In our last blog, Scott and I decided to hop on a Royal Caribbean Cruise for the weekend and head to the Bahamas. The cruise left on Friday and arrived in Nassau, Bahamas the following morning. We booked two shore excursions before we left.
Originally, we had booked an excursion to Pearl Island, but sadly it was cancelled at the last minute. We were able to book a snorkeling trip via the Royal Caribbean excursion app. Our ticket instructed us to meet at the dock at 8:30am for a 9am departure. We ended up waiting on the dock with about 75 people until 9:15am, when our guide finally guided us to the catamaran. This snorkeling trip cost $69/pp and it included an open bar, but no food. You ad the option to pay $64/pp and pay for your drinks on the boat – but why would anyone do that? The trip was scheduled for a 9am departure with a 1:30pm return. (Already we are late).
Snorkeling Excursion
Our catamaran cruised down Nassau Harbor for about fifteen minutes. At one point, their sister catamaran pulled up next to us to toss some snorkeling gear. That vessel looked a bit sketchy!
Soon, we had arrived at our snorkeling spot. We were surprised that we didn’t really leave mainland or the area.
Scott and I didn’t use our fins and it was a good thing. It was so incredible crowded on this excursion, that we would have kicked everyone in the face. The water was a bit cooler, but that is expected. We saw lots of fish, but after 30 minutes we were done. There were just too many people.
At one point a local pulled up in a sketchy skiff and was selling fresh coconuts. For $5 he would cut the top off and give you a straw!
Overall, we were disappointed in this excursion (which is rare for us to say). They had only one bartender and most of the guests were paying for their drinks and to ring someone up took time. We barely got two drinks in. Next thing you know, they were returning back to the ship after an hour.
Since the excursion was supposed to last until 1:30pm, they cruised past the ships and then back around to waste time. We were still back before 1pm.
Our Last Night in Nassau
Scott and I still had a half a day to spend on the ship when we got back. We tried laying out, but the music was blaring and kids were screaming. We then decided to go hang out at the pool bar, but it was closed. So we ended the day playing putt putt golf and walking the ship.
All four ships were leaving at sunset and we were the third one out. The ship would sail to Coco Cay (very slowly) over night for our third day of excursions.
For dinner, we at the the Chop House steak restaurant and enjoyed a fantastic bottle of Northstar wine from Washington.
Good Morning Coco Cay
We woke up around 6:30am to enjoy the sunrise at Coco Cay. This is Royal Caribbean’s private island that offers all kinds of activities.
While Coco Cay is included as part of your cruise, not everything on the island is free. In fact that water park, beach club, cabanas are all extra. We decided to book the beach club at $79/pp. This would give us an open bar (with our beverage package) and complimentary lunch and beach chairs. We were told we could disembark at 7:30am, but we ended up waiting until 8:15am before they let us off the ship. Once off, you walk the dock and follow the signs to the Beach Club.
After a fifteen minute walk, we found the beach club!
Scott and I grabbed a couple of beach chairs (there are not many chairs by the pool) and spent the day relaxing in the sun.
There were so many birds on our beach and they were trying to find the shade.
Lunch on Coco Cay
They recommend that you make lunch reservations as soon as you arrive to the club. This turned out to be a smart move. Lunch is included with the beach club and as we were looking over the menu, deciding if we wanted a starter, a bento box showed up! Turns out, they bring you EACH starter in the bento box! If you look at the menu, you’ll see that steak and lobster was an option. Unfortunately, we didn’t want that much food while playing in the sea.
Our day on Coco Cay was the best part of the trip. We spent the day relaxing, unwinding and not having a worry in the world.
The Third and Final Night of the Cruise
For our final night, we made reservations at Giovanni’s, the Italian Restaurant. We love Italian food and Italy was where we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, the food was just okay. It was cold when it arrived and we were too tired to send it back. The wine, however, was fantastic! Always one of our favorites. Keep in mind, if you order a bottle of wine, that is NOT part of the beverage package.
The cruise ship left Coco Cay in the evening and we awoke at 5:30am in Fort Lauderdale. Scott and I carried our own bags, so we were able to disembark at 6:15am and be to work by 8am. We are glad we tried cruising and this was a nice quick weekend. After this trip, we don’t think we would do another cruise, as it is just not our style of travel that we prefer.
As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and vlog (see video below), as we have more boating adventures to come. Follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney.
Cheers, Scott and Ally
