Monday, May 3, 2010

Carnival Cruise 2010 Day 5

Day 5 - We were in Nassau, Bahamas today until 10 p.m. I was feeling so full from the night before, that I just couldn’t bring myself to eat another buffet breakfast, so we ordered room service. We went to the gym in the morning and walked on the treadmill as we were pulling into the port. It was neat to watch the ship come in to Nassau. We didn’t get off the ship immediately because we knew that there would be a lot of people getting off all at once. We didn’t do much else in the morning. We decided to grab lunch first before we ventured out, so by the time we got off the ship it was around 1 p.m. We wanted to go over to Paradise Island and found the best mode of transportation was to take the ferry. It cost $3 one way and it was very educational. Our “guide” gave us some history and information about some sights as we went along. From the dock we then walked over to the Paradise Island Harbor Resort. We wanted to do a site inspection of the place. We were taken on a tour and then were allowed to lounge on the beach or by the pool. We chose the beach. This property is an all inclusive property across the street from the Atlantis hotel. It is on the harbor side, so there is a small man-made beach. Even though the beach is small, it serves its purpose for those that want the beachy feel. The resort is slightly run down, but they are in the process of doing some major renovations. The pool is a decent size, but too cold to go in while we were there. There was also an outside bar where you could order drinks and get some ‘bar’ type foods if you needed a snack. The good thing about this facility is that for $50 for the day, passengers from the cruise ships can come to their hotel, use their facilities, eat, and drink and relax. Most want to just go to a beach and this gives them the opportunity to do that in a much smaller setting then battling the crowds at the Atlantis. Although the Atlantis is a very popular resort, it is a rip off to just go there for the day as they charge you $105 to just step foot on the property to walk around and use their facilities. That doesn’t even include any food. We heard mixed information from many Carnival cruise passengers about their thoughts of the Atlantis resort. Some said they paid $50 to go there and it was a rip off, and others said they walked right in, walked through the aquarium and didn’t pay a dime. So for those going to Nassau and want to go see the Atlantis, take the ferry for $3, walk in through the casino and take a tour of the aquarium yourself. Then walk around the property on your own. It will save you a lot of money in the end. We also heard some complaints about other over priced shore excursions booked through Carnival. The cost was too much for what you got in content of the ‘excursion.’ A couple went on the city tour and although they learned some history about the island, the guide was extremely unknowledgeable about many things when asked questions about his own island.
After Ellen and I relaxed on the beach, it was nearing 5 p.m., so we made our way back to the ship. When we got back to the pier, after our 10 min. walk from the resort, we had just missed the ferry and had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. It was somewhat chaotic at the pier trying to board the next ferry. There were ferries coming in and rearranging themselves and no one would tell us where to go. It was very Bahamian in regards to the laid back atmosphere. By the time we got back to the pier, we had to bolt off the ferry and rush back so that we didn’t miss dinner. Our seating time was scheduled for 6 p.m. and it was already 6:15 p.m. We made it to dinner finally at 6:30 p.m.
After dinner we went back out to the straw market since we didn’t have time earlier in the day. They were closing up, but there were a few pushy vendors trying to get us to check out their booths. The straw market is a bunch of vendors that sell EXACTLY the same things in each booth. They sell knock off handbags, jewelry, trinkets, t-shirts, beach cover-ups, etc. It’s just a matter of seeing who you can get to knock down the price to the cheapest amount. It can be quite overwhelming and intimidating. Don’t go there alone. Once back on board we went to see the entertainment for the night which was a comedian. She had some funny moments, but she wasn’t all that terrific. After the entertainment, when I got back to the cabin, there was a snake-towel-animal on the bed.

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