Caribbean
Bahamas
Grand Bahama Island
Freeport
Things to Do in Freeport
H. Forbes Charter Services
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H. Forbes Charter Services

See all things to do
See all things to do
H. Forbes Charter Services
3.5
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Freeport, Bahamas
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
3.5
171 reviews
Excellent
73
Very good
20
Average
15
Poor
15
Terrible
48
c j
Springfield, Missouri50 contributions
See the real Freeport
Jan 2019 • Couples
This is a cultural tour of Freeport. You see the best and the worst. Our driver was very knowledgeable and shared a lot about the history and culture of the Bahamas and Freeport. The Garden Groves stop was the best and I wish we'd had more time there because it was beautiful. There are some touristy stops which were not my fave. The exception here was the candle shop that sells rum cake. If you like cake, don't leave that store without buying some rum cake. It. Is. Amazing! The only bad thing I can say is that the driver was about 30 minutes late picking us up but I'll chalk that up to island time. If you're the kind of traveler that wants to see beyond the touristy areas to how people are really living, then do the tour. It's worth it for the Groves and seeing the island. We had a good time.
Review of: Freeport Half-Day Tour
Written January 25, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Howard W
Washington DC, DC418 contributions
Good but not without concerns - 3.5 stars
Dec 2017 • Couples
We took this trip on our cruise trip to the Bahamas. We usually do not like bus tours and rarely take them, but this was a somewhat unusual situation (we took our first cruise trip and had no other means of getting around), overall we are happy with this experience, but I wavered between 3 and 4 stars (in the end I decided to err on the generous side to round it up to 4 stars).

First the positive: we did hit the highlights -- Lucayan National Parks (the caves and Gold Rock Beach), Fortune Beach. And the driver/tour guide was pretty laid back and did not try to sell us anything, and at each location just gave a brief introduction and let us explore on our own. We did not waste much time waiting for other people on this trip -- all the people were picked up from the cruise terminal. That is all good.

But my biggest concern is the bus itself -- it is a very old vehicle, apparently built in China (nothing wrong with that itself, but even the seat signs are in Chinese, rather amusingly). The bus was old, some seats are not even securely attached to the chassis and they wobbled. Fortunately nothing happened on our trip (this is why I am writing this review!), but I can't imagine if something bad happens, if the bus will be able to withstand it. I hope the company upgrades its buses soon.
Review of: Freeport Shore Excursion: Lucayan National Park Tour
Written January 12, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Robert K
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada15 contributions
Disappointing
Feb 2019 • Family
The driver of the bus was very friendly and provided lots of information along the way to the caves. No complaints there.

The itinerary was:
~30 minutes at the caves.
~60 minutes at Gold Rock Beach
~75 minutes at Banana Boat Restaurant and a second beach

The caves were much smaller than expected and there wasn't much exploring. The trails along through the park were nice, and so was the board walk to Gold Rock Beach. Gold Rock beach was absolutely beautiful, with shallow water and awesome sand bars.

On the way back the tour stopped at the Banana Boat restaurant and the second beach. Because of the hour we stopped in the restaurant for lunch before heading out to the beach. Turns out that it was Fortuna Beach and less than a 2km walk along the beach back to the Viva Wyndham hotel. Instead of paying for lunch, we could have walked back to the hotel and had a free lunch. Considering most of the people on the tour were from the Viva Wyndham, that seems like it probably could have something the bus driver could have mentioned.

In retrospect if we had a cheap way of getting to the caves / Gold Rock beach without a tour we would suggest doing that and having a leisurely time at the beach.
Review of: Bahamas East End and Lucayan National Park Tour
Written February 10, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MCM
15 contributions
Don't Bother
Dec 2018 • Family
We were dropped off at 11:00 and weren't picked up until 3pm. The only place to eat at Crystal Beach is a CASH ONLY snack shack with overpriced hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken tenders. Swimming with the pigs only took about 20 minutes. They were great. Lounge chairs rented for $5 a day. I felt stranded there for the day and the whole experience was just a money grab.
Review of: Swim with Pigs on a Tropical Island
Written December 28, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
407jill
Stettler, Canada2 contributions
DONT BE A MISGUIDED TOURIST
Apr 2019 • Solo
This was one of the absolute most heartbreaking things I have ever witnessed, we rented a car on the hopes of playing and swimming NATURALLY with wild pigs as anyone does, get there to find out that these poor pigs are CAGED AND KEPT on an island about a KM away from the actually sandy beautiful beach, and I might add that this beach is covered in rocks, so when these tourists show up the whole event is a mess they jump on a kayak race to the deserted little rock island and let the pig outs, and then to top it all off they toss these pigs, forcing them into the water, in water that the people we watched could barely swim in themselves, all the while knowing exactly what was going on and still enjoying it, I have never been more disappointed and lost hope in man kind, my friends and I after witnessing this went and demanded our money back and make quite the scene of how barbarick this all was, and stormed off the land. EDUCATE YOUR DAMN SELVES, it was purely all just animal abuse and neglect.
Review of: Swim with Pigs on a Tropical Island
Written April 13, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jennandchuck
Melbourne, FL6 contributions
cruel
Nov 2018 • Friends
Please don't be a naive tourist and add to the cruelty of these animals. They are kept in cages on a rock and taken out when tourists arrive, thrown in the water to swim for their lives. There are many beautiful things to see here but this is not one of them.
Review of: Swim with Pigs on a Tropical Island
Written April 16, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
budlin
Conroe, TX6 contributions
Great way to see the city
Feb 2018 • Friends
We really enjoyed this excursion. They took us all over the city -
saw the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our driver was excellent and kept us all entertained with interesting facts. He recommended a restaurant named Zorba's when we stopped at the shopping center location and I had fresh red snapper that was excellent. I highly recommend this tour.
Review of: Freeport Half-Day Tour
Written February 27, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Shannon M
118 contributions
Don’t waste your money
The pigs are caged on a desolate island and then released to swim with a huge group of people. The other reviews were bang on. The beach is weedy and it’s slow to get a drink at the bar. The food is limited to a very small deep fried menu. It was likely only a 10-15 minute bus ride to get to Crystal beach although our driver drove really slow so it took about 45mins. Nothing to really do once you’re stuck on the beach except lay around and watch the poor pigs being corralled around by the staff. Pick a different excursion and don’t get mislead by what appears on YouTube. The pigs aren’t naturally living on this island. They are brought here and used strictly to make money off of.
Review of: Swim with Pigs on a Tropical Island
Written March 12, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Eric E
8 contributions
It’s fun of you like animal abuse
Let me start by saying that I eat bacon and am fine with petting zoos etc. The tour was pitched by NCL as the same swim with the pigs experience that is at treasure island. We get there after a 25 min bus ride from the port and grabbed a quick drink at the snack shack. About 10 mins after arriving, our party of about 50-60 people went knee deep into the water. At that point most of us knew this was a gimmick and these were not pigs that lived on the island naturally but an attempt to copy the treasure island experience. After a 10 mins speech by the guide, a couple workers opened up some cages and maybe 8 pigs of various sizes with dog collars came running out to the water (about 100 yards). They were cute. We were all feeding them apples from sticks. I was cool with that. Then it started to turn bad. The workers were picking up the little pigs and holding them on their shoulders and the pigs were screaming (which I know they do over everything). Where it got bad was when they starting having people ride the pigs. The pigs were not enjoying that at all. They did all they could to get these grown adults off their backs. We were shocked and were ashamed to had been there. As soon as the riding started, we got out of the water. It was a rotten experience and was borderline animal abuse.

Again, it’s fine to feed them and maybe let someone hold the baby pigs. If you want to ride an animal, do horseback riding. It shouldn’t be a 200 pound man riding a 200 pound pig. That is not cool. Norwegian Cruise Lines will be hearing from us about this.

The positive side is our bus driver David was great. I hope the best for them and their hurricane bashed island.
Review of: Swim with Pigs on a Tropical Island
Written March 10, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bkline2287
Canton, GA29 contributions
Super Lord of the Flies esque...but with pigs.
Came here with a group of 5 girls. Wasnt told it was cash only. 2 girls had to go back to get cash off the boat. Its misleading from the get go. We were told tours left every hour so we paid our $55 a person and waited for the transportation to arrive. We were only told that it was a 30 min drive after we got in... maybe we should have asked... I'll take ownership of that blip.

Then we arrived at Crystal Beach. It was around 11am. It's not a bad place visually and is kept pretty clean. Our driver said we were going to be picked up at 3pm. We went to get a drink... 2 lines both a mile long. Decided to go sit on the beach and let the lines die down. We were told we could not sit in the chairs bc they were an additional charge. Ridiculous. We put our towels on the sand. No biggie... we are in the Bahamas!! The wifi password was finally given. Btw it's Sunset25. (I remember bc we asked for it 4 times after none of our phones would connect. We asked the staff to reset the modem and finally almost an hour later she did.) Then a staff member came over a loud speaker and told everyone that the pig event would start at 1230. When 1245 rolled around we were all hurded into the water. Then the mob mentality started. We were given skewers and apples. People were grabbing handfuls of apples like it was for us and we'd been starved for 2 weeks. Adults pushing past kids, kids pushing adults.
It was not until this time that we really understood what was going on. Everyone that was on the beach was there for ONE PIG EXPERIENCE. It's not with just your group or a small group every hour or so. They literally hurded 100 people into the water and release 6 pigs from a cage back on land. Of course they swim... their other option is drowning in the hip-deep water. Our group instantly backed away from the chaos. The pigs are ingesting saltwater while being fed apples on sharp ended skewers. With no direction given to participants on how to safely give them the apples, super healthy. Then came the worst part. They brought out 5 baby pigs in a shopping cart on a kayak. People were grabbing them and they were just screaming. It was horrendous. Again, no directions on how to handle them or anything. People were putting them in the water.... like they wouldnt sink.....
We had had enough at this point and wanted to leave.... but you cant. Until the van comes back. At "3" (3:15) our van came back and took us back to the port.

Avoid this place at all costs. The pigs are not just swimming around freely like theyd have you believe prior to arriving. Also- Its cash only. Which we weren't told about until we got there. Thank God I always carry cash.
Review of: Swim with Pigs on a Tropical Island
Written March 11, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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