I don't know if I would walk anywhere in Nassau. The whole area looked kind of sketchy. We did Atlantis and found it well overpriced....we would rather Typhoon Lagoon.... Honestly we are not hard to please, but if we cruise the Bahamas again we will be staying on the ship in Nassau, the drive to the Atlantis resort looked like the slums of New Orleans. I would not feel safe walking through there with my kids. Stick with Disney in Nassau...just my opinion. St. Thomas and St. Maarten on our last cruise however were wonderful!
We walked (and got turned around and around) to Fort Finncastle/Queens staircase from the ship and stopped at a few stores. It was myself, my husband, my friend (disabled in a wheelchair), my almost 15 yo, 9yo and 8 yo - all girls. There are relatively few street signs (which is why we kept getting turned around), very few sidewalks, and a LOT of pot holes, uneven ground, narrow roads with parked cars on both sides. Not what most people would call "pedestrian friendly". That being said, we were fine. There are a lot of people out walking, they were all nice, and once we got past the aggressive tour people and shops right off the ship, no one bothered us. We agreed to allow a gentleman give us his memorized script of the Queens Staircase (and tipped him), we paid to get in and then tipped for the tour of Fort Finncastle (this was the only person who mentioned tips to us), the picture guy didn't mind using our camera also, and we never felt pressured to buy his ($10 includes a frame and wasn't a bad picture at all.), the guide also offered to take our picture several times at the top of the castle. Never did I feel unsafe - my husband had stayed with my wheelchair bound friend at the bottom of the staircase.
I agree it looks absolutely slummy in many (most?) areas. My 15 yo even commented "no one told me Nassau would look scary" and then commented "wow, everyone is so nice here. I feel bad for saying it looked scary" I told her that it was good she took notice of her situation enough to be aware of her surroundings. Will we stay on the boat next time? maybe. We didn't find a few things I wanted to because of the route we took, so if we end up in Nassau again, we might try to find just those things. But even this time we were back on the ship for lunch.
I walked all over Nassau and didn't have an issue. Just be aware of your surroundings and don't have a lot of valuables flashing around.
Do you a link to the tour? Might be something I would be interested in.
Jill in CO
I agree with this. I had a concealed bag that had my cash in it, no more than I thought I needed for the day, but even then I was careful when I got into it.
We really enjoyed walking around the town and talking with people. There's nothing wrong with the tourist view, but I'm also glad that my kids got to see a more authentic (less shiny) view of the Bahamas.
That food tour sounds fabulous!! I really wish I had known about it beforehand. It's saved for future reference!
