What to do in the Bahamas? Stay on the ship?...

[ash901]

We are traveling with DS 5 and DD 2.5. None of the the excursions really appeal to me and if they do DD is too young for the age requirement. DH and I have never travelled to the Bahamas so I hate to stay on the ship, but I don't want to waste money on excursion we won't all enjoy. Any suggestions are appreciated!

[ash901]

Should have noted we will be on the Dream May 26th.

[kalc12345]

Since you have never been you need to get off the boat and look around. The market is within walking distance. You could also take a carriage tour of the island. It is fairly cheap to do and doesn't take much time.

[WendyLovesPeter]

We just got off the Dream with ages 3, 8, 12, 16, 19, 20 and older. I felt the same as you. None of the excursions really appealed to me for the money. The Atlantis resort is easily visible and is really the only thing on Nassau that even looks nice. That was the only excursion that seemed like something we wanted to do. Still we did not feel it was worth the time or money. We didn't want to blow the whole afternoon getting there and back either.

We got off purely because the older kids were curious and wanted to see what it was like. They quickly caught on that life is better on the ship. We walked thru the straw market and I bought my little girls small straw purses but after 2 hours of wandering, the older kids went back and we followed quickly.

[joelnkelly]

I highly suggest you stay on the ship, the Bahamas are nothing to write home about.

[STLEdge]

You don't say if this is a 3 day or 4 day Dream, but either way, if it's your first cruise, I'd recommend staying on the ship too. That's what we did on our 3-day Dream cruise in 2011 and we've never regretted it.

Besides, Castaway Cay is also in the Bahamas, so it's not like you'll miss setting foot in a foreign country by skipping the Nassau port!

[Coconut8473]

Are you big beach people? We did the Blue Lagoon Beach Day (not with the dolphin or sea lion encounters - just the beach day), and had a blast with DS 2.5. The beach was pretty quiet and relaxing, with lots of beach toys for him to play with, and the warm, shallow lagoon was perfect for toddlers. The lunch you get for free was adequate (burgers, fries), but there's also a full cash bar on site, and you can buy things a la carte, like conch fritters and other local fare.

There are viewing areas where you can see the dolphins and sea lions as well (as other people are participating in encounters), which DS loved.

Plus, the catamaran ride there and back is fun and relaxing, and has some beautiful views.

Granted, you'll likely be doing CC the next day, so if the beach isn't your thing, it might be overkill. But we absolutely loved having back-to-back beach days.

Now planning another cruise for next summer (DS will be 3.5 then) and definitely doing this excursion again!

[yaddakal]

I'm also struggling with same decision..... We will either stay on the ship or we will get off and most likely do the blue Lagoon dolphin encounter. We are on the three night Cruise. I wonder if we will have time enough to enjoy the pools and the aqueduct on the first day and after excursions or not... We r trying to pack in as much fun as poss but we don't want to get too caught up in the fun and not relax at all... I'm counting on castaway Cay to be relaxing... Thanks for submitting this thread;-)

[joelnkelly]

Originally Posted by yaddakal

I'm also struggling with same decision..... We will either stay on the ship or we will get off and most likely do the blue Lagoon dolphin encounter. We are on the three night Cruise. I wonder if we will have time enough to enjoy the pools and the aqueduct on the first day and after excursions or not... We r trying to pack in as much fun as poss but we don't want to get too caught up in the fun and not relax at all... I'm counting on castaway Cay to be relaxing... Thanks for submitting this thread;-)

Trust me when I say on the 3 day cruise there is no rest, once the cruise is done you will feel like you just ran a marathon. It sounds like you are trying to pack as much in as possible which is what everyone does, it will be crazy but you will have a blast!

[lorimay]

We are thinking about getting off and seeing about having lunch at Atlantis.

Does anyone know if you can walk to Atlantis?

[ash-n-brensmom]

We have been debating this as well. We are just on a 3 night cruise and DH and I were leery about Nassau. We've been there without our kids, they will be 9 and 13 when we cruise in Oct. I just said to DH, let's let it be a game day decision. We may be too tired to do anything (we are doing WDW prior to the cruise). But, if we do something it will be a leisurely walk through the Straw Market and a stop at Junkanoo beach. Not the most picturesque beach, but free, close and you can see the ships from there. We did The Colonial Hilton in 2011 when it was just DH and I and while we felt we got our money's worth, it's not worth spending so much for a family of 4 when the free beach is right next door.

We thought we might prefer to stay on board the ship so we can explore, and we might. But a couple hours in Nassau won't kill that plan altogether and I am afraid we might miss any beach time at all if we end up with a windy, choppy day at Castaway Cay and can't dock.

[firsttimemom]

We've been to the bahamas 4 times and have never left the ship. Honestly, there's nothing that appealed to us and 3/4 nite cruises are already so rushed that it's nice to be able to relax on a relatively uncrowded ship.

[meajuly5]

Can not walk to Atlantis

[ash901]

Thanks so much. This helps. We are on the 4 night. I did think at about the day at Blue Dolphin, but now I'm thinking we may just wait it out and if we need to get off we can do one of the beaches you have mention. My children love the beach so back to back won't matter! Thanks again.

[pillow]

Originally Posted by ash901

Thanks so much. This helps. We are on the 4 night. I did think at about the day at Blue Dolphin, but now I'm thinking we may just wait it out and if we need to get off we can do one of the beaches you have mention. My children love the beach so back to back won't matter! Thanks again.

Thats sorta what we did. We had talked about staying onboard, but once we docked, and I saw that beautiful water, I just couldn't help but get off and head for a beach. Check tripadvisor. I found the beach reviews helpful. Loved Cabbage and it was a cheap cab ride.

Jodie