Nassau - Ardastra Gardens & City Tour Excursion - Reviews?

[poohs_hunny]

I am considering this excursion (through DCL) for our Nassau day. I want to go through DCL for all excursions, and I wanted a city tour, so this looks like the only option. Does anyone have any reviews?

Also, how easy is it to tour Atlantis on your own? I really don't want to book two Nassau excursions. What parts are not open to the general public besides the water park? We are interested in seeing the resort and shopping - no casinos, etc.

Thanks for any help!

 

[2disneydads]

We did the City Tour with Ardasta Gardens with 3 kids (then 4, 3 and 2). We all liked the gardens and little zoo but we found the city tour boring (and very tedious for the children). We kept getting stuck in traffic jams and bottlenecks, and the bus had a hard time making its way through many of the side streets.

 

[BethC1952]

We did this tour way back in 2005. We were just two adults, and really enjoyed it. DH enjoyed feeding the birds and I got to be in the show with the flamingoes! The City tour was interesting, too.

When we got back to the ship, the van driver's next stop was Atlantis and invited anyone who wanted to go to stay on board. He charged us somewhere between $5 and $6 per person. We wandered around Atlantis for a while and then took a cab back to the ship in time for dinner.

If you're interested in some pictures from that tour, I have a few here: "http://bethc1952nassau112005.blogspot.com/"
Beth

 

[poohs_hunny]

Thanks for the reviews. I can see how the tour could be boring for kids, but since we are two adults, I think we'll go for it! Any other reviews out there?

 

[mkmommy]

I did it in December and I really enjoyed. The animals in the zoo are very close to you and at one time, one of the small monkeys was trying to get people's attention by spitting apple at them and he surprised a few people. And as mentioned the flaminogs are something to see. I was travelling without my daughters and I know I will take them there when we make it to Nassau.

We had a great driver for the city tour and the Fort and the Queen's staircase were worth the drive.

It was also nice as the meeting time was around noon, so you had the morning on an empty ship.

 

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

We just went in February of this year (excursion through DCL) and our experience was mixed. We LOVED Ardastra, the gardens, and the animals! That place is amazing. There are SO many great sites to see and perfect picture spots. My 4 year old son was able to feed the little parrots called lories. This was one of the highlights of our trip. The flamingoes are just too cool. You can get "up close and personal" with them. Feel free to click on my trip report link in my signature to read all about our experience, and to see a few pics!

The part I wasn't thrilled with was our driver. As many previous posters have said, the city tour is boring. Our driver talked and talked the ENTIRE time. So much so that we had to remind him to take us back to the ship! We even sat in the parking lot at Ardastra for 20 minutes waiting for him to decided to drive us around the city.

More than likely we will do Ardastra Gardens again but ON OUR OWN. Check out their website for ticket prices. I'm sure it would be much better just to hop in a taxi and have them take you there on your own. You only get about 45 minutes to wander around the park when you book through DCL, and because of this we didn't get to see everything.

So my review is: LOVE Ardastra, just book it on your own (it will save you alot of grief!)