread. The Fairmont Princess Hotel seems to be the place of choice but it is closed for renovations until September, 2015. Some suggested the Fairmont Southhampton but it is a long taxi ride to the hotel and someone mentioned that the cab ride was more than the Tea price. The Third place mentioned in the Perfumery in Hamilton. The Tea is called "Sweet P" but it is only done on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the price is $45. That is about all I could come up with about High Tea in Bermuda.

[karmacats]

The pastry shop at the dockyard offers an afternoon tea. I have not done it yet (hope to in two weeks! :D) so don't know how it is, or how formal. I have heard the pastry shop itself is quite good. If Kings Wharf is the same as the Dockyard (I haven't been to Bermuda before, so I'm clueless on its geography), it'll be close to the ship, at least.

[BabsinTX]

The pastry shop at the dockyard offers an afternoon tea. I have not done it yet (hope to in two weeks! :D) so don't know how it is, or how formal. I have heard the pastry shop itself is quite good. If Kings Wharf is the same as the Dockyard (I haven't been to Bermuda before, so I'm clueless on its geography), it'll be close to the ship, at least.

 

I'm going to Bermuda in October and would love to hear what you think of the Dockyard pastry shop. If it's good, I'll be hitting it all three days we're there! :D

[karmacats]

I'm going to Bermuda in October and would love to hear what you think of the Dockyard pastry shop. If it's good, I'll be hitting it all three days we're there! :D

 

Will let you know. We leave in 6 days! :D

[snowbird1]

I'm going to Bermuda in October and would love to hear what you think of the Dockyard pastry shop. If it's good, I'll be hitting it all three days we're there! :D

 

I have heard it is very good.

 

 

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[jakesnana]

Great !!! Now I have to look on my map of the Dockyard for the pastry shop :) Pastries are my downfall and I LOVE a good pastry !!!!

[NCTribeFan]

I'm not interested in the pastry shop itself, but I am in tea. I was rather disappointed when I sailed to Bermuda (October 2011) and couldn't find a tea shop in Hamilton.

 

I don't want full-blown afternoon tea (although I wouldn't be opposed to it). I just want a decent cup of tea!

 

I drink 4-5 cups a day and it's frustrating when you travel and can't make a decent cup because you can't get boiling water.

 

I know. Such problems, right? But still. I need my tea! ;)

[nancynana9950]

The Bermuda Perfumery is in St George's. We had a lovely afternoon tea there in the garden two years ago. It was early in the afternoon so it was lunch for us. Really very good!

[karmacats]

I'm going to Bermuda in October and would love to hear what you think of the Dockyard pastry shop. If it's good, I'll be hitting it all three days we're there! :D

 

Just back from our trip to bermuda. we'd never been there before and it way exceeded our expectations.

 

As for the pastry shop, it was delicious. The inside area is very tiny - just a pastry counter and standing room to order them. You can sit outside in the courtyard or upstairs in the air conditioned bistro, which is what we did for tea. The stairs were steep and difficult for my mom, who walks with a cane, but it was very hot and she wanted the A/C.

 

Tea was good. I'd recommend it, but with some qualifications.

 

The tea wasn't supposed to start until 2 pm, but i had gone into the pastry shop at 1 to inquire about how long tea took as our ship had an early sailaway, and the folks behind the pastry counter were very nice and said if we wanted to come a little early we could. So, we started tea at 1:30 instead of 2. normally you can show up any time between 2 and 5 for the tea, but if they are not busy, they said they can usually accommodate people a little early.

 

My mom, DH, and i all had the tea. we each got our own personal teapot, plus a tray of little sandwiches and pastries. There were two types of sandwiches, cucumber cream cheese and smoked salmon cream cheese, and three types of pastries, a berry tart, a rhubarb tart, and almond cookies. There were also scones with cream and jam, though the jam was just the type in little foil packets. They had a decent tea selection (maybe 8-10 types) and the pastries were fantastic. It was very casual - not like high tea at the ritz or anything. :p

 

The reasons i said i'd recommend it but only with qualifications:

 

1. i am not supposed to have caffeine so asked for decaf, and the only decaf they had was chamomile and "decaf black tea." i asked for the latter, thinking it would probably be english breakfast or something similar, as that's pretty typical for an afternoon tea. nope, it was liptons. i was pretty disappointed in that - most places have at least a few decaf selections, including a better black decaf than liptons. i have no idea what brand of tea they serve for the other teas, though my mom and DH both liked theirs.

 

2. despite my DH saying he was allergic to nuts, they served him almond cookies. there was no explanation of what everything was, but luckily he asked before eating one. once we asked, we did get a full rundown of everything on the plate.

 

3. the pastry counter was full of wonderful-looking chocolate desserts, but everything they gave us was non-chocolate. i am not a fruit person so ended up eating two almond cookies (mine and DH's) and a scone, and that's it. everything on the plate was also in the pastry counter, so it's not like they have special tea pastries or anything - they could just as easily have grabbed the chocolate ones as they did the fruit ones. so, if you are a chocolate person i would definitely ask for the chocolate pastries when you order. most teas we've done in the past give you a mix of fruit and sweet/chocolate goodies.

 

fwiw, the cookies and scone were very good, and i tasted the rhubarb tart and could tell it was also very good even though not my thing. my mom and DH raved about the berry tart, too. i was just disappointed they did not include at least one of the chocolate offerings.

 

4. we left a 20% tip on the table upstairs, but then were charged a 17% tip when we paid the bill at the pastry counter downstairs. the tip was listed in the "tax" column on the receipt so we didn't really think anything of it at first, until my mom's cousin commented on it, and showed us the menu posted outside that had the tiny print at the bottom that all orders were charged 17% tip. our fault, i guess, for not noticing the miniscule type on the bottom of the menu, but i'm only used to automatic tipping for large parties, not 3 people (my mom's cousin didn't want tea so went shopping instead and just came back to pick us up). our server was very sweet and i don't begrudge her the extra money, but it struck me as kind of shady, especially as it was listed on the receipt as tax.

 

Long story short, i would recommend the afternoon tea, but make sure to ask for the pastries you want, and be aware of the automatic tip. i would definitely return here for pastries or smoothies (we didn't get smoothies, but a lot of people ordered them and they looked delicious), and probably even for tea again if they would give me at least a little chocolate - i can live with the liptons if i have good pastries. :D

[Charles4515]

 

4. we left a 20% tip on the table upstairs, but then were charged a 17% tip when we paid the bill at the pastry counter downstairs. the tip was listed in the "tax" column on the receipt so we didn't really think anything of it at first, until my mom's cousin commented on it, and showed us the menu posted outside that had the tiny print at the bottom that all orders were charged 17% tip. our fault, i guess, for not noticing the miniscule type on the bottom of the menu, but i'm only used to automatic tipping for large parties, not 3 people (my mom's cousin didn't want tea so went shopping instead and just came back to pick us up). our server was very sweet and i don't begrudge her the extra money, but it struck me as kind of shady, especially as it was listed on the receipt as tax.

 

 

Automaticly adding a service charge or tip is very common, almost the norm outside the USA. I always look at the bill first.

[karmacats]

Automaticly adding a service charge or tip is very common, almost the norm outside the USA. I always look at the bill first.

 

they do not give you a bill. you just go inside to the cash register and pay there. i don't know how they keep track, but our server just told us to pay downstairs, and when we went to the cash register they rang us up (correctly) for three afternoon teas. i'm sure if it was on a bill that we were presented with, we would have noticed it.

 

fwiw, we have traveled all over the world (including europe, australia, new zealand, mexico, south america, etc) and have not found an included service charge to be a common practice. i don't know where you've traveled that it's common, but it's not been our experience. also, this is somewhat of a gut feeling and nothing more, but it did strike me in this case as kind of sketchy. as i said, it wouldn't stop us from eating there again, and it's our fault for not catching the tiny type at the bottom of the menu, but it's something i thought others might want to be aware of in case they haven't brought a magnifying glass to read the fine print.

[Charles4515]

they do not give you a bill. you just go inside to the cash register and pay there. i don't know how they keep track, but our server just told us to pay downstairs, and when we went to the cash register they rang us up (correctly) for three afternoon teas. i'm sure if it was on a bill that we were presented with, we would have noticed it.

 

 

 

fwiw, we have traveled all over the world (including europe, australia, new zealand, mexico, south america, etc) and have not found an included service charge to be a common practice. i don't know where you've traveled that it's common, but it's not been our experience. also, this is somewhat of a gut feeling and nothing more, but it did strike me in this case as kind of sketchy. as i said, it wouldn't stop us from eating there again, and it's our fault for not catching the tiny type at the bottom of the menu, but it's something i thought others might want to be aware of in case they haven't brought a magnifying glass to read the fine print.

 

 

In Europe it is common in many countries, France , Italy, England. In Bermuda most restaurants add the tip to the bill. And 17 per cent is what they add.

 

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Edited August 16, 2015 by Charles4515

[NCTribeFan]

My experience has also been that the service charge/gratuity is added in many other countries (my travels have mostly been to Europe and the Caribbean).

 

May I ask what the per person cost of afternoon tea is at the pastry shop? And do they take credit cards and/or US$?

[calmpets]

The pastry shop's website say they charge $23.75pp for afternoon tea, but it doesn't say whether they take credit cards. Here is a link to the site - http://www.thedockyardpastryshop.com/new-page/

[karmacats]

My experience has also been that the service charge/gratuity is added in many other countries (my travels have mostly been to Europe and the Caribbean).

 

May I ask what the per person cost of afternoon tea is at the pastry shop? And do they take credit cards and/or US$?

 

The pastry shop's website say they charge $23.75pp for afternoon tea, but it doesn't say whether they take credit cards. Here is a link to the site - http://www.thedockyardpastryshop.com/new-page/

 

Yes, the tea was just under $25 per person. The $23.75 sounds right. They take both US dollars and credit cards. I think we paid with our Visa card.

 

We've never been charged a service charge in all our travels around Europe, nor were we charged a service charge at our lunch in Bermuda (the receipt is sitting right in front of me). It's been a while since we've been to Europe, and we tend to find local hole-in-the-wall ethnic places to eat, so maybe that's why? We'll be in France, Spain and Italy again next year, so i'll keep an eye open for it, not that it's a big deal. :) I've heard a service charge is pretty common in the Caribbean, especially places that see a lot of tourist traffic, but thinking back i don't tend to eat out much when we're there because it's usually on a cruise and we're stuffed. ;)