We arrived at Key West on schedule but we didn't get off until 9:45 for our ship excursion. We booked the Key West Pub Crawl through Carnival which was soooo much fun. Our tour guide was Beau and we hopped on a trolley to Mallory Square with a group of about 20. The crawl gives you a ticket for one drink at each of the 5 bars you stop at as well as a t shirt. The ticket covers either a domestic beer or well drink ( a drink with one shot of alcohol and one mixer like a cranberry & vodka or a rum & coke etc) or some included a house special.
The bars we stopped at were:
1)Tree Bar
2)The Flying Monkey
3)Schooner Wharf Bar
4)The Lazy Gecko
5)Ricks Bar
At the Tree bar we tried the house special which was a Bahama Breeze. We both liked it. This bar is across the street from Sloppy Joes and next door to a pizza place. The pizza was really good but $3.50 a slice ?!?! Kind of ridiculous. We had a couple of slices while enjoying our drinks and then moved on to our second location. The Flying Monkey was awesome!! They had a large open patio area on Duval St and offered a ton of drinks. We used our drink tickets for slushie style drinks which were fully covered. I got a chocolate slushie and my BF got the "grain train". This has three shots of grain alcohol in it . These were phenomenal!! Definitely our favorite stop! While we were here some people opted to do a little shopping around the area. Beau made sure to call everyone back with his conch shell to let them know it was time to move on. This was pretty funny but it worked!
As we made our way to the third stop, Beau explained to us what we were walking past. There is so much to see in Key West! It is a wonderful little walk. Going to Schooner Wharf bar we got to see the recording studio that Jimmy Buffet owns and uses which was neat. At the Schooner Wharf we stopped to take pictures with our tour guide that you can buy at the end of the tour. We each ordered the house special here (the name escapes me but it wasn't that memorable :/) and we headed to the upstairs patio overlooking the water. So nice and relaxing. I could certainly sit there every day.
It was after the Schooner Wharf that we did the conch shell blowing competition. Beau cleaned it off and I decided to give it a go first. How hard could it be? Boy was that a FAIL!!! I gave it the best I had but no sound made it out. After a couple people gave it a try there seemed to be some people who got the hang of it! It was a lot of fun.
We walked back up to Duval for our last two bars. Next stop: The Lazy Gecko! They offered a beer or well drink with for your ticket or you could add an extra shot to your drink for $1 each. I add a Malibu rum & orange juice and the boyfriend had a Jim Beam & coke, YUM. This bar was kind of small but was really quite and had such nice bathrooms!
Last stop, across the street to Ricks! This is a couple doors down from the Tree Bar and is owned by the same people so we had the Bahama Breeze again for the house special. Equally as good the second time. This bar was nice, had a cute open mic thing going on.
We parted ways from Beau and our group. We really enjoyed this excursion and would definitely book it again. I see a lot of people saying you could do it yourself but this was great! For $40 you get a t-shirt which I love! 5 drinks, a free walking tour, and a chance to meet others on your cruise! Well worth it to me :)
Something worth noting: We were docked at the naval pier not at Mallory Square. Because of this you can not walk around the port area (nothing really there). You have to take a trolley to and from the port. Once we finished the bar crawl we did a little shopping and went to the CVS then decided to head back to get a trolley. BIG MISTAKE!!! The line was ridiculously long :( We decided to slink through one of the stores and slide into line (blame it on the alcohol :o) Once we finally got a trolley we were stopped before we were all the way to the ship, the came on the trolley and checked everyone's photo ID and carnival sail & sign card. The didn't take too long but could have gone faster. Once back to the ship there was another set of large lines to board. Needless to say we did not leave Key West on time. I think this is going to have to be something they work out for people who need to dock at the naval yard because the entire process is tedious.
We really enjoyed our stop in Key West but I do wish we had a longer time in port. It would also be nice if they reversed the stops so that you had a night stop in Key West.
Want to check where you are docked for your stop in Key West? Click here: http://www.keywestcity.com/department/calendar.asp?fDD=13-192
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