B
Beth11
Guest
I opened my eyes at 6:10AM after a wonderful night of rest. I could barely tell that I was on a cruise ship, totally smooth and quite waters. I looked through our binoculars from the verandah and enjoyed the scenery and ocean sounds. Again, I was freaking out with joy at the color of that gorgeous water. Our Atlantic is just so pitiful here in Georgia. The Wonder was sailing neck to neck with the Carnival Fantasy. It was neat to see it so close. After a while the Wonder pulled ahead and the Fantasty "got in line behind us to dock."
I jumped in the shower and headed to Deck 9, where I got a cup of coffee, a danish and sat down to read my new navigator. After that I took 2 laps around Deck 4. Not a soul in sight expect one man asleep on the trunk that holds extra lifejackets! He looked so peaceful. Wandered around the ship and loved being alone with just my good buddy (ship) and ME!! Can't you tell, I just love that boat!! Then, I headed back to the stateroom and gently woke up everyone for breakfast. We ordered room service the night before and were planning to eat on the verandah. The breakfast arrived right on time!!
Everyone was happy but my video camera would not let me video. There was a warning that flashed on the screen. It said "Dew Dectection". I was disappointed not be able to film the Bahamas upon arrival. But, I did get plenty of great photos.
We had plans to meet the family we were cruising with at 9AM on Deck 1 to head to Atlantis. I had heard about Rufus at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas, he's the front end manager. About two weeks before we cruised, I called him. I told him we were going on the Wonder, but wanted to use the Atlantis facilities for the day that we would be in the Bahamas. I had a reservation that was made in March. He told me he would call me closer to cruise time and "tell me what he could do for our family." Well, he did call the day before we left and said that he would be at the gangplank holding a sign that said his name. This entire story with Rufus became a big joke with the men in our party. I felt comfortable with it, but they were worried that it was a "shady deal." Well, low and behold, Rufus was there just like he said he would be. We all walked up to him and introduced ourselves. He was very friendly and began talking to us making us feel totally comfortable. We followed him to his truck and he took us right to the doors of the Atlantis. We didn't even have to use a taxi cab to get there.
It was the Labor Day Holiday in the Bahamas and the citizens were lining up on the street for the parade to begin. It was so funny to have everyone looking at us. The kids were doing the "parade wave." We were all laughing hysterically. My friend and I were in the front seat with Rufus and everyone else was in the back of the truck. He suddenly pulled over in this abandoned gas station and told us that he wanted to get the paperwork done now. I told my girlfriend, that our husbands were probably having a heart attack in the back of the truck at this point. So, so funny!!!
So, he pulled some tickets out of his pocket. These were our passes for Atlantis with the Comfort Suites Logo. All four adults had to sign one each. When we arrived at Atlantis, our husbands gave him the cash amount that we agreed on and off Rufus went!!! Rufus was great, he saved each family $109.00 for what our reservation was for, he saved us $16 for each family in cab fare and he saved us from walking the distance from the Comfort Suites to the Resort Atlantis!!
What a resort it is!!!! We all walked into the lobby, totally amazed!! Everything there is just ENORMOUS!!! It is just a beautiful place!! We followed our noses out to the pool where two ladies asked us for our room passes. They let us by and we looked for the area to get our wrist bands. We had to show our room tickets to get the bands and the towels. They even wrote down our room number and how many towels we took. We all found a great spot by the pool and set out to find the hair braiding!!
This is a whole other story in itself!! Apparently, these women have an entire view of the resort from where they sit on the beach under these huts. As they see vacationers, they call out what they are wearing and kind of "tag" them as their customers. It's like a guessing game for them. If the person they call out comes up for hair braiding then that is their customer. I hope I am making sense. They were so funny to listen to in their native dialect. Anyway, my daughter and my friends daughter got the headband type braid with 2 beads on each braid for $2 per braid. My son got 10 small braids with 2 beads each on one side of his head. The entire ordeal took 50 minutes. 3 customers and 3 hair braiders. I had a ball taking these ladies pictures and talking to them about their native home.
We headed off to those awesome slides. Since it was only about 10:30, there was no crowd or lines. The kids and adults really enjoyed all the slides and going through the huge tanks filled with sharks and neat fish. I could have stared at the tank a whole hour just watching these great animals. So, we spent the entire day, swimming and sliding, resting in great lounge chairs that have actually covers that can be adjusted over your heads. And... if you want any service while lounging, you just put up this pole with a flag at the top and a server will come to you!!! Awesome!! Lunch was only fair... the tuna was dry and the nachos stale. We did send back the nachos for some fresh ones. We decided before hand not to do much more than walk on the beach since Castaway Cay was the next day! Around 4 we headed to the lobby, caught a taxi and returned safely to the Wonder. What a great day at Atlantis! This is definitely an all day thing. I would never advise someone to try to more than Atlantis on the Nassau Day, unless your just wanted to walk around and LOOK!
Dinner was at Animators Palate! The show is just as wonderful the second time around!!! I had the roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. Everyone was happy and very tanned and in some instances red!!! I simply love going to Shutters after dinner. I even love looking at the pictures of all the cruisers that I don't even know. We shopped and the kids went to see a movie. Saw the Mickey Mania show, it was cute! Wish I had been picked since I knew so many of the answers!! (Oh, dear, that was last night, Oh, well!!) We browsed over the Silent Auction items. In December, I bought my husband a shirt at the ESPN shop. It was a great looking polo style shirt with the ESPN DCL Logo on it. He loved it!! The first time he wore it, he was miserable. It was so itchy and rough. I washed it but the fibers were still so rough. I still had my reciept. Well... it was only 5 months old. We went to the store and explained to the fellow working there what the situation was. He kindly let us exchange the shirt for other merchandise. This was great!! It worked out beautifully!
After going back to the room to discover some really neat towel animals (YAHOO!!) we decided to order some fruit and cookies from room service. We ate the fruit and saved the CChip and Sugar cookies for Castaway Cay. I climbed up on the top bunk with my DD and we ate cookies, fruit and watched the news. Guess what... the newscast we were watching was from New York City. I couldn't believe it!! I went to sleep dreaming of CC and hoping I would wake up and BE THERE!!! I didn't even want to think about the worse thing that could happen.... two cruises and NO CASTAWAY CAY!!!!
Overall, the day was totally awesome and beautiful. The high temperature that day was only 85 and so it was just perfect. The sun there is very intense and hot!!! I though it was hot here in GA, but this is a different kind of hot!!!! HOT< HOT> HOT!!!!
More tomorrow....dreaming of CC as I fall asleep!!! I love DCL!!!!!
Beth
Day 2.... Nassau, Bahamas
I jumped in the shower and headed to Deck 9, where I got a cup of coffee, a danish and sat down to read my new navigator. After that I took 2 laps around Deck 4. Not a soul in sight expect one man asleep on the trunk that holds extra lifejackets! He looked so peaceful. Wandered around the ship and loved being alone with just my good buddy (ship) and ME!! Can't you tell, I just love that boat!! Then, I headed back to the stateroom and gently woke up everyone for breakfast. We ordered room service the night before and were planning to eat on the verandah. The breakfast arrived right on time!!
Everyone was happy but my video camera would not let me video. There was a warning that flashed on the screen. It said "Dew Dectection". I was disappointed not be able to film the Bahamas upon arrival. But, I did get plenty of great photos.
We had plans to meet the family we were cruising with at 9AM on Deck 1 to head to Atlantis. I had heard about Rufus at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas, he's the front end manager. About two weeks before we cruised, I called him. I told him we were going on the Wonder, but wanted to use the Atlantis facilities for the day that we would be in the Bahamas. I had a reservation that was made in March. He told me he would call me closer to cruise time and "tell me what he could do for our family." Well, he did call the day before we left and said that he would be at the gangplank holding a sign that said his name. This entire story with Rufus became a big joke with the men in our party. I felt comfortable with it, but they were worried that it was a "shady deal." Well, low and behold, Rufus was there just like he said he would be. We all walked up to him and introduced ourselves. He was very friendly and began talking to us making us feel totally comfortable. We followed him to his truck and he took us right to the doors of the Atlantis. We didn't even have to use a taxi cab to get there.
It was the Labor Day Holiday in the Bahamas and the citizens were lining up on the street for the parade to begin. It was so funny to have everyone looking at us. The kids were doing the "parade wave." We were all laughing hysterically. My friend and I were in the front seat with Rufus and everyone else was in the back of the truck. He suddenly pulled over in this abandoned gas station and told us that he wanted to get the paperwork done now. I told my girlfriend, that our husbands were probably having a heart attack in the back of the truck at this point. So, so funny!!!
So, he pulled some tickets out of his pocket. These were our passes for Atlantis with the Comfort Suites Logo. All four adults had to sign one each. When we arrived at Atlantis, our husbands gave him the cash amount that we agreed on and off Rufus went!!! Rufus was great, he saved each family $109.00 for what our reservation was for, he saved us $16 for each family in cab fare and he saved us from walking the distance from the Comfort Suites to the Resort Atlantis!!
What a resort it is!!!! We all walked into the lobby, totally amazed!! Everything there is just ENORMOUS!!! It is just a beautiful place!! We followed our noses out to the pool where two ladies asked us for our room passes. They let us by and we looked for the area to get our wrist bands. We had to show our room tickets to get the bands and the towels. They even wrote down our room number and how many towels we took. We all found a great spot by the pool and set out to find the hair braiding!!
This is a whole other story in itself!! Apparently, these women have an entire view of the resort from where they sit on the beach under these huts. As they see vacationers, they call out what they are wearing and kind of "tag" them as their customers. It's like a guessing game for them. If the person they call out comes up for hair braiding then that is their customer. I hope I am making sense. They were so funny to listen to in their native dialect. Anyway, my daughter and my friends daughter got the headband type braid with 2 beads on each braid for $2 per braid. My son got 10 small braids with 2 beads each on one side of his head. The entire ordeal took 50 minutes. 3 customers and 3 hair braiders. I had a ball taking these ladies pictures and talking to them about their native home.
We headed off to those awesome slides. Since it was only about 10:30, there was no crowd or lines. The kids and adults really enjoyed all the slides and going through the huge tanks filled with sharks and neat fish. I could have stared at the tank a whole hour just watching these great animals. So, we spent the entire day, swimming and sliding, resting in great lounge chairs that have actually covers that can be adjusted over your heads. And... if you want any service while lounging, you just put up this pole with a flag at the top and a server will come to you!!! Awesome!! Lunch was only fair... the tuna was dry and the nachos stale. We did send back the nachos for some fresh ones. We decided before hand not to do much more than walk on the beach since Castaway Cay was the next day! Around 4 we headed to the lobby, caught a taxi and returned safely to the Wonder. What a great day at Atlantis! This is definitely an all day thing. I would never advise someone to try to more than Atlantis on the Nassau Day, unless your just wanted to walk around and LOOK!
Dinner was at Animators Palate! The show is just as wonderful the second time around!!! I had the roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. Everyone was happy and very tanned and in some instances red!!! I simply love going to Shutters after dinner. I even love looking at the pictures of all the cruisers that I don't even know. We shopped and the kids went to see a movie. Saw the Mickey Mania show, it was cute! Wish I had been picked since I knew so many of the answers!! (Oh, dear, that was last night, Oh, well!!) We browsed over the Silent Auction items. In December, I bought my husband a shirt at the ESPN shop. It was a great looking polo style shirt with the ESPN DCL Logo on it. He loved it!! The first time he wore it, he was miserable. It was so itchy and rough. I washed it but the fibers were still so rough. I still had my reciept. Well... it was only 5 months old. We went to the store and explained to the fellow working there what the situation was. He kindly let us exchange the shirt for other merchandise. This was great!! It worked out beautifully!
After going back to the room to discover some really neat towel animals (YAHOO!!) we decided to order some fruit and cookies from room service. We ate the fruit and saved the CChip and Sugar cookies for Castaway Cay. I climbed up on the top bunk with my DD and we ate cookies, fruit and watched the news. Guess what... the newscast we were watching was from New York City. I couldn't believe it!! I went to sleep dreaming of CC and hoping I would wake up and BE THERE!!! I didn't even want to think about the worse thing that could happen.... two cruises and NO CASTAWAY CAY!!!!
Overall, the day was totally awesome and beautiful. The high temperature that day was only 85 and so it was just perfect. The sun there is very intense and hot!!! I though it was hot here in GA, but this is a different kind of hot!!!! HOT< HOT> HOT!!!!
More tomorrow....dreaming of CC as I fall asleep!!! I love DCL!!!!!
Beth
Day 2.... Nassau, Bahamas
