Ardastra Gardens

[Melcatfish]

We were planning on doing the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter but now we are going to Discovery Cove so i was toying with doing the Ardastra Gardens and city tour instead.

Am I right in thinking it is a half day excursion? Having read about the unfavourable views on Nassau from many DCL passengers I thought a half day guided excursion might be a good compromise - we would like to see some of Nassau but with a half day excursion we could take advantage of the ships facilities.

Regards
Mel


ps As we are coming all the way from England this is likely to be my only DCL trip for a LONG time so I don't really want to miss any *MUST DO'S*

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

We took a similar tour with RCL on our very first cruise in 2000. The tour part is kind of interesting. You see the very poor parts of Nassau and the much nicer parts. There are also old forts along the way.

I really did love the Ardastra Gardens. That part of it made the tour worth it.

I'd say, if you want to spend a few hours and not spend a fortune on an excursion, you'll be fine with it.

 

[owenbyd]

We too thought this was a good compromise...which is why we booked it ourselves. Another plus for us was that we had a 9-month old with us. So, we could book the excursion in advance and know that we wouldn't need Flouder's for that time.

We really liked the tour. We were loaded on a bus at the port and taken directly to the Gardens. Along the way, our tour guide pointed out some points of interests. I believe we had a total of 2 hours at the Gardens, cuminating in a flamingo show. We then boarded the bus again and went through some of the high points of Nassau. I believe from this portion on is highly dependent on your tour guide. Our was decent, but you could tell that he had some issues with the wealth of those on the cruise and made several references to how fancy and expensive we lived. But again, take it with a grain of salt. Included in this tour was the Victorian Steps and a visit to a defunct military Fort. Be advised that this does require some walking. Some of the folks were upset about this as they did not want to walk so provisions were made for them to wait on the bus. Heat was also an issue for these folks as it got quite warm (we cruised in September). We, however, did not have any problems and neither did our infant son who was slathered with sun lotion and kept in a backpack. After the tour, we were brought right back to the cruise ship and all was well.

Dh and I did a little shopping first thing in the morning, did the excursion and then were back late afternoon. It worked well for us.

I hope my long-winded explanation helps you out!!

Amy