What to do in Nassau (first time)

[Gentry2004]

Booked on a 5 night Magic Cruise next year. First time to Nassau. I know people like to stay on the ship this day but I’m thinking we should see it once.

I was looking at either the Atlantis one that only includes The Dig (aquarium) and the beach, but no pool/water park OR just getting a day pass to the Hilton or Melia. All are in the $65-80pp range.

I’m leaning Atlantis just bc im curious and don’t think we’d ever stay there, but maybe it’s not worth it.

Thanks!

Ps- it’s me, DH and daughters 12 and 9.

 

[angie7911922]

Atlantis was a very expensive hotel, imo. It was cool, but didn't rate it's own tour.

There's a really cool Pirate Museum in Olde Town Nassau - It's called the Pirates of Nassau, or the The Pirates of the Bahamas (somthing like that.). If you have adventurous kids, that might be fun.

 

[88golf88]

We are in the same boat...its my first cruise, DWs 2nd. We are thinking of getting off in Nassau long enough to walk around, head over to the flea market for a little while and then back on the ship to eat and hang out the rest of the day. None of the excursions look all that interesting (and by interesting I mean the ones we want to do we can't afford lol). We may hit a restaurant if we feel we need to use some free wifi for anything.

 

[Pooh2]

We did a walk about to take photos for the morning, then headed back to the ship.
Next time, we would like to check out Junkanoo Beach for an ocean swim.
When we got back on the ship for an afternoon swim at the adult only pool, the pool and area was super crowded.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[mike314]

If you don't have an excursion booked walking around the Downtown Nassau area is a good place to shop. As an alternative you can "make" your own excursion, just coordinate travel to and from a beach for example and you're all set. We booked an excursion to Blue Lagoon and it was great there was a lot to do there. Next time we plan to do more walking around Downtown Nassau as we didn't get a chance to see it more

 

[lorimay]

We did Atlantis the first time for the day, it was ok, it wasn't a beach weather day so that was a letdown. We enjoyed the aquarium, but the included lunch was awful.
The second time we did Blue Lagoon beach day, we loved that, it was a great day and the ocean was beautiful and calm.
Now we just stay onboard.

 

[DCLfam]

We walked to Pirate Museum and crossed street to spend rest of day at Colonial Hilton with day passes we bought in advance. Easy relaxing day.

 

[Gentry2004]

We walked to Pirate Museum and crossed street to spend rest of day at Colonial Hilton with day passes we bought in advance. Easy relaxing day.

I just checked and these passes are up to $100 per adult, with $40 resort credit. Do you feel that’s worth it? Seems high to me.

 

[DCLfam]

Yikes! I don't think we paid that much when we went a few years ago so that seems high to me as well. The $40 credit will get you a drink and lunch if I remember correctly.

 

[DCLfam]

Found them for $82 here with credit:

https://www.resortforaday.com/Nassau-Day-Pass-s/1826.htm

 

[dtk07]

I will 2nd the Pirate Museum. Not far from the ship and a fun, tacky way to spend $13 a person for something you won't see at home. We also enjoyed the outside bar at Smugglers afterwards enjoying a drink and conch fritters. Relaxing and family friendly.

 

[Southern Pirate]

We did the pirate museum in September and we did a horse and carriage ride 3 days ago. Both were fun. We never did the Atlantis day trip, a friend said she did and was disappointed due to the lack of up keep. I did have a fishing trip booked for our time there but it was canceled due to lack of participants.

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

Booked on a 5 night Magic Cruise next year. First time to Nassau. I know people like to stay on the ship this day but I’m thinking we should see it once.

I was looking at either the Atlantis one that only includes The Dig (aquarium) and the beach, but no pool/water park OR just getting a day pass to the Hilton or Melia. All are in the $65-80pp range.

I’m leaning Atlantis just bc im curious and don’t think we’d ever stay there, but maybe it’s not worth it.

Thanks!

Ps- it’s me, DH and daughters 12 and 9.

We love the chocolate factory tour. You come home with your own candy bar you made yourself along with other goodies. It’s a great excursion for kids.

 

[blabadie]

We did the Atlantis water park/beach in December. We really enjoyed the rapids river, slides, etc. Our kids enjoyed the beach (and it was beautiful), but I prefer beaches when staying at a luxury hotel with chair setup/service--maybe that is possible with the excursion but I didn't know how to arrange it and we were just there a little while so we just used our beach towels.

 

[BigRob66]

We love the chocolate factory tour. You come home with your own candy bar you made yourself along with other goodies. It’s a great excursion for kids.

We just did this on this past Saturday. The girl running the tour was soft spoken, and couldn’t be heard over the machines. It isn’t much of a tour, as “here’s some chocolate to play with”. The kids made a mess, had fun, and ate lots of chocolate. I think it was kinda worth it. It doesn’t eat much of the day, and you can get back on the boat early to let the kids play in the water.

 

[Sjm9911]

Didnt go on a disney cruise, but heres my 2 cents. Nassau isnt a great place. That said, Atlantis is nice but expensive. The dig was cool and the water rides are good, just not that clean. The ocesan beach water can be rough for kids. So dont let them go out far. Pools at Atlantis is a better option. Dont go to the reguler free beach. Lol. Not kid freindly. Lots of collage kids and party types here. ( think drugs etc) i sware i could have bought body parts on the way in. So stick to shopping, and stuff through the cruise ship if you have little ones or are not adventurous. This was 2 years ago( and longer, ive been to a fer cruises there) so it may have changed, but i dought it.

 

[littledebbie335]

I didn't think Nassau was the den of debauchery that other people have suggested, but hey, maybe I was there on an off day! Yes, there were drunk tourists spilling out of Señor Frogs, and yes, there are areas of the island that are run down, but that could be anywhere.

In any case, we took a taxi over to Atlantis and bought tickets there for the aquariums. It was much cheaper than doing a Disney excursion, and we enjoyed being able to wander on our own. That said, even though we're big aquarium enthusiasts, that's a one-and-done for us; just wasn't worth the money and we aren't casino/high end shopping types anyway. There are tons of taxis waiting when you get off the ship and the ride over let us see a little more of the island.

When we finished, we took a taxi back to the cruise ship port area and explored. We checked out the pirate museum (which was fun!) and also a nearby museum about the history of slavery in the Bahamas, which was very interesting and well done. Not sure how kid-friendly that second museum was, but thought I'd mention it in case anyone else was interested. Also, there's an ice cream place by the museums (can't remember the name, but it's a big red building).

Straw Market is pretty meh. Think a dark warehouse crammed with touristy garbage and people heckling you as you walk through.

Something I wish I had known: even with getting an international day pass to use my phone, which was I think $10 from AT&T, I had TERRIBLE service. I wanted to look at a map to find a place to eat and couldn't get it to load, and by that point in time we were so hangry that we stopped at the closest place, which I later found out from TripAdvisor was one of the worst restaurants in the area. I wish I had downloaded the map ahead of time so that I could've accessed it offline in Google Maps.

 

[FSU Girl]

I've never paid to do an excursion here. I've taken a $4 cab ride over to Atlantis and walked around the free parts of the hotel. It's a pretty hotel, but nothing too special to spend a fortune on. You can also take a cab to a beach a little further down the road from Atlantis to go to the beach for free, same beach used by Atlantis its not closed off to guests we had no issue being on it.

 

[ScooterScott44]

First time to Nassau. I know people like to stay on the ship this day but I’m thinking we should see it once.

Thanks!

Ps- it’s me, DH and daughters 12 and 9.

Some great suggestions but wanted to add something quick that might be fun for a first time visit. Getting a passport stamp from the Bahamas.

As you are headed toward the port shops there is a gate to you left with a guard stationed there, on the other side is a port authority/government building. Ask the guard and they will let you out the gate to the building. There are signs posted on the door where to go for the stamp. It was the last room down the hall on the right. Only takes a few seconds and gets you out past all the people trying to get you on carriage rides and in taxis at the main gate. If you instead want to stop on the way back to the ship, the guards will also let you back directly into the pier so that you have a shorter walk and again less congestion avoiding the main gate.

 

[tlprice]

We've done the Forts and Junkanoo excursion which we enjoyed because we got to learn about the history of the area. We've also done the chocolate tour which was a lot of fun and super yummy. Neither are super expensive or extremely time consuming.