Can somene tell me about the "free" beach in Nassau?

[Disney1fan2002]

My DD wants to get off in Nassau because we never have. I don't want to spend any money, tha's why we stay onboard. We pay for excursions at Castaway Cay....

I hear there is a free beach? Is it walkable from the ship? Is it clean?

 

[Itinkso]

A friend will be cruising with another line later this year. As I was researching on a Disney site, I came across this info to share with her and thought I would post it for you too:
Found this on a disney site which I don't think I can name...

I strongly recommend against wandering around on your own at Nassau, Bahamas. Violent crime against tourists does happen, including bold armed robberies of tour groups. For example, in November 2009, 18 people, half of whom were on an official Disney excursion, were robbed at gunpoint. A shot was fired and several people in the group were assaulted. Unfortunately that was only one of several daylight armed robberies of tourists on Nassau. A large group of tourists was robbed at gunpoint at the Queen’s Staircase, a popular tourist destination, so crime can occur anywhere on the island. Also, you can pretty well count on being accosted by aggressive “freelance sales people” and/or drug dealers at some point. If you want to get off the ship in Nassau, I recommend spending the day at Atlantis Resort through a Disney excursion (warning: this is very expensive for what you get) or on an organized group beach excursion. If you really want to do something on your own, you could walk along Bay Street, sticking to busy parts of downtown Nassau and the Straw Market, which should be relatively safe.

 

[winniedapooh]

I found a walking tour on here and followed that in May. It was election day so many places were closed. We walked into a few of the most beautiful churches. The beach was no big deal. We had a really good time doing this, felt very safe, and would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[cruisinwithmaandpa]

The public beach is not within walking distance. You will need to either take a water taxi or regular taxi to the Atlantis. The beach is a short walk from the Atlantis. We have been there many times with no problem.

 

[ilovetexas]

Nassau is no more or less safe than most cities; people get robbed and killed everywhere. I've been to Nassau several times, have never been to Atlantis, have wandered around with just my family and twice with just me and a young teen and have never felt unsafe. I've never had anyone try to sell me drugs and there are pushy salespeople at MOST cruise ports. Use the same judgement you would use in any city.

There IS a public beach within walking distance of the ship; and it's free. I've never been there (although I walked past it coming back from Arawak Cay / The Fish Fry) because we like the day pass at the Sheraton. I highly recommend eating at The Fish Fry while you are there.

If you want to research a LOT of options in Nassau, go to Cruise Critic Ports of Call board.

Here is a link to one discussion about Junkanoo Beach:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1641451

Also, it isn't the beach but the walking tour that we've done in the past and enjoyed can be found at:

http://www.brentjes.com/nassau.html

 

[iloverags2]

Junkanoo Beach is roughly a 15 minute walk from the pier (maybe even fewer minutes to walk). If you want to take the jitney, I believe it's 1.25/person (the #10 if I remember correctly). My brother-in-law took the nieces and nephews down there a few years ago...they had a great time. They walked both ways. When you get off the ship, head towards Senor Frogs, make a left there and walk around the British Colonial Hilton. The public entrance will be next to the Hilton.

As a previous poster stated, being in Nassau is like being in any other urban/metropolitan area.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Not sure where the public beach is, but we felt perfectly safe in Nassau.

We just wandered around checking out the shops and such. We went over by Senor Frogs because my kids wanted a picture with the large frogs out front and my son tripped and fell. He cut his toe and right away a police man and a tourism guide ran over and asked if we needed help. The women(wearing a tourism guide vest) suggested we rinse his toe off in the ocean. The tide was low in front of Senor Frogs so she brought us into the Hilton next door. She cleared it with their guards and they let us take him to the ocean to rinse it off. They were so friendly, we were really taken aback by their kindness and willingness to help.

After hearing so many bad things about Nassau pre-cruise we were pleasantly surprised and left Nassau with nothing but good memories.

Try over at cruise critic they have a ton of info about Nassau on their boards.

 

[heatherb819]

We were just at Junkaboo beach in April and we walked there. It's about 15 min walk and we felt perfectly safe. The walk is along a main road with alot of traffic but there is sidewalk and plenty of shops where alot of cruise ship passengers will be shopping. Just keep following the Junkaboo Beach signs it's really easy to find. Like another poster stated, you'll get to Senor Frogs and make a left and then follow the sidewalk around and can't miss it. It's marked really well. They were raking the beach when we were there. It was clean and you could rent chairs and there was a stand for drink and snacks. I believe someone from the US owns it and retired there if I remember correctly. Cruise Critic has alot of info about it on the Carnival sites.

Have Fun!!

 

[mimmi]

Junkanoo Beach is roughly a 15 minute walk from the pier (maybe even fewer minutes to walk). If you want to take the jitney, I believe it's 1.25/person (the #10 if I remember correctly). My brother-in-law took the nieces and nephews down there a few years ago...they had a great time. They walked both ways. When you get off the ship, head towards Senor Frogs, make a left there and walk around the British Colonial Hilton. The public entrance will be next to the Hilton.

As a previous poster stated, being in Nassau is like being in any other urban/metropolitan area.

We visited this beach and while it was nothing special, it was nice enough. We made beutiful pictures with the Dream in the background.

I don't really understand all the fuss about Nassau, I've visited far worse places with much more aggressive hawkers.
I've strolled through Nassau twice, 2011 and 2012 and nobody offered me drugs (it's getting weird because nobody offered me drugs in Jamaica and India, too, obviusoly I don't look like a drug dealer's target group) or behaved aggressively towards me. Of course people want to sell stuff to make a quick dollar, that's one of the most negative aspects of mass tourism in developping countries, but nobody ever forced me to buy something.

I'm sure that violence occurs but if I don't ever want to visit places where crimes have been committed I would be confined to my house.

 

[ilovetexas]

I would also like to recommend that you eat at The Fish Fry while you're there. It's just a bit farther out than Junkanoo and it's a chance to mix with the locals and eat their food. BEST CONCH EVER!!! Just ask them while you're at Junkanoo and they will point the way. My son and I walked from The Fish Fry back to the ship, it isn't far.

It's not free but if your daughter wants to experience Nassau, then this is the spot. The place we ate had guys out back removing the conch from the shells and you could go watch. Neat for the kids. It's also referred to as Arawak Cay and here's some info:

http://www.fodors.com/world/caribbean/bahamas/new-providence-and-paradise-islands/review-196405.html

An appetizer of conch fritters and a local beer won't set you back much but keep in mind that the servers are on Bahama Time! (SLOW!)

 

[Ladyshopper]

Also went to Junkanoo with my 2 kids. Nice beach, no problems with anyone trying to sell me anything, toilets and plenty of places to buy drinks. About a 15 minute walk.

On the way back we stoppped off at a shop for me to get some wine to take on board and also looked round the straw market (which was pretty rubbish in my opinion).

Really don't understand the scaremongering for Nassau, if you didn't go anywhere that had had some violence happen in it, then you literally wouldn't go anywhere in the world! Plenty of stuff happens in my city in England, it doesn't stop me going out though, its just about being sensible.

 

[MND]

We visited this beach and while it was nothing special, it was nice enough. We made beutiful pictures with the Dream in the background.

I don't really understand all the fuss about Nassau, I've visited far worse places with much more aggressive hawkers.
I've strolled through Nassau twice, 2011 and 2012 and nobody offered me drugs (it's getting weird because nobody offered me drugs in Jamaica and India, too, obviusoly I don't look like a drug dealer's target group) or behaved aggressively towards me. Of course people want to sell stuff to make a quick dollar, that's one of the most negative aspects of mass tourism in developping countries, but nobody ever forced me to buy something.

I'm sure that violence occurs but if I don't ever want to visit places where crimes have been committed I would be confined to my house.

What kind of drugs were you hoping to find? Just kidding!

We visited Nassau on the Dream this April and really liked it. We shopped, and visited some of the historical sites. If we stop there again on a cruise, I think I will visit the beach.

The people we met were very friendly and not pushy. My only concern was I saw 2 dogs roaming around on the loose and I don't like dogs. But they kept their distance I was just fine.

Mike

 

[Itinkso]

This is all great info to share with my friends. I guess Mouse Savers is more cautious when giving out port advice.

 

[ilovetexas]

This is all great info to share with my friends. I guess Mouse Savers is more cautious when giving out port advice.

Please tell your friends to do some research on Cruise Critic. DISboards is great but it is more geared to DCL as opposed to just cruising in general. On Cruise Critic you're going to get a LOT more opinions from a cross section of people who travel on Disney, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity, HAL, etc.

Also, after I read your last post I went to MouseSavers to see what they had to say and wasn't impressed. I know they're trying to help (and the site has some great info) but to make a statement like "Sticking with official excursions also may be a good idea in ports where street crime is an issue (including all Mexican ports, Barcelona and Nassau)" is ill-informed and inaccurate. The widespread violence is on Mexico's Western side, not the Eastern, and it's a big country. The article on MouseSavers goes on to mention that "For Western Caribbean cruises, Cozumel is a fairly safe port." Well, no duh, but how does that jive with the statement they made two paragraphs earlier regarding "all Mexican ports"?

Anyway, I encourage all travelers to understand where they're going and take the same precautions (sometimes extra ones) that they would anywhere. Tell your friends to enjoy Nassau!

 

[Itinkso]

Please tell your friends to do some research on Cruise Critic. DISboards is great but it is more geared to DCL as opposed to just cruising in general. On Cruise Critic you're going to get a LOT more opinions from a cross section of people who travel on Disney, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity, HAL, etc.

Anyway, I encourage all travelers to understand where they're going and take the same precautions (sometimes extra ones) that they would anywhere. Tell your friends to enjoy Nassau!

Thanks! I've been a "cruise critic" since '05 and have already directed them there. I receive email updates from Mouse Savers and was just passing along info without wanting to actually research for them! Between the two "Boards" there is a lot of info to process - 7th cruise coming up and the first to the Caribbean!

 

[ilovetexas]

Thanks! I've been a "cruise critic" since '05 and have already directed them there. I receive email updates from Mouse Savers and was just passing along info without wanting to actually research for them! Between the two "Boards" there is a lot of info to process - 7th cruise coming up and the first to the Caribbean!

We did the Fantasy Western in May. You're going to have a great time!

 

[kcashner]

I've never heard of Junkanoo beach before.

Cable Beach and Cabbage Beach are both free beaches in Nassau....and I always mix them up in my mind. The closest is a 15 minute "adult" walk from the port area or a short taxi ride. By "adult" walk--it is too far for little kids, and possibly more than adults carrying beach stuff might want to do. It is clean. It is right at the end of the beaches that many of the hotels use.

 

[elainyaeq]

probably a silly question, but i understand the wave phones work on the disney island CC, do the wave phones carry a signal in nassau? like if my DH wanted to meet up with us at the beach, could he call me using the wave phone?

 

[mammacaryn]

CABBAGE beach is the one we have went to. Once on our honeymoon in 2002, and once with our kids in 2009 (they were 3 and 5 at the time).

It's a cab ride away, you will take one of the cabs headed to Atlantis-tell them you want Cabbage Beach and they will get you with others going there. Its about 4 Bucks per person EACH WAY. (they pack the cabs FULL)

They will let you out in pull around/drop off area that is near hotels, there is a path that goes down to the beach-don't worry you won't be alone, many tourists go to this beach.

When you are ready to head back, walk back up the path---there will be cabs waiting.

Its a very nice beach with a local feel. Local folks selling shirts and jewelry-if you are interested you can barter, if not tell them no thanks. They might come back just be polite and say no thanks again and they generally leave you alone.

There will also be locals renting chairs and umbrellas.

Locals also sell VERY strong rum drinks in coconuts. You can barter with them on this too

All that being said, I have walked the area right by the port, down to Senor Frogs and the straw market (before the new one was built)and back by myself with no fears. My husband and I walked around last year for a little bit and we were never approached or got any funny vibes from anyone.

 

[pillow]

CABBAGE beach is the one we have went to. Once on our honeymoon in 2002, and once with our kids in 2009 (they were 3 and 5 at the time).

It's a cab ride away, you will take one of the cabs headed to Atlantis-tell them you want Cabbage Beach and they will get you with others going there. Its about 4 Bucks per person EACH WAY. (they pack the cabs FULL)

They will let you out in pull around/drop off area that is near hotels, there is a path that goes down to the beach-don't worry you won't be alone, many tourists go to this beach.

When you are ready to head back, walk back up the path---there will be cabs waiting.

Its a very nice beach with a local feel. Local folks selling shirts and jewelry-if you are interested you can barter, if not tell them no thanks. They might come back just be polite and say no thanks again and they generally leave you alone.

There will also be locals renting chairs and umbrellas.

Locals also sell VERY strong rum drinks in coconuts. You can barter with them on this too

All that being said, I have walked the area right by the port, down to Senor Frogs and the straw market (before the new one was built)and back by myself with no fears. My husband and I walked around last year for a little bit and we were never approached or got any funny vibes from anyone.

I like that Cabbage is close to Atlantis. Was reading a review on tripadvisor where someone walked over to Atlantis to eat lunch and walk through the caves.

Is the path to the beach easy for an elderly person? My 90 year old grandmother will be with us.

Jodie