It’s now Thanksgiving, and we are in Bermuda for the day, which is our 14th out of 16 days on this TransAtlantic crossing from Southampton to Port Canaveral on the Sky Princes.
Today we stopped in Bermuda, which was a new county for me (but not DOS) to visit. We were docked on the West End of Bermuda, which is a bit far away from the main cities of Hamilton and Georgetown and resorts, but we were the only ship in port which was nice. We took an excursion booked by Princess, which was a 5 hour overview tour of Bermuda, which seemed fitting since I had never been.
The tour was ok, but it felt (as expected) a rather mass-market tour with multiple tour buses doing the same route, at the same time, and overwhelming some of the stops such as the town of Hamilton, and especially the one recommended gift shop there. I told DOS I had to get out of the gift shop as it was so crowded with fellow bus tourists like us, but he hung in there to get a couple souvenirs.
DOS said Bermuda was different than he remembered from back in the late 1970s; back then it felt more British-like and proper, while now it had more of a casual, almost Caribbean-like vibe, even though it’s only 700 miles of the coast of North Carolina. I hadn’t been before, but I agreed, it felt more Caribbean-like than British, although there were a couple British themed pubs we saw.
Bermuda is hilly and with few exceptions, lacks a big highway infrastructure, so it seemed like we were traveling long distances along the windy roads, which wouldn’t seem practical if you vacationed at a resort, or lived there trying to get around.
We did drive thru the “Beverly Hills” of Bermuda which was very nice with it’s meticulously manicured lawns and multi-million dollar homes. They had their own golf course and Country Club to occupy their time.
Bermuda is a beautiful island, and I can see why the local government has restricted the number and size of cruise ships than can visit Bermuda; it simply overwhelms their island, which has a population of around 65,000 people, and limited roads to transport people. In fact they have an ordinance that Bermudans can only own one car per household to try and limit traffic and congestion.
We passed a few resorts that we could see in the distance, some overlooking the ocean from the hills above. I would think the resorts might feel isolated though, although some of them provide transportation into nearby towns. Bermuda has had it’s share of hurricanes and even tornados in recent years, destroying at least a couple upscale resorts we passed by on our tour.
We had a nice day on our tour of Bermuda, and we saw enough to get a quick overview of the island. I’m not sure if I would go back, not because of safety or beauty (nice subtropical climate), but because of the lack of road access and general lack of options for things to do. I would try Bermuda again, perhaps on a resort stay, or a cruise ship that docks there for 2 or 3 days, which some of cruises do in the summer, although there is a limit on the number of ships that can dock in Bermuda.
We had a wonderful and scenic sail-away from Bermuda, and took a few photos together out on the deck, and soon had a beautiful sunset.
For dinner, Steve DOS and I ate our first and only dinner in the Main Dining Room with some friends from the cruise we had met. With the Premier package we had eaten in Specialty Dining Restaurants every night, but figured they would have an all-American Thanksgiving meal in the Main Dining Room, (which they did), so we went there this one night only. The food was ok, with the traditional turkey and dressing, and even prime rib too! We had a waiter from Mexico that gave us a singing performance into the pepper mill shaker at meal’s end!
We now have two full Sea Days. before arriving into Port Canaveral. On our four days at Sea prior to our stop in Bermuda, we only changed the time 3 hours (instead of 4) as Bermuda is Atlantic time. We will thus gain one more hour the last night of this Trans-Atlantic cruise.
Here is a gallery of photos from our day in Bermuda.
