After our stint in Orlando we were amped up for our Bahamas cruise!
Oddly, Orlando has no public transport to the Port and all the shuttle companies I enquired with didn't get back to me, so we paid $168 for a taxi to the Port, with the taxi driver who had given us her card on the way from the airport.
Now hindsight is a wonderful thing; we had taken several taxis while in Orlando and had some nice cabbies so why we called Ellen is beyond me. She talked our ear off on the way from the airport so why would we take an hour an a half cab ride with her? I question our sanity but we endured the ride and indeed arrived in time for our cruise.
Boarding was a fairly smooth process and I was told by a porter I should tip for good service so I gave him $5 to take our bags. Once he'd walked away I noticed a sign saying porters are salaried and not to tip them however when we got to our room our bags were there and I heard people complaining 4 hours later that they still hadn't received theirs - so I consider it an investment!
We wandered around and quickly oriented ourselves - it wasn't a huge ship so we shouldn't get lost although for some reason I kept going up instead of down and vice versa.
Our cabin was on deck 6 out of 12 so fairly well located and with an above water porthole window. Very small but comfortable although next time I'd consider splurging for a suite if it was a longer cruise.
Our ship:
We went and had the buffet lunch and were suitably impressed - full salad bar, bread selection, 12-15 hot dishes plus a make your own burger or hot dog bar with salads and condiments. Plus 3 different soups, fruits and desserts and a range of water cordials, teas and coffee. Not bad for an included lunch!! No wonder they refer to Royal Caribbean's cruises as '5kg cruises' although ours is luckily only 3 nights.
In the afternoon we did trivia which was mostly about the USA so we failed miserably. Then we had a nap and went for our dinner in the restaurant (you could do a serviced dinner or the buffet or there is also a pizza bar). Such a hard life. The menu was lovely - I had roast garlic soup and a lamb shank with vegies followed by choc mint mousse cake and lemon sorbet. By dessert we'd cottoned onto the fact that it's not a normal 3 course menu - the couple next to us had 4 entrees, 3 mains and 4 desserts! Something to remember for next time...
Overnight we sailed to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and we disembarked at lunch time. There were a heap of optional activities but we wanted to shop and hang around so we did just that!
We shopped for souvenirs and dresses and had a look in a few of the fancy jewellery stores. Up to 80% off diamonds in some of them but they were still a bit above my budget! We had been told to try the local delicacy conch so we found a cafe and I had some conch chowder and grouper fingers while Loz had fried conch. Loz tried the local beer Kalik and I tried the local cocktail Goombay Smash. All very good.
Docked in Nassau:
We dropped out shopping at the ship and then went on a sunset champagne cruise around the bay - a fantastic time! 4 champers each (1/2 glasses) and a cocktail while we cruised around the harbour and saw all the big houses (including Tiger Woods and Oprah's) and chatted to some people off the cruise. A lovely time indeed:
When we got back we couldn't be bothered doing the whole serviced dinner thing so we grabbed some plates at the buffet and retired early. We arrived back in our cabin to find that the stateroom attendant had made us a towel gorilla!
The next day we docked at Cococay, Royal Caribbean's private Bahamas island. We took the transfer to shore and went parasailing! Amazing! Beautiful clear waters and barely a person in sight at that time of day. By the it was nearly 10am so obviously it was time for cocktail of the day - after all it did come in a souvenir cup! Some sunbaking and a paddle in the Caribbean sea and back to the ship for lunch - tried 4 different curries at the buffet and all were delicious!
The others parasailing - obviously I couldn't photograph us!
Tried our hand at trivia again and came second, not bad since it was all about US tv shows. A swim in the rooftop saltwater pool and then off for another nap and to repack our cases - the cruise has been relaxing but has gone very quickly!! Off for our dinner reservation where we were more resourceful this time and shared 3 entrees, had a main each and then shared 3 desserts. Off to bed while we sail back to Florida.
We had a tight connection when we returned so we called our fave taxi driver Ellen who came to pick us up. We asked her to come at 8.30 but she assured us it would take ages to disembark so she showed up at 8.50. Of course we deboarded smoothly and had been sitting there since 7.55am... we were pretty mad but she knocked the price down a bit and we got to the airport on time so that was that.
And then we checked into our separate airlines and had to say goodbye. I must say I left a bit lost when Loz left - who will organise me and get me up in the mornings and tell me where my room is and have the key in hand when we get there??
Luckily my sadness was lessened when I was bumped up to Premium Economy so a family could sit together - thanks United! The joys of a solo traveller - what will I get up to now! Next stop Washington DC!
Oddly, Orlando has no public transport to the Port and all the shuttle companies I enquired with didn't get back to me, so we paid $168 for a taxi to the Port, with the taxi driver who had given us her card on the way from the airport.
Now hindsight is a wonderful thing; we had taken several taxis while in Orlando and had some nice cabbies so why we called Ellen is beyond me. She talked our ear off on the way from the airport so why would we take an hour an a half cab ride with her? I question our sanity but we endured the ride and indeed arrived in time for our cruise.
Boarding was a fairly smooth process and I was told by a porter I should tip for good service so I gave him $5 to take our bags. Once he'd walked away I noticed a sign saying porters are salaried and not to tip them however when we got to our room our bags were there and I heard people complaining 4 hours later that they still hadn't received theirs - so I consider it an investment!
We wandered around and quickly oriented ourselves - it wasn't a huge ship so we shouldn't get lost although for some reason I kept going up instead of down and vice versa.
Our cabin was on deck 6 out of 12 so fairly well located and with an above water porthole window. Very small but comfortable although next time I'd consider splurging for a suite if it was a longer cruise.
Our ship:
We went and had the buffet lunch and were suitably impressed - full salad bar, bread selection, 12-15 hot dishes plus a make your own burger or hot dog bar with salads and condiments. Plus 3 different soups, fruits and desserts and a range of water cordials, teas and coffee. Not bad for an included lunch!! No wonder they refer to Royal Caribbean's cruises as '5kg cruises' although ours is luckily only 3 nights.
In the afternoon we did trivia which was mostly about the USA so we failed miserably. Then we had a nap and went for our dinner in the restaurant (you could do a serviced dinner or the buffet or there is also a pizza bar). Such a hard life. The menu was lovely - I had roast garlic soup and a lamb shank with vegies followed by choc mint mousse cake and lemon sorbet. By dessert we'd cottoned onto the fact that it's not a normal 3 course menu - the couple next to us had 4 entrees, 3 mains and 4 desserts! Something to remember for next time...
Overnight we sailed to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and we disembarked at lunch time. There were a heap of optional activities but we wanted to shop and hang around so we did just that!
We shopped for souvenirs and dresses and had a look in a few of the fancy jewellery stores. Up to 80% off diamonds in some of them but they were still a bit above my budget! We had been told to try the local delicacy conch so we found a cafe and I had some conch chowder and grouper fingers while Loz had fried conch. Loz tried the local beer Kalik and I tried the local cocktail Goombay Smash. All very good.
Docked in Nassau:
Fried conch:
We dropped out shopping at the ship and then went on a sunset champagne cruise around the bay - a fantastic time! 4 champers each (1/2 glasses) and a cocktail while we cruised around the harbour and saw all the big houses (including Tiger Woods and Oprah's) and chatted to some people off the cruise. A lovely time indeed:
When we got back we couldn't be bothered doing the whole serviced dinner thing so we grabbed some plates at the buffet and retired early. We arrived back in our cabin to find that the stateroom attendant had made us a towel gorilla!
The next day we docked at Cococay, Royal Caribbean's private Bahamas island. We took the transfer to shore and went parasailing! Amazing! Beautiful clear waters and barely a person in sight at that time of day. By the it was nearly 10am so obviously it was time for cocktail of the day - after all it did come in a souvenir cup! Some sunbaking and a paddle in the Caribbean sea and back to the ship for lunch - tried 4 different curries at the buffet and all were delicious!
The others parasailing - obviously I couldn't photograph us!
Cococay beach:
View from our parasail speedboat:
Tried our hand at trivia again and came second, not bad since it was all about US tv shows. A swim in the rooftop saltwater pool and then off for another nap and to repack our cases - the cruise has been relaxing but has gone very quickly!! Off for our dinner reservation where we were more resourceful this time and shared 3 entrees, had a main each and then shared 3 desserts. Off to bed while we sail back to Florida.
We had a tight connection when we returned so we called our fave taxi driver Ellen who came to pick us up. We asked her to come at 8.30 but she assured us it would take ages to disembark so she showed up at 8.50. Of course we deboarded smoothly and had been sitting there since 7.55am... we were pretty mad but she knocked the price down a bit and we got to the airport on time so that was that.
And then we checked into our separate airlines and had to say goodbye. I must say I left a bit lost when Loz left - who will organise me and get me up in the mornings and tell me where my room is and have the key in hand when we get there??
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