If you’ve seen the zoo and aquarium excursion listed on Royal Caribbean for Bermuda, do it!!

I went to Bermuda in May and was so happy that I picked this one. It was the first day we docked and the process for leaving the ship was surprisingly easy to follow. For some reason, I always have the expectation that I will be confused and unsure on where to go or utterly lost. Thankfully, (joking) I’m not the only one on the ship and they want the process to be clear.

Once we left the ship and went through customs (which is really just walking through a building), we were greeted by a few people with signs directing us where to go based on our excursion ticket. When we found the correct place, we follow some people down a line of vans and were met by THE BEST guide we could have asked for. While the excursion only listed touring the crystal caves, aquarium and zoo (which is already a lot), he also brought us to the Crystal caves gift shop, a few beaches and the lighthouse. He was friendly and shared a lot about Bermuda too. See this post for my blog post on the beaches, lighthouse and fun facts!

We first visited the zoo (which was attached to the aquarium) and had about 30 minutes (if I can remember correctly) to tour it. We entered through the side and were greeted by a couple of seal lions frolicking in the water.

Then we met a couple of Galapagos Turtoise. There were two of them in the enclosure. This one clearly had just finished lunch and had some leftovers on his face… saving them for later, I’m sure. There was another on by the side and they both just looked very old, haha! Can you guess the longest a Galapagos Tortoise has lived til? Comment below and I’ll post the answers under the flamingos.

The flamingos were close by and absolutely stunning. I saw a post recently on my Instagram talking about how after a flamingo has a baby, it loses some of its color and how that’s akin, in ways to motherhood. While an amazing an rewarding experience, I do believe you lose a bit of yourself in the process as you are so focused on caring for your child and redefining yourself as a mother. I’m sure there is some translation with being a father as well, albeit different since the mom is one carrying the baby for 9 months. Anyways- I thought it was an interesting fun-fact and there are some trends going around now, asking if mothers still have their “pink” in an efforts to address the need for self care and prioritization.

So did you comment below on your guess?? The answer is 177! Typically Galapagos tortoises exceed 100 years old, but the oldest recorded has been 177. And I want t emphasize *recorded* not the oldest ever, only the oldest that was known. Can you imagine living that long? Yikes!

We saw some lizards and chameleons in enclosures and also one on a tree which I don’t believe was part of the zoo, but rather a visitor just like us (Far right).

Finally, there was another enclosure which we were actually able to walk into (so we were in the same place as they were). The funny part about this is that there was a wooden door that said something like “immersive enclosure” but it didn’t actually say what was in said enclosure. Was it a lion? A tiger? A bear?

But, no… they was monkeys! The monkeys were in the trees above us and clearly used to humans as they were relatively calm (not screaming at us) and jumping all around. I was talking to one of the other guests and I would say we were an average distance apart and one of the monkeys pooped, in between us! It almost got on the guy’s shoe. Thankfully for him, it did not.

We did notice collars around them and I’m not sure what the purpose was. I am assuming tracking in case they got loose for whatever reason?

Given the short amount of time we had left, we decided to skip the rest and go explore the aquarium. If you have more time though, there are loads of other animals here- alligators, wallabies, fossas (which we did see but too skittish to snap a photo!), other types of birds (peacock, etc.) etc.

The aquarium was also neat! It was located next to the gift shop and was in a fairly dark area. The tanks were lit up and there housed a range of different fish. I really do wish we had more time to explore the aquarium (and the zoo) but if I were to choose between more time here and no beaches/lighthouses, I would definitely have sacrificed my time here for that, because MY! That was incredible. (Again, check out that post linked above!)

The aquarium was relatively small- which in this case was good since walking too much more would have not been feasible with the time we had left. I would say the room itself was large for a room, with tanks lining the walls- but in comparison to the zoo- it was small.

After this, we finally went to visit the crystal caves. We were escorted to a tent in the back to meet before venturing down the stairs. There were a decent amount of stairs, but I wouldn’t say it was daunting or a lot (and I suppose that doesn’t mean much from a 26 year old) but there were people in my group who were likely in the 60-70s age range and doing okay.

When we approached the entrance, there were some people who came up and apparently got lost? I don’t understand how that happens because it was pretty much a straight walk down and back, so I’m not sure how that happens haha. We had a tour guide who lead us down- we were instructed NOT to touch any of the crystals (of course after we touched the crystals on the walk down) LOL. He made this elaborate fun story about these kids playing ball and it accidentally falling in the cave, leading the kids to be swimming in the caves and getting lost for days… the accuracy of that is… debatable, but definitely a fun story to hear!

Now there were definitely parts where the longer I looked at it, the more I was unsure if I was looking at crystals or the reflection, and we were strongly warned to hold onto our objects! I actually saw a good number of phones and other valuables that had gotten lost in the water below. And even though I don’t often drop my phone, the amount of force I was using to clutch it was… it wasn’t normal haha. The caves were about the same temperature as ground level and having not been to crystal caves before, it really was a very neat experience! Our tour guide also let us hold some of the crystals that were already on the ground and they were a lot denser and heavier than I thought!

Do I recommend the Crystal Caves, Zoo and Aquarium Excursion?

100% Absolutely! What I’ve heard is that it’s cheaper booking it outside of RC, but I did the math and wanted to break it down. As a solo traveler, going through RC is cheaper, but there is a possibility of saving money if going in large groups. The other potential con of booking outside of RC is that if you’re late to the ship, there’s no guarantee that the ship will wait. If you book with RC, they will wait for you. So let’s break it down here:

Zoo tickets are $10/person

Crystal cave tickets are $24/person

Taxi rides are from $3.25-4.25 per mile- with the meter starting between $5.95-7.30 depending on time, day of the week and number of passengers. (1-4 passengers is $3.25/mile with the meter at $5.95 and 5+ is $4.25/mile with the meter at $7.30).

• Dock to zoo/aquarium = approx. 17 miles
• Zoo/aquarium to Caves = approx. 3.5 miles
• Caves to dock = approx. 19.5 miles
  • 40 miles total = $135.95 – $177.30

Now clearly the main expense would be the taxi.

• Solo traveler- with RC: $159, without RC: $169.95
• 2 people- with RC: $318 , without RC: $203.95
• 3 people- with RC: $477 , without RC: $237.95
• 4 people- with RC: $636 , without RC: $271.95

This does not include the tour guide who did share a lot about Bermuda- the culture, the regulations, the architecture, etc., nor does it include the lighthouse and beach stops that we took nor the reassurance that if we are late- the boat won’t leave. (In my situation, the boat wasn’t going to leave until the NEXT day, (and also as a solo traveler it would’ve been more expensive anyways)- but if you plan this to return to the boat an hour before it leaves, for example- BE CAREFUL!)

Zoo/Aquarium: https://bzs.bm/

Crystal Caves: https://caves.bm/

Cheers friends & travelers!

~ Backroad Butterflies ~