Ardastra Gardens and City Tour

[91raven]

Has anyone done the Ardastra Gardens and City Tour? Please share what it was like? What is your opinion? Would you recom. it? Will we see lots of unique animals. (from northeast US) Our family will have my parents, brother, husband, your kiddos 6,11,13. DH and I are trying to decide if we want to do it or stay on the ship. Last time we did the glass bottom submarine and had a great time. Thanks!!!

 

[disneydarling07]

We did it on our first cruise and I liked it. The tour of the city was kinda nice. The buildings were really beautiful and the tour guide was very knowledgable. We did the Queen's Staircase too.
Ardastra Gardens was really cool! We were able to interact with all the birds. Feed them apples, while they landed on your head or your arm. Very cool! The flamingo show was fun. We able to get in the ring and "perform" with them. And during the show, a peacock was showing off his feathers...lol...trying to steal the attention away from the flamingos. It was so much fun! And we were still able to get back to the ship and enjoy some time there too. We were back well before dinner, so we had time to play, shower and get changed for dinner.
I would recommend it!

 

[dcassetta]

I enjoy Ardastra Gardens, but it is a small zoo, so I am not sure "lots of unique animals" would apply. Lots of birds and reptiles and some small mammals. http://www.ardastra.com/

I think the City Tour part is completely dependent on the tour guide.

 

[BethC1952]

We've done this excursion a few times. I LOVE flamingos, and was picked to be in the show! That's me, doing an imitation of a flamingo. The picture on the bottom is my DH, feeding the lorrikeets. We are among the people who love Nassau. We really enjoyed the city tour, and the view from Fort Fincastle is worth the trip.

Beth

 

[dmunsil]

We did it and found Ardastra charming, but the tour was not that good. It did take us past a bunch of interesting historical buildings and locations (far too quickly), but then the tour guide apparently had run out of stuff to look at but had an hour to kill and he started pointing out all the gas stations on the island, all the fast food restaurants, etc. I kid you not. We also stopped briefly at Fort Charlotte, but not long enough to go inside. It was basically an opportunity to see the outside of the fort and a very nice view from the hillside.

Ardastra is small but nice. They did have a few unusual animals, including some Australian black swans, which we had not seen before, and quite a few tropical birds. The flamingos were kind of a hoot. They're just wandering around the grounds in the open, but when they do the show, the trainer rounds them up and herds them to the show area (as seen in BethC's photo), where they do a bit of "marching," and then people can pose with them and take pictures. It was fun; they don't take it super seriously, and the birds themselves are fun to watch.

I recommend just going there in a taxi (and then have Ardastra call you a taxi to get back). It's not far, and it shouldn't be more than $10-15 from the cruise terminal. You can walk, but it's probably 20-30 minutes in the heat. Or you can take a jitney most of the way there and then walk the last 5-10 minutes. If you don't take a cab, definitely get it marked on a map at the information center at the cruise terminal, or print out directions before you leave. It's kind of tucked in among some houses and it's not easy to locate. There may be signs on the street saying "this way to Ardastra" but if so we didn't notice them.

Have fun!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Thank you for posting this. Someone recommended this a while back. I'd planned to go with my DS (1), but hearing that the animals just roam around, has made me change my mind. That would freak me out. I enjoy looking at animals in a cage. I wouldn't enjoy a bird landing on my head.

It sounds like a nice place for those who aren't freaked out by animals. Lol

 

[dmunsil]

Thank you for posting this. Someone recommended this a while back. I'd planned to go with my DS (1), but hearing that the animals just roam around, has made me change my mind. That would freak me out. I enjoy looking at animals in a cage. I wouldn't enjoy a bird landing on my head.

It sounds like a nice place for those who aren't freaked out by animals. Lol

Most of the animals are in cages or pavilions with barriers. It's really just the flamingos and maybe a peacock or two that roam around. Their wings are clipped, and they shy away from people. No danger of anything landing on your head.

Now if you go in the Lory cage (which is entirely optional), the Lorys will fly onto your hand and eat apple slices that you hold out. That might not be to your taste, though Lorys are small birds about the size of a parakeet. You can stand outside and watch other people do it, which is what I did. I wasn't afraid of the Lorys, I just wanted to get pictures.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Most of the animals are in cages or pavilions with barriers. It's really just the flamingos and maybe a peacock or two that roam around. Their wings are clipped, and they shy away from people. No danger of anything landing on your head.

Now if you go in the Lory cage (which is entirely optional), the Lorys will fly onto your hand and eat apple slices that you hold out. That might not be to your taste, though Lorys are small birds about the size of a parakeet. You can stand outside and watch other people do it, which is what I did. I wasn't afraid of the Lorys, I just wanted to get pictures.

OHHHH, okay...that's very good to know!!! Thank you! There aren't a lot of port options for a 1 year old. I think DS would enjoy looking at animals.

 

[Barbydoll8]

Loved this place but I second not taking the city tour. It was a waste of time/money. I'd take a cab. Cheaper and faster. The zoo is small but intimate and beautiful. The animals are safe behind cages but you can get fairly close for very good pictures. The flamingos are not aggressive but do roam free. I was there in 2011 and they had a show with them which was fun. Plan on spending about 2 2 1/2 hours there minimum to see everything.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Loved this place but I second not taking the city tour. It was a waste of time/money. I'd take a cab. Cheaper and faster. The zoo is small but intimate and beautiful. The animals are safe behind cages but you can get fairly close for very good pictures. The flamingos are not aggressive but do roam free. I was there in 2011 and they had a show with them which was fun. Plan on spending about 2 2 1/2 hours there minimum to see everything.

By chance, did you have young kids with you at the zoo? If so, what age(s) and how did they like it?

 

[Barbydoll8]

Sorry, just getting back to you. I didn't have kids but there were little ones when we were there. Stroller age. They didn't seem to have any issues with any of the goings on or animals. But some kids are skittish to everything. They were encouraged by the workers in the show to be involved but not if they were afraid. They seemed to have fun and I don't know how they couldn't. It was very relaxed and easy going place. Not really noisy or stressful. I was there in May of 2011.