Bermuda Vacation and America’s Cup

 
 

 

I HAD to get this post done before the end of summer! I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to write this, but there was just so much to cover that it took me a while to get started!

This was our second trip to Bermuda, and we were really excited to return. My parents took the trip with us (the last time as well), and they are kind of experts on the island since they travel there often. My dad does a lot of work on the island, and he was the perfect tour guide on our trip!

We actually love travelling with my parents. They also traveled with us on our Disney Cruise and we had a really fun time with them!

Bermuda is one of the safest places I’ve travelled. It was somewhere we didn’t mind walking around at night, and we never really thought too much about our safety while we were there. It was nice to just relax and enjoy without thinking about pick-pockets or anything like that. I’m sure it happens, but being there twice we realized it was a very relaxed a laid back place that felt comfortable for us.

 
 

 
 

When we travelled to Bermuda in June we not only went for a family vacation, but also to watch the America’s Cup happening on the island.

Believe it or not I was kind of a fan of America’s Cup racing going into our trip! My husband got me into watching four years ago when the races were happening in San Francisco, so we were excited to see them in person for the first time.

First off – the beaches! Horseshoe Bay was the most popular of the beaches with the tourists. It’s not only gorgeous, but it also has a beach bar, washrooms, food, and chairs and umbrellas for rent.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
There are so many beaches on the island, but Horseshoe Bay was my favourite. There are SO many beaches to choose from! I loved this lively beach, but there are so many more that were quiet with no one else around if that’s how you wanted to spend your day! I saw a bit of Elbow Beach but if you aren’t a guest of the nearby resort you have to pay a fee to hang out, and I visited Church Bay for a bit and it was super quiet and picturesque!

 
 

 
 
When it came to food, we ate at some pretty amazing places while we were there. Mad Hatters was a really fun seafood restaurant with hats on the wall that you could wear during dinner. We had an amazing meal there – I had lobster, cod, and steak all on one plate!

I loved The Lobster Pot as well. I love lobster, so it’s obvious why! It was very laid back, and we all loved the seafood!

 
 

 
 

At the Hamilton Princess Hotel we ate at Marcus’ which was more of a high-end restaurant where we sipped on procecco and had some amazing food for dinner. They were really welcoming to kids (I need to note that everywhere on the island was very welcoming to kids!), and it was a VERY busy restaurant. A reservation was definately required. The views were so pretty!

 
 

 
 

 
 
We also ate at 1609 Bar and Restaurant on the Hamilton Princess hotel property and it was much more laid back. We ate on the covered patio, and the restaurant only had a smaller area indoors. The views again were amazing, and the food included pastas, nachos, salads and burgers. It was a great place just to go and have a drink as well since it overlooked the docks at the hotel. We loved getting a glimpse at the super yachts there to see the Cup.

 
 

 
 

As I mentioned we were there for America’s Cup, and we spent much of our time at the races. They were held at the dockyards so we took a ferry each day to the main America’s Cup Village, and from there we would spend the day watching the races.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

My dad did some work on Team Oracle’s camp, and he made this crazy stand for their boat that you had to walk under to enter the village. How cool right?!

He had done so much work on the island – practically every building you pass he has done their railings, staircases, – basically all of the cool stuff on the island. It was so neat to see what he worked on for the Cup!

 
 

 
 
Our tickets ranged from just entry into the America’s Cup Village, to Grandstand Seating, admission to the Goslings Bar, and the Longtail Lounge VIP tickets.

I think all of the ticket options were great in different ways, but we love the VIP experience the most! The food was free (it was also free in the Goslings Bar, but it was a tad better), plus there were free drinks, private washrooms, and we could watch the races inside or outside. It wasn’t overcrowded and they had interviews with racers inside as well. They also gave us America’s Cup binoculars (which we needed), and it was a pretty posh experience. Shocking I loved it the most right?

The Goslings Bar was great to but the food wasn’t quite as good, and we had to buy our drinks. They had indoor and outdoor seating, but it was much more crowded.

Grandstand seating was just that, and although it was covered there was a torrential downpour and we were soaked that day. It was still a lot of fun because it was a great day of racing, but no food or drinks were included.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

The Village passes were neat, and we could watch on a big screen, but it was tough to buy food and drinks with long line ups. Food was also so expensive it would be worth it to upgrade your ticket to the Goslings Bar with lunch included! Travelling with a toddler meant that the VIP experience was much easier for all of us. Cost-wise the VIP experience was VERY expensive, but you got what you paid for!

The Village itself had lots of great stations for kids which I was surprised about. London really seemed like the only child there when we were in the Grandstands, Longtail Lounge and in the Goslings Bar, but we found some children in the play areas. They had a jungle gym, and they had some cool pop-up’s where kids could see how the boats worked and they could play.

There were lots of shops to buy Cup gear, and ice cream stands, food stations, and they had a few concerts there as well (Rev Run was there during our trip).

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

One of the days we were upgraded into Club AC which was a spot you couldn’t buy tickets for – it was for sponsors and partners and we were offered a day there because of inclement weather.

It was even better than the Longtail Lounge – it included an amazing lunch, drinks, and the building had amazing views along with live music and an official merchandise store within the lounge as well.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

The racing itself was pretty amazing – we saw some of the most exciting racing they have ever had in the race’s history so we were very lucky! Our son LOVED watching the races which I was pretty surprised about. I packed so many new books and toys to keep him occupied while he was there, but when every race began he was watching. Someone gave him a Team Japan flag, and we was waving it the whole trip!

We would absolutely go to the America’s Cup races again. For sure VIP all the way though! I think the next one may be in New Zealand which would be quite the trek for us.

Cabs are hard to come by on the island so taking a scooter is the best way to get around. We did rent scooters for the week, but our son rode in a cab to and from the airport – no scooter for him! I’d have a heart attack!

The island is so small you can ride from one end to the other in a pretty short amount of time. It actually pretty cool to see how small it is – it’s pretty amazing!

Everywhere we went during the week was walkable which was great. Our hotel was right downtown so everything was easy to get to.

We stayed at the Rosemont Guest Suites and we have stayed there before – it’s also where my parents stay all the time when they go! A couple other places I saw and loved were this place, this place and this place!

 

 

 

 It’s hard to find all-inclusives on this island, so that is something to take into account before you travel. Food can be very expensive there, so that’s something you need to budget for.

There is no Starbucks, Tim Hortons, or really any other fast food places on the island other than one lonely KFC that was VERY busy! Otherwise you are eating in independent cafe’s and restaurants. Many of the stores downtown would have two levels of shopping, and then their own cafe or restaurant on the top floor which was really cool! They often had patios as well.

 

 

 

 

Shopping-wise there isn’t much on the island. Trust me, I still shopped, but much of the shopping is either artisan, or Bermuda-branded. There was one shop I really liked called Urban Cottage. I made most of my purchases in little independent shops downtown, or at the Hamilton Princess hotel as they had a few shops.

Bermuda is only a 2.5 hour flight so it’s actually pretty easy to get to, and it’s a great getaway! The downtown of the island is fun and filled with restaurants, shopping, and hotels. If you stay outside of town you will find more resorts where you don’t need to leave as much, but I prefer the downtown area.

We will be back again for sure because of my dad’s connection to the island, and we were just saying a few weeks ago we’d love to go back again soon!