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Nassau Walking Tour?

hana56

By hana56,
in Bahamas

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hana56

hana56

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Has anyone taken the walking tour that includes the Queens Staircase and Fort Fincastle? How far is it from where the cruise ships dock? We would like to do the tour, but one of our party has a bad knee and can only walk so far comfortably. Would a carriage ride be better? Thanks for any help and info!:)

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Merv1

Merv1

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Hi! Just got back from our cruise yesterday...Nassau was one of our stops, and my husband and I did the self-guided walking tour. The tour probably takes a leisurely 2 hours (to do the whole thing, which was 17 "stops"). We did it first thing...keep in mind it gets hot. We are 41 and 35 years old and are in pretty good shape. To get to the staircase and the Fort Fincastle, you have to go up a hill. Plus the staircase has 65 steps. (Once up the steps, you then walk up further to get to the castle), and then the castle has stairs as well.

 

Don't know what your ages are, but someone with a knee condition, I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for them. I also did not see ANY carriages up in that area...maybe too steep. Just my opinion, but I also did not like seeing the horses with the carriages -- thought there was way too much traffic, the horses looked thin and again it was hot. Being a previous horse owner, I think I am maybe a little more sensitive to the gentle nature of that animal, and so I don't like to see them in that particular setting. You can do a small bus tour, which would be airconditioned, and would probably take you to other sites besides the staircase and the castle - also, once you get off the ship, there are taxis galore, so that might be an option as well.

 

Hope that helps! :)

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hana56

hana56

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Thanks Merv for the information. I thought it might be uphill and I was concerned about the stairs. We are going in June and if it's hot now, I can only imagine what it will be like then! I too was wondering about the condition of the horses. I have seen some reviews that say they look too hot and overburdened. I don't like that either. But the taxi idea is a good one. I was going to book the excursion, but our ship doesn't dock until 1:30 and the tour leaves at 2. Not sure if that's enough time to get there. Thanks again. At least now I know my options.:)

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bguppies

bguppies

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How long does it take to walk from the port to the Queen's Staircase?

 

If you walk dirtectly to the Queen's Staircase and completely ignore Rawson Square, Parliament and the Library on the way, I would think it would be a 15 minute walk....20 minutes, tops.....

 

I am 42 and not in the greatest shape, and I had no problems at all with any part of the tour.

 

None of it is excessively uphill. (mostly on the way to the staircase and then after the Post Office on the way to Government House.

All downhill then from there....

 

We have done the walking tour both time we were in Nassau in the past 5 months....

 

I definitely recommend at least seeing the Queen's Staircase and the view from inside Fort Fincastle....

 

Bill

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alwalaska

alwalaska

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Thanks Merv for the information. I thought it might be uphill and I was concerned about the stairs. We are going in June and if it's hot now, I can only imagine what it will be like then! I too was wondering about the condition of the horses. I have seen some reviews that say they look too hot and overburdened. I don't like that either. But the taxi idea is a good one. I was going to book the excursion, but our ship doesn't dock until 1:30 and the tour leaves at 2. Not sure if that's enough time to get there. Thanks again. At least now I know my options.:)

 

If you are booking through the cruise agency, there will always be enough time to get to the tour. If you are booking on your own, I think that is a little close since sometimes there are paperwork issues and you can't always get off of the ship immediately after it docks.

 

Do a search on this forum for the words "showtime" or "Moxey". This is a taxi driver recommended by many on this forum (I may try him my next trip) who offers a tour.

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bguppies

bguppies

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We don't have anything planned from 8-11ish for our upcoming cruise to Nassau. If we started the tour at 8 will it be worth it (meaning will places be open, etc)?

 

The Library, Parliament, etc... right near the ship don't open until 10AM.

But we just view them and take pictures of the exteriors.

The Queen's Staircase is outside, open air, so always "open".

Both times we went, we started at 7AM and were at the Staircase/Fort before 8AM and were able to see both, before any excursion vans had arrived yet and the local vendors had time to get set up yet.(prefer it that way)

By the time we walked down the hill to the Graycliff, both times, we were able to go in for the cigar factory tour and pick up a few cigars for myself.

I can't think of anything else where an opening time would be a problem, except, unless you wanted to go to the Post Office. (which I just assumed was on the tour as a landmark)

 

You could always do the tour in reverse, so you arrive back at the Library, Parliament, etc. at the end, when they would be open, if you were inclinde to tour inside.

 

Bill

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  • 2 weeks later...
mikethedog

mikethedog

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In March, 2006 I walked from the dock to the Queen's Staircase- Water Tower and Fort Fincastle. It took about 15 minutes to get to the Queen's Staircase at a steady pace. It was just about dusk when I started out and wanted to get back to the dock before dark, so it was a rushed trip. The view of downtown with the cruise ships was awesome! My son was chafed and did not go with me. Note to self...bring Gold Bond powder next time.

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Suede

Suede

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Has anyone taken the walking tour that includes the Queens Staircase and Fort Fincastle? How far is it from where the cruise ships dock? We would like to do the tour, but one of our party has a bad knee and can only walk so far comfortably. Would a carriage ride be better? Thanks for any help and info!:)

 

If by chance it is to hot to walk, as soon as you get off the ship and get off the dock, they will be people all over you trying to get you to tour with them, we had some woman ask us first and at that time we had not even thought about a tour, then some man asked us, and we decided to go with him since he lowered the price, well the woman got mad and they had words. The funny thing was they had the same kind of uniform type shirt on.

 

We rode in a mini-van with A/C and it had (I think) 3 rows of seats in it. Our driver did tell my husband to not tell the other passengers what we were paying. This price also covered us at the Atlantis for the aquarium, we may have only gotten a mini tour of the aquarium,, I don't know but we did see a lot, this was our last stop before going back to the ship, so we stayed at Atlantis and took a taxi back. We gambled. By the way we only paid 25.00 total for 2, that was a great deal.

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  • 5 years later...
olemissgal00

olemissgal00

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Myself and a group of 3 other women downloaded the self guided walking tour to do while we were in Nassau - January 2013. As we were walking along West St, near the Art Museum and St Francis Cathedral, 2 young men walked by. 1 circled back around and came up behind one of the ladies and tried to steal her bag. She held on (even though the only thing in her bag was a towel) it was just a natural reaction to hold on. We screamed and a bunch of other locals came out and the guy ran off empty handed. A local women followed us in her car back to port, yelling out her window the whole way to other locals what had happened. So, we had a whole crew making sure we made it back safe. This was mid afternoon on a Friday. If you are a group of women, I would recommend getting a guide for $10, taking cab or getting another group with men to join. This could have ended up much worse but luckily the guy was not armed.

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alwalaska

alwalaska

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We won't be in port until 1:30 or so. Will the tour vans and taxis still be at the wharf this late in the afternoon? Thanks.:)

 

If there is a ship coming in, there will most likely be a ton of people at the port trying to sell you everything.

 

This last time, we went to the Adastra Zoo and Fort Charlotte first. We were tired and took a taxi to the top of the hill at Fort Fincastle. We then walked down the stair case and back to ship. Definitely an easy walk down.

 

Like most places, small groups of women should be careful going to certain areas alone. There are areas along the walking tour that are less touristy and make me a little nervous.

 

During one of our stops, my 5'10" at the time 18 year old son wasn't feeling well and wanted to go back to the ship. He is very mature and reliable, but we walked him to the entrance at the port, and then finished our touring. It is better to be careful then sorry in any location. I also never carry a purse when I am touring (in port or here in the US).

 

olemissgal00, I'm sorry about your situation, but the same thing could have easily happened to a tourist in any number of places. The thing I found interesting about this was how everyone else gathered around you and told your story and wanted to make sure you made it back to the ship OK. Most of the people there realize how important the tourist industry is to their lives. In NYC, DC, Miami, LA, or any of a number of other places in the US, if someone actually stole your purse, you would have a hard time getting someone to stop and help you call the police. Before Disney put in metal detectors, they had problems with people bringing knives and slashing the straps on peoples bags and stealing them before the people even registered that the weight was gone.

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olemissgal00

olemissgal00

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Alwalaska, I def agree that this could happen anywhere and the response by the locals was really nice. I am not deterred from visiting again, I will just think twice before walking around by myself or with a group of girls. I fully think that had there been 1 man with us, nothing would have happened and there were others on our cruise that did the same walk with no issues. About cabs and such, we were able to get one around 10pm for Atlantis and one back around 3am. So seems like cabs run constantly.

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  • 4 weeks later...
alwalaska

alwalaska

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:confused:Does anyone know how long it would take to walk from Fin Castle to Fort Charlotte and if there is a safe route? We would also like to know how Close Fort Charlotte is to Junkanoo Beach.

 

I personally would not walk from Fort Fin Castle to Fort Charlotte, but you can walk part of the way and then jump on the jittney buses.

 

If Junkanoo Beach is the one I am thinking of, it is pretty close to Fort Charlotte.

 

I like the view a little better from Fort Fincastle, BUT overall, Fort Charlotte is larger and has better displays. Be careful with the guides that work for tips. Our first one was amazing. The second only showed about half the stuff then took us back to the entrance to say good bye. Since hubby and I had been there before, we walked our daughter around a little more and showed her some of the other areas we had missed. Obviously, the guide from the prior year got a much better tip.

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