Bahamas – Bless Your Heart

travel

Disney Fantasy Bermuda Day 8 Part 1

April 21, 2023May 7, 2023 Shanny

Today we are in Nassau, Bahamas!

We woke up early since we are getting off the ship and went to Cabanas buffet for breakfast.

On the way to breakfast we hid a few ducks.

Hiding (and finding) ducks on cruise ships is fun! You never know where you’ll see one! We re-hide the ones we find so kids can find them. You can get cruise ducks on Amazon and tons of places online. Each time we’d leave our room we’d grab a few ducks to hide.

After breakfast we went back to the room to gather our stuff and change for Atlantis. Atlantis is a GIANT resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Usually when we stop at Nassau, CSP & I stay on the ship because we’ve been to Nassau a few times, unless there’s a particular excursion we’ve signed up for. But this trip we had MIL along and she’s never been so we decided to go to Atlantis for the day. You can buy a day pass to many resorts to enjoy their amenities even if you’re not staying there.

We debarked then grabbed a taxi to Atlantis. We weren’t the only cruise ship in Nassau today.

We got to Atlantis and once we figured out where to go to get our wristbands we made our way out to the water area and walked under this waterfall to our assigned pool cabana. It was kinda stinky in the grotto tbh.

Saw this sign on the way. Cracked me up!

Our cabana was at the Coral Pool. Luckily Atlantis has its own app with turn by turn directions, because this resort is HUMONGOUS!!!

I went to the towel hut and checked in. Brickell, our cabana host (cool name), walked us to our cabana- number 45.

CSP COULD NOT WAIT to get in the water. Views of the and from the cabana:

Menacing clouds!!! Luckily it only rained on us for like 5 minutes.

Our cabana came with towels for us, bottled water (in sustainable packaging! yay!), a small fridge & safe (in this cabinet).

CSP & I jumped in the pool as soon as we got covered in SPF. We swam and chilled in whatever shade we could find. It was a beautiful day today! It was about 82* and partly cloudy. Around noon we got hungry for lunch so we walked over a small bridge to the Lagoon Bar & Grill. It’s an all fresco restaurant with an open kitchen. V cool.

Sharks in the water surrounding the restaurant

Lunch was really good! I had shrimp with rice pilaf and salad (although the lettuce got hot being smushed up against the hot food and y’all know I HATE hot lettuce). We got a tropical salad for the table and MIL had cobia fish tacos.

CSP had a delicious seafood pasta.

This guy ^^^ kept an eye on our lunches, hoping for a taste!

After lunch we took a little tour of the property.

We spotted a wee kitty! This lady was feeding it (not pictured) and we got to talking. Apparently there are 3 kitties that live on the property and are feed regularly.

We passed the stingray exhibit. A worker was about to feed them so they were all crowding around her! I wanted to jump in the water with her!!!

We went underground to the predator’s tunnel.

We went back to the cabana where I read and CSP decided to go check out the water slides. MIL went with CSP to document the journey. I was really looking forward to riding the lazy river but Brickell the cabana host said Atlantis sold it a year or so ago!!! Boooo!!! Anyway, CSP found the raging rapids river and gave it a go.

45 minutes after this photo ^^^ was taken, MIL appeared back at the cabana sans CSP, BUT with CSP’s slides (his Crocs sandals). Apparently MIL had waited for a while where CSP had gotten into the raging river (at the calm spot of the river, before the rapids). But CSP didn’t return so she came back to the cabana in a panic looking for him. At this point it’s 3pm. We had to leave by 3:45 pm to make it back to the ship on time (taxi ride plus a long walk to the pier). I said he’d show up at the cabana at some point, but she was worried because since CSP was in the water he didn’t have his phone, a watch, or any way to tell time. I went to the restroom on the other side of the Coral Pool. By the time I got back to the cabana MIL was pacing with a worried look on her face and she had corralled 2 Atlantis employees (one of which was Brickell our cabana host). Brickell told me they don’t have a PA system so there was no way of calling for CSP. At this point MIL was worried we were going to have to leave CSP at Atlantis to make it back to the ship on time. No sense in all of us being stranded in Nassau! Ha! But then he appeared (like I knew he would). He walked up and said to MIL- why did you take my shoes?? It was a HOT walk back on that pavement! LOL

Note- maybe we were just spoiled by Disney, but none of us thought the Atlantis day passes or cabana were worth the cost. Basically we just paid them to let us sit in their shade, swim in their pool, and then we paid more money for lunch! We could have done all that on the ship! And we wouldn’t have had to pay extra for lunch!

We gathered our things and went out to the front of the hotel to catch a taxi back to the ship. If you ride with strangers it’s just $5 per person each way! Not bad. We were the last to load in to this particular mini bus and the driver told me to get in the front seat with him. This vehicle had a very short front end and it was apparent that this taxi driver had NO REGARD for my life or nerves!!! I’ve ridden in taxis in NYC and other cities but let me tell you, this was the most frightening taxi ride of my life! He wouldn’t hit the brakes until I could basically reach the cars in front of us with my short arms!

We finally made it back to the port and I’ve never been so happy to see Dumbo!!!

Next up- dinner at Palo, Pirate night, and fireworks at sea!!!

fun

Ladies’ Cruise- Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas. Day 3

January 15, 2014 Shanny

We woke up and looked out past our balcony and saw nothing but ocean. Wha?? We were supposed to be docked at Coco Cay! I called Guest Services and they told me that because of bad weather we couldn’t dock at Coco Cay so we were making our way to Nassau instead. SAD FACE. I was SO looking forward to Coco Cay. Oh well.

We dressed and went up to the Windjammer buffet for breakfast at our usual table. It was raining so our choices of activities were limited to inside ones. We picked up a new Cruise Compass (newsletter that tells you all the activities) and decided to go to a music trivia contest. Well that was quiet and boring. We lasted about 5 minutes then we were out of there. According to the Compass they were having Battle of the Sexes in the Centrum soon so we went there to get some seats. We were early so we sat through a towel animal folding demo first. It was actually kind of cute. Battle of the Sexes was basically like Family Feud but men against women. It featured questions like “Name something you find in a garage”. Morgan represented the women for the last question, which was “Name a classic movie”. Morgan said “Titanic”. It was number 5. Then the guy she was up against named a movie higher up than 5 on the list so they got control. The boys and the girls all gathered to come up with answers, but then the boys swept the board! Poor Momo lost for all the women on the ship! The women had been on a 5 week winning streak! At the elevator bank a man said so Momo, “Thanks for losing!”

We went up to Windjammer for lunch and when we were scouting out tables we noticed a young man with his napkin on his plate, he appeared finished with his lunch. He also looked familiar to me. I got closer and noticed it was Chika from Battle of the Sexes! Coincidentally, that’s him in the top picture. So we said hello and could we have his table? Right then Momo and Sara appeared and I said “It’s Chika!” They boxed him in so he just sat down again and spent lunch with us! (shout out! Holla!)

When lunch was over we went back to the cabin for our daily nap. It was still raining by the way. By now we’d docked at Nassau. Momo and Sara decided to go with Chika and some of his friends to Señor Frogs. I’m too old for that nonsense so Gigi and I took a nap! We woke up and were getting dressed for dinner while enjoying some wine when the girls returned. I’d show you a picture from the ridiculousness that took place once the girls came back, but I’d get in serious trouble. Let’s just say that the cocktail foreshadowing I told you about in the first post was coming to fruition! Gigi and I were enjoying some wine but not nearly as much as Sara and Morgan enjoyed Señor Frog’s cocktails!

Dinner that night was formal night so we all got dressed up in our fanciest outfits and did our hair and makeup all glittery. Back in the My Fair Lady dining room, I chose the chilled banana soup, shrimp cocktail, and artichoke crepes for dinner. They were really good. For dessert I had the double strawberry cheesecake.

Once dinner was over we went to the Orpheum Theatre to see the comedian. If you’re on deck 5 you have to walk through the smokey (cough, cough) casino to get to the theatre. But on deck 6 it’s smooth sailing. The comedian was Carl Banks. He was pretty funny! After the comedy show we were pretty tired so we headed to bed. Must have been the rainy, overcast weather making us so sleepy!

Oh, I want to note that this is the first cruise in YEARS where I didn’t bring my DSLR camera. I took all my pictures on my phone. Made for a lot less to carry!

Next up…Nassau day!

friends, fun

6 or 16?

June 10, 2011 Shanny

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching Susan’s daughter Olivia for a few hours. She is 6 years old and smart as a whip. She said the FUNNIEST things! I wanted to make sure to save them for posterity.

She was playing with the pugs when she said “I wish I could teach them to roll over. Then you could win one of those pet talent contests on tv. You’d win a 4 night cruise. I hope you don’t get seasick. You don’t do you?”
At Grand Asia Market where she tried bubble tea for the first time – “Yours tastes like chocolate mixed with disgusting.”
At my house – “I have the best idea for our vacation next year.” Me- Who’s vacation? Yours and your parents? O- “No, mine and yours. We’ll go on a 4 night cruise and go to Atlantis.” Me- Atlantis?? O- “Yeah, you know, the resort in the Bahamas. You know it. I have $50 at home. I don’t want you to spend all your money, so I think that will cover it. We’ll go and spend time together.”
I was painting her nails when she said “You have the clear top coat right? Cause I don’t want any chips.”
On the way to meet Susan I plugged my iPhone in to the car to charge. O thought I was plugging in an iPod and asked if that’s what I was doing. I said “Do you want to listen to some music?” She replied “Why can’t we just talk? Let’s talk about our lives. How was your day? Tell me about your day. What do you think the future will be like?”