First time cruiser question about port adventures

[kateandy08096]

Hello all. Sept 13 we are able to book our port adventures for our Nov 27th cruise to Bahamas. I was debating on booking the zoo and gardens or greycliff escape pool day.
We are a party 4. Myself husband daughter (20) and grand daughter (17 months)
Which excursion would you reccomended? The zoo gardens or escape package at greycliff hotel.
Also how hard would it be to get to Either location ourselves from the port. I'm thinking of booking ourselves and not via disney. Also IF we went on our own would a taxi or jitney bus be more of a direct route or is it possible to walk from port? I would love to do the zoo first and maybe find our way over to greycliff so my husband can stock up on his cigars and maybe tour the distillery. Would that be possible to do in 1 day?
Also walking wouldn't bother me as I take a train to work daily and have to walk through subways and the city

 

[Barbydoll8]

Several years ago on our first DCL, I booked the gardens via DCL. I wouldn't recommend that. It was 3x's as expensive than if you did it yourself. You can take a cab from the port or you can walk (it's not super close though) and it's fairly safe to take a cab. The gardens/zoo was wonderful and is only about a 15 min ride from the port. It probably would be a good 30 min or longer walk. I would take a cab. It's about a 4 hour adventure.
Greycliff is hit or miss from what I've read. This isn't that much cheaper to do on your own. I've heard that they have an exclusive with DCL so even though you can do on your own, the pricing is close to DCL. Via reviews I've read is that this experience is too pricey for what it is. I am going in 3 weeks and was going to do it but decided to go to the Pirate museum instead based on reviews and price.
I would highly recommend the gardens though. Doing both in one day would be tight especially if you do the GC chocolate experience as both are several hours. You can walk into the store though w/o the tour.

 

[kateandy08096]

Thanks so much for the information. Is the gardens and greycliff close to each other or would so need a taxi between both

 

[kateandy08096]

Bump for opinions

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

Hi - I noticed that you have a 17 month old in your party? I've done a few cruises with toddlers/pre-schoolers and one thing you might want to consider is really knowing the transportation on these islands. Often the cab will be a van or even open-sided truck, very often without seatbelts. Car seats are non-existent. Some are very reluctant to take strollers. Depends on the island. Our little guy just turned 5 and we still really think about if we would ever take the same risk with him at home in Canada (where the roads are less twisty/mountainous etc.) We used to take the Bugaboo pram and walk etc - sometimes there would be child-friendly transportation options but in general they tend to be pretty cavalier about seat belts. I'm not trying to be negative, but you should know that sometimes the driving is rough.

 

[kateandy08096]

Hi - I noticed that you have a 17 month old in your party? I've done a few cruises with toddlers/pre-schoolers and one thing you might want to consider is really knowing the transportation on these islands. Often the cab will be a van or even open-sided truck, very often without seatbelts. Car seats are non-existent. Some are very reluctant to take strollers. Depends on the island. Our little guy just turned 5 and we still really think about if we would ever take the same risk with him at home in Canada (where the roads are less twisty/mountainous etc.) We used to take the Bugaboo pram and walk etc - sometimes there would be child-friendly transportation options but in general they tend to be pretty cavalier about seat belts. I'm not trying to be negative, but you should know that sometimes the driving is rough.

Thank you sooo much for the advice. I thought about the car seat issue but wasn't able to find anything on it when looking up info. Our travel agent told us not to worry but they are there to warn a commission check not to worry about our safety

 

[dcassetta]

From the cruise terminal, Ardastra Gardens is about a mile and a half walk. It is a nice little zoo, with plenty of room for your little one to run around. Make sure and feed the lorikeets, and stay for the flamingo parade. Graycliff is about a mile away from Ardastra, not directly on the way back to the ship but not in the opposite direction either. If you just wanted to stop in and see the hotel and purchase some cigars, that would not be an issue. I am not sure if they do any sort of tours, outside of those offered through the cruise ships. I am sure that you could buy lunch at the restaurant there if you wanted to, and whether that will include the use of the pool or not I'm also not sure. Graycliff back to the cruise terminal is about half a mile or so.

I do not think you would be able to use the car seat in a cab in Nassau. So, you would have to decide whether you were willing to take that risk or not. The route to both Ardastra and Graycliff is not hard to follow, but the roads on Nassau are narrow and some people drive sort of fast, so you would also have to consider the risk if that also.

 

[kateandy08096]

From the cruise terminal, Ardastra Gardens is about a mile and a half walk. It is a nice little zoo, with plenty of room for your little one to run around. Make sure and feed the lorikeets, and stay for the flamingo parade. Graycliff is about a mile away from Ardastra, not directly on the way back to the ship but not in the opposite direction either. If you just wanted to stop in and see the hotel and purchase some cigars, that would not be an issue. I am not sure if they do any sort of tours, outside of those offered through the cruise ships. I am sure that you could buy lunch at the restaurant there if you wanted to, and whether that will include the use of the pool or not I'm also not sure. Graycliff back to the cruise terminal is about half a mile or so.

I do not think you would be able to use the car seat in a cab in Nassau. So, you would have to decide whether you were willing to take that risk or not. The route to both Ardastra and Graycliff is not hard to follow, but the roads on Nassau are narrow and some people drive sort of fast, so you would also have to consider the risk if that also.

Thank you very much for this info