We got our preliminary book for our cruise yesterday!

[Deemarch]

I was surprised at how excited I was, being that our trip is still more than 4 months away!!

But I did sit and read the book and I am really wondering if we are doing the right thing by planning to go to the straw market and go back to the ship while we are in Nassau? This is our first DCL cruise and we are Disney Freaks, so we are really interested in the ship, not the port, except for Castaway Cay.

Anyone have a really good suggestion for an excursion? Or should we stick with our plan?

Also, we'd love to rent one of the little sailboats on CC. Can anyone rent them or do we need our coastguard certification papers?

 

[leejay22]

I was surprised at how excited I was, being that our trip is still more than 4 months away!!

But I did sit and read the book and I am really wondering if we are doing the right thing by planning to go to the straw market and go back to the ship while we are in Nassau? This is our first DCL cruise and we are Disney Freaks, so we are really interested in the ship, not the port, except for Castaway Cay.

Anyone have a really good suggestion for an excursion? Or should we stick with our plan?

Also, we'd love to rent one of the little sailboats on CC. Can anyone rent them or do we need our coastguard certification papers?

Deemarch - congrats on booking your cruise! You probably need to ask these questions in the main forum rather that under trip reports. I can't answer them as I'm only going on my first DCL cruise in 4 weeks!

 

[lmok]

Beth,

I don't think you need to worry about being off of the ship in Nassau. There is so much to do on the ship almost 24/7 that you need to take advantage of the ports as well. Just get ready though because you will be ready to book the next one. It is like a living dream with all of the shows and everything. I hope you have the best time ever!!!

What kind of book did you get in the mail?

Lisa

 

[Deemarch]

What kind of book did you get in the mail?

The book in the envelope. We got the smaller, textbook-type book right after we booked back in July.

 

[clovely]

This is our first cruise but we've been to Nassau a couple of years ago. The only regret I had about that trip was that I wasted a whole day in Nassau and lost a whole day at our fabulous resort. There's nothing in Nassau I feel like I need to see this time, especially with my kids.

I guess I'm just not a very adventurous person. None of the excursions, especially for the prices, look interesting to me. And there seems to be so much to do on the ship! I'm sure we wont get off the boat at all in Nassau.

 

[eznunzit]

DeeMarch,

We are taking an eastern cruise this year but went to Nassau 2 years ago on Royal Carribean. Nassau has a place called Astoria Gardens. Here is the info on it from the Disney site:




Ardastra Gardens & City Tour (N-16)
Discover the lush, tropical Gardens of Ardastra, home of the world-famous marching flamingos. Enjoy an amazing assortment of Bahamian animals, then visit some of Nassau's famous historical sites.

• Activity Level: Moderate
• For Ages: All Ages
• Adult Price: $37 (ages 10 and up)
• Child Price: $27 (ages 3-9), under 3 free
• Duration: 2.5 hours

The marching flamingos are a riot. My DS was almost 2 and DD was 6. My mom had booked us on this tour because she had taken her mom on it the year before and they loved it. They have a lot of unique animals and it is a beautiful tropical setting! Our tour guide was really knowledgable. We also saw the queen's staircase, toured a fort, and saw alot of other things on the island. I would definetly recommend this trip.

 

[Twins4Mickey]

Hye Denise. We actually went to Nassau to on a RC cruise. We spen the day at Atlantis and LOVED it! Of course back then we just wanted the beach, sun and drinks. Now we have our twins. We are planning to go to Atlantis again. We still like the sun, beach and drinks. We'll just have the babies with us! It should be interesting!

 

[chuck2534]

We did the dolphin encounter. You may want to check it out too. We have a dd(5.5) and she absolutly enjoyed it. You meet in Wavebands (a club in the bow) round 9:30, then after a short walk through Nassau's port terminal and peddlers (I mean the shopping district), a smaller boat takes you to the island, which is about an hour trip, The sights during the boat ride are pretty cool, there are some beautiful homes along the (bay/waterway). Don't forget to grab towels on your way off the ship! (take as many as u want)
When you get to the island, they will give you the typical sales pitch for upgrading to a total in water swim portion, which is like an additional $150. +/- They will also pitch to you the photo/video services.
They will then lead you to a covered area with a platform where you will interact with the dolphins, feed them, touch their teeth, dance with them and they will also photograph them with you/and they will kiss you. You stand on a platform in about 3 feet of water, chilly at first but not too bad overall.
My dd loved it! My dw came along as an observer, 35 bucks for a boat ride and sitting on a dock watching us. I was bummed because I wish she was able to come down with us to get a better camera angle to get pictures, but she did a fabulous job nevertheless. She also taped us with the camcorder.
We met new friends on the cruise, (hey Andy, Sabrina,Erica and Emily ) Andy allowed our dd to jump into their family package during the individual photo shoots (total of 5 people) and got some awesome photos of dd. In return, we video taped their encounter with the camcorder and mailed it to them when we got home.
They do have wetsuits that you can use if you think the water is too chilly. The entire in water dolphin time was 20-30 minutes. After you are finished, you can hang out on the island picnic area, and of course check out the gift shop/educational center. The boat will then take you back to the port by 1:30, which was pretty cool because it gave us the entire afternoon to go shopping in Nassau and then hit the pools on deck 9 in the afternoon.

We are going back in February, 2007....I am thinking about hitting Atlantis next time, but I hear that taking a local taxi may be the way to go......anyone have suggestions for how to get to Atlantis???

Good luck with your decision, and have an awesome time, we certainly did!!!!