Nassau

[JimmyMartin]

Would you get off in Nassau and what would you do?

 

[KYMickey]

During our cruise last week we took the Atlantis Tour and then spent some time downtown looking in the shops.

The Atlantis Tour was interesting, their aquarium is wonderful! But don't bother eatin lunch there. We did and the food was expensive ($12 for a salad), less than great and the service was awful.

As for downtown, we felt very intimidated by many of the street vendors and almost everyone in the Straw Market (now in a temporay tent after the fire). The nicer shops have some beautiful merchandise but unless you know what price the items are worth I'd be careful.

If I did another cruise that stopped in Nassau I probably would stay on the ship. I've heard some of Nassau's beaches are nice however if youj're into that kind of thing.

 

[mickeyc]

We took the Atlantis tour and enjoyed it. Spent sometime downtown and at the market. I would recommend the tour especially if you have not been to Nassau. It was our first time visiting. I wouldn't want to spend more than one day there. Enjoy your trip!

 

[minnieluvzmickey]

I had heard that the alcohol was much cheaper in nassau. Is this true? I am no alcy or anything but might want to bring some rum back. Is there a liquor store near the port and is it that much cheaper to make it worth the trip?

 

[Wishing on a star]

We just got back... We went to Atlantis on our own. I will post more in a detailed report, but here are some quick thoughts.

First, what to do is a purely personal preference thing!

We booked a room at the Comfort Suites... this worked out well, and we had a great rate. You literally just walk right across the street.

Atlantis is just fabulous... The Resort, the Dig, and the grounds are incredible. And we really enjoyed our day there!!!! I have many beautiful and priceless photos of DS at the Dig and pools, etc!!!!!

I would NOT recommend going to Atlantis for the beach.... I have heard other posters mention this, and they are right! There is no shade from the heat and sun. The drop off is a bit steep, and the surf can be rough... ( to much for DS while we were there!!!)

We walked all the way down to the beach lugging our heavy bag in the sun, (talk about being hot and worn out!) and they have NO chairs set up... You have to TIP the beach attendant to have him pull chairs up for you... We never did get his attention... NOt until we had decided to just head back up to the pools. And, most of the chairs do not even have the little shade-covers. A resort the caliper of Atlantis should have plenty of shady beach umbrellas, and nice rows of those chairs all set up on the beach for their guest.... NOT!!!

Now the beach at Castaway Cay... WOW!!!

 

[mickeyc]

My son went to the liquor store and he said it was not too expensive. However, be carefull he advised when he was walking down the main street he was offered drugs more than once. Just a word of caution. Enjoy!

 

[musicgirl]

Our first year we did the blue lagoon and did not go into Nassau because of the timing and we were pretty tired.

This year, we did the catamaran sail and snorkel (which was great). We were back in time for a swim, lunch and to get cleaned up. We went back into Nassau, basically for the experience. It was extemely hot in June. We went into the "mall" that is right next to the ship. It is air conditioned. There are little shops, some are nice and some are tacky. We went to the straw market which was unbelievably hot. The rows are close together. They try to get you to buy. The merchandise is pretty much the same up and down the aisles.

If you do go, even though they tell you credit cards are accepted-they're not. We only took a small amount of cash with us. We ended up going back to the ship for more. They won't take travelers checks either. Now, some of the more expensive places might have, but the smaller booths didn't.

We only went in for about 2 hours at the most. It was plenty of time.

 

[gonna go cruising]

the "mall"? I do not remember seeing anything that resembled one. Could you give some info and directions? We left the ship and went past the hair braiders who hounded us, then just kind of meandered and headed back to the straw market because we had been told not to miss it. An air conditioned mall would be wonderful to see.

thanks!

 

[puckhog45]

I highly recommend going to the aquarium at Atlantis. It was awesome!!

 

[wonderbound]

I also recommend seeing the aquarium. We had a great time!

 

[SueEllen]

Originally posted by gonna go cruising
the "mall"? I do not remember seeing anything that resembled one. Could you give some info and directions? We left the ship and went past the hair braiders who hounded us, then just kind of meandered and headed back to the straw market because we had been told not to miss it. An air conditioned mall would be wonderful to see.

thanks!

Depending on when you were last in Nassau things have changed considerably.

You no longer walk down the street to get to the vendors/straw market area, etc. Ever since the straw market burned down things are quite different.

The taxis can no longer come down by the ship so it's a HUGE traffic jam to get into a taxi and going. Also, to get into the town at all now you MUST go through the air conditioned "mall" area that the above poster mentioned (and have to return to the ship through here also and show your ship ID to get back over to the ships.) It is basically an enclosed shopping area with the same types of vendors there were at the straw market (booths of Bahamians selling their wares and some food vendors.) It's crowded and there isn't much to it.

One thing I noticed in Nassau is that NONE of the payphones will accept pre-paid calling cards. I could not call home at all...be aware of this when going ashore if you are planning on using one of these (we couldn't even use it on the phones at Atlantis!)

 

[aprilgail2]

If I ever went back to Nassau again I would stay on the ship! I didn't care for it at all, it was dirty, people were pushy and it was not all that safe walking around there IMHO. I wouldn't bother to even leave the ship unless you are going over to Atlantis.

 

[Wishing on a star]

We were just there, and experienced no
traffic-jam at all.... The ship was docked right next to the pavillion area where the taxis load and unload. I suppose we were lucky, but we found it relatively simple and easy to get a taxi... Just walked right up.... One lady in our taxi mentioned that Nassau seemed much improved lately...

We lucked out and joined with another group to fill a taxi van... by Nassau standards, it was a nice ride... air conditioned, decent driver...

I do agree with others, that unless we were on our way to Atlantis, we too would have stayed onboard!

 

[newms]

I have a questions about Nassau- we really would just like to pack some sandwiches, walk around the shops a bit, and get to a beach. We don't really want the excursions and the extras. Has anyone done this? What transportation did you use? What beach is best and easiest? We have an 8 and 11 year old- so we want it to be safe but fun.

 

[poopie]

CASINO!!!!


Both times we went on a snorkle excursion in the morning, came back cleaned up, dressed for dinner, then headed by taxi to the casino, the 1st trip I won 2k which I split with my friend and we spent it ALL on Spa treatments every day, the next time I lost 3 hundred .

After the Casino we headed back for dinner as we were already dressed.

I think this next time I m going to take one of the tours of Nassau that takes you around the island, and of course hit the Casino before dinner.

Someone mentioned that they didn't feel safe in Nassau, I would have to disagree while the vendors are rather pushy I find that a smile and eye contact with them when you decline what they have to offer seems to work well, as far a safety it was fine an dI had to walk out of the casino with 2k in my pocket ,I can't say I worried in more for my safety than I do in Vegas.

 

[Partridge4ever]

At the last minute we decided to book the Sunshine Glass Bottom Boat tour for my kids and myself. I'd read unfavorable reviews here, but we thought it was terrific. There were very few people on the boat so everyone was able to get a good view. I think if they had a full load that it would be hard to view the fish. We also got a nice little harbor tour pointing out homes of famous people and a great view of Atlantis. We were escorted to the boat, then afterwards left on our own to shop if we wanted. I chose to go back to the ship and was approached 8 times (no exaggeration) about hair braiding. A polite no thank you worked fine though. The literature says it lasts an hour and a half, but it was going on 1 pm when we got back on the ship.

DH was told by a DCL employee that the only way to Atlantis was by taxi and he paid $20 one way. I saw plenty of signs saying $6 round trip. He was disappointed in the casino. He said it's quite small and that the limits on the table games were high.

 

[poopie]

the limits on the tables are high $25 min for BlackJack, I didn't check the other tables. It is a more elegant upscale Casino, one of the blackjack tables I saw had a $500 min bet, and there were people sitting at it, not me of course.

 

[Evil Princess]

Originally posted by poopie
the limits on the tables are high $25 min for BlackJack, I didn't check the other tables. It is a more elegant upscale Casino, one of the blackjack tables I saw had a $500 min bet, and there were people sitting at it, not me of course.

The Atlantis is VERY expensive, and as a result you get people with alot of money to throw around. My boyfriend and I were in awe one night, watching two men at the $500 min table near the Five Twins (I think?) bar, and they were there for at least an hour. When going back to our room they were STILL there.

There are many tables with high minimums, but the Caribbean Stud Poker had low tables, and we often stuck to that.

 

[ivanova]

do they have low limit Let It Ride tables? About the only table game we play

 

[gswfan]

It was one of the stops of our Wonder Cruise 2 months ago (August). We walked around with the kids for almost an hour and ran back to ship. Not the ideal area for kids and they'd rather be in their clubs. We went back out again cause DW wanted to get some souvenirs and went back immediately to the ship. Like other posters have said, very pushy vendors and certain areas in their downtown are dirty. Save the beach for Castaway; for Casino, I'd rather go to Vegas.