Nassau questions galore

[8 Ears]

Hello all. We have a ton of questions concerning Nassau. We are planning on taking a carriage ride to Ardastra Gardens. In reality, what should we plan on speding for it? There will be 2 adults and 2 children. What do you think, do that, walk, taxi, or the # 10 bus (see I am learning from this board )
Opinions on Ardastra Gardens?, The Pirate Mueseum?, The Botanical Gardens?, Fort Charlotte?, and the Water Tower?
I know this is a lot of questions but I want to be well informed. K, guess that is all of them, for now LOL
Thanks a bunch!!

 

[Pixie Mom 3]

"just" back from the wonder....

went to nassau... and dont plan on getting off the ship in nassau again... we have 3 kids 10,9,6... they nor I had any desire to see the dirty run down village or the "market place" we did the walking tour HA ha.... I say do it once for your benifit.. keep the kids on the ship and in the kids program.... they will have lots more fun!!!!!

 

[8 Ears]

Ouch, you do not paint a pretty picture. We thank you for responding so fast. We are second guessing ourselves, friends have not spoken highly of Nassau either. Thanks again.

 

[hydster]

We have 3 kids as well and we all LOVED Nassau! It definitely is NOT the US but it is interesting to visit! I didnt find it to be any dirtier than any US big city and although the locals are a little "pushy" a firm NO and they backed off. Our kids were 9,7 and 3 and they had a BLAST at the Straw Market. Our 9 year old DD learned how to haggle a little bit and really enjoyed the nice women who were talking to her about her pretty long hair. I guess for us part of the fun of a cruise is seeing different places and cultures. I would say take your kids off the ship and see for yourself. Go in with an open mind knowing full well you can always get back on the ship if it is too intense or something you just dont want to deal with. I dont know anything about the tour you are talking about but we hired a taxi and they took us around the city and showed us some pretty neat history and other things.

I surely wouldnt let someone talk you into or out of going to Nassau but would say you should at least try to experience it a little bit. It was a huge eye opener for our kids to realize just how great they had it at home! They learned a lot and really loved some of the kids. We brought some Salt Water Taffy and they passed it out to some of the local kids...it was pretty fun!



JMHO
Heidi

 

[hmneal]

Our first cruise was 2/29/04. We debated whether or not to get off the boat in Nassau. Since it was our first trip we decided to give it a try. We got off the boat and walked to the Pirate Museum. It was fun for the 8, 10 & 12yr olds with us. The 6yr old was interested but a little intimated. The 16yr thought it was ok (no rave reviews but no complaints....that's all one can ask of a 16yr old sometimes!) We then went to the straw market. It was fun to see, we did buy a few little things but I kept stressing over my wandering 10yr old, who was usually with my mother and out of my sight. After one full isle in the straw market, I was finished.

I'd say we were back on the ship by noon and had a nice lunch and spent the rest of the day at the pool.

We enjoyed our time in Nassua and I'm glad we gave it a try. But once was probably enough. Next trip, I'd be fine to get off the boat for an hour or two but I think we'd all be just as happy to stay on the boat and enjoy the day too.

 

[Roemama1]

Originally posted by Pixie Mom 3
"just" back from the wonder....

went to nassau... and dont plan on getting off the ship in nassau again... we have 3 kids 10,9,6... they nor I had any desire to see the dirty run down village or the "market place" we did the walking tour HA ha.... I say do it once for your benifit.. keep the kids on the ship and in the kids program.... they will have lots more fun!!!!!

You took the words right out of my mouth. I feel the same way. WE had just spent 5 days in WDW so we weren't in the mood to do any "organized tours". We went shopping for 2 hours (which I normally LOVE to do) but then went back to the ship for the girls to swim in the Mickey Pool which, by the way, was not that crowded. We had more fun there. Just chillin'................

 

[disboo]

My husband, sister and I went to Ardasta Gardens with the marching flamingos recently. We took a cab, and the price was very reasonable (can't remember what it was - but not much). We actually lucked out and had an older woman driver who gave us a little talk about what we were seeing as we drove along. She was very nice.

The Gardens were pretty. If you like walking through tropical growth (we do), you'll like it. There are various animals in cages - birds, cats, cool squirrels, etc. The marching flamingo show is funny, but there isn't a lot to it. We old folks (all in our 40's) enjoyed the trip, but kids might or might not like it.

We spent less than two hours on this trip, and vey little money.

Nassau is not my favorite place, but it is different from most US cities, and therefore you can learn something new. IT depends on what you want from your cruise experience, I guess.

 

[Jillpie]

We are planning on our first cruise next April. Nobody seems to ever mention any beaches to go to on Nassau? Can we just take a taxi to a beach for the day?

 

[sherr]

We did the Blue Lagoon Beach day and it was very nice. The lagoon is beautiful clear water and the beach was perfect that day. Lots of hammocks too. We took the fairy from near the ship to get there.

 

[monkeygirl]

We also did the Blue Lagoon Day and it was very nice. On the way to the water taxi we did get bombarded by people wanting to braid our hair and a couple of people tried to sell us illegal substances. It was very interesting to say the least. Once we got to our destination it was relaxing in hammoks and swimming in clear blue waters.......very enjoyable day. My boyfriend's sister has a house in Nassau with her husband and she assures me that Nassau has some beautiful parts, unfortunatly, where the cruise ships come in, is not one of them.

 

[cyndilou01]

did you take the DCL excursion to the beach or did you go on your own? was it very expensive?

I will be going May 2005 on the Wonder 4 days, I will be taking a group of singles and I am trying to see what we can do other than walking the island. we went there last time. and since the boat stays there for such a long time I would like to plan something nice for them to do. (about 30-40singles)

 

[webray]

We just finished the three day cruise.

We did the two hour history of the city tour...very nice..lets you out at the important places..queens staircase, forts, water tower etc. That was plenty good to get a taste of the city.

Then we had lunch at Conch Fritters..just a block or so up from straw market. We stopped at Senor Frogs, got stamps and mailed our postcards from the Pharmacy. Went to check out the Hard Rock Cafe, a few other shops and stopped at the liquor store of course. We did some shopping in the straw market..lots of fun.

If we cruise that way again...we definately won't need to be off the boat for long..except to get food..there is also a wonderful philipino restaurant to the left of the straw market...wonderful.

We would also want to grab a cab and check out Atlantis on our next trip.

Enjoy!

 

[crisi]

Boy, if you think Nassau was a dirty run down village, you should see most of the third world. Nassau is a clean well kept garden spot in comparision.

The Nassau "strip" is a bunch of storefronts. A lot of them look like what you'd see in the States in the not nice part of town - i.e. the signs aren't very professional, the stores are very much just storefronts - not the clean themeing we are used to seeing shopping. Add to it the people and traffic (a ton of traffic and a lot of people), and stores (and street hawkers) designed to part cruise ship passengers with their money. We didn't do any shopping - but if you know where to shop, fine jewelry and liquor can be bought cheaply, apparently.

We went the the pirate museum with our four and five year old. They really enjoyed it. www.pirates-of-nassau.com. We took the glass bottom boat tour and it was OK, but not fantastic. We were back on the boat by two, where we enjoyed food, kids club activities and empty pools.

 

[LindaBabe]

to Ardestra gardens - it was fun! You can get the full details in my trip report on the 4 day cruise. btw, the bus goes all the way to Cable beach.

The Bahamas are a poor country. (Even Florida is not all nicy-nice when you get away from Disney World.) It might do us all some good to see how the less fortunate live occasionally. I know I will be less inclined to whine about what I don't have, going forward.

 

[8 Ears]

Thanks to all for your comments. Still not 100% sure what we will do, of course we have until December to decide

 

[Jillpie]

Monkigirl, can you give me some more details about this "blue lagoon day"? Do you pay for this water taxi by way of Disney or when you get to it? Did you take a bag lunch from the ship and bring it with you? How long did you stay on this beach and do you think my boys would like it (16, 13 and 12)? We'd love to spend some time on a Bahama beach and thought this may be it.